[env-trinity] Article submission: Why Brown broke his "promise" - Big Money interests dumped $21.8 million into Yes on Prop. 1 campaign

[Dan Bacher]

Photo of Governor Jerry Brown at the inauguration on January 5, 2015,  
by Dan Bacher.

jerry_brown_1_5_15_.jpg

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/27/1380693/-Big-Money-interests-dumped-21-8-million-into-Prop-1-campaign

Big Money interests dumped $21.8 million into Yes on Prop. 1 campaign

by Dan Bacher

The recent admission by the Brown administration that it could use  
money from Proposition 1, the water bond, to pay for "habitat  
mitigation" linked to the construction and operation of the massive  
Delta tunnels is no surprise, especially when you consider the Big  
Money interests that dumped $21,820,691 into the campaign.

The contributors are a who’s who of Big Money interests in California,  
including corporate agribusiness groups, billionaires, timber barons,  
Big Oil, the tobacco industry and the California Chamber of Commerce.  
There is no doubt that these wealthy corporate interests are expecting  
a big return for their "investment" in the corrupt "play to pay"  
politics that rules California today, including the construction of  
the twin tunnels and new dams.

Richard Stapler, spokesman for the California Department of Natural  
Resources, "acknowledged that the money [for delta habitat  
restoration] could conceivably come from Proposition 1, the $7.5  
billion water bond that California passed last year,” according to  
Peter Fimrite in the San Francisco Chronicle.(http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Activists-decry-plan-to-cut-habitat-aid-from-6212404.php 
)

Delta advocates slammed Governor Brown for breaking his campaign  
promise that bond money wouldn't be used to mitigate the environmental  
damage caused by the tunnels, a $67 billion project designed to export  
Sacramento River water to agribusiness interests, Southern California  
water agencies and oil companies conducting fracking and steam  
injection operations.

"It is outrageous that the governor would break the promise he made to  
the people of California that their taxes would not be used to  
mitigate damage from the tunnels,” said Restore the Delta Executive  
Director Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla. "Now he is signaling that bond  
monies will support mega-growers like Stewart Resnick, who plans to  
expand almond production by 50 percent over the next five years." (http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2015/04/23/is-jerry-brown-breaking-his-prop-1-campaign-promise 
)

And guess who was one of the contributors to the Prop. 1 campaign?  
Yes, Stewart Resnick, the Beverly Hills agribusiness tycoon, owner of  
Paramount Farms and largest orchard fruit grower in the world,  
contributed $150,000.

Resnick and his wife, Lynda, have been instrumental in promoting  
campaigns to eviscerate Endangered Species Act protections for Central  
Valley Chinook salmon and Delta smelt populations and to build the  
fish-killing peripheral tunnels - and have made millions off reselling  
environmental water to the public.

Corporate agribusiness interests, the largest users of federal and  
state water project water exported through the Delta pumping  
facilities, contributed $850,000 to the campaign, including the  
$150,000 donated by Resnick.

The California Farm Bureau Federation contributed $250,000, the  
Western Growers Service Association donated $250,000 and California  
Cotton Alliance contributed $200,000.

The largest individual donor in the Yes on Prop. 1 campaign was Sean  
Parker, who contributed $1 million to the campaign. Parker is an  
entrepreneur and venture capitalist who cofounded the file-sharing  
computer service Napster and served as the first president of the  
social networking website Facebook. He also cofounded Plaxo, Causes,  
and Airtime.

Four members of the Fisher family, who own the controversial Gap  
stores, collectively donated $1.5 million to the Yes. on Prop. 1 and  
Prop. 2 campaign. They also own the Mendocino Redwood Company and  
Humboldt Redwood Company, formerly the Pacific Lumber Company (PALCO),  
more than half a million acres of redwood forest lands in total.

Doris F. Fisher contributed $499,000, John J. Fisher $351,000, Robert  
J. Fisher $400,000 and William S. Fisher $250,000. The Gap become  
notorious among labor and human rights advocates for employing  
sweatshop labor in the Third World to produce its clothes.

Aera Energy LLC, a company jointly owned by affiliates of Shell and  
ExxonMobil, contributed $250,000 to the Yes on Proposition 1 and 2  
campaign, according to the California Fair Political Practices  
Commission (FPPC).

Aera Energy LLC is one of California's largest oil and gas producers,  
accounting for nearly 25 percent of the state's production, according  
to the company’s website. (http://www.aeraenergy.com/who-we-are.asp)

Tobacco giant Philip Morris also donated $100,000 to Governor Brown’s  
ballot measure committee established to support Propositions 1 and 2.  
On October 20, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS  
CAN) called on the governor to return that money.

A total of eleven ballot measure campaign committees registered in  
support Proposition 1 and 2, according to Ballotpedia (http://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_1,_Water_Bond_(2014) 
)

The committees and money raised are below:
• California Business Political Action Committee, Sponsored by the  
California Chamber of Commerce: $1,169,500	
• Wetlands Conservation Committee, Sponsored by Ducks Unlimited,  
Audubon California and The Nature Conservancy, Yes on Prop. 1: $265,000
• Conservation Action Fund - Yes on Proposition 1 and 2 - Sponsored by  
Conservation Organizations: $1,042,526	
• Sac. Valley Water & Rice for Prop 1: $72,356	
• Brown; Yes on Props 1 and 2 A Bipartisan Coalition of Business,  
Labor, Republicans, Democrats and Governor: $17,690,658	
• Think Long Committee, Inc., Sponsored by Nicolas Berggruen Institute  
Trust, Supporting Propositions 1 & 2 (Non-Profit 501(C)(4)): $250,000	
• Western Plant Health Association, Supporting Propositions 1 and 2  
(Non-Profit 501 (C) (6)): $100,000	
• NRDC Action Fund California Ballot Measures Committee - Yes on Prop.  
1: $12,653
• Southern California District Council of Laborers Issues PAC: $203,662	
• Laborers Pacific Southwest Regional Organizing Coaltion Issues PAC -  
Yes on Props 1 and 2: $842,896	
• The California Conservation Campaign: $171,440

These committees raised a total of $21,820,691 and spent a total of  
$19,538,153.	

In contrast, Proposition 1 opponents raised only $101,149 and spent  
$86,347 during the campaign. To put that in perspective, note that  
just one big grower, Stewart Resnick, contributed $150,000 to the  
Prop. 1 campaign, more than all of the opponents combined. And Resnick  
wasn’t even one of the top 23 donors, with Sean Parker being the  
largest individual donor at $1,000,000!

Top 23 Contributors to Prop. 1 and 2 Campaign

Brown for Governor 2014	$5,196,529
Sean Parker	$1,000,000
L. John Doerr	$875,000
California Alliance for Jobs - Rebuild California Committee	$533,750
The Nature Conservancy	$518,624
California Hospitals Committee	$500,000
Doris F. Fisher	$499,000
Health Net	$445,600
Robert Fisher	$400,000
351,000	$351,000
Area Energy LLC	$250,000
California American Council of Engineering Companies	$250,000
California Farm Bureau Federation	$250,000
California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems	$250,000
Dignity Health	$250,000
Kaiser Permamente	$250,000
Northern California Carpenters Regional Council Issues PAC	$250,000
Reed Hastings	$250,000
SW Regional Council Of Carpenters	$250,000
Think Long Committee, Inc.	$250,000
Western Growers Service Corporation	$250,000
William Fisher	$250,000

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