Democrats Move Against Prop. 25

One day after a Los Angeles businessman donated $1 million to support Proposition 25, state Democrats dropped $500,000 into a last-minute effort to defeat the measure that would cut off large contributions to candidates.

Although both major political parties have opposed the March 7 ballot initiative to limit campaign funding, the infusion from the California Democratic Party was the first time a party organization had spent such a substantial sum to stop a reform.

The late-hour donation means the campaign to defeat Proposition 25 will have outspent supporters almost 2 to 1 in the final days before the election and shows that party leaders are worried that the reform initiative may be successful Tuesday.

“I always have fears that bad things like this are going to pass in California because those fears are constantly realized,” said Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres. “I don’t like [Proposition 25] because it’s not the appropriate remedy for the problem.”

He acknowledged that the party’s contribution was prompted by disclosures this week that Los Angeles millionaire Max Palevsky--a dismayed Democratic activist who said he was sickened by the greed for political campaign funds--would donate $1 million to the measure’s supporters.

Proposition 25, the brainchild of millionaire businessman Ron Unz and public interest activist Tony Miller, is a far-reaching proposal that would limit campaign contributions, restrict the periods when politicians can raise funds, ban corporate donations, require overnight disclosure of donations above $1,000 and provide taxpayer financed advertising credits for campaigns which accept certain spending limits.

Unz said he was surprised by the outpouring from the Democrats particularly because it came just as the party’s two presidential contenders--Al Gore and Bill Bradley--were each claiming in a debate that they were the stronger proponent of campaign finance reform.

“What we have done is unmask the Democratic Party,” Unz said. “The Democratic Party claims to have supported campaign finance reform but what we’ve proven is when it has a chance of becoming a reality the Democrats are willing to spend hundreds--even millions--to defeat it.”

Torres insisted that Democrats do support fund-raising reform, but not in the form proposed by Unz. He singled out for criticism the provisions that provide limited public financing for initiative campaigns that agreed to spending restrictions.

Torres said that once the election is over Democrats will try to push through their own proposals for reform--probably a combination of spending limits and partial public financing of candidate campaigns. He said similar proposals have been stopped in the past by the opposition of Republican governors.

But when reminded that the current Democratic governor, Gray Davis, has also opposed public financing of elections, Torres acknowledged that he hadn’t discussed the idea with Davis.

The last-minute campaign donations were disclosed in reports filed Friday with the California secretary of state. They showed that the Democratic Central Committee gave the campaign to defeat the measure a $250,000 no-interest loan and the Assembly Democratic leadership added a cash donation of $250,000 to the $100,000 it had given earlier.

Unlike the Democrats, the Republican Party did not back up its opposition to Proposition 25 with large cash donations.

“The party in power always has more to lose under any campaign reform,” said Sen. Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga). “Democrats, because they are the majority in Sacramento, have raised a lot more than Republicans, and their ability to contribute to the [No on 25] campaign is reflected by that.”

Late contribution reports showed that New York businessman Leon Levy donated $300,000 and conservative Christian Howard Ahmanson gave $50,000 to the Yes on 25 campaign.

Donors also were pouring large sums into Proposition 26, which would allow voters to approve local school bonds by a simple majority, rather than the current two-thirds majority.

John Doerr, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and his wife, Ann, gave $1 million to the campaign earlier this week. The California Teachers Assn., its largest donor at more than $6 million, boosted its contribution by $640,000 more.

The Nature Conservancy gave $200,000 to win passage of Propositions 12 and 13, which would permit the state to sell $4 billion in bonds. The Barona Indian band in San Diego County gave $50,000.

Tribes continued to spend heavily on Proposition 1A, the measure that would legalize casinos on reservations, and permit them to operate Las Vegas-style slot machines. Although they have virtually no organized opposition, the tribes have raised about $23 million, including a late loan of $500,000 from the Morongo band outside Palm Springs, $500,000 from the Pechanga band of San Diego County and $182,000 from the San Manuel tribe near San Bernardino.

Contributions also poured in to legislative races, especially contested primaries involving more than one Democratic challenger.

In the wide-open West Los Angeles race to succeed Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), for example, S. David Freeman, the head of Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power, received $40,000 from Sacramento developer Angelo Tsakopoulos.

Coastal Commissioner Fran Pavley got $10,000 from rock star Don Henley.