Governor’s Race May Have Cost Most Ever

Gov. Gray Davis and rivals seeking to oust him spent at least $130 million on the 2002 governor’s race, and potential contenders already have raised more than $20 million for 2006, according to reports released Friday.

The final tally for 2002 shows that Davis spent nearly $78 million on his campaign for reelection, more than double the $36 million spent by Republican rival Bill Simon Jr., the reports show. The Democratic governor defeated Simon, 47% to 42%, in the Nov. 5 election.

The full cost of the race was laid out in finance statements filed by the campaigns on Friday at the California secretary of state’s office.

The spending appeared to break the $124-million record set by candidates in the 1998 governor’s race, but the secretary of state’s office could not immediately confirm that. The country’s most expensive governor’s race last year was in New York, where incumbent Gov. George Pataki and his challengers spent more than $148 million.

In California, Davis used the power of incumbency to collect a large share of his treasury from donors with an interest in state business, including labor unions, developers and the health-care industry, the reports show. Many of his biggest supporters -- from pharmaceutical companies to the state prison guards union -- hold a stake in the political battles underway to resolve California’s budget crisis.

The 2002 race was conducted without limits on the donations that candidates for statewide office could accept. Under the Proposition 34 campaign reform package approved by voters in 2000, individual donations to candidates for governor in 2006 are capped at $21,200.

Garry South, the governor’s chief strategist, said the new limits are unlikely to change the perception among voters that incumbents trade state favors for campaign money -- an allegation that Davis spent a good deal of his campaign fighting off.

“The average voter thinks if you’re in for a dime, you’re in for a dollar,” South said.

Two of the leading contenders for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2006, state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and state Treasurer Phil Angelides, have already raised millions of dollars under the old rules that allowed unlimited donations. Although neither has formally announced his candidacy for 2006, both have indicated their interest in running for governor.

Before the new donation limits kicked in Nov. 6, both Lockyer and Angelides raised money aggressively for their 2002 reelection races. But, facing only token opposition, both were able to save most of it and roll it over to their 2006 campaigns.

Lockyer reported nearly $10 million in cash remaining at the end of the year, nearly all of it raised with no donation limits. Ann Patterson, the manager of his reelection campaign, said Lockyer hadn’t decided what to do with the money, but added: “He has said in the past that he’s interested in the governor’s race, and he’s certainly going to keep that option open.”

Angelides reported just over $10 million left in his account at the end of the year. That included a $1-million personal loan that he made to the campaign on election day, but did not spend. It was not immediately clear whether he could use the loan -- which would be prohibited under the new fund-raising rules -- in the 2006 governor’s race. Lisa Presta, his campaign finance director, declined to comment.

In the 2002 race, both Simon and Davis spent the bulk of their money on television ads, most of them aimed at tearing down the opponent. In the end, barely half of the state’s 15 million registered voters showed up at the polls.

“We got the lowest voter turnout in the state’s history and a disappointed electorate that felt they had no options and didn’t like either candidate running for governor,” said Barbara O’Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at Cal State Sacramento.

Final numbers on television spending were unavailable Friday. But Campaign Media Analysis Group, an ad tracking service hired by the Davis campaign, estimated that the governor spent $48 million on TV commercials in the state’s five biggest media markets. The Republican gubernatorial candidates -- Simon and his primary opponents Richard Riordan and Bill Jones -- spent a total of $24 million on television ads in those markets, according to the firm.

Simon’s final spending report shows that he relied in large part on his family to bankroll his campaign. All told, the Simons put $11.3 million into the race, including $400,000 in donations and nearly $10 million in loans from the candidate himself.

Simon is a Pacific Palisades investment banker and an heir to the Wall Street fortune of the late Treasury Secretary William E. Simon, his father. Despite his defeat in his first run for public office, Simon is weighing another campaign, including a bid for his party’s nomination next year to challenge Sen. Barbara Boxer.

The Democratic senator, who spent $13 million on her 1998 reelection race, reported Friday that she had $1.4 million on hand for the 2004 campaign.

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Times researcher Maloy Moore contributed to this report.