Recall Spending Hits $50 Million

Campaign spending in the recall race has reached $50 million, with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the fund-raising titan in the contest to replace Gov. Gray Davis if he is ousted, outspending some leading rivals more than 10 to 1.

The Republican actor-turned-candidate has raised $13.6 million and spent $13.4 million, mostly on high-priced television spots, according to reports filed with the state Thursday. He has spent $5.4 million on production and air time and $1.4 million on printed ads in the last four weeks.

Schwarzenegger has used $6.5 million of his own money, and raised the rest largely from real estate and high-tech interests, and from entertainment figures. He also has received hundreds of small donations.

The actor had $3.8 million in his campaign accounts as of Saturday.

Schwarzenegger’s closest competitor, Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, has raised $9.4 million. . More than a third of his money has come from Indian tribes that own Southern California casinos. He has received $1.8 million from organized labor. Tribes and unions have spent $3 million more in independent campaign efforts on Bustamante’s behalf.

Most polls show that while Californians are closely divided on whether to recall Davis, Schwarzenegger is running neck and neck with Bustamante, the one major Democratic candidate in the race.

In his Thursday filing, Bustamante reported spending $4.5 million during the last month on television ads denouncing Proposition 54 on the Oct. 7 ballot. Money for the ads against the measure, which would bar government from collecting certain racial and ethnic data, is much disputed.

State Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine) sued Bustamante when the lieutenant governor used what he saw as a loophole in the state campaign law to raise money far in excess of contribution limits, and used it for the No-on-54 ads.

A judge this week ordered Bustamante to return the money to the donors, mostly from tribes and labor unions. Bustamante’s campaign said the money has been spent.

The Democrat, who uses a populist message and portrays himself as a champion of working people, reported receiving $10,000 in donations of less than $100.

Among Bustamante’s expenses, he reported paying $63,839 to the firm that defended his interpretation of the law. Bustamante also paid $170,000 to United Farm Workers, a client of Richie Ross, Bustamante’s campaign strategist. The money is earmarked for a get-out-the-vote effort, Ross said late Thursday.

The lieutenant governor had $185,000 in his accounts as of Saturday.

The candidates’ filings, which were due at midnight Thursday, cover the four weeks that ended Saturday. Even though this is the first statewide campaign waged under California’s new contribution caps, candidates are continuing their rush to raise money to pay for broadcast time, mailers and get-out-the-vote pushes in the critical final week of the campaign.

“We’ve been in a day-to-day battle” for money to buy TV ads, Ross said. “We’ve done it successfully one day at a time. We intend to continue to do it.”

At the same time, interest groups ranging from Indian tribes to labor unions and environmentalists are spending millions on independent campaigns for and against the candidates.

Davis, fighting to retain his job, reported having raised $9 million this year. Organized labor accounts for $2.4 million, or 27%, of the money he has raised this year -- by far the largest portion of his cash. Davis spent $5.4 million on television air time during the most recent four-week period, and had $1.4 million in the bank as of Saturday.

State law restricts contributions to candidates vying to replace Davis to $21,200 per donor, but allows contributions of unlimited size to recall targets such as the governor.

Davis has received 116 donations exceeding $21,200 this year. At least seven donors have given him $200,000 or more, and 38 have given him $100,000 or more.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is his largest single source of money so far this year, having donated $561,000.

“We’ve said from the get-go that the governor would have all the resources he needs to wage a vigorous campaign,” said Davis campaign spokesman Peter Ragone.

State Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), who places third in public opinion polls behind Bustamante and Schwarzenegger, has raised $1.6 million since he jumped into the race.

The vast majority of his donations have come in small checks. In the four-week period ending Saturday, McClintock reported 3,330 donations of $20 to $100, plus $200,000 in even smaller donations.

During that four-week period, McClintock received only 16 contributions of $20,000 to the maximum of $21,200 permitted under California law. McClintock is under increasing pressure to cease his campaign to help Schwarzenegger -- and he continues to resist.

“The more that we come under this pressure to become a part of the country club set, the more contributions we get,” said John Stoos, a top campaign aide to McClintock.

Although McClintock, who as of Saturday had $300,000 in his campaign account, has been unable to raise large sums of money on his own, moneyed interests are propping up his campaign by spending unregulated sums on his behalf in independent campaigns.

Through Thursday, Indian tribes and conservative Christians had spent more than $1.5 million in a parallel campaign for his candidacy. Included in that sum is $850,000 from the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, owners of a casino near Palm Springs.

Although McClintock barely has enough money to air television ads, Morongo is paying to air television spots for him in the Los Angeles area.

“I’d like to say that makes us competitive,” Stoos said. “It probably gets us a whole lot closer.”

In other filings Thursday:

* Green Party candidate Peter Camejo reported raising $49,500 this year, while independent Arianna Huffington reported having spent $812,000. She raised $728,700 and ran up $138,000 in debt.

* The California Democratic Party reported raising $3.6 million so far this year and spending $6.1 million. It had $5.2 million left in the bank. Major donors include the California Teachers Assn. and Mercury Insurance, each of which gave $100,000, and AT&T;, which donated $80,000.

* One of Schwarzenegger’s latest donors is Women for Arnold, a political action committee. The filing shows that four of eight donors to the committee, who gave $30,940, are men, including Bay Area venture capitalist Timothy Draper, who previously gave $50,000 to Schwarzenegger.

* After initially planning to remain out of the campaign, the Barona Band of Mission Indians, owners of a newly expanded casino resort in eastern San Diego County, also entered the fray, giving $200,000 to Davis’ campaign against the recall, and $21,000 to McClintock.

David Baron, who oversees the Baronas’ governmental affairs operation, said Schwarzenegger’s ads critical of tribes for not paying taxes and of politicians for accepting their money was “a motivating factor” in persuading the tribe to spend on the campaign.

“The council was moving in that direction, but this helped to push them,” Baron said of Schwarzenegger’s ads.

* The campaign to support Proposition 54 reported raising $211,600 this year and having $131,000 in the bank, while the committee to oppose the initiative had raised $1.8 million and spent $860,000. The No-on-54 campaign announced Thursday that it was beginning a statewide television campaign costing $2.6 million. The California Teachers Assn. is the leading donor to the No-on-54 effort at $427,000, and $200,000 each from the Service Employees International Union, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians and, in a donation made public Thursday, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.

“Proposition 54 would make it harder to make sure all schools get what they need,” said Becky Zoglman, a spokeswoman for the 300,000-member teachers union. “You wouldn’t know whether the achievement gap existed” among various ethnic and racial groups.

Democratic groups hope to use Proposition 54 to motivate Democratic voters to turn out Oct. 7. UC Regent Ward Connerly is the main proponent of Proposition 54, and also backed Proposition 209, the 1996 initiative that curbed affirmative action in state hiring, college admissions and contracting.

Times staff writer Jeffrey L. Rabin contributed to this report.