Campaign Finance

You can’t always get what you want, but for special interests in California politics, spending $34 million sure does help. That’s the amount of unrestricted political spending that industries and unions with regular business in the capitol pumped into Legislative races across the state this year. As CalMatters reported before Election Day, the oil industry, […]

Thirty-two weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the nation’s first stay-at-home order, counties across California are forming coalitions to challenge what they say is prolonged top-down rule from Sacramento. Officials from 12 rural counties gathered Thursday for the “Conference of North State Representatives,” an event aimed at “restor(ing) representative democracy for our citizens.” On the […]

Good morning, California. It’s Wednesday, October 28. Four main groups In less than a week, Election Day will be upon us — wrapping up one of the most expensive campaign cycles in California history. Beyond the nearly $740 million pumped into the campaigns for and against the 12 statewide propositions — a state record — […]

State law caps the amount donors can give to a legislator’s campaign — but these special interests can spend as much as they like mounting their own campaigns to praise or trash candidates. And the money interest groups are pouring into these  “independent expenditure committees” has reached dizzying heights. So far more than $31 million of […]

Gig companies embark on a last-minute spending blitz after a court rules that drivers should be paid as employees and labor groups question campaign tactics.

Good morning, California. It’s Friday, October 23. Court rules against Uber, Lyft The stakes in the battle over Prop. 22 just got a lot higher. Uber and Lyft must reclassify their independent contractor drivers as full-fledged employees by late January, a California appeals court ruled Thursday — a decision voters could throw into question in […]

Californians are voting on 12 propositions, but not all are funded equally. Just take a look at that fat slab of lilac in the graphic below. No surprise for even the most dimly engaged Californians who have been bombarded with ads for weeks now: Funding for Proposition 22, a measure to exempt gig-economy companies from […]

Local California officials routinely and illegally misuse taxpayer funds for political campaigns and only one agency tries to stop it.

Alice Huffman, who is both a professional campaign consultant and long-time NAACP leader, was especially sought after this year as political campaigns respond to the national reckoning over race.

Maybe you saw the video on Facebook before it was deleted: Glen Stailey, president of the state prison guards’ union, rails against “failed public safety policies” and “cheap political points” and announces that “it is time to bring accountability back to the state Capitol.” Cut to a shot of the union president, with a horseshoe […]