{"id":17260,"date":"2026-06-23T18:01:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17260"},"modified":"2026-06-23T18:01:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T18:01:51","slug":"which-lawmakers-steered-millions-of-others-money-to-their-pet-causes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17260","title":{"rendered":"Which lawmakers steered millions of others\u2019 money to their pet causes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh my, the angry reactions we\u2019ve gotten to a simple act of arithmetic: Tallying how much of other people\u2019s money Gov. Gavin Newsom has steered to his favorite charities (including some tied to his wife).<\/p>

Read more Trump says 6 people have been arrested for damaging the Reflecting Pool<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou call that reporting?\u201d a Carona del Mar gent wrote to us. \u201cYou might get MAGA points, but you should be ashamed of yourself for writing this misleading and COMPLETELY unsubstantiated accusations of misdeeds. You didn\u2019t present any receipts! NONE!\u00a0 That\u2019s not reporting.\u00a0 That\u2019s journalistic garbage.\u00a0 Remember, Trump is 80.\u00a0 Like I, he will die, and your journalistic career will be at an end! You need to take a look in your mirror, young lady.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, we\u2019re not MAGA. Or particularly young. But we certainly did the reporting and we presented the cold hard data from the Fair Political Practices Commission, which scoops it all up and publishes it in a database. To recap, since 2011 California lawmakers have asked corporations and individuals (often with business in and before the state) to donate more than a half-billion dollars ($555.9 million, to be exact) to ostensibly good causes.<\/p>\n

While the overwhelming majority of these encouraged gifts came at Newsom\u2019s behest \u2014 a perhaps-staggering $348.2 million \u2014 he is far from alone. Dozens of other lawmakers asked folks and businesses to dig deep into their pockets and give millions of dollars as well.\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

-Coming in right behind Newsom at No. 2 is former Gov. Jerry Brown, who wrangled up $35.5 million for his favs.<\/p>\n

-At No. 3 was Brian Maienschein, former Assembly member who represented northeastern San Diego from 2012 to 2024. Donors gave $12.7 million in his name.<\/p>\n

-No. 4 was Attorney General Rob Bonta, at $7.4 million.<\/p>\n

-Mike McGuire, state senator whose district stretches from San Francisco Bay to the Oregon border, was No. 5 at $6.5 million.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

-Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis clocked in at No. 6 at $6.2 million.<\/p>\n

-Also of note: Secretary of State Shirley Weber at No. 9 with $4.8 million; and former Vice President Kamala Harris at No. 27 with $1.9 million.<\/p>\n

You can see all the nitty gritty detail about who gave what to whom, and why, and in the name of which lawmaker, right here: and https:\/\/bit.ly\/3SVdLnE. (You can search this document by lawmaker name, but be warned: It\u2019s nearly 1,000 pages long!)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a summary sheet, which includes totals by lawmaker, from largest to smallest. It\u2019s only nine pages long and at and bit.ly\/4xIBmb7.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

Most donations went to bona fide charities \u2014 which can qualify them as tax deductions \u2014 as well as to arms of government and political parties and committees.<\/p>\n

Donations came from 800-pound gorillas like Meta, Google, Microsoft, Toyota, Comcast, Airbnb, McDonald\u2019s, Eli Lilly,\u00a0 Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Edison International, Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric, major health insurers, oil companies, broadcasters, every public employee union you can imagine and, when we say the list goes on and on, we mean it really does go on and on. And on.<\/p>

Read more AI chatbots hit the dating scene, becoming the lovelorn\u2019s modern-day Cyrano<\/a><\/p>\n

Slimy, but legal<\/h4>\n

Those who want to stay in the good graces of the powerful \u2014 such as, say, these companies and unions, which must abide by state rules and regulations, seek contracts, etc. \u2014 view these \u201cbehested payments\u201d as a great opportunity to gain favor and influence. Which feels slimy, but is legal.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the justification is, \u2018The ends justify the means,\u2019 because the money is usually going to a good cause,\u201d Sean McMorris, the Transparency, Ethics and Accountability program manager for California Common Cause, told us last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the means do matter. If the ends have to justify the means, then the means are probably questionable.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth noting here that Orange County lawmakers are not big behesters, according to the FPPC data:<\/p>\n

Former Sen. Josh Newman was down past No. 100, with $288,378 in behests.<\/p>\n

Even lower were current and former Assemblymembers and Senators from both parties, including Cottie Petrie-Norris at $208,410; Sharon Qurik-Silva, $203,080; Diane Harkey, $142,448; Tri Ta, $122,195; Avelino Valencia, $111,379; Tony Strickland, $96,610; Janet Nguyen, $96,000; Tom Umberg, $94,255; Laurie Davies, $78,635; Pat Bates, $75,271; Catherine Blakespear, $63,000; Jim Silva, $49,198; Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, $47,867; Tom Day, $45,000; Diane Dixon, $41,000; and Lou Correa, $40,014.<\/p>\n

For fun, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger clocked in at $120,125.<\/p>\n

Note that, if businesses or people want to make a donation to charity, there is nothing in the world stopping them from doing it in their own names.<\/em> But making them this way, attached to the names of powerful lawmakers, is icky (our word) and \u201cripe for abuse\u201d (McMorris of Common Cause\u2019s words).<\/p>\n

Fred Smoller, associate professor of political science at Chapman University, put it this way: \u201cBehests reinforce the notion that government serves politically connected insiders rather than the average person. This undermines citizen faith in government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed. But readers engaged in a bit of \u201cwhat about-ism\u201d over all this nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo Trump gives pardons in exchange for contributions, steers billions to himself and his family including from foreign governments and the US government, steers $50 billion in government contracts to donors to his ballroom and you\u2019re writing about Governor Newsom steering money to CHARITIES (real ones by the way, not like the Trump Foundation which the New York AG had to dissolve-read the Wikipedia entry about the Donald Trump Foundation and findings against the Trump family),\u201d another reader noted.<\/p>\n

Slime certainly operates on orders of magnitude. All of it, in our humble opinion, stinks. And despite the angry responses, many readers agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese \u2018behest\u201d contributions may be legal, but there is the matter of ethics,\u201d another said. \u201cIf you follow the money trail, some of these contributions have been rewarded with political favors.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Savannah Guthrie says family remains \u2018in agony\u2019 over missing mom, begs the public for tips<\/a><\/p>\n

We wonder why no one has ever asked us to make a behest in a lawmaker\u2019s name?<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Columnist Teri Sforza writes: To recap: Since 2011 California lawmakers have asked corporations and individuals (often with business in and before the state) to donate more than a half-billion dollars ($555.9 million, to be exact) to ostensibly good causes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion-columnist","category-represents-the-opinion-of-the-author-who-is-either-a-paid-columnist-or-an-unpaid-guest-columnist"],"yoast_head":"\nWhich lawmakers steered millions of others\u2019 money to their pet causes? - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=17260\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Which lawmakers steered millions of others\u2019 money to their pet causes? 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