Steyer, CA Democrats denounce money in politics
SAN JOSE – California Democrats decried the influence of money in politics at their convention on Saturday as they introduced Tom Steyer to speak.
Steyer is a wealthy hedge fund manager and top-Democratic donor who runs an environmental group called NextGen Climate.

Thomas Steyer, photo courtesy of Aspen Institute
In introducing Steyer, Eric Bauman, the vice chairman of the state party, touted Steyer’s spending in Democratic politics, particularly for two initiatives in Los Angeles County that helped register Latinos as Democrats.
Bauman called Steyer a “champion” for being “willing to invest (his) personal wealth” to win elections that he in which he’s not a candidate.
According to Forbes.com, Steyer is worth $1.6 billion, which makes him the 1,190th wealthiest person in the world. He was the top national individual political donor in 2014 — at least on the books — spending almost $74 million, $46 million more than the next highest donor, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. This cycle, Steyer’s near the top again, having spent $13 million so far.
“We can take on the special interests and the big corporations,” Steyer told thousands of Democrats.
However, Steyer’s spending is dwarfed by the Koch brothers — the mere mention of their name drew boos from the partisan crowd as the convention. Forbes.com has both Charles and David Koch ranked at #6 richest in the world, at $42.9 billion each.
While Steyer spends more as an individual donor, the Koch brothers reportedly have a vast network through which they spend on elections, which is difficult, if not impossible, to track. They will reportedly spend almost $1 billion on campaigns and issues this cycle.
3 comments
Write a commentWrite a Comment
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
Related Articles
Riordan drops L.A. pension reform
Nov. 27, 2012 By John Seiler It looks like only bankruptcy will bring pension reform to Los Angeles. Former Mayor
Competing death-penalty measures revive old feud
SACRAMENTO – Thirty years ago, California voters did something unprecedented (and not seen since): They bounced Chief Justice Rose Bird
Jerry Brown's quote of day
Brown on debt and the “nonexistent” Soviet threat: “The national debt waits like a hungry tiger to pounce on President
LOL!!! The biggest special interest in the state are pubic unions and Big Business….they grease everyone’s palms..
You got that right Rex!! 🙂
The dema-RATS are always claiming the GOP is for the rich while they are for the little man while many demac-RATS themselves(Kennendy,Gore Etc)are realy wealthy and the demac-RATS are all for higher taxes and more regulations