Despite California’s Governor Jerry Brown being a lame duck, two charities known to be favorites of the governor are getting large donations this year, with one of the donors being a prominent gaming tribe.
Recently the San Pablo Lytton Casino, a tribal casino operating near San Francisco, and requiring the governor’s approval to expand, was among those contributing several million dollars to Oakland charter schools that Brown favors.
The casino wrote checks that totaled $100,000 to the two schools.
Several Bay Area newspapers report that donations to Brown’s charities have doubled in recent months. Although Brown cannot run for a third term, his war chest has nearly $20 million left in it.
Brown won’t comment when asked if those who contribute to his favorite charities are trying to curry political favor with him.
Carmen Balber of Consumer Watchdog, last week told the Daily Journal, “None of the companies who are giving tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to the governor’s pet charities can tell you with a straight face that they’re doing it for the children.”
Brown help launch the two charters when he was mayor of Oakland. Donating to a political figure’s favorite charities is a term of art known as a “behested donation.”
The great majority of those who gave “behested donations” to Brown this year also donated to his reelection campaign last year.
According to political ethics expert Bob Stern, interviewed by the Journal, “The governor will tell you that he is not going to do anything differently, that he won’t be affected, but the contributors feel they’ll be able to get their phone calls answered when they have a question about public policy.”
“Behested payments” are covered by state law, and some politicians have tried to limit them to $2,500, from their current $5,000. Brown vetoed such a bill last September.
