California's Prop 19 Initiative Is Looking for a Sugar Daddy

I didn't mean to withdraw that much to support prop 19!

How much does it cost to put a ballot initiative like proposition 19 on the ballot, or the original prop 215 that came before it? The answer to that question is a lot.  The first time around, the 1996 medical marijuana initiative had many big donors, such as George Soros, but this year Proposition 19 has attracted few large donations outside of Richard Lee, the dispensary entrepreneur  who sponsored the trail breaking initiative. According to the Los Angeles Times, there have been other past initiatives covering cannabis law reform that had more financial support than the current prop 19. Two years ago when Californians were voting on an initiative that would have trimmed prison time for nonviolent offenders, wealthy New York City investor, Bob Wilson spent $2.8 millions of his own money on that bill that was ultimately unsuccessful. This philanthropist seemed like a likely supporter of prop 19, especially since he has been spending his recent days giving away much of his fortune, more than $500 million so far. Wilson believes that cannabis should be legal even though he has tried it but doesn’t like it much. Wilson has been keeping his eye on the proposition to legalize, but has yet to send a check and doesn’t plan to. He thinks Richard Lee should have waited until 2012, and doesn’t feel the time is right to trust Californian voters to be progressive trendsetters.

He isn’t the only sugar Daddy that is holding back this time around. Despite the measure’s potential to change the laws, it has attracted few big-money donors. Notably missing is George Soros, the hedge fund multi-billionaire who has invested over $3 million to liberalize California’s drug laws. Lee, who has put up $1.5 million of the 1.9 million raised through June thinks that the big donors are just waiting and acknowledges that recent poll number may have made the big money donors wary of getting on board. He contends he has to do a better job of showing them that this initiative is different. Lee, who jokes he is no longer a millionaire, has donated $45,000 just in the last three months to keep the initiative on the front burner. Although some fund raising sources are picking up, prop 10 fund raising is far behind to reach the $10 million that will be needed for a significant television campaign. Although prop 19 advocates are still hopeful that the six figure donations might begin rolling in, behind the scenes they are playing out less expensive grassroots strategies for the last few months before the vote. Lee feels the vote will hinge on convincing mothers of school-aged children and convincing you voters to show up at the polls. The good news for prop 19 is that is getting extensive free national media coverage which may lead to some larger out-of-state donations.

The difference of donations between prop 215 and prop 19 are striking, back in 1996 the wealthy gave early and gave often. By this time in the election process for prop 215, Soros, Peter Lewis, the founder of the University of Phoenix, John Sperling and George Zimmer, the CEO of the Men’s Wearhouse had already donated 1 million. Proposition 36, an unsuccessful initiative to change the prison sentences of nonviolent drug offenses also had millions in donations at this stage in the game.  The campaign for Proposition 5, another drug-sentencing reform measure had raised $3.5 million by June of 2008. This time around, only George Zimmer has even donated to Proposition 19, and a spokesman for Zimmer told the Los Angeles Times that they would not discuss his $20,500 he contributed. the initiative’s opponents are beginning to gain some financial ground and have raised $41,000 so far from five donor, but no campaigns usually start out slow and gain ground, as yes campaigns for initiatives usually get their big donations up front and early. Proposition 5 drew $5 million from the prison guard unions in the last months of the campaign and another $250,000 from Meg Whitman, the former Ebay executive who is now bankrolling her own multi-million dollar race for Governor. Soros and some other major donors to California initiatives wanted to aim for the 2012 ballot when the presidential election would draw more liberal voters, and would give the donors more time to recover from the losses of recent initiatives. Stephen Gutwillig, the Drug Policy Alliance said that most of the big donors didn’t give money in 2008 with the understanding that they would be funding another statewide campaign just two years later.

The biggest donor to Proposition 19 besides Lee is Philip D. Harvey, another Drug Policy Alliance backer. Harvey, who started one of the largest retailers of sex toys and pornography, gave $100,000 to the alliance’s committee, which will run an independent campaign for the initiative. He founded and owns “Adam and Eve”, a large mail order adult specialty business. He told the LA Times, “The war on drugs is one of the most destructive, foolish and wasteful government efforts that we have ever come up with,” said Harvey, who now runs a foundation that promotes birth control in impoverished countries. “We put hundreds of thousands of perfectly peaceful people behind bars. I think it’s obscene.” Harvey hasn’t put his checkbook away just yet. Richard Lee and Californian activists are hoping some deep pockets might find the stomach to get their checkbooks out.