CGS-authored
The story of the rich man who goes into politics and spends his money to get elected is old and familiar. Once he gets into office, though, he can't do much without enlisting Congress or a state legislature.
And then there is California, that font of innovation. In the latest twist in direct democracy, a rich man with a cause proposes a ballot initiative to spend taxpayer money on something the gridlocked state legislature won't back. He puts a lot of his own money into a successful campaign. When it passes, he takes charge of spending the money.
Robert N. Klein II is a Palo Alto real-estate developer whose son has juvenile diabetes. He chipped in about $3 million (of the $25 million total) for the campaign he led to get voters to OK borrowing $3 billion to finance stem-cell research. The constitutional amendment and accompanying statute won with 59% of the vote.
This is the latest manifestation of a California tradition of voters deciding for themselves how to spend tax money. In 2002, then-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger led a drive...
And then there is California, that font of innovation. In the latest twist in direct democracy, a rich man with a cause proposes a ballot initiative to spend taxpayer money on something the gridlocked state legislature won't back. He puts a lot of his own money into a successful campaign. When it passes, he takes charge of spending the money.
Robert N. Klein II is a Palo Alto real-estate developer whose son has juvenile diabetes. He chipped in about $3 million (of the $25 million total) for the campaign he led to get voters to OK borrowing $3 billion to finance stem-cell research. The constitutional amendment and accompanying statute won with 59% of the vote.
This is the latest manifestation of a California tradition of voters deciding for themselves how to spend tax money. In 2002, then-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger led a drive...