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A report released today by California Common Cause examines personal financial statements submitted by California state legislators. It highlights the extent to which politicians receive gifts from special interests and the extent to which they repurpose surplus campaign funds for their own personal benefit.

Kathay Feng, CA Common Cause Executive Director, tells why.

Big donors continued to dominate California’s congressional campaigns even as we entered the fall campaign season when small donors traditionally became more engaged, according to analysis of campaign finance data for nine diverse* members of Congress by the non-partisan government watchdog organization California Common Cause.

Analysis of campaign finance data for nine diverse* members of Congress by the non-partisan government watchdog organization California Common Cause found that all of them raised the vast majority of funds from large donors and PACs from outside their districts.

Today the California Supreme Court made a last-minute decision to halt the election for Proposition 49, ultimately blocking voters’ ability to express their views on one of our nation’s most pressing issues: the undue influence of money in our political process. Today was also the deadline for the California Secretary of State to send the voter information guide to the state printer. Given the Court’s decision, Proposition 49 will not appear on the November 2014 ballot.

Today Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 27, reforming the Political Reform Act of 1974 to further regulate campaign financing, adding the requirement that committees disclose donors of $1000 or more where those donations were solicited for the purpose of making contributions or expenditures in California.