Americans for Responsible Leadership, the Arizona non-profit corporation that made an anonymous $11 million donation to a California campaign committee which opposed Prop 30, today sent a letter declaring itself to be the intermediary and not the true source of the contribution. It identified the true source of the contribution as Americans for Job Security, through a second intermediary, The Center to Protect Patient Rights. Under California law, the failure to disclose this initially was “campaign money laundering.”
California’s Political Reform Act requires disclosure to the people of California of the true source of campaign donations. This information is required in most cases before the election, when it matters. The Act requires those who serve as intermediaries, or middlemen, for contributions to disclose their true source to the recipient of the contribution.
At $11 million, this is the largest contribution ever disclosed as “campaign money laundering” in California history.
The money was spent on opposition to California’s Prop 30; a $50 billion dollar tax increase. The California School Board Association notes that Prop 30 “does not provide new funding for schools. Instead, it bolsters the General Fund with new revenue.” And as the independent Legislative Analyst wrote in the official title and summary, “these additional revenues would be available to fund programs in the state budget.”