The super rich have always been politically active, and the current crop of the wealthiest Angelenos is no exception.
From Eli Broad and Ron Burkle bankrolling mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa to William Simon exploring a run for governor and Robert Addison Day Jr. contributing more than $100,000 to the George W. Bush presidential campaign, the super rich in L.A. are leaving their mark on politics.
“There’s that old saying from (former state Assembly) Speaker Jesse Unruh: ‘Money is the mother’s milk of politics.’ Well, these people have the money and they know how to use it,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior scholar with the school of policy, planning and development at USC.
Indeed, the tone for civic and political involvement among L.A.’s wealthy in recent years has been set by none other than outgoing Mayor Richard Riordan, who himself has narrowly missed being on the Business Journal’s list in years past. His friendships with many of the wealthiest Angelenos including the aforementioned Broad, Burkle and Day have resulted in the wealthy elite stepping up to the plate time and time again, whether to support education reforms, the new city charter, or the Democratic National Convention.
“In this circle, business connections are built on friendships. And those friendships are absolutely critical when it comes to the world of politics,” Jeffe said.
And, thanks in part to the tone set by Riordan, combined with the recent bull market that has inflated their net worth, the super rich in L.A. are more involved than ever.
“We’re definitely seeing more political activism from the very affluent,” said local political consultant Richard Lichtenstein. “With the good times we’ve had, the rich have been getting much richer. That’s meant they can write larger checks and can afford to become more engaged in politics. And, of course, more people have entered the ranks of the rich. They are now becoming (political) players, too.”
Nature of contributions
It’s not just friendships that motivate the very rich to become politically active. Lichtenstein pointed to three broad categories: those wealthy people who get involved to feed their egos, those who want to safeguard their business interests, and those who want to participate in the democratic process out of some philosophical motivation.
The latter reason is the rarest these days, he said. True, there are some in the Hollywood creative community who continue to support liberal causes and candidates, and there are few Republicans who underwrite conservative causes and candidates. But there aren’t many left in the mold of the old Ahmanson family, who contributed generously to conservative causes and candidates that espoused those causes.
Furthermore, Jeffe said, the political parties themselves have moved toward the center, so that Republicans are now no longer the primary party of business, as they were 40 years ago. “As we saw with Clinton and more recently with (Gov. Gray) Davis, the Democrats have courted business just as much as the Republicans in recent years.”
Perhaps no one epitomizes political activism on the local scene more than Eli Broad, this year’s second-wealthiest Angeleno. The billionaire businessman is now devoting virtually all of his time to what he calls “civic entrepreneurism,” using his immense financial resources to further various civic and political causes, especially geared toward the remaking of his adopted hometown. In this sense, he has often been compared to Lorenzo de Medici, the great patron of the arts and civic projects in Florence during the Italian Renaissance.
“This city has been great to me,” Broad said in an interview last week. “It’s a true meritocracy, where someone like me who doesn’t have the ‘right’ family background, politics etc . can come in and do very, very well. Now, it’s time for me to give back to this community. And if through my foundation and other efforts I can make a dent in many of the major problems this city faces, I would find that very satisfying.”
Broad was instrumental in bringing the Democratic National Convention to L.A., as well as rescuing the Disney Concert Hall project from oblivion and helping to finance the campaigns of reform-minded school board members.
Covering the bases
He was also one of the earliest supporters of former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa in his bid for mayor; most recently, he has contributed $100,000 to the state Democratic Party, much of that going to the Villaraigosa campaign.
“I saw Antonio as a leader up in Sacramento, as someone who could work with Republicans and Independents, a bridge builder,” Broad said. “I’m convinced he will follow Dick Riordan’s agenda and will be able to help in Sacramento.”
Broad also brought longtime friend Ron Burkle aboard the Villaraigosa campaign, a demonstration of the triumph of friendship over ideology. Burkle, a Republican, also gave $100,000 to the state Democratic Party to be used for the Villaraigosa campaign.
In fact, Burkle and fellow Republican A. Jerrold Perenchio demonstrate another common trait among the wealthiest Angelenos: the willingness to play both sides of the political fence. Perenchio is probably the most prodigious example of this in Los Angeles. For example, he has given $200,000 to the initial and re-election campaigns of Democrat Gov. Gray Davis and $230,000 in the recent presidential election cycle to George W. Bush and the Republican Party.
In some cases, this tendency to play both sides of the fence is simply an insurance policy to safeguard business interests. “If you’re in a regulated industry, and you support the wrong guy, you could be in for some payback,” Lichtenstein pointed out.
These days, though, supporting candidates from both parties is less of an insurance policy and more a testament to the immense fortunes of the super-rich.
“Politics has become a way of life now,” said Howard Sunkin, a political consultant and lobbyist with Cerrell Associates. “With term limits now, it’s nonstop fundraising. These rich guys are getting called up more and more now by both Democrats and Republicans because they’ve got the money.”
Indeed, the fundraising has become so extreme that three of the wealthiest Angelenos Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, the founding partners of DreamWorks SKG publicly stated last summer their intention to cease from giving in future presidential campaigns.
