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Chris Kelly
He might be best known to California politicos for dropping $12 million into a failed bid for attorney general, but a study released this week by the Center for Responsive Politics suggests that former Facebook privacy chief Chris Kelly has turned into a prolific donor to a number of Democratic campaigns beyond his own.
The study found that Kelly, who lost June's Democratic primary to San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris by more than 15 percentage points, has given nearly $21,000 to federal-level Democrats and Democratic committees since January 2009.
The largest share of that money, $4,800, went to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is running for Senate against wrestling executive Linda McMahon in what is expected to be a competitive race out East.
Blumenthal and Kelly have crossed paths before, with the former once waging a crusade against sex offenders lurking on Facebook while the latter was still privacy chief. As we noted last spring, the two collaborated, along with other attorneys general and interest groups, to create standards that made it more difficult for sex offenders to victimize children online.
The CRP study goes on to note Kelly's other campaign spending since early 2009:
During the last year and a half, Kelly has also contributed $6,570 to the California Democratic Party, $2,400 to California Democratic congressional candidate Francine Busby, $2,400 to the failed U.S. Senate campaign of Massachusetts Democrat Martha Coakley, $1,250 to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and $1,000 to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
During the 2008 Democratic presidential race, Kelly first backed Hillary Clinton with a $500 contribution in February 2008 (as did his wife, Jennifer Carrico). Later, in September, Kelly wrote a check to Barack Obama for $2,200.
Also this week, Kelly weighed in at length about privacy regulation in the Sacramento Bee, arguing for more nuance and reflection in the creation of Internet privacy policy.
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