In politics, it’s bad enough to get whipped. It’s worse to lose and spend a fortune doing it. That grim fate befell several candidates and measures on Tuesday’s primary ballot.
Photo by Shashi BellamkondaChris Kelly
When it came to bang for the buck, nobody had less success than state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. As is teased out in a related post on the Watchblog, Poizner spent an estimated $29.3 million to come in second in the Republican primary for governor. To make it worse, about $24 million was Poizner’s own money.
He spent $63 per vote.
Some small consolation: The winner, Meg Whitman, spent even more of her own money – $71 million – and her win cost her even more, $76 per vote.
There was no consolation available to the giant Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The shareholder-owned utility sponsored Proposition 16, which would have made it more difficult for municipalities to convert to public power.
PG&E (with some help from the California Chamber of Commerce) pumped $46.9 million into the measure. It lost to an under-funded group of consumer activists who raised less than $100,000. PG&E spent $25 per vote. The successful opponents spent about four cents.
It was the same dynamic, if less extreme, on the Prop. 17 insurance initiative. Promoted by the Mercury Insurance Co. as a benefit to all motorists, the measure would have allowed insurers to charge higher rates to drivers who had been without car insurance in the past. Some consumer groups and veterans’ advocates opposed it.
Mercury General Corp. invested $15.9 million in the measure, only to see it lose to opponents who raised $1.4 million on the campaign. Mercury spent $8.70 per vote; opponents spent 71 cents.
And in the race for the Democratic nomination for attorney general, there was Chris Kelly, the wealthy, former chief privacy officer for Facebook. He spent $10.35 million, most of it his own money, much of it on tough TV ads attacking the front-runner, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, as soft on crime.
Kelly himself had no law enforcement background. He came in second in the field of seven candidates. Harris spent about $2.85 million – a little more than $5 per vote to win. Kelly spent almost $39 per vote in his losing effort.
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