Eli Broad, Gap Owners Gave to Secretive Calif. Ballot Funds

Some of California’s most prominent philanthropists were among dozens of donors to a network of nonprofit groups that funneled $11-million from previously hidden sources into campaigns on two ballot measures last year, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Investor Charles Schwab, billionaire arts and education donor Eli Broad, and the Fisher family, which owns retail chain the Gap, gave millions of dollars to Virginia-based Americans for Job Security, according to California investigators. $11-million from that group went through two Arizona entities and into a California campaign committee working to pass a measure to curb unions’ political clout and defeat a proposed tax hike on the wealthy, for which Mr. Broad had previously stated support, according to the Times.

The Arizona groups, the Center to Protect Patient Rights and Americans for Responsible Leadership, will pay a combined $1-million in fines for violating California campaign-disclosure rules under a settlement announced Thursday by state authorities. The Center to Protect Patient Rights is one of the country’s largest political nonprofits and has served as a conduit for campaign spending by libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch, according to The New York Times.