15 groups spent $1 billion to sway policy

15 groups spent $1 billion to sway policy:

"The California Teachers Association spent $211.8 million - more than any other special interest group - over the past decade to influence state voters and politicians, according to a state report released Wednesday."

Three Indian tribes dumped another $200 million into the political process and big business shelled out more than $500 million, the California Fair Political Practices Commission said in its report, "Big Money Talks."
"The reality in politics is that money talks. Sometimes money shouts," the report says. "If it didn't, special interests simply would not spend so much money trying to influence public policy and elections. ... This report leaves little doubt where the vortex of power lies in this state."
In all, 15 groups - two labor unions, six corporations, three Indian tribes and four business associations - spent more than $1 billion over the past 10 years to sway the outcomes of elections and government decisions, the report said.
These labor unions, Indian tribes and drug, utility, oil, telecommunication and tobacco companies "have a disproportionate amount of influence on California elections and public policy," the FPPC concludes.
The report warns that there is "no end in sight to the spending binge," noting that more than half of the money - nearly $660 million- was spent on state and local ballot measures. Often, the report says, the top-spending 15 special interest groups "win by spending money to defeat ballot measures" to maintain the status quo.
For example, the California Teachers Association, which represents 330,000 public school teachers in the state, spent $26 million to defeat a school voucher system in 2000 and another $50 million to kill three other ballot measures. The Pharmaceutical

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