Campaign finance rules limit the amount of money any one donor can give a candidate for San Francisco office. But those rules don't limit something called "behested payments," in which pols ask for, and receive, massive amounts of dough for specific projects. As the Chron notes, some see these types of donations as "a smart way to get money out of the wealthy for the public good during the economic boom and resulting affordability crisis," while others "say behested payments are a way to skirt campaign finance rules and often come with strings attached." Whatever the case, Mayor Ed Lee has sure gotten a lot of them! Let's take a look at some of the numbers.
- $1.2 million: The total amount of behested payments Gavin Newsom asked for — and got — during his 5.5 years as mayor
- $10 million: The total amount of behested payments Lee has asked for — and gotten — so far during his tenure as mayor
- $6.8 million: The amount of money Lee asked for, and got, from Google in June 2014 to cover free Muni low-income kids
- $580,000: The total amount of money Lee raised for a June 19 party to celebrate City Hall's centennial
- $430,000: The portion of that party fund that came from donors including AT&T, Genentech and CH2M Hill
- $150,000: The portion of that party fund that came from PG&E
- $10,000: The amount of money Lee asked for, and got from Coca-Cola to fund a city jobs program for youth at the same time the pop company was fighting City Hall over a proposed sugary drinks tax
Related: Another Multi-Million Dollar City Hall Renovation For SF: Half Taxpayer Bucks, Half Donor Dough
All facts and figures: Mayor Ed Lee has knack for raking in big-bucks donations, May 16, 2015
