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PG&E gives big to L.A. County Democratic Party but gets little

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When the Los Angeles County Democratic Party deposited a $175,000 check from PG&E earlier this month, quite a few in the political world took notice -- especially considering the fact that the money arrived only weeks before the county party was set to stake out its position on a June ballot measure, Proposition 16, put on the ballot by the utility company.

But every once in a while, money doesn’t prevail in politics. On Saturday, the county party’s ballot measure committee voted unanimously to oppose the PG&E-backed measure, said Chairman Eric Bauman.

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‘Have you ever heard of Jesse Unruh?’ asked Bauman. He was referring to the former Assembly speaker who once famously said, as Bauman paraphrased it: ‘If you can’t take their money, drink their liquor and spend time with their women, you shouldn’t be in this business.’

The PG&E contribution represents more than 10% of the county party’s roughly $1.3-million budget for the year, Bauman said. ‘There was no attempt to lobby us,’ he said of PG&E’s support for Proposition 16.

The county party’s full membership is set to vote Tuesday evening to officially oppose the measure.

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento

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