Crony California

WSJ's Alysia Finley informs:

Unions ought to be blowing their bazookas about the millions that corporations are spending this year to influence California politics. Strange how quiet they've been. That's because the big, bad corporations are funneling their dough to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown's ballot campaign to raise taxes on the rich.

The millionaires' tax campaign has raised about $16 million so far. While most of that has come from unions, corporations and industry groups have paid their fair share, too. According to the latest campaign filings with the secretary of state's office, entertainment studios and media networks have been the biggest backers of the tax. Disney, Warner Bros., Viacom, CBS, Sony and NBC have each pitched in $100,000. Health insurers Anthem and Blue Shield have contributed $150,000, and the state's hospital and medical associations have kicked in $750,000.

Energy companies Vaquero, ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum have also supported the levy in hopes that it will put the kibosh on efforts to impose a 25% tax on oil and natural gas extraction. DeVry, a for-profit college, and the Safeway supermarket chain want higher taxes on the rich as well.

Many of the corporate donors, including insurance companies, feed from the government trough and would be affected by budget cuts. Some others, like the energy companies, would be next in line at the guillotine if the millionaires' tax fails. And for-profits may want to ingratiate themselves to the liberal regime in order to soften proposed regulations and legislation.