California Lawmakers Raise 79% of Funds From Outside Voter Districts

California Lawmakers Raise 79% of Funds From Outside Voter Districts. "California lawmakers raised 79 percent of campaign funds from outside their districts, according to a study released today by the nonpartisan research group MAPLight.org.

In other words, legislators raised almost four out of every five dollars in campaign funds from outside of where their constituents live.

MAPLight.org found that California legislators raised $97.9 million in campaign funds during the three-year time period studied, January 2007 to March 2010. Of this amount, $77.5 million (79 percent) came from out-of-district, while $11.9 (12 percent) came from in-district. The remaining $8.6 million, or nine percent, could not be definitively located as in-district or out of district.

More than half of the lawmakers, 58 percent, raised 80 percent or more of their campaign funds from outside their districts (68 out of 117 members). Nineteen lawmakers raised 90 percent or more of their funds from outside their districts. No lawmaker raised more than half of their funds from in-district, where their constituents live.

'Not a single legislator in California raised the majority of their campaign funds from in-district, where their voters live,' said Daniel Newman, MAPLight.org executive director. 'Instead of a voter democracy, we have a donor democracy.'"