California’s Proposition 1: A Study in Corrupt Democrat Politics
If you follow the campaigns of any Democrat politician running for office in the second half of 2022 you will have noticed that there is one common element to all of their messaging: they are all betting on cashing-in on leftist indignation over abortion losses at the US Supreme Court. In California, the Lt. Governor is literally seeking to cash in on abortion by using Proposition 1 to funnel money away from the Indian tribes. Keep reading below to find out how.
California, Vermont and Michigan are all attempting to establish a constitutional “right” to kill children before they are born. In Montana and Kentucky modest attempts are being made to limit abortion.
The American ProLifer will be running a series of articles examining each statewide ballot measure in detail.
In this article (Part I) we shall examine California’s Proposition 1, a pro-abortion constitutional amendment launched by California’s legislature and California Governor Newsom.
California’s Proposition 1 tells a fascinating story of political corruption that ranges from Indian tribes leveraging funding for the amendment to lobby Democrat politicians to protect their gambling monopolies to teachers unions and medical associations partnering with abortionists and politicians to promote abortion on an ideological basis.
California Abortion Facts
California already has some of the most pro-abortion laws on the books, this makes California one of the most dangerous places to live if you are an unborn American. Abortions are committed at over 400 abortuaries throughout the state (not counting hospitals) and are allowed for any reason until viability (roughly the 5th or sixth month) and for vague “health” reasons up until birth.
About 140,000 children lose their life to surgical abortions in California every single year, and countless others die by unregulated chemical abortions. The numbers of babies who are created and destroyed by IVF clinics is unknown as this industry is completely unregulated.
Governor Newsom’s administration is so pro-abortion, it created a tax payer funded website, www.abortion.ca.gov to promote abortion in the state and put billboards in neighboring states advertising abortion.
State laws also limit the ability for health care plans to exclude abortion and the state is allowed to pay for most abortions through Medicaid.
How Prop. 1 Was Referred to the Ballot
Proposition 1 was a joint effort of California’s elected Democrat officials led by Governor Gavin Newsom and the State Senate and State Assembly leaders. The Amendment was referred to the ballot after every Democrat (except a few absentees) voted for the pro-abortion amendment and every single Republican (except one Republican house member) voted against it.
The sole Republican who voted for the pro-abortion amendment, Suzette Martinez Valladares (R-38th District) gave the cringe-worthy explanation that while she was “pro-life” – with exceptions – she believed voters should get to decide.
While I am personally pro-life with exceptions, I believe that voters should have a choice in deciding this issue in November.
Suzette Martinez Valladares, Republican House Member from California
Because of the overwhelming majority of Democrats in the California state legislature, the Amendment passed by 29 – 8 in the Senate and 58 -17 in the Assembly.
The text of the new amendment would make abortion the paramount right in the California constitution by enshrining it in Article I, creating subsection 1, which reads:
SEC. 1.1. The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives. This section is intended to further the constitutional right to privacy guaranteed by Section 1, and the constitutional right to not be denied equal protection guaranteed by Section 7. Nothing herein narrows or limits the right to privacy or equal protection.[8]
Following the Money
Campaign funding for California’s Proposition 1 stands at over $13 Million and includes a personal $2.1 Million donation from Governor Gavin Newsom’s leftover war chest from his recall campaign. Campaign funding against the campaign has not met the reporting requirements but is estimated to be close to a meager $100,000.
While massive funding disparities are nothing new to abortion campaigns, the larger context of Proposition 1’s funding provides a fascinating inside look at the corrupt world of Democrat party politics.
Pro-Abortion Funding
The single largest donation in favor of Proposition 1 mysteriously comes from an Indian tribe with around 1,400 members, but more importantly, a tribe that owns a successful casino. The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria gave a donation of $5 Million to the Yes on Proposition 1 Committee.
Why would an Indian tribe that boasts of a basket weaver from the 1920’s and an Indian studies college professor as its most notable members become the largest abortion supporter in the state of California?
The answer is a study in California’s single-party political corruption.
The chairwoman of the Yes on Proposition 1 Committee is the California’s Lieutenant Governor, Eleni Kounalakis. Ms. Kounalakis is the daughter of real estate magnate Angelo Tsakopoulus, whose businesses control over 47,000 acres of land in and around Sacramento and who has bankrolled her campaigns to the tune of millions of dollars. In a recent interview, the Lt. Governor, who is running for reelection and has aspirations to be the first female governor of California, told Cal Matters that she had reached out to the Indian tribe as part of her attempts to get funding for the pro-abortion amendment. As a result of her outreach, the tribe made an enormous donation of $5 Million to Proposition 1, roughly half the total campaign budget at the time of the donation.
One can understand going to Planned Parenthood, big corporations and Hollywood celebrities for funding abortion propaganda, but why would the Lt. Gov. go to an Indian tribe whose only real operation is a casino?
One can understand going to Planned Parenthood, big corporations and Hollywood celebrities for funding abortion propaganda, but why would the Lt. Gov. go to an Indian tribe whose only real operation is a casino?
The Graton Rancheria tribe, which is located North of San Francisco, is such a shell operation for the casino that its website’s page detailing the native cultural art of basket weaving and the page highlighting the tribe’s cultural preservation efforts are blank pages with “coming soon” messages.
By contrast, the casino’s website is a slick website with its own app and highlights of its spa, hotel and gambling accommodations.
With the 5 Million dollar contribution, the 1,400 member tribe could have paid for about seven abortions for every man, woman and child in their tribe. But of course, the contribution was not about abortion and not about Proposition 1, but about two other Amendments on the 2022 ballot.
Proposition 26 v. Proposition 27: Indian Casinos v. Big Tech Casinos
Besides the pro-abortion amendment, which, unfortunately, polling shows is more than likely to pass in California, the big ticket items on the ballot are two amendments attempting to legalize and pick who benefits the most from online sports betting.
Currently in California, online betting is mostly illegal except for in-person electronic gambling at horse racing tracks and to a limited extent at Indian casinos.
Americans who live in states where sports betting is legal have spent around $125 Billion in the last four years. But this does not include California, by far the largest state in the nation, which still prohibits online bets on sporting events.
Having legalized other vices such as recreational drugs, there is little doubt that online sports betting will come to California sooner or later, but the Indian casinos are fighting with every political weapon in their arsenal to ensure it is they and not the Big Tech gambling platforms that benefit.
If both both mutually exclusive amendments pass, the one with the higher percentage becomes law, while the other is nullified. However, right now the passage of these amendments is, surprisingly, not assured.
Proposition 26 would only allow sports betting in person at Indian casinos and racetracks, while Proposition 27 would allow online betting on sports anywhere and with little to no restrictions.
Proposition 26 is being backed by the Indian tribes whose monopoly on casinos have made them incredibly wealthy and powerful in state politics, and which supposedly use the proceeds to protect their native cultural and social heritage.
Which tribe has made the biggest donation to the Yes on 26 campaign? If you guessed the Graton Rancheria tribe, you are correct. Which proposed Amendment does the Lt. Governor support? If you guessed Proposition 26 you would also be correct.
According to the Los Angeles Times and data from the California Secretary of State, the same tribe that donated 5 Million to the pro-abortion proposition chaired by the Lt. Gov., raised a whopping $32 Million out of the $170 Million total raised by the Yes on 26 Campaign to support Proposition 26 and oppose Proposition 27.
As much as the Indian tribes are spending on Proposition 26, Big Tech online betting giants like FanDual, BetMGM, and DraftKings are spending even more, throwing $250 Million to oppose Proposition 26 and support Proposition 27.
In all, the warring gamblers will spend more than $400 Million to establish a legal basis to get their hands into the pockets of California’s gamblers.
The California Democrat Party’s Position
The Graton Rancheria tribe’s donation to the Democrat party’s pro-abortion Proposition 1 is clearly nothing more than an in-kind donation to the Democrat party, which itself is betting on abortion as its number one issue to get people to the polls going into the November elections.
The machiavellian bet by the Indian casino seems to have paid off as the California Democrat Party has come out in opposition to Proposition 27, the proposition that favored by Big Tech gambling platforms.
Interestingly, while the barrage of political advertising has not moved voters significantly, the Indian casinos may be winning the battle since a defeat of the Big Tech platforms preferred amendment will leave the Indian casino gambling monopoly in place while keeping out the Big Tech gambling platforms.
Proposition 1’s Other Donors: The Usual Suspects
Besides Governor Newsom’s leftover funds from his recall campaign ($2.1 Million) and the casino’s $5 Million, the top donors to the pro-abortion Proposition 1 are abortion giant Planned Parenthood iwth more than $1 Million, the California Medical Association with a $1 Million donation, the California Nurses Association with $500,000, the California Teachers Association, the ACLU and a couple of pro-abortion billionaires. You can see the entire provisional list here.
In opposition of Proposition 1 the only large donation is from the East Valley Republican women who gave $65,000 and from DeHart Construction who gave $1,000.
The massive funding discrepancy is common for pro-life statewide campaigns, but in this case is even more exaggerated by the fact that most pro-lifers consider it hopeless to put abortion on the ballot in California.
