Proposition 2 groups rake in donations
BOISE – The groups supporting and opposing Proposition 2, the “takings” initiative on Tuesday’s ballot, both have pulled in hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions in the final weeks before the election.
This House is My Home, the group sponsoring the measure, has raised $400,754 since Oct. 1, with all but $600 of that coming from two organizations funded by New York real estate investor and libertarian activist Howard Rich.
Neighbors Protecting Idaho, the group working against the initiative, has raised $724,023 in the same time period, with the largest share of that coming from environmental groups, but with an array of businesses and 89 individuals also donating.
The Nature Conservancy in Boise was the largest contributor to the Neighbors group, donating $150,000 on Oct. 6 and another $150,000 on Oct. 30. The Idaho Conservation League kicked in $150,000-plus, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition in Idaho Falls gave $100,000. Together, those three groups made up 76 percent of the Neighbors fundraising since Oct. 1.
Each campaign group strongly criticized the other’s funding. Laird Maxwell, head of the This House group, called his opponent “just a front group for environmental extremists like Greenpeace.”
Justin Hayes, spokesman for the Neighbors group, said, “Ninety-nine point seven percent of their money is from Howie Rich. That’s just shocking. We’re part of Idaho – we live here, we have stuff at stake.”
Rich has bankrolled similar initiative efforts in seven states this year, and four are on the ballot Tuesday, including a measure in Washington.
The groups on both sides of the issue in Idaho have spent thousands on TV advertising to press their points about the controversial measure, which is opposed by both major-party candidates for governor, both candidates for Idaho attorney general, current Gov. Jim Risch, chambers of commerce across the state, the Idaho Association of Realtors, and even the Idaho Building Contractors Association, which donated $800 this month to the Neighbors group.
The measure would require local governments to pay landowners for lost potential value if land-use regulations prevent the owners from developing the property to its “highest and best use.” Backers say that would protect private property rights against government moves that would take away value, but opponents say it’d undermine local planning and zoning efforts, leaving Idaho communities unable to plan for or guide growth.
The proposition also contains wording limiting the power of eminent domain, or government condemnation of property, but that part of the initiative mirrors legislation that passed last spring, so it doesn’t change Idaho law.
The This House group has raised a total of $814,559 since Jan. 1, with nearly all of that coming from two Rich-funded groups, the Fund for Democracy, of New York, and America at its Best, of Kalispell, Mont. Its only funding that didn’t come from those two groups came from 17 small donations totaling $1,550.
Much of the early money was spent last spring to pay signature-gatherers to qualify the measure for the ballot.
The Neighbors group didn’t start fundraising until late September, but it has raised a total of $765,218 since then. Its largest donors after the three Idaho conservation groups have been the Partnership Project of Washington, D.C., $30,000; Defenders of Wildlife, $25,000; the Sierra Club, $21,000; Paul Brainerd, of Seattle, $20,000; and Idaho Smart Growth, $17,500.
Maxwell said, “I wonder how some of my good conservatives feel about saddling up to those boys.”
Smaller donors to the Neighbors group included Dakotah Consulting LLC of Sandpoint, $5,000; Avista Corp., $1,000; Idaho Milk PAC, $1,000; and Sen. Brad Little, R-Emmett, $200.