For a salary of $185,000 per year, members of the Board of Equalization don’t do much.
Since Gov. Jerry Brown stripped the 147 year-old tax commission of most responsibilities in 2017, some former members have even advocated for its dissolution. The San Francisco Chronicle argues for its elimination every election cycle.
Nonetheless, powerful lobbying groups and wealthy individuals — many without a stake in the board’s decisions — contributed over $3.3 million to the campaigns of three state lawmakers running for seats on the board this year. The contributions to Assemblymember Mike Gipson and state Sens. Tom Umberg and Shannon Grove dwarfed those of almost all of their rivals, vaulting the trio into a winning position on Election Day. All three will be on the ballot in November.
Experts say donors don’t care what office the incumbent lawmakers are gunning for — they’d support them no matter what. Instead, donations are coming in for two reasons: special interests still need lawmakers on their side for the remainder of the legislative session, which goes through August, and they want to reward the lawmakers for supporting their cause.
“It is showing the world that you’re going to be supportive of people who have supported you,” said Mike Gatto, a former Democratic lawmaker from Los Angeles. “It’s a little message to other people that way.”
An analysis of Digital Democracy records shows the primary source of donations for all three came from professional groups, unions and people with business before the Legislature, including some whose legislation they’ve championed in the past.
Labor backs a staunch ally
Gipson, a Gardena Democrat, raised about $942,000 from large donors, according to the secretary of state, dwarfing some of his rivals: Progressive Democrat Samuel Sukaton, who came in second, brought in just $32,000. Democrat Yvonne Yiu largely self-funded her campaign, supplementing some large donations with a $760,000 infusion from her own fortune, but she failed to advance to November.
The largest source of Gipson’s fundraising was labor — dozens of unions, including those representing construction, carpenters, police, teachers and public employees, gave close to $300,000 in total.
Gipson and the other two lawmakers say they’ve got plans for making the most of the seat, which has very few responsibilities, and meets with other members once or twice a month.
The board oversees the state’s 58 county tax assessors, assesses the property tax of some plots that cross county lines, and listens to property tax appeals. It lost many of its other powers after a 2017 audit found the agency was riddled with professional and cultural issues, but it can only be eliminated through a constitutional amendment that voters would need to approve.
It also has strict campaign finance limitations, a relic of when it had more than 4,000 employees and collected about a third of the state’s tax revenue. Unlike in the Legislature, if Board of Equalization members receive contributions from groups whose interests intersect with a decision, they must recuse themselves.
“It’s not like there’s interested parties that are like: ‘Oh, I’m gonna support this candidate who’s going to support my cause in the future,’” said Board of Equalization Chief Deputy Cody Petterson, who also ran for a seat on the elected board covering the San Diego area. “That’s not a thing.”
During his time in the Legislature, Gipson has been a staunch ally of the unions, voting with the Service Employees International Union and its affiliates 90% of the time, according to Digital Democracy. In 2024, the affiliate representing nurses publicly thanked him for authoring a bill to improve safety for hospital workers. It gave him the maximum $19,600 for his bid for the Board of Equalization.
The assemblymember is also carrying Assembly Bill 1054 this year, which would provide a new end-of-career benefit for California Highway Patrol officers and state firefighters that would allow them to retire with a large lump sum check in addition to their pensions. The bill is sponsored by the unions for both professions, and intended to be a cost-neutral retention tool for agencies, although cities who approved similar programs have found them to cost taxpayers more.
Gipson received nearly $16,000 from the highway patrol union and $10,000 from the California Professional Firefighters PAC for his Board of Equalization bid. Neither organization responded to a request for comment.
Gipson’s campaign spokesperson Adam Robak did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and Gipson did not follow up on a request left with his office.
Attorneys rally for influential Democrat
In the race to represent the Orange County and San Diego area, Umberg transferred about $1.1 million from his existing campaign accounts and collected another $598,000 between December 2025 and this month’s election. Tens of thousands came from lawyers, law firms and professional attorney groups like the Consumer Attorneys of California, who Umberg normally sides with and who regularly have business before the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs.
One of the largest donors to Umberg’s Board of Equalization campaign — maxing out at $19,600 — was John Manly, a prominent attorney for child sexual abuse survivors.
“No one has been a stronger voice for victims of childhood sexual abuse as (Umberg) has been as chair of the Judiciary Committee,” said Manly, reached by phone. He said Umberg’s nonpartisanship made him “exactly the type of politician we need.”
Umberg has supported laws that allow more people to sue for childhood sexual abuse, including a 2023 proposal that ended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases, and another that would have expressly allowed suits against county detention facilities, the latter of which Manly’s firm lobbied for. Local government entities, already straining under a landmark 2019 law that reopened many sexual abuse cases, opposed both of the bills.
Republican Denis Bilodeau will be Umberg’s opponent in November after having received 45% of the district’s vote. The taxpayer association president was endorsed by San Diego assemblymember Carl DeMaio’s powerful Reform California group, and used $100,000 of his own money on his campaign. Petterson, Umberg’s Democratic opponent, came in a close third behind the lawmaker, collecting 18% of the vote. He said he spent about $30,000 on the race.
In an email, Umberg said donations to his campaign were not made with expectations of special treatment.
“I have never made a legislative decision based on who contributed to my campaign, and I never will,” he said.
Sean McMorris, the transparency, ethics, and accountability program manager for California Common Cause, a good governance group, said these types of donations are naturally suspect.
“It’s a fair assumption for the public to say, well, hey, this is essentially a payoff,” he said. “You voted, you gave me some goodies when you were in office. I’m returning the favor by now giving you the max campaign contribution I can for your campaign.”
Bakersfield businesses back Grove
The most competitive Board of Equalization race, to represent inland California, will be a showdown between Grove and Nelson Esparza, a Democratic city councilmember from Fresno. Democrats have a 4% voter registration edge over Republicans in the district.
Grove brought in nearly $1.8 million from large donors, many of them businesses and business owners in the Central Valley. Her fundraising vastly eclipsed that of Esparza, who brought in $186,000.
Grove, a Republican senator from Bakersfield since 2018, has long stood up for the agricultural and oil-production interests of the Central Valley. She was a vocal supporter of a deal made last year to allow Kern County to approve up to 2,000 new oil well drilling permits annually.
Since she set up her Board of Equalization account in 2023, she’s received over $76,000 from oil and gas executives, companies, and industry groups, including Signal Hill Petroleum, Valero, and California Resources Corporation, according to Digital Democracy.
One significant donor was Cyrus Mojibi, the president of San Joaquin Refining Company, who gave a total of $17,300, most recently in December 2025.
In February, Grove authored Senate Bill 1039, which could ease pollutant monitoring requirements for certain refineries. Mojibi was one of the main witnesses in support, telling the environmental quality committee that existing requirements were a huge cost burden.
Grove also received over $120,000 from agricultural companies, trade groups and executives, including more than $10,000 from the American Pistachio Growers PAC and $5,000 from the Wonderful Company.
The senator has consistently advocated for the state to increase water availability for Central Valley farmers, including authoring legislation to cut red tape around water infrastructure projects.
Duane Dicharia, a spokesperson for Grove, said the senator’s actions are not tied in any way to campaign contributions.
“Shannon has spent her career fighting higher taxes, government waste, and bureaucratic overreach, and donors are supporting her because they want that same approach on the Board,” he said in an email.
Could California reduce big money in politics?
Sally Lieber, a former state Assemblymember who is running for the only district without a current legislator in the race, said she’s grateful to not be in a “big money race.” Lieber was elected to her first term on the board in 2022, following several years away from elected office.
She said sitting lawmakers have a tremendous advantage when it comes to fundraising, but the phenomenon is a double-edged sword, since there’s a consistent expectation from party leadership to raise money for other candidates and causes.
“I found the constant drive to raise money extremely off-putting and stressful,” she said, of her time in the Legislature. “You were just constantly needed to produce.”
Some sitting lawmakers are also unhappy with the status quo of campaigns financed by large donors.
Thanks to a bill co-authored by Umberg last year, voters are expected to weigh in this November on whether the state should establish a system for publicly financing campaigns.
McMorris said the lawmaker worked with Common Cause on the ballot measure.
“There are politicians, even though they play this game because they feel that they have to, they don’t like it either,” McMorris said. “I think a lot of them would prefer an alternative system where they don’t have to cozy up to special interests in order to be viable.”
