Politics and Law

(Credit: Megwhitman.com)

California's gubernatorial primary is still 10 months away, but the multimillion-dollar race for campaign cash has already picked up a quick pace, with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman at the front of the pack.

It's no surprise that the billionaire Internet exec, who has never held elected office, has lots of money in the bank to spend on her campaign. According to a tally Saturday, she has some $19 million in cash available--and that's after spending $6.1 million to get her campaign operations up and running. It's also after she contributed first $4 million, then $15 million of her own money to the race.

But for the first half of the year, Whitman, a GOP candidate, also raised $6.7 million in individual campaign contributions, according to press accounts on campaign finance reports posted Friday. Coming in second for individual contributions was Democratic rival Attorney General Jerry Brown, who reportedly raised $3.4 million in individual contributions during the same period.

According to Whitman's campaign, her recent $15 million contribution to the campaign was part of a 3-to-1 match on the first $5 million donated by supporters. Of the $6.7 million she received from individuals, some noteworthy donations include, according to the San Jose Mercury News, $52,000 from Sun Microsystems Chairman Scott McNealy and his wife, and $26,000 from former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang (who also, incidentally, donated the same amount to Democratic candidate and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom).

Whitman's numbers far outpace those of another Silicon Valley exec in the GOP gubernatorial race, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Poizner reportedly raised $900,000 in private contributions during the filing period and, after contributing some $3.5 million of his on money to the campaign, has about $3.7 million in cash on hand.

GOP congressman and gubernatorial candidate Tom Campbell reportedly raised $305,017 in individual contributions during the first half of the year. Newsom raised $1.6 million.

Of course, having a hefty campaign war chest is important in a state as big and expensive as California, a state facing an unprecedented budget crisis and for which Moody's just gave the country's lowest general obligation debt rating.

In a move that some Silicon Valley insiders had anticipated might happen, Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly has announced his exploratory bid for the elected post as attorney general of California.

He has set up the Web site www.kelly2010.com as his online campaign headquarters. Kelly also has an official Facebook fan page for his campaign.

(Credit: Kelly2010.com)

"Over the past year, many people I respect have asked me to run for California Attorney General in 2010. Today, after much consideration, I am announcing that I've launched a committee to further explore the race," Kelly, who is a Democrat, said in a statement. "As the next Attorney General of California, I would utilize my experience to protect California consumers, maintain an open and accountable government, and guarantee an effective legal system."

Kelly's background is in politics. In a video on his Web site, he explains that he got his start as a staffer on Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign and then at the White House, where he focused on establishing public service programs like AmeriCorps. Rumors that he was looking into a run for attorney general began to swirl late last year.

In his campaign, Kelly has indicated that he will run on a platform of high-tech innovation and accountability, particularly in the wake of economic decline and uncertainty.

"(At Facebook) I have dealt first-hand with the complex legal challenges and privacy issues that effect California businesses and consumers," Kelly explained in the video. "We need a strong consumer protection advocate as California's chief law enforcement officer, defending people against unfair practices and schemes. As California faces a budget deficit of more than $41 billion, rising home foreclosure rates, and an uncertain economic future, it is imperative that we prevent consumer fraud and protect California residents from scam artists offering once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for home ownership, phony foreclosure avoidance scams, and any financial fraud."

Among the other issues he mentioned were online safety and privacy for both adults and children, and tech-savvy improvements to law enforcement and border patrol.

Facebook said in a statement that Kelly is not leaving his post to run for attorney general, at least not yet.

"Chris Kelly is a valued member of the Facebook Team and has been for the past several years," the statement read. "Chris is currently exploring a possible run for California Attorney General on his own time and in compliance with all applicable Facebook policies. If, over the next few months, Chris decides to devote himself full-time to campaign, he's indicated that he will take time off or a leave of absence to do so."

As an executive at a social network with over 200 million members that has become a Silicon Valley success stories, Kelly has credibility as a digital-age candidate. Yet under Kelly's watch, Facebook went through a number of embarrassing privacy flubs, most notably the launch of its Beacon advertising program--which some critics charged as intrusive.

Facebook was also at the center of a legal back-and-forth with several states' lawmakers about whether it was doing enough to keep its members safe from known sex offenders. That, however, appears to have ended in agreement and cooperation.

Kelly won't be the only Silicon Valley type running for statewide office. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a Republican, is running for governor. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has appealed to the Valley set with green-tech initiatives and "Second Life" interviews, has also launched an exploratory bid for governor. The state's elections are next fall.

California's current attorney general is Edmund G. Brown, Jr.

This post was expanded at 1:35 p.m. PT.

One California state senator is trying to crack down on inmates using cell phones while serving time.

California State Senator John Benoit discusses cracking down on cell phones in prison during a press conference.

(Credit: Senator Benoit's staff)

Prison inmates in California aren't really permitted to have cell phones. They have to forfeit their devices before being locked up. But that hasn't stopped thousands of phones from being smuggled into prisons each year. In fact, officials say that the number of cell phones confiscated in California prisons has doubled in the last year from 1,400 devices in 2007 to about 2,800 in 2008. And the problem appears to be getting worse this year.

Currently, being in possession of a cell phone or smuggling it in for someone else is only a rules violation. But California State Sen. John Benoit wants to make it a misdemeanor crime with a maximum penalty of a $5,000 fine for a prisoner to possess a cell phone in any state prison.

Benoit and representatives from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation held a press conference Tuesday to discuss the new bill he is introducing called SB 434.

Allowing prisoners to access cell phones is a huge problem, because many inmates use them to plan escapes, plot violent crimes both inside and outside of the facility, and to conduct drug deals, officials said.

"Cell phone smuggling into California's prisons is a very serious and growing problem," Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said during the press conference. "Public safety officials in prisons and prosecutors on the outside need additional tools to combat cell phone smuggling to inmates."

Part of the problem seems to stem from prison guards who are often part of the smuggling ring. According to the Sacramento Bee, sworn and civilian correctional employees are suspected of smuggling in more than half of the cell phones that end up in prisons. And it's not difficult to understand why, when some inmates are willing to pay up to $1,000 per phone. One prison employee admitted to the newspaper that he made up to $100,000 in one year smuggling phones into the prison where he worked.