Campaign finance filings published this year show why the timing is worth a second look. The San Francisco Democratic Party raised $850,100 this year — the highest per-capita fundraising of any local party in California. The majority came from three donors, including Chris Larsen, the billionaire Ripple co-founder — the same person a party member named on the record as one of Prop 40's loudest opponents, in the very meeting where the party voted the tax down.
Big names stayed off the record entirely. Nancy Pelosi's representative cast "no endorsement." State Senator Scott Wiener abstained. The party then turned around and unanimously passed a symbolic, non-binding resolution calling for a national wealth tax instead — a vote that costs nothing and changes nothing.
Every Democrat says the wealthy should pay more, until the wealthy are the ones paying the party's bills. That's not a conclusion, it's a question the party's own financial disclosures now put on the table.
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📌 Sources:
Mission Local — "SF Dems overwhelmingly vote to oppose billionaire tax, defying state party"
Mission Local — "San Francisco Democrats are richest local party, per capita, in California"
LAO ballot analysis — Prop 40