Photograph by Eva Rinaldi

The Rupert Murdoch-controlled Fox News parent company, Fox Corporation & Affiliated Entities, came up with $5000 on May 23 for the 2026 Lt. Governor campaign of liberal San Diego Democrat Toni Atkins.

Toni and Rupert’s political romance

Controversial right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson is out of a job, and Fox News is poorer by $787.5 million, thanks to its settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over defamation charges arising from the network’s coverage of alleged vote stealing from Donald Trump — but that doesn’t mean Fox is out of the political game. In California, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Fox News parent company, Fox Corporation & Affiliated Entities, came up with $5000 on May 23 for the 2026 Lt. Governor campaign of liberal San Diego Democrat Toni Atkins, currently state Senate pro Tempore. The same day that Fox’s gift arrived, utility giant Edison International & Affiliated Entities of Rosemead gave the Atkins cause the same amount.

Toni Atkins knows that Fox is fair and balanced - in donations, anyway.

Fox’s cash was reported as coming from the corporation itself, not its FOXPAC, as detailed in the company’s January 2023 Political Activities Report posted online. “FOXPAC solicits funds from permissible Company employees (except those in news gathering functions) and in turn uses those employee donations to make political contributions to candidates in support of the Company’s policy priorities. No corporate treasury funds are used for contributions from FOXPAC. FOXPAC is committed to maintaining an even 50/50 balance between the two major political parties in making federal political contributions.

In 2022, FOXPAC disbursements totaled $258,000, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.” Regarding Fox’s direct corporation giving, the document says, “Where permissible by law, any corporate contributions to a candidate campaign, political party or political entity must be approved by the FOX Government Relations office and our Chief Legal and Policy Officer. FOX does not make corporate contributions to political campaigns for federal office. Corporate political contributions are made in support of the Company’s policy priorities.”

Last year, the company came up with $40,500 for the California Republican Party and $15,000 for the California Democratic Party. San Diego Democrat Chris Ward’s Assembly committee picked up $1500 from Fox, and the Atkins Lt. Governor committee got $4900. “In 2022, FOX Government Relations advocated on a wide array of policy issues impacting the Company, including the First Amendment guarantee of a free press, retransmission consent and programming carriage, business insurance, and liability protection, children’s educational TV programming, advertising and corporate taxes, spectrum, intellectual property and copyright, media ownership, online privacy, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, antitrust enforcement and reform, and sports betting and sports futures,” the statement continues.

“In 2022, FOX’s federal lobbying expenses, as defined by the Lobbying Disclosure Act, totaled $3,830,000, which includes the relevant portion of employee salaries and travel expenses, and outside expenditures associated with lobbying activity.”

Fox’s latest California lobbying disclosure, filed May 1, shows the company spent $15,000 for the services of Capitol Advocacy, LLC. And gave $4900 to the campaign fund of Assembly Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva of Fullerton on February 9.

Styro-foaming money

As a big-money proxy war between San Diego Republican and Democratic politicos ramps up — in the form of competing anti-homeless initiatives being hyped by GOP ex-mayor Kevin Faulconer and his Democratic successor Todd Gloria — cash from out-of-town special interests has already begun arriving in local coffers.

Kevin Faulconer wants you to help him help the homeless.

A May 18 disclosure filing with the California Secretary of State’s office by the California Business Roundtable Issues Political Action Committee reveals that the Sacramento-based group kicked in $30,000 to fund Faulconer’s San Diego Safe Shelters and Clean Streets ballot measure committee on May 4. The same report shows that the PAC took in $3000 from Mason, Michigan-based Dart Container Corp., the plastic and chemical packaging behemoth that has long lobbied fiercely against the city’s Styrofoam ban, finally adopted by the Democratic-controlled city council in November of last year.

“Daniel Brunton, a lawyer representing Dart and other chemical companies, asked the council not to be too hasty in banning the product, citing a study that claims polystyrene helps prevent the growth of microbes and reduce food-borne illness due to its chemical structure,” noted a November 15, 2022, report by TV station KNSD. Along with Dart, locally based developer H.G. Fenton Property Company and Aggregated Contributors gave the PAC a sizable $100,000 a month later, on April 24, the city hall filing shows. Meanwhile, the San Diego Police Officers Association, unhappy with what its members see as anti-cop policies backed by Gloria, came up with $2500 for the San Diego County Republican Party on April 21, per a filing on the same date.

Nathan’s flight cash

In addition to yearly pay of more than $208,000 for his former job as a county supervisor, resigned politician Nathan Fletcher also got $150 per meeting as a member of the Metropolitan Transit System board, for a grand total of between $1000 and $2000, according to the county’s online Agency Report of Public Official Appointments, dated January 4. And the same accounting shows that Fletcher was set to pick up even more as a member of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority board. At $200 per meeting, his annual haul from that single agency would have amounted to between $2000 and $3000. “Welcome Supervisor Fletcher, Mayor Sanchez, Ms. Martinez, and Mr. Perez to the Airport Authority Board,” read a February 1 statement by Airport Authority Board Chair Gil Cabrera.

“These Board Members come to the Airport Authority at an exciting time. Their leadership and insight will be very helpful as we continue to build the New T1, which will meet the current and future transportation needs of our region.” Cabrera has known his share of controversy, having been reprimanded by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission for his role in setting up a political committee to raise money attacking fellow Democrat Lori Saldana’s bid last year for a city council seat. “Your actions violated the [California Political Reform Act],” because “the email failed to include ‘committee major funding from’ with the names of the top contributors to the committee,” according to a January 20 so-called warning letter sent Cabrera and his New San Diego committee, from FPPC enforcement chief Angela J. Brereton.

— Matt Potter

(@sdmattpotter)

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