Tom Steyer rails against the rich and dark money — but his history is checkered

Democrat billionaire Tom Steyer has managed to rise near the top of polls in the California gubernatorial race on an aggressively progressive platform focused on fighting the rich.

A former hedge fund founder, he’s called on billionaires to pay more to fund programs like single-payer health care and criticized the influence of the wealthy on elections. In January, he said if elected he would ban spending by corporate political action committees.

“The corporations who are making your life too expensive like it that way,” Steyer said in a campaign ad. “California needs to listen to California citizens, not lobbyists.”

But Steyer himself has made millions of dollars from private equity funds which typically employ the same tax loopholes that Steyer has railed against, according to recently posted tax returns. He and his spouse reported a staggering $39 million in annual income — more than the rest of the field combined.

A prominent donor to the Democratic Party, Steyer has also been involved with multiple “dark money” groups and networks — which don’t have to disclose donors — despite proclaiming Monday such organizations “should have no place in our politics.”

Such a track record could complicate the image he’s portraying in the governor’s race this year as a “billionaire that would take on billionaires,” as one labor figurehead described him to Politico.

Past Finances

Steyer earned $67 million from U.S.-based private equity funds offered by Hellman & Friedman and Golden Gate Capital in 2021, tax returns show. An investment firm of his, Galvanize Climate Solutions, also reportedly had around $1 million based in the Cayman Islands, one common tactic that the industry uses to base their money in tax-free or tax-light jurisdictions.

During his failed 2020 presidential campaign, he was asked about Farallon Capital, the hedge fund he founded, telling investors in 2000 that it planned to use an offshore entity as a tax shelter.

The California Post reached out to the Steyer campaign for comment. His campaign in response to the tax returns told the Sacramento Bee that third-party managers – not Steyer – made decisions on where to base the money.

“For Tom, the income from these investments flows directly to him, and he then pays all U.S. taxes on those investments,“ campaign spokesperson Anthony York said.

Dark Money

In 2012, Steyer himself founded and funded NextGen America, a progressive advocacy nonprofit and political action committee that doesn’t have to disclose donors. In 2014, he spent $67 million with NextGen to influence seven Senate and gubernatorial races, according to the Washington Examiner. The organization conducts get-out-the-vote drives and runs political ads mainly targeted at young voters.

In 2018, a group called State Victory Action — seeded with $11 million by Steyer and liberal billionaire George Soros — partnered with dark money group State Engagement Fund, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Funds were given to state-based political committees in at least five different states but are untraceable.

Steyer is also a member of the Democracy Alliance, a network of lefty megadonors who coordinate their political donations. Members contribute at least $200,000 per year in donations, of which then the group pools that money and sends it off to favored organizations, including nonprofits that don’t have to disclose donations.

The candidate has admitted in the past the contradiction between his platform and his political investments.

“I get that it’s ironic. It’s ironic to me, too,” he said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire in 2020. “We live in the world. Not in the world we dream of. We live in the world we’re in.”

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