TAMMANY HALL had its house organ, the Leader. Gray Davis and Cruz Bustamante have an even better tool for communicating: the Los Angeles Times. To wit: In November of 2000, California voters approved Proposition 34–a campaign finance reform initiative. They were urged not to do so by the Los Angeles Times, which found the measure to be insufficiently restrictive on the evil of large contributions. But voters disagreed and enacted the campaign contribution limits.

Less than three years later, Cruz Bustamante has shredded at least the spirit of Prop. 34. The law limits donations from individuals and entities to campaigns for governor to $21,200. The proposition kept restrictions off of statewide races in the 2002 election as one last hurrah under the old regime of unlimited donations–a gift that allowed Gray Davis to raise and spend about $70 million last year. At the conclusion of the race, the new rules snapped into place.