No one is certain about what multi-millionaire Rex Sinquefield is up to. He\u2019s not running for any political office. But we do know that doesn\u2019t like the 1% city earnings tax levied on people who live or work in St. Louis and Kansas City. So he\u2019s spending more than $7 million of his own money to promote a ballot initiative\u2014of \u00a0his own design\u2014that could end the earnings tax as a primary source of funding for Missouri\u2019s two biggest cities. \u00a0And he just might buy his way into getting his pet project\u2014Proposition A<\/a>\u2014passed on Nov. 2, an outcome opposed by every major daily newspaper in Missouri.<\/p>\n But this is not just a Missouri story. Sinquefield\u2019s personal ballot-issue crusade puts him in some pretty fast company in several other states. According to The American Spectator<\/a>,<\/p>\n \u2026 initiatives are the brainchildren of special interests or very rich individuals riding hobbyhorses — and funded by them. Proponents try to characterize and title them as \u201cgood government\u201d measures as American as apple pie. More than a few of these become a curse on the electorate because they dramatically increase the state’s bonded indebtedness or tinker permanently with the state’s budget.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sometimes, individuals bankroll ballot issues that promote their ideas of the role of government. CBS News<\/a> recently reported that, \u201cIn Seattle, Bill Gates Sr. has plowed $400,000 of his own money into an initiative that would impose an income tax on the wealthy. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has countered with $100,000 opposing the initiative according to campaign filings\u2026But wealthy interests can sometimes be personal. In 2008, Alaskan financier Bob Gillam<\/a> indirectly gave $1.6 million to fund a referendum to stop a mine from being built near his fishing lodge.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at a few other moneyed individuals in other states, who have figured out how to use ballot initiatives to advance their own political and\/or financial agendas.<\/p>\n Big money in California<\/strong><\/p>\n California is the granddaddy of ballot-initiative states, and big spenders are making their presence felt in 2010 more than ever. According to the California Fair Political Practices Commission<\/a> [FPPC], \u201c\u2026the tens of millions of dollars from large donors flowing into the ballot initiative campaigns is once again the big story when it comes to the influence of big money in California politics.\u201d An October 11, 2010 FPPC report highlights the largest ballot-initiative donations from individuals.<\/p>\n Charles T. Munger, Jr<\/a>. has contributed more than $7.4 million to \u201cYes on 20\u201d [Congressional Redistricting Initiative.] If passed, it would \u201cremove elected representatives from the process of establishing congressional districts and transfer that authority to recently-authorized 14-member redistricting commission comprised of Democrats, Republicans, and representatives of neither.\u201d Munger himself submitted the ballot language. He is an occasional activist in California ballot proposition politics, an experimental physicist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and the son of the vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.<\/p>\n Thomas Steyer<\/a>, is not the author of California’s Proposition 23, but his financial involvement is noteworthy. In fact, he opposes the measure, and he has contributed $5 million to \u201cNo on 23.\u201d If passed, Proposition 23<\/a> would suspend California\u2019s 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act, the state\u2019s landmark clean air legislation. Steyer, a hedge fund manager, is a philanthropist and environmentalist who is one of 40 billionaires who earlier this year signed The Giving Pledge to donate half their fortune to charity.<\/p>\n S.K. Seymour LLC, whose president is Richard Lee<\/a>, \u00a0contributed more than $1.5 million in support of Proposition 19, known as the \u201cRegulate, Tax, Control Cannabis\u201d initiative. If it passes, \u201ccities and counties would be allowed \u2013 but not required \u2013 to adopt ordinances that license and regulate the cultivation, processing, distribution, transportation and sale of marijuana.\u201d S.K. Seymour, of Oakland, does business as Oaksterdam University, whose webpage<\/a> says it is \u201cAmerica\u2019s first cannabis college\u201d and provides \u201cstudents with the highest quality training for the cannabis industry.”<\/p>\n Colorado: all in the family<\/strong><\/p>\n Most of the money behind three 2010 ballot issues in Colorado comes from members of one wealthy family. The initiatives\u2014Amendment 60, Amendment 61 and Proposition 101<\/a> would \u201cend fees that [members of the Hasan family] say are essentially taxes, force local and state governments to live within their means, and strengthen the Taxpayer\u2019s Bill of Rights\u201d, a government-limiting measure passed in Colorado in 1992.\u00a0 The Hasans are large contributors to Republican candidates and causes. Unfortunately for the Hasans, the $12,000 they have contributed to help pass the 2010 amendments is vastly overmatched by the $4.1 million raised by opponents of the ballot issues, says the Colorado Springs Gazette<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cCitizen\u201d initiatives in WA<\/strong><\/p>\n Tim Eyman<\/a> is a one-man ballot-initiative machine. He doesn\u2019t fit the multi-millionaire category, but as Washington state\u2019s most prolific sponsor of right-wing, anti-tax ballot measures, he deserves a mention. Having sponsored ballot measures every year since 1997, Eyman\u2019s 2010 project is Initiative 1053, which would require a two-thirds supermajority in the Washington state legislature to raise taxes. And while he may not be rich, he gained notoriety in 2002 for mis-appropriating ballot-initiative funds and paying himself a salary higher than that of any elected state official.<\/p>\n Live from New York<\/strong><\/p>\n New York City\u2019s Howard Rich is a real-estate developer who has been active in politics for almost 40 years. He is known for \u201cfunding libertarian oriented political initiatives<\/a> such as term limits, school choice, parental rights regarding education, limited government and property rights.\u201d In the early 1980s, he was active in the Libertarian Party and worked with billionaire Charles Koch [one of the Koch brothers who currently are contributing massive amounts of money to right-wing causes].<\/p>\n In 1992, Rich founded U.S. Term Limits<\/a> and was instrumental in getting \u201cterm limits imposed on 15 state legislatures, on the mayors and city councils of eight of the ten largest cities in America, and on constitutional officers in 37 states.\u201d In 2006, Rich supported\u2014to the tune of $1.77 million\u2014a ballot initiative in California called \u201cProposition 90\u201d that barred cities from using eminent domain. \u00a0He also championed and financially underwrote similar initiatives in other states, with donations that totaled an estimated $15 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trouble in Oregon<\/strong><\/p>\n Oregon\u2019s Bill Sizemore<\/a> has been a major figure in state politics and ballot proposals since the 1990s. A founder of Oregon\u2019s Tax Revolt, Sizemore is the state\u2019s most prolific author of ballot initiatives, and checkbook behind most of them. In 2006, of 37 initiatives filed, 15 of them came from Sizemore<\/a>. According to Oregon Live<\/a>, in 2008, Sizemore\u2019s anti-union, anti-tax initiatives included:<\/p>\n