Funding

As reliable as the election cycle, the advertisements for ballot questions are once again flooding the internet and the airwaves in Massachusetts. This election, some of the most heavily advertised questions before voters involve whether to set a minimum wage for tipped workers, whether to keep the MCAS test as a graduation requirement and whether to legalize natural psychedelics for treatment.But a close look at the money that is paying for those ads reveals barely any grass-roots support, meaning small donations from typical voters. Instead, the average donations are thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars, made by wealthy individuals, corporations and unions. Sometimes there is a clear line between the donors’ interests and the outcome of the election. Other times, the connection is not so clear.Take Question 4, asking voters to approve psychedelics for treatment. So far, no money has been donated to oppose it.But $4.4 million has been donated as of Oct. 1 to support it, according to data from the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance. A 5 Investigates’ analysis shows that 80 percent of the money comes from out of state. In fact, more money has come from California than Massachusetts. The top donor, giving $1 million to the campaign, is All One God Faith Inc., a California company operating as Dr. Bronner’s, a natural products company.Two individuals gave $500,000 each: a Beverly Hills philanthropist and Massachusetts donor, the chief technology officer of local software company HubSpot. Overall, the average donation is $74,186.A spokesperson for the campaign supporting the psychedelics ballot question said, “The Yes on 4 campaign is about creating new mental health treatment options for those suffering from PTSD, depression, and other conditions that traditional medicine has failed. We have received contributions as small as one dollar from dozens of individuals who are extremely passionate about finding new pathways to health for themselves and anyone else who feels like they are out of answers.”A spokesperson for the campaign opposing legalization of psychedelics said the effort is being run by “volunteers and grassroots supporters who know this is an ill-conceived ballot question with dangerous repercussions” that “provides nothing more than false hope and empty promises to people in desperate need of help and it is truly shameful.”Speaking generally, Northeastern University political science professor Costas Panagopoulos said ballot questions in Massachusetts often draw special interest money.”We’re seeing a ton of money being spent, and a lot of that money is not coming from voters, it’s not coming from average people, it’s coming from corporations and other entities that have a vested interest in the outcome of these ballot initiatives,” Panagopoulos said.”Who are these people, and what are they trying to get by donating to this?” 5 Investigates’ Karen Anderson asked.”Sometimes they really care about these issues, but oftentimes there are corporations and other entities that stand to benefit a great deal from whatever happens in places like Massachusetts. They can make a lot of money depending on the outcome of these races, and that’s why they invest so heavily,” he said.Panogopoulos said the floodgates to special interest money opened in 1978 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a Massachusetts law blocking corporate money from ballot questions. Since 1988, we found campaigns have spent nearly $400 million on ballot questions, according to OCPF data.Unlike candidates for office, committees supporting or opposing a ballot question can accept donations of any size from individuals, corporations, unions or other groups. Candidates can only accept $1,000 per calendar year from individuals, unions and some other groups. Businesses cannot donate to candidates in Mass.With Question 5, which would raise the minimum wage for tipped workers, 97 percent of the nearly $1 million supporting it comes from the progressive group One Fair Wage.Opposing it is $1.5 million in donations from restaurant owners and the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, among others. The Mass. Restaurant Association alone has given $630,788 as of Oct. 1.The group opposing raising the minimum wage for tipped workers said in a statement: “The Committee to Protect Tips is proud to be the most bi-partisan coalition of elected officials, restaurants, tipped employees and advocacy organizations formed this cycle. Our coalition has contributions from a wide variety of restaurants including many neighborhood restaurants and small businesses. We are extremely humbled by the almost 100 servers and bartenders that have contributed to the campaign on their own. We are the ONLY campaign working on Question 5 to have received contributions from servers and bartenders working in Massachusetts.”A spokesperson for the campaign in support of raising the minimum wage did not respond to requests for comment.Question 2, which would eliminate the MCAS as a graduation requirement if passed, is not exactly drawing grass-roots support either. The Massachusetts Teachers Association has funded the entire $7.6 million campaign so far to convince people to vote yes.On the other side: CEOs and business groups including the Mass. Business Alliance, Mass. High Technology Council and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce are among the donors who have given $1,526,206 in all.A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Teachers Association said the effort is grass-roots because the MTA’s budget is comprised entirely of dues from its members: public school and college educators.”We don’t have a dime from corporate interests, foundations, anything else. This is all our members’ money and they vote for their representatives to take on these campaigns,” the spokesperson said, adding that the donors to the campaign wanting to keep the test as a graduation requirement are mostly “big corporate executives, corporations, right-wing and education reform groups.”A spokesperson for the group opposing Question 2 said the group was “a broad coalition of teachers, parents, education advocates, and community and business leaders formed to preserve high standards for students and ensure equitable academic opportunities for all kids across the Commonwealth.”The campaign spokesperson added: “The special interest in this campaign, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, proposed the ballot question to advance its own interest and is wholly financing it from its own bank account without even one penny donated by anyone else. It has dipped into its vast campaign war chest to spend millions of dollars to weaken our states education standards.”Voters should know who are funding the ads that are trying to influence them, but the information is not always apparent, Panagopoulos said.”Oftentimes, these ballot initiatives are so under the radar that voters don’t have the kind of information they need to evaluate them adequately,” he said.”And does that lead to good public policy?” Anderson asked.”Sometimes it does and oftentimes it doesn’t, because the outcomes are reflecting the preferences of the entities that funded powerful advertising campaigns,” he said.