California’s business community is now formally organizing to fight the policies and the politicians jeopardizing the future of this state. But if they use the same the playbook and players that get rich off our political dysfunction every election, nothing is going to change.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that California’s wealthiest residents have been privately raising funds for a new kind of political vehicle: a $500 million endowment designed to finance friendly campaigns through its investment returns, rather than individual donations.
According to its backers, the aim of the fund, called California Renewal, is to make the state “more affordable and pro-growth,” giving business-minded donors a presence in local politics to rival entrenched labor interests.
While the idea of “taking on the California political establishment” isn’t new, the scale, urgency, and most importantly, the level of frustration from middle-class Californians, is.
For those of us still fighting for California while friends have fled to Texas or Florida, a $500 million campaign to drive real change sounds incredible — like the cavalry finally arriving.
A serious effort to take on the incompetence that let my home and community burn in Pacific Palisades, challenge the policies pushing out the industries that built this state, and get the California Dream off life support? Let’s roll.
Just one request: Don’t let the political consultant class do what they always do, and convince you campaigns must be run their way, which conveniently prioritizes massive fees over the best strategy.
Like the military-industrial complex, this ecosystem is deeply conflicted from the kind of innovation and creativity this effort demands. More of the same is no longer an option.
In many ways, political campaigns today are just media-buying operations. In 2024, over half of all campaign spending went to advertising.
The consultants placing those buys typically earn 10% to 15% commissions, which creates a built-in incentive to spend heavily on increasingly outdated channels like linear television and (no joke) mailers.
The data reflects that bias: While commercial advertisers put 78% of their budgets into digital advertising, political campaigns allocated just 36%.
There are estimates that the political consultants took home $30 million to $50 million from Gavin Newsom’s Prop 50 campaign alone.
Polling is another version of the same problem. Consultants take fees, commissions, and often undisclosed kickbacks on polling, then insist every decision be “data-driven.” In practice, that means endless message testing and focus groups over decisiveness and leadership.
Modern campaigns don’t work that way. When events happen, you need to respond immediately. You need instinct, clarity, and conviction.
More importantly, endless polling doesn’t just slow a campaign down. It also turns candidates into clichés, built from contrived soundbites and inauthentic positions. And that’s exactly the opposite of what works in today’s media environment.
In a world of countless feeds, it’s not that political operators don’t know where voters are — they do. It’s that the incentive structure doesn’t reward going there.
A consultant paid on a TV buy has no reason to recommend a TikTok strategy, even if it’s more effective. That system guarantees commissions, not outcomes.
Of course, Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump poll and run television advertising, but it’s secondary to authenticity, speed, and the modern media ecosystem.
The current landscape demands a different approach. The old political class will tell you to raise as much money as possible and save it to dump on massive ad buys in the end. “Voters have short memories.”
Instead, campaigns should be run like brand-building exercises that move in real time, and reinforce narratives that require a constant presence to stay relevant.
In a world where even the 24-hour news cycle lags behind real-time social media, the answer isn’t a bigger ad buy. It’s a persistent, thoughtful presence across every surface where attention lives.
That includes broadcast and streaming — and a network of podcasts, newsletters, and creator platforms that reach highly-engaged audiences and activate them in ways traditional media can’t.
The consultant who can navigate this system won’t have been built inside the old one. And it’s possible the donors behind California Renewal understand that. They built companies by spotting broken systems and replacing them with something better.
The California political complex is one of those systems, and it’s long overdue for disruption.
I love this state, and we desperately need new ideas. But nothing changes if “taking on the establishment” requires a 15% commission.
Adam Mendelsohn is the founder of Upland Workshop, a communications advisory firm. He was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s deputy chief of staff for communications for his re-election and second term.
