One candidate in next year's gubernatorial race contributed thousands of dollars to Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and John Kerry.
Another wrote $21,000 in checks to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and the Democratic National Committee in 2000.
A third was a registered Democrat in the early 1970s and has acknowledged supporting George McGovern as the party's presidential candidate in 1972.
All three of the donors -- Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner and Tom Campbell -- are Republicans and all three are vying to become California's next governor.
They constitute the entire GOP gubernatorial field, a fact that has some Republicans wondering where their candidates' loyalties really lie.
It's a pattern that is complicating a Republican primary already unique in offering three social moderates. The candidates have reacted by seeking to sell themselves as the real Republican of the bunch.
Their pitches, however, aren't convincing conservatives such as Jon Fleischman, vice chairman of the state GOP's southern branch and publisher of the FlashReport blog.
"Clearly, it's difficult for a conservative to try to rationalize why this kind of behavior is acceptable," Fleischman said about the campaign contributions. "When it comes to Whitman and Poizner, you have to ask, 'What did they do?' and 'Do you regret what you did?' "
The bipartisan money picture reflects more than just the rise of social moderates, who some say are the only Republicans who can win statewide office in Democrat-heavy California.
The trend also reveals the growing dominance of wealthy, former corporate executives in state politics, said Jack Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College.
Whitman is the billionaire former CEO of online auction firm eBay, while Poizner was the head of SnapTrack, which developed mobile phone-based GPS systems.
"It's standard procedure in corporate America," Pitney said. "You hedge your bets. Contributions by corporate executives are not a matter of ideology or principle, but business."
According to state and federal records, Whitman's contributions began flowing in the late 1990s and have largely benefited Republican candidates and committees. Democrats, however, have also received thousands of dollars of her largess.
Whitman gave $4,000 to Boxer in November 2003 and an additional $4,000 to Boxer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that same month, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Whitman also endorsed Boxer in 2003 as a member of the group Technology Leaders for Boxer. In a joint letter publicized by the Boxer campaign, Whitman wrote, "Barbara Boxer is a courageous leader and friend of California's technology industry."
State Republicans view Boxer with particular hostility because of her liberal politics and what's seen as her confrontational style, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California and a former communications director for Gov. Pete Wilson.
Asked about the Boxer support, Whitman spokesman Tucker Bounds said the former CEO supported politicians friendly to her company, regardless of party affiliation. Boxer, in particular, shared Whitman's opposition to online sales taxes, Bounds said.
"As an executive, Meg was not operating as a partisan but rather as a business leader consulted to support initiatives that were key to the online industry," Bounds said.
"This campaign is supported and managed by stalwart Republicans and conservatives who believe this state needs to step in a new direction of conservative leadership," Bounds said.
Poizner has faced similar questions about his contributions to Gore and the Gore/Lieberman Recount Committee, which funded the Democratic candidate's unsuccessful legal efforts in the aftermath of the 2000 election.
Poizner has said he wrote the checks to Gore on behalf of his wife, Carol Poizner, a longtime Democrat, but voted for Bush. Poizner spokesman Jarrod Agen repeated the explanation in an interview with The Bee last week.
News accounts during Poizner's failed 2004 state Assembly race, however, tell a different story.
While defending him from Democratic criticisms of being too conservative, Poizner spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns "pointed to Poizner's $10,000 donation to the Democratic National Committee in 2000 and $1,000 to Democrat Al Gore in 2000," according to a Sept. 17, 2004, article in the Daily News of Palo Alto.
When asked about the Democratic contributions, Poizner himself is quoted in an Oct. 27, 2004, article in the Palo Alto Weekly, "If I had to do all over again, I wouldn't do it."
Despite the conflicting accounts, Agen said bipartisanship -- in pursuit of a conservative agenda -- would mark a Poizner administration.
"He's willing to work with both sides of those issues," Agen said. "The No. 1 issue is the state's economy, and he feels that fiscal conservative principles is what's needed to solve the budget issues and bring jobs back."
The third candidate, Campbell, hasn't shied away from his Democratic past but has cited his bipartisan approach as a selling point while trumpeting his years working in the Reagan administration.
A Chicago native, Campbell was registered with the Democratic Party in Illinois during the 1974 primary, according to James P. Allen, communications director of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
Campbell has said he became a Republican in the 1970s around the time he studied under free-market champion Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago.
"It's one thing if you admit, 'I'll try to be bipartisan,' but (Whitman and Poizner) are trying to claim 'I'm more Republican than you are,' " said Campbell spokesman Jamie Fisfis. "If you're at peace with who you are and what you bring into the race, these things don't matter."
E-mail reporter Jack Chang at jchang(at)sacbee.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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