SACRAMENTO — A few weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a campaign to keep himself in office, his recall defense team says it has raised $3.1 million — nearly half of it from a dozen wealthy individuals and groups that have written the governor checks for $5,000 or more.

Unlike in a traditional campaign, the governor can raise unlimited funds to fight a recall. Donors are not limited to the normal $32,400 maximum.

Newsom is taking advantage of the exception. His top givers include the California Democratic Party, the couple who own Fiji Water, and a tech executive who ran in the 2003 recall of Gov. Gray Davis as a parody candidate with the Butt Monkey Beer Party — all of whom have donated at least $100,000.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Wealthy-donors-help-fund-Newsom-s-anti-recall-16093231.php