The consultant who once warned that California’s richest poured millions into politics because they had something to gain is now helping billionaires fight a tax on their fortunes.
Ned Wigglesworth, who decried the “billionaire boys’ club of politics” as a campaign finance reformer decades ago, is a key strategist behind Building a Better California, the political organization opposing Proposition 40, the November ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on Californians worth at least $1 billion.
The campaign has already pulled big Silicon Valley money—Google cofounder Sergey Brin alone contributed over $100 million to the group, with venture capitalist John Doerr and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen also putting money into committees fighting the tax. Building a Better California has also reserved $87 million worth of advertising ahead of the vote.
It’s unclear what led Wigglesworth from opposing the political influence of California’s wealthy to helping them defeat a tax targeting their wealth. The San Francisco Standard called him a “billionaire whisperer” while citing several interviews with anonymous colleagues of his who described him as a creature of Sacramento lobbying. His LinkedIn profile shows him at several communications firms: founding partner and CEO of Spectrum Campaigns for the past 10-plus years, and previously a partner at Redwood Pacific Public Affairs, Vice President at Goddard Claussen/West and Vice President at the California Medical Association. Presumably, Wigglesworth’s clients have migrated from less to more billionaire-friendly over time; he did not respond to Fortune‘s requests for comment.
