"In California, all we have is gatekeepers, right? You can't build a bus lane or a bathroom or something like that because there's a long line of gatekeepers and the gatekeepers extract some sort of power, whether it's money or influence or something."
"Buchheit, in a 2024 interview with the tech outlet Pirate Wires, cast Gmail as an 'insurgent' fighting against 'gatekeepers' - a model he also used to skewer California."
Paul Buchheit, Gmail's creator, contributed $1 million to a PAC supporting gubernatorial candidate Mahan, alongside individual donations capped at $39,200. Other prominent tech figures including Sergey Brin, Tony Xu, Joe Lonsdale, Kyle Vogt, Michael Moritz, Garry Tan, and Reid Hoffman also donated to Mahan's campaign. Mahan opposes proposed billionaire wealth taxes and emphasizes fiscal responsibility, campaigning at Y Combinator. Buchheit, who previously avoided state political donations, has given over $100,000 to moderate San Francisco causes in 2024. He characterizes California governance as controlled by gatekeepers extracting power and influence, comparing this to his insurgent Gmail model.
#tech-industry-political-donations #california-gubernatorial-campaign #wealth-tax-opposition #silicon-valley-political-influence
Read at SFGATE
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]