Wealthy corporate farmer Stewart Resnick has written check after check to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's political campaigns. He's hosted a party in her honor at his Beverly Hills mansion, and he's entertained her at his second home in Aspen, Colo.

In September, when Resnick asked Feinstein to weigh in on the side of agribusiness in a drought-fueled environmental dispute over the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the wealthy grower and political donor got quick results, documents show.

On Sept. 4, Resnick wrote to Feinstein, complaining that the latest federal plan to rescue the Delta's endangered salmon and shad fisheries was "exacerbating the state's severe drought" because it cut back on water available to irrigate crops. "Sloppy science" by federal wildlife agencies had led to "regulatory-induced water shortages," he claimed.

"I really appreciate your involvement in this issue," he wrote to Feinstein.

One week later, Feinstein forwarded Resnick's letter to two U.S. Cabinet secretaries. In her own letter, she referred specifically to Resnick's plea and urged the administration to spend $750,000 for a sweeping re-examination of the science behind the entire Delta environmental protection plan.

The Obama administration quickly agreed, authorizing another review of whether restrictions on pumping irrigation water were necessary to save the Delta's fish. The results could delay or change the course of the protection effort.

To environmentalists concerned with protecting the Delta, it was a dispiriting display of the political clout wielded by Resnick, who is among California's biggest growers and among its biggest political donors.

Resnick's Paramount Farms owns 118,000 acres of heavily irrigated California orchards. "Paramount Farms is a huge player," said Gerald Meral, former director of the Planning and Conservation League environmental lobby.

Since he began buying farmland 25 years ago, Resnick, his wife, and executives of his companies have donated $3.97 million to candidates and political committees, mostly in the Golden State, a California Watch review of public records shows.

They have given $29,000 to Feinstein and $246,000 more to Democratic political committees during years when she has sought re-election.

"It is very disappointing that one person can make this kind of request, and all of a sudden he has a senator on the phone, calling up (U.S. Interior Secretary Ken) Salazar," said Jim Metropulos, senior advocate for the Sierra Club.

Feinstein's letter was "based on what she believes to be the best policy for California and the nation," spokesman Gil Duran said in a statement. "No other factors play a role in her decisions."

With the Valley's economy battered by recession and drought, Feinstein believed it was important to reconsider the restrictions on pumping Delta water for irrigation, he said. Many farmers have urged such a review, he added.

In an interview, Resnick said he didn't leverage his relationship with Feinstein to persuade her to intervene.

"Honestly, I'm not saying we could not have done that, but I don't think that's the way it happened," he said. Feinstein long has had an interest in water issues, and "she just wanted to get to the bottom of this," Resnick said.

Early on, records show, Resnick began contributing to politicians with power over the bureaucracies that make decisions affecting farming's financial bottom line.

Since 1993, the Resnicks gave $1.6 million to California governors, key players in determining state water policy. Their donation pattern seems nonpartisan, with the money following who's in power.

In the 1990s, they gave $238,000 to Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, records show. The Resnicks also backed the Democrat who replaced Wilson, Gray Davis. They gave Davis $643,000. They gave $91,500 more to oppose Davis' 2003 recall.

With Davis gone, Resnick began donating to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – $221,000, records show – plus $50,000 to a foundation that pays for the governor's foreign travel.

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California Watch is a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting with offices in the Bay Area and Sacramento. To read the full-length version of this story, go to www.californiawatch.org