For 11 months Gov. Jerry Brown raised almost no money and conducted few political exercises outside the Capitol.

But in a spate of private meetings and fundraisers in recent weeks, his political apparatus stirred. Brown quietly raised more than $1.2 million in two weeks for his campaign to raise taxes.

He is also raising money for his re-election bid, and his administration is positioned to engage in legislative races next year.

The effort includes meetings between Brown's political adviser, Steve Glazer, and potential donors at their offices in Sacramento and in a borrowed conference room at the downtown building where Brown rents a loft. The meetings have included business and labor representatives, but also lobbyists with lengthy corporate client lists.

"He's out and starting to contact companies and build support," said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable. "It's in its very earliest stages, but I think they're starting to show that they can put together an effective organization."

That organization involves the California Democratic Party, whose finance director, Angie Tate, is helping Glazer, including joining him at some meetings. Brown said his relationship with the party's chairman, John Burton, is "the best it's ever been," despite Burton's filing of a tax proposal different than Brown's.

The administration is making other prominent connections. On Jan. 1, Glazer will start advising the California Chamber of Commerce's political action committee in legislative races. The heavy-spending JobsPAC's donors include insurance, oil, tobacco and pharmaceutical companies.

"If you share at least some of the governor's agenda, you can, in theory, help build support for his agenda in the Legislature," said Darry Sragow, a Democratic strategist who previously advised the chamber.

"You have a major opportunity to shape who's going to be there voting on the governor's agenda," Sragow said, "and if there's a good working relationship between the business community and the Governor's Office, that's obviously very helpful to both."

In its first financial report – filed less than a month after Brown proposed a ballot initiative to temporarily raise the state sales tax and income taxes on California's highest earners – Brown's initiative campaign reported raising $1.2 million from just nine donors.

"We're making very quick progress," Glazer said.

The largest contribution, $500,000, came from an arm of the California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. The state building trades union donated $250,000 through its political action committee, Members' Voice of the State Building Trades.

"Our interest is that there be a budget that, you know, is halfway balanced," Duane Dauner, president of the California Hospital Association, said Friday. "This is an overall effort to be supportive of balancing revenues and expenses so we can, in fact, get the state back on track."

Blue Shield of California donated $100,000 to the effort, and California's gaming Indian tribes combined to give more than $300,000.

In a separate report, Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens, Los Angeles County, reported contributing $12,500 to Brown's re-election campaign.

Brown has not yet said whether he will seek re-election in 2014, but Glazer has said he expects the governor to do so.

Raising money for Brown's re-election, Glazer said, is "not our focus, but it's a byproduct of starting up the fundraising machinery. People want to know what are the options."

Though typical of governors, Brown's aggressive fundraising opens him to conflict-of-interest questions that he has largely avoided for months.

"It creates the appearance that people want something, and they do," said Robert Stern, former president of the recently closed Center for Governmental Studies.

"They're obviously currying favor," Stern said. "You're not seeing people who don't have business coming before Sacramento giving lots of money."

Brown's tax plan is one of several tax proposals for the November 2012 ballot, and the governor said this week that he is seeking to brush them off to ensure "a clean election, a clean shot, one major measure."

He may be making progress. The Think Long Committee for California, a group with its own tax proposal and the backing of billionaire Nicolas Berggruen, is considering a range of options, including sitting out the November 2012 election or changing its plan to dovetail with Brown's, said former Gov. Gray Davis, a member of the group.

"History tells us that one initiative has the better chance if it's the only choice on the ballot," Davis said.

Brown's fundraising effort is expected to be complicated by pressure on labor unions to spend money elsewhere, including defending against pension changes and a "paycheck protection" measure.

"Paycheck is going to be a top priority for our unions," said Steve Smith of the California Labor Federation. "But another huge priority is going to be revenue. … I think it's going to be a situation where we're going to have to fund multiple campaigns, and that's in addition to what we need to do on the candidate races."

Brown has been criticized by some observers for waiting so long to organize his fundraising effort. His most recent predecessors raised millions of dollars in their first years in office, at least in part for the political leverage it afforded them.

"I think he could have had a better year last year if he had more going on on the outside," said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist. "If he remedies that, it's very good for him."

Brown has little choice but to do so if his initiative is to succeed.

"In California, we tend not to be successful walking precincts exclusively," said Marty Wilson, a veteran GOP strategist now directing the chamber's political operation. "You've got to have the money."

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Call David Siders, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1215. Follow him on Twitter @davidsiders.

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