Jerry Brown spending campaign war chest – for ballot measures | The Sacramento Bee

Gov. Jerry Brown has finally dipped into his campaign war chest, not for his own re-election but for a pair of ballot measures he is supporting, his campaign reported Thursday.

Nearly all of the $3.4 million Brown reported spending Oct. 1-18 was for advertising for Propositions 1 and 2, the $7.5 billion water bond and budget reserve measure on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Brown has spent $3.8 million so far this year and was left with about $21 million on hand. Far ahead of Republican Neel Kashkari in public opinion polls, he is expected to carry much of that money over into his fourth term.

The Brown-controlled campaign committee for Propositions 1 and 2 reported spending $10.1 million Oct. 1-18. It had $6 million on hand for the final two weeks of the election.

Kashkari poured another $1 million of his own money into his campaign Friday, allowing him to maintain limited advertising against Brown. He trails the Democratic governor by 16 percentage points, 52 percent to 36 percent, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday.

Kashkari has not yet filed his latest campaign finance statement. The report is due by midnight.