A look at who gave money to both sides of the Prop. 47 campaign.

Just because ballot initiatives in California are based on the democratic process of gathering signatures, it doesn’t mean they’re free of campaign cash. There was a $10 million campaign on Proposition 47 last year, leading up to its 60-percent victory at the polls Nov. 4.

The yes on Proposition 47 committee raised $9 million, running circles around Californians Against Prop. 47, which came up with barely $500,000. (Chief Assistant District Attorney Berkley Brannon donated $200 to the no committee.)

George Soros, a billionaire investor who fled communist Hungary in 1947 and has been devoted to progressive causes ever since, is the founder and chairman of the Open Society Policy Center, which bankrolled the yes on Prop. 47 committee with nearly $1.5 million. Labor unions and the California Democratic party also got on board with donations.

B. Wayne Hughes – who was the second-largest donor to Congressional hopeful and Deputy District Attorney Jimmy Panetta’s fundraising effort for the Fort Ord veteran’s cemetery – gave $1.5 million. Facebook billionaire Sean Parker gave $100,000, and Molly Munger, daughter of Warren Buffett’s billionaire partner Charles Munger, gave $325,000.

The proposition changes 10 theft and drug possession statutes to misdemeanors. They includes burglary of a business during business hours, possession of stolen property, and writing forged checks, all if the value stolen is under $950. They also include possession of illegal substances, from cocaine to heroin to prescription pills without a prescription. Prior to Nov. 5, some of these crimes, like possession of heroin and cocaine, was a felony. Others, like possession of methamphetamine, forgery or commercial burglary, could be charged either as a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the defendant’s record. (These either/or crimes are known as “wobblers,” and Prop. 47 changes several wobblers to straight misdemeanors.)