Gap Inc. founder Donald Fisher may well be “a major political force who has powerful ties inside (San Francisco) City Hall” as the Chronicle once reported, and he and his family may well have been among the “most reliable – and, if dollar amounts are any indication, enthusiastic” donors to Gavin Newsom’s 2003 mayoral campaign as the Bay Guardian once reported, but Fischer gave $7,000 to Jerry Brown’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign on June 26. Other notable donations to Brown’s campaign that same day included $6,500 from fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg of New Milford, Conn. and $5,000 from Playboy magazine founder and editor-in-chief Hugh Hefner of Los Angeles.

Gavin Newsom is raising funds too, although not at such a rate as Brown. Among his recent contributions was $5,000 on June 26 from political consultant Peter Ragone, who works for – Newsom. Call it enlightened self-interest.

On the other side of the aisle, 2002 Republican gubernatorial primary candidate, former Los Angeles Mayor and former state Education Secretary Richard Riordan threw $5,000 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner on June 30.

Engineering, construction and investment mogul Stephen Bechtel Jr. of San Francisco - #261 on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people, at a net worth of about $2.5 billion – anted up $10,000 for Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Campbell on June 27.

And eHarmony Inc. CEO Gregory Waldorf of Santa Monica feels the stirrings of political love for Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, to whom he gave $5,000 on June 26.

In the ballot measure department, Los Angeles-based Mercury General Corp. on June 26 put $500,000 into a “Californians For Fair Auto Insurance Rates” campaign committee, supporting a prospective ballot measure called the “The Continuous Coverage Auto Insurance Discount Act.” The language submitted June 12 to the state Attorney General’s office says the measure would correct an inconsistency in California insurance law that lets insurers provide a discount rewarding long periods of continuous coverage to drivers who change insurers rather than only those who stick with the same insurer.