Not wanting to miss out on the growing uproar over the Dirty Tricks Initiative plan, The Hill breaks down the plans of California’s Congressional Delegation to get involved.  Representative Darrell Issa sounded less than enthusiastic about members of the Republican delegation getting involved, saying “We barely mention them until they qualify…Usually they’re just talked about to get us to spend money.”

Democrats on the other hand sound ready to battle.  Rep. Waxman leads off:

“We’ll all be part of an effort to fight it,” Rep. Henry Waxman said of his fellow California Democrats. “We’ve been successful in beating back efforts in the past.”

And then Rep. Lofgren starts talking strategy:

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the state’s Democratic delegation, estimated that all California Democrats in Congress “are going to oppose it.”

She emphasized that the campaign is a long way away but said Democrats are taking the effort very seriously and plan to let their constituents know about its true intent: helping Republicans elect the next president.

On the flip, analysis and a Republican acknowledges reality, even in passing.

Obviously this is getting the attention it warrants straight to the top and Democrats (for once) sound ready to fight.  There’s more to this iniative than just ensuring it doesn’t pass.  There’s a real opportunity to beat it convincingly and, if framed properly, deal a direct blow to Republican electoral shenanigans.

California Congressional Democrats are talking the talk.  The issue is being framed as a naked partisan power grab, and the enthusiasm and lack of equivocation is an encouraging sign that maybe this one is such an easy one to hit out of the park that everyone’s going to line up to take a few swings.  This is likely not going to be an issue that will impact congressional races significantly, so it affords opportunities for members of both parties to score points with their base while getting national attention.

But one thing which becomes clear is that this fight will not lack for high-profile attention or money.  Safe districts and unopposed candidates have something to keep them busy and on the fundraising circuit, and the entire party is lining up to make sure that the rank and file of the party get their education and stay on the reservation with this one.

An interesting sidenote is the prospect of a united Congressional caucus.  This is an easy issue for everyone to be “locking arms along party lines” over.  As the media desperately pushes the “divided Democrats” storyline and the fervor rises for pressure on conservative Democrats, this offers an excellent opportunity to unite the party.

This clearly doesn’t have a smooth route to passing next year, even on the presumably low-turnout June ballot.  But it’s just threatening enough for everyone to tee off on it, and that’s a good start.  This is such an obvious illustration of everything that’s wrong with the Republican electoral playbook that every Democrat should be excited to get into the fray.  The netroots/grassroots partnership has quickly helped establish the way this issue should be talked about, and the template has plenty of power players ready to go.

But before writing off the entire Republican side of the Congressional aisle, I’ll leave you with a rare glimpse of reality from the Right:

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) said the initiative faces a “tough sell,” noting the ardent resistance from the Democratic establishment.

“Normally, unless it’s over 50 at the very beginning, it’s going to be hard to get it passed,” Lungren said.

This should be a fun one.

Among other sources, the AP reported yesterday on the many issues up for debate as Republicans consider overhauling their current platform.  Schwarzenneger has lined up support from GOPers in the legislature to move away from divisive (and presumably NOT post-partisan) “values” issues like gun control, abortion and gay rights.  Arnold is pushing for a more practical, Reagan-worship focus, hoping to distill things down to just low taxes, strong defense, and small government.  And if you think those three items were intentionally ordered to contradict themselves, you’re quite right.

It’s hardly news to find the Governor at odds with the socially conservative wing of the Republican Party, but what’s been brewing for a while has the potential to boil over at the Republican Convention as the battle over the state party’s soul comes to a head.  While Schwarzenegger thinks it might be time for the Republican Party to abandon platform points like overturning Roe v. Wade and opposing gun registration, President of the California Republican Assembly Steve Pence laments that “[t]here’s a move afoot to make sure the Republican Party stands for nothing… [it’s]…a direct assault on Republican Party principles.”

State GOP chair Ron Nehring for his part says the party is in the midst of a “healthy discussion” and has a draft platform with fun terms like “one man and one woman and “the unborn.”  Bob brought us Nehring’s excitement over the “significant step” of endorsing the Dirty Tricks maneuver and in the same day, while jockeying for position heading into the debate, Julia noted Schwarzenegger belittling the Dirty Tricks Initiative.  One wonders if there are broader implications as Reagan worship squares off against “values.”  Is this a sign of the unholy Republican alliance finally splintering in the face of reality?

I mentioned this in the Quickies, but it deserves some front-page attention.  The San Jose Mercury News has delved deeper (reg. req’d) into the connections between the GOP law firm pushing the dirty trick initiative to steal the 2008 Presidential election, and past ratfucking operations of years past.  At the top of the list is the key financier from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Lawyers behind a California ballot proposal that could benefit the 2008 Republican presidential nominee have ties to a Texas homebuilder who financed attacks on Democrat John Kerry’s Vietnam War record in the 2004 presidential campaign.

Charles H. Bell and Thomas Hiltachk’s (Arnold’s former personal lawyer -ed.) law firm banked nearly $65,000 in fees from a California-based political committee funded almost solely by Bob J. Perry that targeted Democrats in 2006. Perry, a major Republican donor, contributed nearly $4.5 million to the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that made unsubstantiated but damaging attacks on Kerry three years ago.

The Perry-financed committee in California, the Economic Freedom Fund, continued to spend money this year, mostly on legal expenses tied to an ongoing legal dispute in Indiana over phone calls made to voters in 2006. It lists the Sacramento law office’s address as its home and its Web site directs contributions to the firm, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk. In addition, Bell serves as the committee’s treasurer.

I highlighted that other bit because it’s significant that Perry also financed the major dirty trick of the 2006 election: numerous illegal robocalls to voters in swing districts, pretending to be from Democrats.  So the same law firm trying to split California’s electoral votes have taken cash from the major Republican dirty tricks operations over the last several years.

It’s unclear whether Perry has given to this current power grab.  But with his name in the rolodex, it would be absurd to think he won’t.

Here’s a little more on the law firm, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk:

Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk is one of the most politically involved law firms in the state. According to a news story on its Web site, Bell keeps a life-sized cardboard image of President Bush in his office. Federal records show the firm does legal work for a host of political committees, most with Republican or business ties.

“It comes across as a power grab,” said Republican analyst Allan Hoffenblum, who predicted the proposal would likely fail in the Democratic-leaning state. Even Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger offered a lukewarm assessment of the idea.

Here’s Digby on the power grab.

They really couldn’t be more obvious.

I suspect this is as much mind fuck as anything, and perhaps a simple desire to force Democrats to spend money on something they don’t want to spend it on, but you cannot take that for granted. These people have no compunction about cheating. They’ve shown that. Look what it got us in 2000. And if they succeed again, the press will just laugh and giggle about haircuts and cleavage and tell everyone to get over it. Just like last time. And the time before. And the time before that.

This is about spending money, certainly, but I do think it could backfire by energizing California and national Democrats in a way that they are rarely energized about anything. If we build a broad-based movement around first fighting this dirty trick and then making them pay, they could rue the day they ever put this out. Courage Campaign is raising money to fight this at the grassroots level, with low-dollar, broad-based donations.  They’ve already raised $7,000 from over 250 contributors within less than 24 hours.  Let’s get to 1,000.

This is something that impacts everyone around the country.  A strong people-powered movement in California will resonate everywhere, and this can be the spark that will light that movement.  Let’s not let the type of tactics we saw with the Swifties predominate.  Let’s make these thieves pay.

UPDATE: It was a blogger, our own Frank Russo of the California Progress Report who exposed Bell, McAndrews and HIltachk’s involvement with the Swiftboaters.  If you want to see more digging like this, more people-powered exposure of these dirty tricksters, give to the Courage Campaign fund to stop this power grab in its tracks.

(Some edits for space. “Democratic Voters Choice” has been one of the more egregious abusers of the slate mailer process. Come next December, it’s time to reform the slate mailer process. Thanks bolson! – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Here we have a big fat lie that came in the mail recently:

The actual candidates endorsed by the Democratic Party are Janet Wolf for Supervisor and Cynthia Brock and Margaret Connel for Goleta City Council.

Brian’s edits: Click the image for full size image. You’ll notice that this “team for Democratic voters” also supports Prop 90 and Rejects Prop 87, both positions are the exact opposite of the Official California Democratic Party’s actual positions

The small print at the bottom says:

Democratic Voters Choice, 601 S. Glenoaks, Burbank CA 91502. Ballot measures and non-partisan offices evaluated independent of party. Not paid for or authorized by candidates and ballot measures not marked by an *. Endorsements by elected officials and organizations apply to spefiied candidates and measures only.

Take out the double negative and we find that someone associated with the three local candidates and * marked initiatives paid for and/or authorized this mailer. It would seem that Secord, Onen and Bennet paid for and authorized this lie. I hope some clever lawyer can sue their fraudulent asses off – or if they somehow claim plausible deniability at least shut down “Democratic Voters Choice” which has run these shenanigans before. Another example over the flip.

Here’s another piece currently circulating from “Democratic Voters Choice”:

This one gets all the state wide candidates right, but lies about the ballot initiatives. The lies being paid for are: No on 1A-1C (CA Dems say yes), No on 87 (CA Dems say yes), Yes on 88 (CA Dems say no), Yes on 90 (CA Dems say no).

I have my own opinions on the ballot initiatives (yes on 87,89 and Santa Barbara D and P, no on the rest) but I really hate dirty tricks.