Tag Archives: Electoral College

California

From The People Who Brought You The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth…

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.

Uncategorized

Skelton: “GOP Trying To Rig The Presidential Election”

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(UPDATE: David promised more on how you can help, here it is! – promoted by Bob Brigham)

There is no reason for a well-informed Californian not to know about the Dirty Tricks initiative to steal the 2008 election by changing the way the state apportions its electoral votes.  By now practically every newspaper in the state has written an editorial against it.  And now one of the deans of Sacramento, George Skelton, bluntly criticizes the maneuver.

The chutzpah award for this summer has a runaway winner. It’s the small team of Republican operatives trying to rig the 2008 presidential race.

“Rig” means tilting the playing field to assure continued Republican occupancy of the White House — perhaps for a very long time.

over…

Skelton intimates that this could backfire on the Republican operatives by creating a rallying point for progressives and Democrats:

Whatever this is, it’s brazen — a strategy based on the assumption of a low voter turnout that leans Republican while the electoral college measure slips under the Democratic radar.

But I can envision just the opposite. I can see this initiative drawing a lot of media attention that awakens Democratic voters.

“It’s a ‘wacky California’ story,” (Peter) Ragone says. “Like in, ‘Here they go again!’ “

Skelton offers the obvious alternative to this power grab in clear and concise language.

What would make sense is to completely shutter the archaic electoral college and elect the president by national popular vote. The argument that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it was discredited in 2000 when the system did break. For the fourth time in history, the candidate who got the most citizen votes lost out in the electoral college. No need to recite the national consequences of that glitch.

But before we can tear down the electoral college, Americans must get over the notion that states — not citizens — should elect the president. Whomever most people want to be president should be. That’s how every other officeholder is elected in this land.

Exactly, though placing it on the ballot as an alternative would probably needlessly confuse the issue.  Especially if you see it as a rallying point.  I don’t think the 30,000-feet strategy of Ragone and Chris Lehane is to energize Democrats, necessarily.  They want to spend a lot of money and “confuse to kill” if they have to.  But the progressive movement smells an opportunity here, a chance to use this campaign as a springboard, to activate progressives all over the state to fight this dirty trick.

Like I said, well-informed people have no excuse not to know about this.  But those one notch below may not be at all aware.  That’s why we need to make sure we have the resources we need to run a positive campaign bent on capitalizing on this dirty trick to change the political map in the state.  Republicans will rue the day they even tried this.  More on how you can help later.

Budget, Environment, Health Care

August 30, 2007 Blog Roundup

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Blog Roundup, Budget, Environment, Health Care

August 29, 2007 Blog Roundup

Today’s Blog Roundup is on the flip. I’m afraid I’m in an all-day seminar for my day job and I’m trying to just work this in between lectures, so it’s pretty much a link dump today. Let me know what I missed.

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Uncategorized

No Dirty Tricks: Edwards Steps Up

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Chris Dodd was the first Presidential candidate to speak out against the dirty tricks initiative being pushed by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s old lawyer, that could steal up to 20 electoral votes in a right-wing power grab.  Now John Edwards has gone a step further, setting up a petition to oppose the ballot initiative.  I’ve added the full text on the flip.

I’m not sure where this petition is meant to go, or why it’s only being sent to Californians – presumably everyone would be interested in stopping the Republicans from stealing the election.  But clearly, it’s interesting to see which candidates are stepping up and joining the chorus of those who want to see the next Presidential election decided fairly and free of dirty tricks.

The petition is available here.

Dear David,

There’s a partisan power grab going on in California-and we need your help today to stop it.

Republican lawyers and wealthy insiders, working behind the scenes, are trying to rig the entire national election system in favor of their presidential candidate by changing California election laws.

Under their cynical scheme, California’s Electoral College votes will be divvied up to the winner of each Congressional district, rather than following the “winner-take-all” system that is the standard in 48 states, including Republican strongholds like Texas and Utah.

Our political process badly needs reform, including public funding of campaigns, greater voter participation and less lobbyist influence in Washington. But we don’t need dirty tricks by Republicans desperate to gain and maintain the status quo.

John Edwards is asking you to join us in standing up for political fairness-and to put an end to this blatant attempt to manipulate the result of the 2008 presidential election. Join thousands of other concerned Californian’s in signing the petition opposing this ballot initiative.

link

Help us send a message to these political operatives that their Karl Rove tactics will not work. We, the people, will not allow you to get away with this naked partisan power grab.

Please sign the petition-and encourage your family and friends to sign as well. There’s power in numbers and, together, we can end the attempt by these special interests to put yet another of their own in the White House next year.

link

Thank you for your support.

Blog Roundup, Budget, Health Care

August 27, 2007 Blog Roundup

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Blog Roundup, Budget, Environment, Health Care

August 24, 2007 Blog Roundup

Today’s Blog Roundup is on the flip. It’s been a long week, and I’ve got some other things as need doing, so it’s a straight-up link dump. Besides, everyone is
over at FireDogLake talking to Jerry.

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California

How We Still Take the White House if the Rep Power Grab Initiative Passes

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I want to add to the analysis of the proposed California Republican power grab initiative.  Should it pass, we could lose about 19 of California’s 55 electoral college votes to the Rep candidate.

If the initiative qualifies for the June 2008 California primary election, we will of course fight it tooth and nail.  But all is not lost if it passes.  We can still win in 2008 in a landslide.  We don’t have to have Rep Presidents forever.  However, we must nominate a candidate that can win in solid Red states – and the best candidate for that task is Bill Richardson.

Generating support from outside the Democratic base is critical to taking the White House.  The Presidential election of 2004 demonstrated the fallacy of the argument that all Democrats need to do is line up behind a candidate, generate a massive turnout and victory will be ours.

John Kerry received more votes than any other Democratic candidate for President in history, yet he still lost.  On the other hand, as we saw in the 2006 Congressional elections, when Democrats attract votes from Republicans and Independents, Democrats win. 

If the Rep power grab initiative passes in California next year, it becomes imperative that we not nominate another Northern liberal like Clinton or Obama.  Forget the meaningless presidential match up polls more than a year before the election.  They are just based on national name recognition at this point.  Northern liberal Democrats don’t carry solidly Red states.  The White House will be lost if the Rep aren’t challenged in the South, Southwest, Rocky Mountain and Western states, and that is guaranteed if the Rep power grab initiative passes in California. 

The candidate I’m supporting is Bill Richardson.  More than John Edwards, because of Richardson’s Latino heritage and Western values as well as economic policies and stance on 2nd Amendment issues, Richardson is the ideal candidates for Dem to take Red states regardless of what happens in California.

New Mexico politics mirrors the partisan split in America today.  In the last two Presidential elections, the outcome of the vote in New Mexico was decided by less than 1% of the ballots cast.

Richardson has been the most successful governor at the ballot box in New Mexico history. In a state evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, Richardson won his first term in office by a 56 to 39 percent margin.

Four years later, when the campaign issue was his leadership and performance, Richardson was re-elected by an incredible 68 to 32 percent vote – more than twice his margin of victory in 2002.  Forty percent of the Republicans that went to the polls in New Mexico last November voted for Richardson. 

With Richardson at the head of the Democratic ticket, no longer would the fate of the Democratic candidate rise or fall on the outcome of one state.  We would start with the same states carried by Senator Kerry in 2004. 

Latinos who voted for Bush in 2004 would largely return to the Democratic Party.  Independents would also favor Richardson.  We already are seeing this.  In the latest ARG poll for Iowa , Richardson, among Independents that lean Democratic, is leading the Democratic field:

Biden  3%
Clinton  18%
Dodd  3%
Edwards  8%
Kucinich  5%
Obama  21%
Richardson  25%
Undecided  17%

Add in his Western values, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona would become blue states.  That brings 29 electoral votes to the Dems, more than compensating for the lost electoral votes in California if the Rep power grab initiative passes but not enough to win the White House (assuming we carry all states Kerry won in 2004). 

Florida with 27 electoral votes could make the difference.  With Richardson as the nominee it could easily turn blue.  Adam Smith, one of the top political commentator in Florida, described earlier this year Richardson’s appeal in the state. 

I defy anyone to name a Democrat better equipped to take Florida than New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

Think of it: a tax-cutting, NRA-supported progressive Democrat who can make a strong case in the conservative Panhandle; and the first Latino presidential nominee sure to energize the crucial Hispanic vote in South Florida and Central Florida.

For Central Florida’s crucial swing voters disillusioned by what they’ve seen with Iraq and Katrina, the two-term red- state governor, former U.N. ambassador, and U.S. energy secretary can sell competence. Nobody on either side is as experienced and tested on the key issues of the day – foreign policy, energy independence and economic growth.

What Smith wrote would apply in other Southern states, in particular Texas.  With 34 electoral votes, Texas is to Reps what California is to Dems. Kerry lost Texas by 23 points in 2004. The last time the Dems took Texas was Carter in 1976.

Today though, Democrats have been winning in local races in Texas.  Again with Richardson’s Western values and Latino heritage, he will have great appeal in Texas and could take the state.

How electable a Presidential candidate is should be taken into consideration, and all factors need to be considered including the possibility the California Rep power grab initiative could pass.  Moreover, electability should not be viewed solely from the viewpoint of the Presidential race. 

To achieve true health care reform, an aggressive plan attacking global warming and other policy initiatives that require Congressional approval, we must support a Democratic candidate that can assist down ticket Democrats win.

Richardson is the one Democratic candidate for President that has repeatedly shown an ability to attract support from Independents and Republicans. That will propel him to victory in November 2008, as well as lead to landslide victories for Dem candidates for the House and Senate nationwide.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Health Care

Schwarzenegger Comes Out Kind Of, Not Really Against Electoral College Dirty Trick

10 Comments

The AP has a story up about Governor Schwarzenegger’s reaction to the right-wing dirty tricks proposal to steal the Presidency in 2008.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a chilly reception Thursday to a GOP-backed plan to change the way California awards electoral votes in presidential elections – a proposal critics say could tilt the outcome in favor of Republicans.

“In principle, I don’t like to change the rules in the middle of the game,” the Republican governor told reporters.

OK, starts good, not as hard-hitting as you would want but…

Schwarzenegger added he wasn’t versed in details of the ballot proposal and stressed he wasn’t taking a definitive position.

Ah, the last bastion of a political scoundrel.  “I haven’t read it.”

But his uneasy response is likely to make it harder for supporters to build momentum and could chill fundraising.

I doubt that, considering that far-right Republicans don’t even much like the Governor anymore.

The proposed ballot initiative is being pushed by Thomas Hiltachk, a lawyer in a Sacramento firm that represents the state Republican Party.

Um, you couldn’t have mentioned that he was Schwarzengger’s personal lawyer?  Would that have killed you?


UPDATE: res ipsa loquitur nails it:

“In principle, I don’t like to change the rules in the middle of the game,” the Republican governor told reporters…

Uh, Arnold? How did you get to the governor’s mansion?

over…

The other big election story is that the governorappeared with Pete Wilson and Gray Davis to announce their intention to push for a change in redistricting laws.

Governor Schwarzenegger joined with two former governors today in Los Angeles to call for a new way to carve up political district boundaries.

Schwarzenegger appeared at a news conference with former Republican Governor Wilson and former Democratic Governor Davis.

Schwarzenegger said the current system does little to encourage competition. The governor said in the past three election cycles, only 4 of the 459 congressional and legislative seats changed party hands in California.

Schwarzenegger seeks a ballot proposal that would have an independent commission do the reapportionment, rather than the legislature. The proposal is similar to one that was unsuccessful on the 2005 ballot.

He wants the proposal on the February 2008 ballot.  If this would take effect immediately, I don’t know how anyone could support changing the way districts are drawn with 8 year-old Census data.  But “I haven’t read it”!

This is part of a new strategy of aggressiveness coming out of the Governor’s office, to show the Legislature who’s boss, I guess.  Obviously the Governor is holding out endorsement of the term limits measure as a chip to get redistrcting done.  And he’s vowing not to sign any health care proposal that doesn’t have his thumbprints all over it.

What remains to be seen is whether or not post-partisanship has any coalition-building left in it.  The Governor came out of the budget fight relatively unscathed, and has really only taken a popularity hit this year when the public noticed his lack of a true commitment to fighting global warming.  What he ends up blue-penciling out of the budget might cause a reaction as well.  And the reaction to his middling response on the dirty tricks issue may hurt him.  A lot of questions leading into crunch time for the legislative process.

Blog Roundup, Health Care

August 23, 2007 Blog Roundup

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