Tag Archives: No Dirty Tricks

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Michael Blood and AP Coverage of Dirty Tricks Initiative

Two and a half weeks ago, Jamison Foser wrote:

There are, in short, very few things more significant to the outcome of next year’s presidential election than this California ballot initiative. It is, then, vitally important that the media thoroughly, accurately, and fairly cover this fight — and not just the California media — the national media as well. The initiative may appear only on the California ballot, but it will impact the entire nation, and the campaigns for and against it will no doubt be waged with the help of national donors, activists, and operatives.

The initiative is beginning to draw significant media attention, but much of that coverage has been lacking.

Michael R. Blood of the Associated Press seemed to miss the memo…

In a September 9 Associated Press article on the California Republican Party state convention, AP political writer Michael R. Blood reported that “Republicans at the convention also endorsed a proposed ballot initiative to change the way the state awards electoral votes in presidential contests,” but he did not note that the initiative was originally proposed by a lawyer with deep ties to the state GOP. Blood also did not report any Democratic criticism of the proposed initiative, which, as he noted, would award two electoral votes to the winner of the statewide vote and divide the rest among the winners of California’s congressional districts.

Sacramento attorney Thomas Hiltachk, the managing partner of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, submitted the ballot measure to the California attorney general’s office on July 17. Hiltachk has served as legal counsel to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), and Bell McAndrews’ senior partner, Charles H. Bell Jr., is general counsel to the California Republican Party.

Hiltachk has played a role in several Republican campaigns to pass ballot initiatives that would benefit that party. He served as counsel to Ted Costa, the former chairman of the Sacramento County Republican Central Committee who filed the petition seeking the 2003 recall of Gov. Gray Davis (D). Hiltachk also represented and served as a spokesman for Rescue California, a ballot-measure committee that spent $3.6 million promoting the recall initiative. The Sacramento Bee reported in a July 1, 2004, article that Rescue California “gathered 1.3 million of the signatures that got the measure on the October 2003 ballot.” On October 7, 2003, Davis was recalled from office and replaced by Schwarzenegger. Hiltachk also served as treasurer of Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Recovery Team, a ballot-initiative committee that supported measures to mandate judicial redistricting of California’s congressional districts and require employee consent for the use of union dues for political purposes.

Blood scored bonus points for not pointing out the fact that the initiative has been bashed by pretty much every single editorial board in the state which realize it is a blatant dirty trick designed to keep Republican control of the White House despite the fact the voters hate the Republican Party.

To put that in context with what is in the news today, that means that this initiative is designed to ensure we are stuck in Iraq forever. Blood didn’t mention that either.

Ouch.

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California GOP Proposes Law to Block Democratic Presidential Win

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This headline is actually a headline on Fox “News”:

You know the old saying: if you can’t beat em, change the rules. That’s the new motto of the California Republican Party. Taking a break from complaining about their governor, who as usual is right where they’re wrong, and who is also, not coincidentally, the only Republican in state-wide office in California, they’ve decided to try to change the rules for electing the next president to make it more difficult for a Democrat to win.

The CA GOP just jumped the shark. Here are three things you can do:

1. Sign the Petition

2. Support Bloggers and the Courage Campaign by making a donation

3. Tell Arnold to read the initiative

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Faxing Arnold

You didn’t think we would drop all of those initiatives off at his office and not follow up with the guy did you?

This is not your average advocacy campaign, where petitions go undelivered and people don’t actually follow through on your promises.  This is a new style campaign and we are continuing to pressure Arnold about the dirty tricks initiative.  Below the fold is the fax we sent to him today and copied all of the press on.

If you would like to donate to my ActBlue page to pay off the $616.19 in Kinkos bills and reward blogactivism you can do so here.

  The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger

  Governor

  The Capitol

  Sacramento, California 95184

  VIA FAX– 916-445-4633

  Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

  On Friday, Julia Rosen delivered to your office 2,148 copies of the so-called Presidential Election Reform Act. If this proposed initiative qualifies and passes, it would, as you said quite astutely, “change the rules in the middle of the game.” Courage Campaign members from across California sent you copies of the initiative to read, since you said you had not previously read it.

  Nearly 10,000 Courage Campaign members have signed our pledge to oppose this destructive attempt to hijack our democracy by re-allocating Electoral College votes unilaterally. People all across the country see this as a simple right-wing power grab, not “post-partisan” in any way. And, as you may know, editorial boards from the Orange County Register to the Stockton Record have also come out strongly against this dangerous initiative.

  Governor, we want to take you at your word that you want to lead the people and rise above partisan politics. Here is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate your leadership above the partisan fray. Now that you have plenty of copies of the initiative — a document that only takes about five minutes to read — we call on you to state clearly and directly that you oppose this initiative. We also call on you to ask leaders of the California Republican Party to oppose this partisan power-grab.

  Please take a stand in advance of this weekend’s California Republican Party convention. By standing tall against what the New York Times calls an “elaborate dirty trick” designed by a “shadowy group” to do “serious damage to our democracy,” you will join dozens of leading national bloggers, and prominent Californians such as, Sherry Lansing, Sal Rosselli, Bradley Whitford, Arianna Huffington, Kathy Spillar, Assembly Majority Leader Karen Bass, LA City Council President Eric Garcetti and so many others who oppose this initiative.

  Let’s not waste time and money on this folly. As you have said, California has too many important issues on which we have to focus. No more dirty tricks. No more partisan power-grabs. Not in California. Not in America. Governor, please just say no. We look forward to hearing from you.

  Respectfully,

  Richard Jacobs Chair, Courage Campaign

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Newspaper Editorials Throw Down Against Dirty Tricks Initiative

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Stockton Record, “Awarding California’s electoral votes based on the outcome in each congressional district is unfair, harmful to democratic precepts and a blatant political power grab.”

OC Register, “A proposed change, which could be on next June’s ballot, in the way California’s votes are allocated in the presidential election might have a sheen of fairness, but it is nakedly partisan and profoundly subversive of our constitutional system.”

San Francisco Chronicle, “This is nothing but dirty politics.”

The New York Times, “It is actually a power grab on behalf of Republicans.”

Oakland Tribune “It’s an obvious political ploy.” (Julia)