Electoral college measure resuscitated? (Calif.)

[Newsjock]

Source: Sacramento Bee

Last Updated 7:08 pm PDT Monday, October 22, 2007

Two Republican political consultants are trying to revive an initiative to change how California's electoral votes are tallied in next year's presidential election, seeking support from major GOP donors including Rep. Darrell Issa, who helped finance the 2003 gubernatorial recall.

Sacramento-based consultant Dave Gilliard, an Issa adviser, is spearheading an effort to collect at least 600,000 more signatures by mid-November for an initiative that would divvy up California's electoral college votes by congressional district. The June 2008 initiative could provide next year's Republican presidential candidate with an additional 20 or more electoral votes in Democratic-leaning California.

Qualifying the initiative at this late stage will cost at least $2 million to pay for signature gatherers. Neither Gilliard nor fundraiser Anne Dunsmore specified whom their donors will be, but Gilliard said they are seeking Issa's support. Issa was unavailable Monday for comment because he was monitoring fires in his San Diego-area district, a spokesman said.

... The initiative was considered all but dead last month when GOP consultant Tom Hiltachk walked away from the proposal he had filed with the state, as did spokesman Kevin Eckery. They abandoned the effort shortly after critics raised questions about a $175,000 donation the campaign received from Paul Singer, a financier of Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/102/story/447954.html

[marmar]

1. Don't Republicans get tired of wallowing in slime?

I guess when you know you can't win on your own merits, this is what you gotta do.

[WCGreen]

2. This is typical GOP tactics...

The rock is lifted to see the riff raff underneath...

They scurry back to darkness and then, a while later, they all collect under another rock...

This is scary stuff...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. At least we're aware of what these slimeballs are up to...

They'll really have to hustle to get enough signatures by mid-November...

I hope they fail, the bastards...

[HowHasItComeToThis]

4. WHERE IS THE SLIME KARL

HE MUST BE IN THIS SOMEPLACE

[AndyTiedye]

5. We Can Assume That They Will Get their $2 MIL (Pocket Change to Them) and Get This on the Ballot

There are no limits to how much they can spend on this.

We need to start raising money to fight it now.

It will likely be as expensive as the whole Presidential campaign.


They are deliberately putting it on the ballot at a time when a lot of people will be on vacation and trying to sneak it through.

If it passes, ANYONE the Repiglickins nominate will win.

[robinlynne]

7. progressives have been fighting it and exposing it. If people know what it is,

they won't sign the petitions.

[still_one]

15. don't believe it, the POS Issa, was also responsible for the davis recall

He can get the signatures

As much as people want to believe Califronia is a progressive state, it is actually more of an independent state, with the big cities more progressive than the san joaquin valley

If EVERY state did this it would be OK, but that is not what they want. They want to control only the states where they can gain. In other words, they never have and never will look for fairness.

[AndyTiedye]

26. Looks Like They Got 3 Million already, I'm sure they can get 30 if they need it.

[bluestateguy]

21. Deborah Bowen wont certify the signatures

and beyond that they can tie it up in court past the 2008 election.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

6. It's the zombie undead California Dirty Trick

How can we kill it, it it's already dead! (Or so they told us last month).

[EFerrari]

8. They will never stop.

[bleever]

14. Defeating zombies means just being willing to keep

swinging your bat at them.

Zombies hope we'll lay down and let them go and...

What? Institute Zombie Law?

The world's sixth largest economy sacrifices its position in the electoral college?

I don't think so.

Zombies, meet bat.


ed: Arnie, we know you were part of the Cheney energy policy group that fixed the $9 billion ripoff of California, let Enron off, and recalled Gray Davis. Arnie, you better be screwing Dick Cheney's master plan from the inside, or we're going to see your name barbecued along with that of this rotten regime.

Sincerely,

bleever

[dickbearton]

9. K&R. Expose the Dirty GOP.

[AZgirl7]

10. Sue them

Could the Dems sue the operatives and make then PROVE in court that the current system is unfair?? I suspect that Rudi is sponsored by the current regime because he was part of the 9/11 inside job.

[pdefalla]

11. Sounds like a great idea.

Has Diane Feinstein endorsed this yet?

[datadiva]

12. I wouldn't doubt it

And welcome to DU pdfella!

[Blue_State_Elitist]

13. Typical California Repukes

The signature gatherers are their only weapon.

[rmgarrette64]

28. Darn that silly voting stuff anyway!

Look, this may be very annoying to us, and there are obvious political motives behind it. But they're going through the referendum process, giving people their votes. Saying "the signature gatherers are their only weapon" sounds dangerously close to saying we shouldn't be listening to people's votes.

We need to answer speech with speech, campaigns with campaigns. Yes, this will cost us some money - but it's not like the GOP has an infinite supply either. At the moment, their party is in worse financial shape than ours, so this drain may be a political mistake for them.

I just dislike this venom directed at a referendum we don't like.

R. Garrett

[Auggie]

16. As I understand it the last one died because there wasn't enough interest

Don't these bozos pay attention?

[Judi Lynn]

17. This is about the last thing I read on this subject earlier, when they gave up, or so we thought.

GOP electoral initiative dealt major blows
Two key consultants for an effort to change California's winner-take-all system quit over money and disclosure woes.
By Dan Morain, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 28, 2007

SACRAMENTO -- A proposed California initiative campaign that could have helped Republicans hold on to the White House in 2008 was a shambles Thursday night, as two of its key consultants quit.

Unable to raise sufficient money and angered over a lack of disclosure by its one large donor, veteran political law attorney Thomas Hiltachk, who drafted the measure, said he was resigning from the committee.

Hiltachk's departure is a major blow to the operation because he organized other consultants who had set about trying to raise money and gather signatures for the initiative. Campaign spokesman Kevin Eckery said he was ending his role as well.

There remained a chance that the measure could be revived, but only if a major donor were to come forward to fund the petition drive. However, time is short to gather the hundreds of thousands of signatures needed by the end of November. And backers said Thursday that they believed the measure was all but dead, at least for the 2008 election.

" 'Shambles' is the wrong word," said strategist Marty Wilson, who curtailed his fundraising efforts weeks ago. "The campaign never got off the ground."
(snip)

"There is not a huge amount of donor interest in the measure for a variety of reasons," Wilson said. "I'm not willing to keep beating my head against the wall."
(snip)

"I am not willing to proceed under such circumstances," Hiltachk said. "Therefore, I am resigning my role in this campaign."
(snip)

On Thursday, Lehane organized a news conference to demand that the organization disclose its donors, and threatened to file a complaint with election regulators.
(snip)

"We want to make sure this is not the Freddy Krueger of initiatives that comes back to life," Lehane said. "We'll continue to monitor it. We thought it was a debacle from the beginning and seems it suffered from its own internal dysfunction."
(snip/)

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-initiative28sep28,0,507304.story

[annabanana]

23. "Freddy Krueger of initiatives "

Lehane nailed it.

[LeftCoast]

18. Hard to imagine they could get enough signatures in time

Even with an all out $$-assault it would be almost impossible to get 600,000 signatures in less than a month.

[WileEcoyote]

19. When is the cut off date?

[PhD]

20. This is actually a good idea

Several states have done this in the past. I believe Oregon and a New England state--perhaps Maine?--still do. The advantage is that it brings the electoral college system into better agreement with the popular vote while still protecting the interests of small states. The obvious downside is that California is a huge voting block, so enacting such a change there alone could easily sway the outcome of an election. If the same were done in places like say Texas or Florida as well, I'm sure all this outcry would fade away.

[Mountainman]

25. No it is not a good idea. The repubs can't win in this state unless they change the rules that we

have always played by. The repubs shot themselves in the foot with their anti immigrant proposition backed by Pete Wilson. If it were Reagan or Wilson in the governor's chair and a sure thing repub presidency coming up this would never see the light of day.

The self centered greedy repubs always need to screw with the system to win, period. Why not try having policies that people can support instead of the stick it to the working class things they do?

The recall didn't work because Arnold is just as sick and tired of the bull shit the rest of are from the right. Now this measure to steal a national election!

Don't fuck with our state just so you can steal what you can't win fair and square.

[PhD]

31. Well it is MY state too, BTW

And my comments were intended to point out the logic of this system for any state, not just California.

[Mountainman]

36. Like I said, you can't win with policies that people can vote for so you need tricks to win.

Why can't you win the presidency this year without changing the rules? Also if you want to change the rules why not go all the way and elect the President by popular vote? I'm sure no Repub would go for that. The whole country is trending Democratic.

[PhD]

38. Typical response

Rather than debate the issue at hand, just accuse anyone who disagrees with you of being a Rethug.

I've been studying election reform proposals for 20 years. Awarding electoral votes by congressional district is neither a Republican idea or a Democrat idea. It's been around for decades and has been implemented in multiple states at various times. Do some research.

[0rganism]

27. no, OR doesn't split its electoral votes & for CA change by itself is political suicide

Nevada might be the state you're thinking of, but I'm not sure at the moment. Maine does too, IIRC.

Until ALL the states opt for the same form of electoral vote allocation, there is every reason for us to oppose a Democratic powerhouse like California splitting its electors.

[PhD]

32. I believe I said that in my post

If other states, preferably all, adopted the same system, it would make far more sense. I still believe it is a more logical system than what is currently in effect, independent of any political party considerations.

[PhD]

33. Here's the current rules

Looks like the two states that do not have a winner-take-all system are Maine and Nebraska. I could have sworn Oregon did too because I remember Ross Perot almost won a single electoral vote there in 1992. Perhaps they changed their rules since.

"Only two States, Nebraska and Maine, do not follow the winner-takes-all rule. In those States, there could be a split of electoral votes among candidates through the State's system for proportional allocation of votes. For example, Maine has four electoral votes and two Congressional districts. It awards one electoral vote per Congressional district and two by the state-wide, "at-large" vote. It is possible for Candidate A to win the first district and receive one electoral vote, Candidate B to win the second district and receive one electoral vote, and Candidate C, who finished a close second in both the first and second districts, to win the two at-large electoral votes. Although this is a possible scenario, it has not actually occurred in recent elections."

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/faq.html

[brentspeak]

29. Strange. Rush Limbaugh says the same thing as you.

[xchrom]

22. exposing one more time that the GOP steal elections. nt

[DeepModem Mom]

24. K&R

[Le Taz Hot]

30. Yep,

they tried to nail me at the mall the other day. They had two petitions. The first was to aid at-risk children. He couldn't really tell me how exactly they were going to do that, but it had something to do with opening up 3 schools. (??????) The second was this debacle. I told him, "I thought you guys had given up on that shit." He acted like he hadn't a clue as to what I was talking about. I've noticed a lot of these (paid) signature gatherers are not the sharpest knives in the drawer.

[SoCalDem]

34. REPUBLICANS NEVER EVER GIVE UP ON THEIR CRAZY IDEAS

They are like dripping water on a rock.. eventually they will wear down that rock.. and they never back down.. they merely re-group and attack again..

[antiimperialist]

35. A Field poll in August plularity side with the Republicans...but

47% to 35%, but that was before Democrats mounted an information offensive letting people know the true intentions behind this dirty trick. Make no mistake about it. The initiative will gather the signatures necessary. You can get signatures for just about anything. The millions will come from the right-wing elite. We must stop it.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/21/BAD7RM3GH.DTL

[Bandit]

37. Actually this is not a bad idea if put into place across America

If only in California it would seem to me to fall under the same clause the Supreme Court used to select Bush*. Votes not being counted equally across the land..It is the first step towards popular vote decided the outcome..