A well-connected California Republican law firm is pushing a ballot initiative that would split the state's Electoral Votes according to Congressional districts won

Election chicanery -- aka voter fraud --is as American as lead-laden Mattel toys, air polluting "clean skies" initiatives, and closeted Republican Party politicians. In recent years, GOP partisans have cleansed voter rolls of legitimate voters; hatched schemes to disenfranchise thousands of minority voters; mastered the art of push polls and robo calls, and supported the use of voting machines with no paper trail.

While counting votes has on occasion become more art than science in recent years, a new ballot initiative being pushed by California Republicans would apportion the state's electoral votes according to congressional districts won, instead of the current winner-take-all system. Only two small states, Nebraska and Maine, allow the splitting of electoral votes, although in practice a division has never happened. In recent years Democrats have had a near lock on California's 55 Electoral Votes.

A high-powered California-based Republican Party-connected legal outfit with ties to a Texas homebuilder/GOP donor who gave significant amounts of money to finance attacks on Democrat John Kerry's Vietnam War record in the 2004 presidential campaign is promoting the ballot initiative called the Presidential Electors Initiative.

According to the New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg, "one of the most important Republican lawyers in Sacramento [has] quietly filed a ballot initiative that would end the practice of granting all fifty-five of California's electoral votes to the statewide winner. Instead, it would award two of them to the statewide winner and the rest, one by one, to the winner in each congressional district."

The initiative is sponsored by a group calling itself Californians for Equal Representation. "But that's just a letterhead -- there's no such organization," writes Hertzberg. "Its address is the office suite of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, the law firm for the California Republican Party, and its covering letter is signed by Thomas W. Hiltachk, the firm's managing partner and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's personal lawyer for election matters."

"What can be more fair than this?" said Kevin Eckery, spokesman for Californians for Equal Representation. "Everyone's voice is going to be heard. It could even help third-party candidates, like the Green Party, in a place like San Francisco."

On Wednesday, September 5, the offices of the secretary of state and the attorney general-- now run by former California Governor and former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown -- approved the language of the initiative. Californians for Equal Representation has until February 4 to gather the nearly 434,000 signatures from registered voters necessary to place it on the June 2008 primary election ballot. It is estimated that the signature gathering process will cost more than $1 million.

Phony Electoral College reform

In late-August the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a Field Poll found that while "California voters are inclined to support" the "proposed ballot initiative ... they're not yet sold on the idea."

Clearly, many voters are fed up with the Electoral College and would like to see it changed: At Slate, Jamin Raskin, a professor of constitutional law at American University and a Democratic state senator in Maryland representing Silver Spring and Takoma Park, wrote that "as it works today, the Electoral College undermines American democracy ... in three fundamental ways":

• First, it betrays the principle of majority rule, threatening every four years to deliver the White House to the popular-vote loser.
• Second, it reduces the general election contest to a matter of what happens in Ohio, Florida, and a handful of other swing states, leaving most Americans (who live in forsaken 'red' and 'blue' states) on the sidelines. This in turn depresses turnout and helps give us one of the worst rates of voter participation on earth.
• Third, because of its proven pliability, the Electoral College invites partisan operatives, legislators, secretaries of state and even Supreme Court justices to engage in constant strategic mischief and manipulation at the state level.

The San Francisco Chronicle recently editorialized: The Electoral College is "unwieldy, it seems anti-democratic and it has given rise to one of the more despicable facts of modern presidential campaigning: rather than addressing the concerns of the entire country, major-party candidates choose to do most of their post-primary campaigning in just a few battleground states - Ohio and Florida happen to be the most popular ones right now."

The Chronicle noted that Democrats tried to do a similar thing in Colorado in 2004 -- which was rejected by that state's voters -- in the hopes of giving John Kerry an advantage, and concluded that the proposed California initiative "is nothing but dirty politics."

"Colorado voters, who initially supported the measure, realized a couple of things that Californians must come to recognize should No. 07-0032 make it onto our June 3 ballot:"

• Splitting the number of electoral votes a candidate can win from any one state is highly unlikely to motivate them to spend more time here, and
• Measures such as this are useless and, usually, highly partisan, unless the entire country adopts them.

A recent New York Times editorial titled "Stacking the Electoral Deck" maintained that the initiative proposed by a "shadowy group" of California Republicans will "do serious damage to our democracy."

Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP

According to its website, Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP "specializes in campaign, election and administrative law and litigation at all levels of government."

In early September, the Associated Press reported that the law firm "is one of the most politically involved law firms in the state .... [and] [a]ccording to a news story on its Web site, Bell keeps a life-sized cardboard image of President Bush in his office."

The "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," AP reported. "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 initiative's success, AP pointed out, "could hinge on whether ... [it] get[s] the financial backing to collect" the necessary "petition signatures." Although "Perry has not donated to" the ballot initiative campaign, "his wealth and connections make him a potential financier for a drive that could cost more than $1 million. Running a statewide campaign would cost millions more."

Hiltachk's official bio, posted at the law firm's website, points out that he "specializes in drafting complex tax and constitutional measures and counsels on qualification efforts for ballot measure campaigns as well as all aspects of election campaigning related to such measures. He litigates ballot and ballot pamphlet language issues and advises nonprofit corporations and associations on formation and tax exemption issues."

Kevin Eckery, the spokesperson for Californians for Equal Representation, told the AP that Perry was not connected to the new group and "as far as I know, Perry has not been solicited for any donations."

Eckery is the head of the Sacramento-based Eckery Associates. At its still-to-be-developed website, the firm claims that it is "A full-service strategic communications, crisis management and public affairs firm dedicated to serving client needs in California and around the world."

According to Frank D. Russo of the California Progress Report, Eckery "criticized the initiative process as a representative of the Timber Association of California and is mentioned in a book 'Green Backlash: The History and Politics of the Environmental Opposition in the U.S.' As former Republican Governor Pete Wilson's press contact, he is listed in the release announcing the recall election date for then California Senate President pro Tem David Roberti." (Roberti was the target of a failed recall campaign in his Senate district, that was tied to his authorship of the state's assault weapons ban. However, many observers believe that the recall succeeded in draining his campaign coffers, making him a less than viable candidate in his losing the Democratic primary for State Treasurer.)

In late August, Eckery appeared in the news as a spokesman for the beleaguered Catholic Diocese of Sacramento. According to the Sacramento Bee, leaders of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) , a victims rights group, "criticized the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento Tuesday for suing an alleged clergy abuse victim, but church officials say they are just trying to clarify the law." The newspaper reported that "The diocese is challenging the legal standing of a Texas man trying to sue for alleged sexual abuse more than two decades ago."

Eckery told the Bee that the suit "has nothing to do with intimidating a victim and everything to do with getting everybody into the same court."

Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP also specializes in representing an assortment of front groups reports SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy. Perry laid out $5 million to fund the Economic Freedom Fund (EFF). EFF lists its contact as Charles Bell, who is general counsel to the California Republican Party, is Vice Chairman of the Federalist Society's free speech and election law practice group, and is active in the Republican National Lawyers Association.

The firm's client list has included:

• The California Tribal Business Alliance--"an 'Indian Gaming' organization" whose mission statement is "to safeguard and enhance the success of the business enterprises of our tribal government members" ... and "'will foster business development and coalition building with like minded government and business leaders in California."
• Californians for Paycheck Protection which sponsored a California anti-union ballot initiative, and whose major funders in 2005 included the Chamber of Commerce and the California Republican Party.
• Former California Congressman Richard Pombo.

According to SourceWatch, BM& H has also worked with:

• Californians for Schwarzenegger, "a committee formed to promote the election of Governor Schwarzenegger during the recall election of 2003."
• Chico Greenline Coalition, with Thomas W. Hiltachk as Treasurer.
• Citizens Against Measure R, a California group "sponsored by and with Major Funding provided by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.", used Bell's Sacramento office address in 2005. Note: The LA Voice reported September 7, 2006, that "Judge Robert H. O'Brien ordered that Measure R - the term limits extension/ethics revision package - be removed from the November ballot because it improperly combines multiple subjects in a single question." Charles H. Bell Jr. "called the judge's decision a win for voters."
• Californians For A Fair Business Policy, a "Tobacco Institute-created front group in California" at BM&H's Santa Monica address fought "local efforts to enact smoke-free bans in California in the early 1990s" and "Conducted referenda on existing bans."
• Employees of Northrop Grumman PAC, using BM&H's Santa Monica address, contributed to Sen. Bill McCollum's Florida campaign in 2000.
• First Federal Bank of California PAC, which received termination approval in January 2006, received two contributions in 2003 and 2004 at BM&H's Santa Monica address.
• Global Crossing Development Corporation PAC used the Santa Monica address 1997 through 2005 to make contributions, including $10,000 in 2001 to George W. Bush's "President's Dinner Committee"
• and a number of current and former political candidates, including George Allen, John Ashcroft, Sherrod Brown, Sam Brownback, Conrad Burns, Eric Cantor, Maria Cantwell, Max Cleland, Tom Davis, Harold Ford, Jr., Chuck Grassley, Judd Gregg, Dennis Hastert, Daniel Inouye, Rick Lazio, Carl Levin, Bill Luther, John McCain, Zell Miller, Jim Nussle, Charles W. Pickering, Jack Reed, Tom Reynolds, Jay Rockefeller, Chuck Schumer, Louise Slaughter, Billy Tauzin, Henry A. Waxman, and Heather Wilson.

Democratic Party leaders are taking the challenge seriously. In a conference call with California Senator Barbara Boxer and Howard Dean, head of the Democratic National Committee, Dean blasted the initiative. "This is not reform. It's just another Republican attempt to rig an election."

Does the initiative stand a chance of passing? The June primary will likely have a lower than usual turnout; a turnout that is often dominated by initiative enthusiasts. However, a recent polling memo shows voters becoming less enamored with the ballot measure as they learn more about it. What may have seemed like "fairness," now looks like crass base politics.

In early September, after a number of editorials in major newspapers nixed the idea, and reports in the blogosphere exposed BM& H's linkages to highly partisan GOP campaigns and operatives, Jason Kinney of the California Majority Report ("Red Meat for a Blue State") reported that a August 31 memo prepared by Paul Maslin and Jonathan Brown, of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, found that the measure was starting to lose public support:

• "The measure starts off below 40%. In California, initiatives that start off below majority support almost never pass."
• "The more voters learn basic, factual information about the measure the more likely they are to oppose it."
• "Opposition already appears to have increased over the last several weeks."

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Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement. His WorkingForChange column Conservative Watch documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the American Right.