Ballot Push Linked To "Swift Boat" Backers

Lawyers Pushing Electoral Vote Change Have Ties To GOP Donor Who Financed Attacks On Kerry

(AP)  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 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.

Hiltachk has been pushing a proposal to revamp the way California awards its electoral votes, a change Democrats claim would rig the 2008 race. He and Bell are the sole officers of a new political committee, Californians for Equal Representation, that is raising money to place the plan on the ballot in June.

Their success could hinge on whether they get the financial backing to collect more than 400,000 petition signatures needed to qualify the proposal for the ballot. And while Perry has not donated to their cause, 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.

Democrats are working to defeat the effort and already have lined up supporters such as Hollywood producer Stephen Bing.

Supporters say the vote-change plan could open a new era of fairness in presidential contests. But the law firm's link to Perry and other Republican candidates and causes will make it difficult to separate the proposal from partisan politics.

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.

The push to alter the division of electoral votes in California - a change with national implications - "is nothing more than an attempt by right-wing Republicans to change the rules in ways that benefits them," said Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party.

The fight over California's electoral votes is shaping up as an important subplot in the national campaign.

Like most states, California awards all 55 of its electoral votes to the statewide winner in presidential elections - the largest single prize in the nation.

Under the ballot proposal, the statewide winner would get only two electoral votes. The rest would be distributed to the winning candidate in each of the state's congressional districts.

In effect that would create 53 races, each with one electoral vote up for grabs. President Bush carried 22 of those districts in 2004, while losing the statewide vote by double digits.

[infidel_us]

WOw....so the MSM really can DIG DEEP (when they want to.) Problem is, they never want to when it involves democrats. Once again, we have proof of liberal MSM bias.

[realpatriot1]

pwrslm,

You''re the poor journalist. Not one member of Kerry''s crew said he was a liar.

When you point a finger at someone else, you leave 4 pointing back at you. You sir are the liar(as usual).

[pwrslm]

The republican party has become the most corrupt, dishonest criminal group on our planet.
Posted by im4honesty

Not quite.

Only the Democrap''s exceed thier corruption. They learned from the best!!

[pwrslm]

"the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that made unsubstantiated but damaging attacks on Kerry "

You mean the "group of men John Kerry accused of War Crimes" before congress?

Why cant you get it right CBS? 3 out of 16 men in Kerry''s unit supported him. 12 of them said Kerry was a liar. Unsubstantiated? NOT.

Poor journalism. **** poor.

[im4honesty]

The republican party has become the most corrupt, dishonest criminal group on our planet.

[lars008-2009]

Posted by samael2014 at 04:38 PM : Sep 04, 2007

how the demonic-rats are doing it without changing the usa constitution!!!

Other attempts to change the Electoral College system have failed, most of them aimed at amending the Constitution, a drawn-out process that requires approval by Congress and ratification by at least 38 states.
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/articles/myfoxcol_20070117.php

Apr 10th, 2007
Today, Maryland Governor Martin O''''Malley signed the National Popular Vote bill. Maryland thus became the first state to pass the law that -- once passed by sufficient states -- will ensure that the presidency goes to the person who wins the most votes nationwide.

And in the last few days, the Hawaii legislature passed the National Popular Vote bill and sent it on to Governor Linda Lingle.

The National Popular Vote act is an interstate agreement that effectively change the system of picking the president. It''''s an ingenious plan that doesn''''t require a constitutional amendment -- instead, it would become effective once it becomes law in enough states equaling a majority of the Electoral College vote. Once it passes this threshold, the Electoral College becomes instantly irrelevant, replacing our presidential elections with a pure popular vote.
http://www.democrats.org/page/community/group/NationalPopularVoteReformtheElectoralCol

[samael2014]

I would have to check this, but I''m pretty sure that how electors our chosen, certainly how they can vote, is established in the U.S. Constitution, and is therefore not delegated to States. An action by the state of California would be a direct violation of the tenth amendment of the Constitution and a complete undermining of the current U.S. Constitution''s direction concerning national election and representation through the executive branch. However, looking over the past decade or so, our Constitution under pestulant, anti-American Republican corruption and influence, just doesn''t seem to be that sacred anymore, so I guess anything people in year''s past would have thought impossible or reprehensible beyond belief has to be held to a different and much lower, almost alien standard these days.

[jsilver2th]

What we need is a movement to bring Democracy to the US by eliminating the antiquated system of "representation" in the U.S. Senate where tiny states like Idaho, Montana and Wyoming get 2 Senators each.

Where are the people that want their votes counted on this issue?

[david1737]

Once again we have proof of Republican corruption. Add this one to an unending list.

[ianlou]

Isn%u2019t Tom Delay the expert at "improving" the voting system at the state level to benefit Republicans? Delay used gerrymandering funded with illegally laundered political contributions and got kicked out of Washington for his troubles.

Does this effort in California smell the same as Delay''s efforts in Texas?