Giuliani Backer Paid For Electoral Drive

Initiative To Change Distirbution Of Calif.'s Electoral Votes Funded By Supporter Of GOP Front-Runner

(AP)  A top donor to presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani was the source of the one - and only - contribution to a proposed California ballot measure that would have made it much harder for Democrats to win the White House, according to a published report.

The campaign to qualify the measure for next year's ballot collapsed Thursday when two of its top consultants quit, complaining they had not been told who gave the money.

The donor, hedge fund giant Paul Singer, came out of the shadows Friday in a statement to the New York Daily News. Singer, a founding partner of the hedge fund Elliot Associates, said he gave $175,000 to a mystery-shrouded Missouri-based corporation called Take Initiative America.

The money was given to a California group so it could gather signatures to qualify the measure for next year's June primary and alter the rules before the November vote.

The measure would have changed California's winner-take-all system to one in which all but two of the state's electoral votes would be awarded to the top vote-getter in each Congressional district.

Since about 22 of California's districts are heavily Republican, the Republican nominee would almost certainly win them, gaining nearly half California's 55 electoral votes - about the equivalent of winning Ohio. That would make it almost impossible for a Democrat to win the national contest.

Singer told the Daily News that he made the contribution "without any restrictions, including whether or how it would need to be disclosed. I left disclosure completely up to TIA."

The Giuliani campaign denied any prior knowledge of the contribution, although Singer is a member of the campaign's national finance committee.

"This is completely independent from our campaign," said Jarrod Agen, a spokesman for Giuliani's campaign in California.

But Democrat Chris Lehane said Singer's donation raised legal questions.

"Federal law prohibits a presidential candidate or that candidate's agents from directing funds to a committee that could impact the presidential campaign," he said via e-mail. "The California initiative was designed to specifically benefit the Republican presidential nominee by rigging the Electoral College system to guarantee that the Republican presidential candidate would win the White House in 2008."

Giuliani has denied any involvement in the Missouri corporation's donation. At a campaign stop in Northern California wine country, he said he believed he could win the state outright.

"If anything it's probably something that I would have opposed," Guiliani said of the scuttled ballot measure. "It doesn't make sense to try to change the rules in midstream like this."

[telltruth99]

*** ALL TROOPS OR ANYONE IN IRAQ ***

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[getloud1]

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[abbe91]

"It''s good to know that Ron Paul has the Dutch vote in the bag . . . now he just needs everyone else . . .
Posted by socrates392"

I thought it was the "Dutch bag in the vote" ...

[MakeAPlan]

In reading this, my jaw dropped not at Guiliani or Paul Singer, even though Singer''s actions and intent are odious. I was shocked to learn that each state, rather than the federal government, determines how electoral votes are assigned.

Obviously, elections CAN be bought, as is evidenced by how far Take Initiative America progressed into this project before being thwarted.

The electoral college was devised during the birth of our nation at a time when news and information spread very slowly, and oft times didn''t reach every voter. The college was set up so that well-informed people--men at that time exclusively--could cast votes in the presidential election. The electors DO NOT have to vote as the voters of their state did; it is not a mandate.

I won''t debate the value (or lack thereof) of the origination of the electoral college, but it is an institution whose time has come to be abolished. The voters of this country should be choosing our nations'' leader, not a system.

[actornaught]

Dont forget all those cross-dressers and transvestites that''ll vote for Rue Paul, too...

Speaking of clothes, Rudy is an empty suit. Look for him to pull more weird stunts, due to a nasty IQ deficiency...

[sftodd]

It''''s good to know that Ron Paul has the Dutch vote in the bag . . . now he just needs everyone else . . .

Posted by socrates392

Don''t forget the tax protestors and probably the holocaust deniers -- rumor has it, Elvis Presley is also supporting Ron Paul, so this could be a tight race.

[socrates392]

Posted by dutchfarmer at 09:00 PM : Sep 30, 2007

It''s good to know that Ron Paul has the Dutch vote in the bag . . . now he just needs everyone else . . .

[dutchfarmer]

Gudy Riuliani needs to take a hike. He''s pond scum. Vote for honesty, sincerity, and consistency. Vote Ron Paul for President.

[likeitis5050]

So why don''''t we go to direct popular vote election of presidents gkc99

That''s been asked by millions of people over the last 30 years. Why isn''t the single vote the only vote that counts? I never have understood the purpose behind the electoral college system. If everyone has to vote to ''make the difference'' but it comes down to the electoral votes each state has based on population or some such bulls#it, then why are people standing in lines to vote until they turn out the lights and turn people away? And now they''ve come up with a scheme to manipulate the electoral votes?

It''s getting to the place where no one can be sure what their vote will do, where it will go, or who it will really go to in the end. But we''re supposed to believe all these diptwads just because they say they are honest!

[gkc99]

So why don''t we go to direct popular vote election of presidents, Repugs? Remember 2000, do ya?

Hard to see how Al Gore could have fvcked things up any worse than your boy has, probably wouldn''t have done so badly. By their fruits shall you know them, and Bushit''s fruits are pretty rotten.