Issa boosts electoral measure

Rep. Darrell Issa, who spent $1.7 million to qualify the 2003 gubernatorial recall, said Wednesday he made "a small contribution" toward qualifying an initiative to change how California's electoral votes are tallied in next year's presidential election.

The Republican congressman said he is also sending out letters to the same voters who signed recall petitions in 2003, asking them to submit signatures once again for the Electoral College initiative.

Two longtime Republican political consultants and a major GOP fundraiser revived the initiative effort last week after initial backers abandoned the proposal in September. The initiative would assign California's electoral votes by congressional district rather than giving all of the state's 55 electoral votes to whoever wins statewide.

Democrats have charged that the initiative is a ploy to ensure Republicans obtain 20 or more electoral votes next year in California, a state that no GOP candidate has won since President George H.W. Bush in 1988. Only two other states, Maine and Nebraska, allocate electoral votes by district.

But Republicans behind the initiative said it would force presidential candidates to visit California more often rather than taking the state for granted because it has not been competitive for years.

Issa declined to specify how much money he contributed. Asked whether he plans to give more than his initial contribution to help qualify the initiative, he said in a phone interview, "You never do the hypotheticals."

Dave Gilliard, an Issa adviser and one of the consultants to revive the measure, said Issa would be part of a broader funding effort for signature gathering. "It's not going to be like the recall where it was (Issa) by himself," Gilliard said.

Gilliard's new group, California Counts, is required to release its first campaign finance filing by Friday.

The effort was initiated by Tom Hiltachk, a prominent Sacramento GOP attorney who has represented Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Republican Party in the past. But Hiltachk abandoned the effort in September after his committee received a cryptic $175,000 donation whose source was later revealed to be a major Wall Street financier of GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.

Gilliard and GOP consultant Ed Rollins resuscitated the initiative last week, using the same ballot proposal that Hiltachk filed with the state. Rollins said they will use the estimated 100,000 signatures gathered by Hiltachk's group.

To qualify an initiative for the ballot with confidence in California, proponents generally aim for 700,000 signatures to ensure they have lined up enough valid ones to meet the state requirement of 433,971.

"Voters should be given the opportunity to decide these matters, and California is simply taken for granted every election cycle," Issa said. "Right now, we get to contribute money and that's the end of it. Candidates do not come out and campaign because we're not in play. I think it would be good if this happened in state after state, particularly large states like New York and California."

Democrats, ranging from Sen. Barbara Boxer to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, have spoken out against the initiative. They have charged it is unfair to change the rules in the most populous state without doing the same across the nation.

"How many other states are they working in right now?" asked Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant. "They picked the one state that votes Democratic, knowing full well it's an effort to rig the Electoral College."

Rollins said he's confident that his group will raise enough money to put the initiative on the ballot next year. The group is aiming for the June ballot but would also consider the November 2008 election if it cannot meet signature requirements for the earlier election. The secretary of state's suggested deadline to submit signatures for the June ballot is Nov. 13.

"(Issa) has been very generous, very helpful," Rollins said. "He has given us his lists and his database from the recall effort. I think his contribution was extremely generous."

Rollins acknowledged that placing the initiative on the November 2008 ballot, the same as the presidential election, could pose more legal hurdles. But he said that because presidential electors don't formally vote until 30 days after the November election, the courts could have enough time to rule the initiative would take effect in next year's contest.

Placing an Electoral College change on the same ballot as the presidential election is not unprecedented. Democrats sought a similar proposal in Republican-leaning Colorado in November 2004, but voters there rejected that idea.

Lehane was encouraged by a new poll released Wednesday by Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research showing that 22 percent of California voters support the initiative, compared with 53 percent opposed and 25 percent undecided.

"Republicans are going to lose at the ballot," he said. "They're going to lose in terms of the image of the Republican Party across the country."

But Rollins said he disagreed with the poll numbers, adding, "Campaigns matter, and this is a fairness issue. If we raise sufficient money to get the campaign on TV and people can see what the purpose is, my sense is the numbers will move."

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• Call Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5548.