Remember Paul Singer? He was the mystery GOP donor who funneled $175,000 through a newly formed organization in Missouri last year to the failed ballot measure to scrap the winner-take-all Electoral College system in California.
National Democrats denounced the Electoral College plan as a GOP power grab.
Well, Singer has returned to the state's campaign filings, donating $25,000 this weekend to pass Proposition 11, the redistricting measure on the November ballot spearheaded by good government groups like California Common Cause and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Democratic Senate leader Don Perata and his political team have led the opposition to Proposition 11, saying it too is a Republican power grab.
The California Democratic Party opposes the initiative; the California Republican Party has declined to take a position.
The measure would strip state lawmakers of the power to draw their own political districts and hand that authority over to an independent commission selected by the state auditor through a multi-step process.
Schwarzenegger has been the biggest contributor to the Yes on 11 campaign, which includes many other prominent Republican donors, from money manager Robert Day to the New Majority, a moderate GOP group. Some Democrats also support the measure, including former Gov. Gray Davis and former state Controller Steve Westly.
Singer, a New York hedge fund manager, was a top fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. The New York Times profiled him after his involvement with the California initiative.
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