Call it slate mailer jiu jitsu.
The Democratic-backed campaign against Proposition 11 has paid $30,000 for a spot on a Republican slate mailer accusing the redistricting measure of having a "hidden agenda to give liberal Democrats lifetime control of Congress."
That is a switch.
For months, the No on 11 campaign -- spearheaded by Democratic Senate leader Don Perata and financed, in part, with $175,000 from the Democratic Party -- has fervently argued that Proposition 11 is a Republican power grab.
Paul Hefner, a Perata and No on 11 spokesman, said he still believes the measure "tilts the field in favor of Republicans."
But in the slate mailer sent to 800,000 likely GOP voter households, the campaign sang a different tune.
"Don't be fooled. Read it yourself. Say NO to the ACLU's phony 'reform,'" the mailer reads, citing the left-leaning civil rights group many Republicans love to hate. "Stop their hidden agenda to give liberal Democrats lifetime control of Congress."
Yet in another mailer - one aimed at Democrats - the No on 11 campaign wrote Proposition 11 "tips the balance against Democrats and Independents and gives Republicans too much control."
Supporters of the redistricting measure accused their opponents of political double-speak.
"If I had to rate it between one and 10, with 10 being the most blatant lie about what the initiative does," said Jeannine English, president of AARP California and a backer of the measure. "That's where I would rate it."
"They are telling one side it is a power grab for Democrats and the other it is a power grab for Republicans," she added. "What we've said all along is it is a power grab for the voters."
Proposition 11 would strip state lawmakers of the power to draw the political boundaries for their own districts. The state Legislature would retain the power to draw congressional lines.
By leaving out Congress, backers have muted the financial opposition of national Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who raised millions to oppose a 2005 redistricting measure that included Congress.
Proposition 11 was drafted by government reform groups like AARP and Common Cause, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has provided much of the political and fundraising capital for the campaign.
Hefner said it was legitimate for the campaign to highlight the concerns of Republicans, even if he didn't share them.
"There are Republicans who oppose Proposition 11 because they think it was wrong to leave Congress out," said Hefner, citing Ted Costa, the CEO of People's Advocate, a conservative activist group.
Costa called Proposition 11 a "piece of crap" and said proponents left out Congress so "Nancy Pelosi (could) be able to pick up seats in Congress."
Whether Proposition 11 passes or fails, there would be no change to how congressional districts are drawn in California.
Jon Fleischman, a regional vice chairman for the Republican Party, firmly believes passage of Proposition 11 will elect more Republicans to the Legislature and said any argument it is a Democratic power grab is "some sort of conspiracy theory argument."
"Why would the No campaign want to tell the truth to Republicans?" Fleischman said. "The truth is that the passage of this measure would be immensely helpful to the Republican cause."
The campaign's official proponents dispute that claim, too, saying the measure would improve governance in the state by taking out the "blatant conflict of interest" of lawmakers drawing their own lines, said English.
The controversial GOP slate mailer, called Continuing the Republican Revolution, went to 800,000 likely Republican voter households, said proprietor Scott Hart.
Asked why he included the No on 11 side when the Republican governor was supporting the measure, Hart replied, "They paid for it."
"The Yes on 11, I talked to them," said Hart, "but they didn't show much interest early on and the No people did."
Slate mailers - millions of which land in voter mailboxes in the weeks before an election - often sell space to the highest bidder, making for unusual political pairings.
The Democratic-funded No on 11 spot on the Continuing the Republican Revolution slate, for instance, appears alongside efforts to get voters to support Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban.
Meanwhile, Perata, the Senate leader whose political shop is organizing the No on 11 campaign, has made defeating Republican Senate candidate Tony Strickland a top priority on Nov. 4.
Yet Strickland paid nearly $10,000 to buy onto the same GOP slate mailer as the Perata-backed No on 11 campaign.
At the end of the day, say political veterans, slate mailers are just a business.
"An educated voter," said Fleischman, "really needs to discard all these slate mailers that come to their door."
Photo: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Oct. 20, 2008. Credit: AP Photo/ Jim Mone
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