Haim Saban, the entertainment mogul behind Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, has loaned $2 million to a campaign to repeal the Citizens Redistricting Commission established under Proposition 11.
The Financial Accountability in Redistricting Act, drafted by former Fair Political Practices Commission Chairman Daniel Lowenstein and backed by Democratic Rep. Howard Berman and his brother Michael, a Democratic consultant, would return the post-census job of redrawing state legislative and Board of Equalization districts to the Legislature. Proposition 11, which passed with about 51 percent of the vote in 2008, transferred that job to a 14-member citizen panel.
The loan, reported Friday to the Secretary of State, gives the campaign a boost as the deadline closes in for submitting the nearly 700,000 valid voter signatures needed to to qualify for the November ballot. Initiatives must be cleared for the ballot by June 24, but the Secretary of State recommends that proponents turn in their petitions by Friday April 16 to give the counties enough time to determine whether proponents will meet the signature requirement.
Saban, a big Democratic donor who has also given to GOP guv-hopeful Meg Whitman and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,, had contributed $200,000 to the Yes on 11 campaign in 2008. But he now joins more than a dozen Democratic members of California congressional delegation who have written big checks to the campaign.
The Financial Accountability in Redistricting Act would also undercut a dueling effort to expand the commission's responsibilities to include redrawing the lines for congressional districts. Proponents of that measure, which is bankrolled by mega-rich Stanford physicist Charles T. Munger, Jr., have submitted more than 1.1 million petition signatures in hopes of hitting the 694,354 valid voter signature requirement for qualifying for the November ballot.
This post was updated at 4:10 p.m. with Haim's 2008 contributions.
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