‘Team Biden’ firm could be paid for 2020 California election work in budget maneuver

California has yet to pay the bills on a $35 million contract with a political consulting firm it hired to promote mail-in voting, but a proposed change to a 2020 budget bill hopes to fix that.

Last year, the Secretary of State’s office, under then-Secretary Alex Padilla, contracted consulting firm SKDK to run a voter education and outreach campaign ahead of the 2020 election, dubbed “Vote Safe California.”

The purpose was to inform voters about changes to the election in light of the coronavirus pandemic, specifically, how to take advantage of the state’s vote-by-mail process.

The contract was awarded through an emergency bid process due to the urgent nature of the election and the pandemic, the Secretary of State’s Office said.

But some raised concerns about the multi-million dollar contract going to SKDK, a firm with a long history of working with Democrats. It was also working on Joe Biden’s presidential campaign at the time it received the California contract.

Previously, the California State Controller’s office had refused to issue payment on the contract because it lacked proper budget authority, according to emails obtained by The Sacramento Bee.

Despite this, invoices have continued to pile up. As of January 20, California owes SKDK about $34.7 million, according to records, with no way to pay it.

But an amendment to a state budget bill introduced by Democrats on Wednesday would would allow for the state to pay for the voter outreach by using money earmarked to help counties conduct last year’s election.

“The Controller’s Office made a determination that the Secretary of State’s authority in last year’s budget was not sufficient for them to make payment on the approved contract, and raised technical issues that, in their opinion, needed to be corrected in order for them to do that,” said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the California Department of Finance. “We understand that this language addresses these issues.”

The current iteration of the budget bill states that $23 million “shall be provided” to California counties for help conducting the November 2020 election. But the new amendment would change the language to say $23 million “may be provided” to counties for that purpose.

It also adds another provision that would transfer the $23 million in local assistance funds to a different schedule to be used for voter education and outreach costs to respond to COVID-19 during the November 2020 election cycle.

The amendment would also transfer an additional $12 million from another local assistance item, which is payable through the Federal Trust Fund, to be used for voter education and outreach around the 2020 election.

The Secretary of State’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Since October, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has been in a legal battle with the Secretary of State and State Controller’s office to negate the contract and stop payment on it.

Thomas Hiltachk, an attorney for the association, said the proposed amendment is “clearly a reaction” to the lawsuit. Hiltachk raised questions about the continued use of federal funds for the campaign and its “get out the vote” efforts.

“The state controller needs to weigh-in and determine if an ‘after-the-fact’ appropriation cures the defect and whether the use of federal funds under the ‘Help America Vote Act’ can lawfully be used for the ‘get-out-the-vote’ activities that occurred here,” Hiltachk said in a statement. “We will need to evaluate the legality of the Legislature’s action if it passes this bill next week and its impact on our lawsuit, but the larger question for taxpayers is why is the Legislature cleaning up Alex Padilla’s mess?”

The Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to hear the amendment on Thursday.

This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 11:40 AM.