Pursuit of cash outlives defeat
Bee Washington Bureau
February 21, 2006
WASHINGTON - California lawmakers are still pouring money into a campaign to defeat redistricting reform, four months after voters supposedly resolved the matter.
This is one fight where the checkbooks remain open even if the polls are closed.
With San Joaquin Valley Democratic congressmen helping lead the charge, a committee originally organized to defeat last year's Proposition 77 has raised more than $1.2 million this year. The money has come in big chunks, like the $10,000 each given by Democratic Reps. Dennis Cardoza of Merced and Jim Costa of Fresno .
An even bigger wallop came in mid-January, when the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees kicked in $500,000.
"It's surprising," said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, who supports changes in redistricting, "but it shows they must be a little worried."
Actually, the ongoing fundraising is driven by hopes of paying back a big loan provided by a colorful Hollywood producer. The fundraising could also foreshadow, though, another battle to come.
Costa and Cardoza were two of 17 California House members - all Democrats - to contribute in recent weeks to the No on 77 campaign.
The contributions went to one of several anti-Proposition 77 organizations, this one sometimes calling itself A Coalition of Working People, Entrepreneurs, Educators, Investors and Concerned Citizens.
"The (anti-Proposition 77) coalition was left with a deficit, so the congressman's campaign was asked to assist them," Cardoza's press secretary, John Bray, said Friday.
Another name for the organization might be Steve Bing's committee.
Known variously as the former boyfriend of actress Elizabeth Hurley and as the producer of films such as "Get Carter," Bing has also become a major Democratic donor.
His company, Shangri-La Entertainment, provided the anti-Proposition 77 coalition a $4 million loan in the heat of last year's campaign. The millionaire businessman is charging 6.8 percent interest, and as of Dec. 31, $3 million still remained unpaid.
Bing's ideological polar opposite, conservative Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, quietly kicked in support of his own to help defeat the redistricting measure. Doolittle's campaign committee provided $8,007 worth of mass mailing assistance in the days before last November's election, the coalition's latest campaign report shows.
Doolittle, along with liberal Rep. Howard Berman, D-Los Angeles, had previously secured an opinion from the Federal Election Commission permitting members of Congress to raise unlimited funds to fight the state ballot measure. The commission's divided opinion helped the anti-Proposition 77 coalition - one of several organizations formed to oppose the ballot measure - raise $9.1 million last year.
"The FEC gave them the green light, in part on the idea that the members of Congress were not on the ballot," said Ned Wigglesworth, analyst with the Sacramento-based TheRestofUs.org, which supported Proposition 77.
Nunes was one of the few California members of Congress to publicly support Proposition 77, which would have turned the politically sensitive job of redrawing legislative lines over to an independent judicial panel. Voters rejected the ballot measure by a crushing 60 percent to 40 percent margin.
Now, Nunes is backing a follow-up ballot proposal, which would assign the redistricting job to an independent commission instead of a panel of retired judges. The state attorney general's office is now reviewing the proposal. If the language is approved for Californians to consider, the political fight will endure, along with the fundraising.
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About the writer:
• The Bee's Michael Doyle can be reached at (202) 383-0006 or mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com