The GOP is up to their dirty tricks again! The CA Republican Party‘s “Presidential Election Reform Act” is nothing but another right-wing power grab. If you can’t hijack an election by having a Kathryn Harris or a Kenneth Blackwell, then use the techniques perfected by the good ole Tom Delay/Karl Rove School of Election Theft. Their goal, of course, is to hijack the White House on June 3, 2008 — five months before the general election.
This dangerous initiative dictates that California divide up its electoral college votes by congressional district, allowing Republicans to rob 20 electoral college votes — the equivalent of Ohio. If these dirty rotten scoundrels really want reform, they should propose national change — not cherry-pick California’s electoral votes to, once again, steal the executive branch. May I suggest we begin with Texas?
Editorials by the New York Times and the L.A. Times called this ballot initiative an “elaborate dirty trick” designed by a “shadowy group” to “do serious damage to our democracy.”
Unfortunately, this initiative has cleared the first hurdle, and they will start the signature gathering process to qualify for the June ballot. Sponsors will have until Christmas to gather 434,000 valid signatures. No doubt, their hired guns will be out in full force in front of every Wal-Mart. PLEASE remind your family, friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers not to sign this petition when they see those paid signature gatherers.
The Courage Campaign, headed up by Rick Jacobs, is uniting with the netroots and the grassroots to build a people-powered online infrastructure in California that will defeat this dirty trick. Check out their web site at: http://www.couragecampaign.org/
Personally, I would prefer to derail them in their signature gathering effort. We can start by educating people and publicizing what this initiative is all about. We need to take action now! Having a Rudy McRomney in the White House scares the heck out of me!
