The Governor, The Money And Prop. 11

By John Wildermuth, Columnist
San Francisco Chronicle
September 4, 2008

It's not often that a politician doesn't want to get his name out before the public, but that's what may be happening in the race over the proposed redistricting measure, Proposition 11.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is co-chair of the committee backing the new redistricting plan, which would take the power to draw the state's political boundaries out of the hands of the Legislature and give it to a citizens committee. One of his political groups, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Dream Team," put up $2.4 million to help collect the signatures needed to get it on the ballot.

But here's the problem. When any group puts up a big chunk of cash for a ballot measure, it has to be mentioned by name in any TV ads and mailers the group pays for. That's why the group that's raised about $5.7 million to back Prop. 11 is named (take a deep breath) "California Voters First, Yes on 11 for change in Sacramento -- a coalition of consumer, senior, public interest, taxpayer, community and business groups and leaders, major funding provided by Governor ..."

Now that's where the state apparently ran out of space on the Secretary of State's web site, but it's fair to assume that they would have added "Schwarzenegger's California Dream Team" if only they could have found the room.

Backers of the redistricting plan tout its support from good government groups such as Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, while opponents led by Oakland state Sen. Don Perata and the state Democratic Party, argue that Prop. 11 is only a GOP ploy to steal some of the seats the Democrats have a right to gerrymander for their own party's candidates.

Even though Schwarzenegger's co-chair for the campaign is former Democratic state Controller Steve Westly, and former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis also is supporting it, having the Republican governor's name show up on every TV ad wouldn't make it any easier for the redistricting reform backers to convince voters it's truly a bipartisan effort.

So Prop. 11 backers have opened a new committee, this one without any of the governor's money, but with plenty of the governor's supporters. That means they can call it "Yes on Prop. 11 -- Hold Politicians Accountable, a coalition of (here it comes again) consumer, senior, public interest, taxpayer, community and business groups and leaders."

Prop. 11 supporters say the new committee was added simply because the campaign has a new treasurer and both committees are actively collecting money. And there's also a real question about how much of a liability Schwarzenegger's name would be anyway because he's not only making no secret of his support -- he's positioning himself against the Democratic-led Legislature, represented by Perata, which is one of the few groups in the state even less popular than the governor.

Still, there's plenty to suggest that the Prop. 11 backers are working to downplay the governor's presence in the campaign fund-raising. For example, William Bloomfield, one of the state's most prolific GOP donors, gave $100,000 to the original committee on Aug. 11 but quickly canceled that contribution and gave $100,000 to the new, sans Schwarzenegger, committee about a week later.

But the real signal will come when the pro-Prop. 11 TV ads start airing. Voters will likely be hearing a lot more from Common Cause than from Arnold Schwarzenegger and don't expect to see the governor's name on the disclaimer.