Out of State Interests Launder Big Bucks on California Ballot Props

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Cross-posted on the California Progress Report. 

Out of State Interests Launder Big Bucks on California Ballot Props
Supporters of Electoral College Grab, Hidden Agenda Eminent Domain Measure, and Opposition to Term Limits Reform Don't Want You to Know Who They Are

Powerful out of state interests are contributing millions of dollars for and against California ballot propositions and they don't want you to know who they are. On at least three measures, the pattern is clear. Money is received by an out of state nonprofit organization and then a donation is made in the name of the organization, but the contributors are not known and hide behind the group and a loophole in California law known as the "one bite" rule.

This is a serious subversion of a great reform--the initiative--that came out of the progressive movement in the early years of the 20th Century--championed in California by Hiram Johnson, a progressive Republican Governor. And it is a subversion of another reform coming out of the scandals of the Watergate era, when Jerry Brown spearheaded and California passed disclosure laws--sunshine--on campaign contributions in the Political Reform Act--Prop 9--approved by the voters in 1974.

It is bad enough that money plays such a pivotal role in the passage or defeat of ballot propositions. It is even worse when out of state interests supply the bulk of money on some of our ballot propositions--in one case approaching 90%--and downright insulting when they hide behind the skirt of non-profit organizations to mask their identities.

So it was--and is--with the Republican attempt to change the Electoral College just before the November 2008 Presidential Election--and the secrecy about out of state donors. We wrote about that last month in an article, "California Voters Have Right to Know Who Financed, Aided, and Abetted Attempt to Rig the Electoral College" and you can read about the machinations to hide donors in that article.

Some of the groups and individuals who do not want their identities known or want to launder others' money work on multiple ballot initiatives.

There's more...