The Los Angeles Times reported last week that California Republicans are reviving an effort to change the state’s winner-take-all system for allocating electoral votes (a move that could hand the 2008 Presidential election to Republicans). But progressives are raising questions about Arno Political Consulting, the group organizing the new signature drive. In a letter to the California Attorney General, Kristina Wilfore, the Executive Director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC), wrote:
In 2006, BISC worked extensively with the committee that opposed an extreme measure known as “TABOR” . . .Our work with these groups placed BISC in a unique position this cycle to witness firsthand several different types of fraud perpetrated by certain signature gathering firms, including but not limited to, Arno Political Consulting.
So there are some doubts about the reputation of the firm promoting this measure. I’m not surprised: the whole thing seems pretty stinky in the first place. But, as I’ve written before, none of this matters very much because there’s a pretty convincing case (via Doug Kendall) that the ballot measure is unconstitutional:
In Article II, Section 1, the Constitution declares that electors shall be appointed by states “in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” That’s legislature.
Let the GOP and Arno waste their time and money gathering signatures. Even if they get the 650,000 signatures they want, it won’t do a bit of good. Unless they want to throw out this part of the constitution, too…
(The title of the post is from here. Hail to the King, baby.)
