Dean's Money Machine to Fight Schwarzenegger
Financial war ahead over special election
Sacramento -- A liberal grassroots network that helped fuel Howard Dean's maverick run for president is crackling back to life to fight Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot initiative drive, another sign that the governor's plans for a special election this year could produce a costly and fiercely partisan battle.
California for Democracy, the state arm of a national group that raised millions of dollars for Dean over the Internet, is planning a high-tech campaign targeting the Republican governor, who wraps up an out-of-state fund- raising tour in Washington today.
The group's re-emergence came as a committee closely aligned with Schwarzenegger began running television advertisements Monday urging voters to seek out signature-gatherers and sign up.
But volunteers from California for Democracy hope to frustrate those efforts. They plan to use the Web and mobile technology to keep roughly 9,000 supporters abreast of the whereabouts of signature-gatherers for Schwarzenegger ballot initiatives. Organizers say volunteers will then head to those locations to distribute the group's leaflets denouncing the planned special election, which opponents note will cost as much as $70 million.
The group is also poised to raise money to oppose the governor's agenda.
The strategy took shape last week in a conference call involving 1,000 of the group's members and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, a day after Schwarzenegger launched a signature-gathering drive for three initiatives that mirror proposals he laid out in January.
"One of the questions was: What specific actions can we take? And he (Núñez) said: Educate, tell your friends exactly what's going on," said Michael Faulkner, a member of the group's steering committee. "So that's what people are doing. We'll have a Web site that can be posted to, and we'll have phone trees with cell phones and PDA's with the people that will be involved" to spot signature-gatherers.
The "rapid response team,'' as Faulkner described it, is one more sign that an extraordinary campaign season is ramping up in what was supposed to be an off-year for statewide elections in California.
In addition to the new effort by California for Democracy, a committee comprised mostly of labor unions representing teachers, nurses, firefighters and police has formed to combat Schwarzenegger. The group is expected to announce soon which ballot initiatives it will support and begin fund-raising.
Schwarzenegger is pushing to strip lawmakers of the ability to draw political districts, cap the amount the state pays into employee pensions, adopt a new spending cap, change how teachers are paid and extend the time it takes for teachers to obtain tenure.
He is pushing his ideas in the Legislature but has said he will take them to voters in a November special election if lawmakers don't cooperate.
The potential of a special election has sparked a surge of other proposed initiatives, many counter to Schwarzenegger's plans. Possible initiatives would raise the minimum wage, further regulate the energy industry and implement a Car Buyers' Bill of Rights.
Political players both aligned with the governor and against him appear poised to spend the next seven weeks warring over whether an election is needed and racing to get enough signatures to meet deadlines to qualify initiatives for the ballot.
Elections officials say most initiatives must have more than 595,000 valid signatures by April 19 to get a spot in a November election.
The tight time frame means the political battle will be fought on two fronts during March and most of April: at malls, restaurants and other public places where signatures are gathered, and in fund-raising, where all sides will have to scramble to raise millions to pay for the signature drives.
Schwarzenegger has already begun an intense effort to raise campaign cash. He scheduled fund-raisers in Cincinnati last Friday, New York Monday and Washington, D.C. today as part of an out-of-state trip that included a bodybuilding event he sponsors in Ohio and visits with three of President Bush's Cabinet members today.
The governor pulled in "well in the six-figure range'' at the Cincinnati event, said Marty Wilson, the governor's chief fund-raiser.
Today's event, held at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, features photographs with the governor for anyone who contributes $11,150.
The committee created to promote Schwarzenegger's ballot initiatives, Citizens to Save California, is also planning events featuring the governor, including ones in San Francisco and Silicon Valley in April. Already, the group -- which is run by Allan Zaremberg, the head of the state's Chamber of Commerce and Joel Fox, an anti-tax advocate -- has collected more than $1.7 million en route to the governor's stated goal of raising $50 million this year to fund the initiative campaigns.
The group will finance the signature gathering, which will begin this week. A spokesman said Monday that the group expects to face opposition as it gathers signatures for Schwarzenegger's proposals.
"It's not surprising that there are organizations who have an interest in keeping the status quo,'' said Reed Dickens. "But the status quo isn't fair to the people of California.''
The entry of Dean's former group into the initiative battle could be significant for fund raising.
While not directly aligned with the Democratic Party, California for Democracy and its parent group, Democracy for America -- chaired by Dean's brother, Jim -- proved the envy of the political world last year. It amassed roughly $15 million for Dean's quest for the Democratic presidential nomination largely through individual contributions averaging less than $100, many made over the Internet. About one-third of Dean's funds came from California, according to Rick Jacobs, who chaired his campaign in the state and remains an activist for Democrats.
Jacobs said the group plans to use the same strategy in California and called attention to the difference in fund-raising strategies, noting that Schwarzenegger is expected to take in large contributions from business interests.
Labor interests are expected to spend large chunks of money just as business groups do, but the group's specialty is small donations.
"You talk about how we're going to counter Arnold -- that's how," Jacobs said Friday. "You're going to see the Democrats have a demonstrated ability to raise a lot of small contributions."
See the article on San Francisco Chronicle website
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)