It looks like Cruz "Joe Lieberman for President"

Bustamante has found a very slimy way to use the

millions of dollars in dirty money he's been raking in

from the casino interests here in California.

Bustamante has created what appears to be a phony

anti-Proposition 54 committee that exists solely for

the purpose of producing commercials of himself to be

broadcast in various television markets throughout the

state.

Since there are usually no restrictions upon the

amount of money a committee of this nature can raise

from donors, Bustamante can funnel as much dirty money as he wants into it -- thus completely bypassing

campaign finance laws.

Although Bustamante probably can't legally use this

committee to produce commercials that promote himself outright as a candidate for Governor, nothing stops him from appearing in them as a "spokesperson" against Proposition 54.

Despite this limitation, these commercials will have

the exact same effect as any other campaign

advertisement would have: they will boost Bustamante's visibility among them electorate and help him in his quest to become California's next Governor.

Although I will be voting "NO" on the recall question

and "NO" on Proposition 54 in the October 7th special

election, you can be rest assured I will not be

casting my ballot for someone like Cruz Bustamante.

We need to reject politicians like this who continue

to devise slimy ways of undermining restrictions on

campaign finance laws.

Sincerely,

Duane J. Roberts

duaneroberts92804@yahoo.com



http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/recall/la-me-recall7sep07,1,313000.story?co

ll=la-home-headlines

Bustamante to Redirect Campaign Cash

By Dan Morain

Times Staff Writer

4:40 PM PDT, September 6, 2003

SACRAMENTO -- Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, trying to

defuse an issue that has dogged him on the campaign

trial, is abandoning plans to wage his gubernatorial

campaign with nearly $4 million from labor unions and

casino-owning Indian tribes, his chief strategist said

today.

Instead, Bustamante will spend the campaign cash on

television commercials featuring himself denouncing

Proposition 54, the Ward Connerly-backed initiative

that will share the Oct. 7 ballot with the recall.

Opposed by top Democrats, health care groups and

liberal advocates for minorities, the initiative would

limit the ability of government to collect and use

racial and ethnic data.

Bustamante is scheduled to make the announcement

during a rally Sunday at the Fresno Convention Center.

A campaign camera crew will tape his speech and use it

in the anti-Proposition 54 television spots scheduled

to begin airing the week of Sept. 15.

In the speech, a text of which was provided to The

Times, Bustamante says Proposition 54 is "an attack on

our public health system, and it must defeated."

"No matter how you vote on the recall," he says in the

portion of the speech that will form the basis of the

television spot, "please join me and the California

nurses and doctors in voting no on Proposition 54.

It's more important than politics."

Bustamante will also say that he has "decided to

resolve the questions raised by the Republicans about

my campaign finances" by using the bulk of his

contributions from unions and tribes to defeat

Proposition 54 rather than in his recall campaign. He

has been criticized for using a loophole in the

campaign finance law to accept contributions well in

excess of the $21,200 limit.

There is no restriction on the sums that Bustamante

can raise and spend to defeat Proposition 54. The U.S.

Supreme Court has held that the 1st Amendment permits

unlimited spending on campaigns for and against ballot

measures.

In an interview today, Richie Ross, Bustamante's chief

campaign strategist, said he was pulling back money

earmarked to purchase commercial television time for

the candidate's gubernatorial bid, and would redirect

it to the campaign against Proposition 54. As a

result, the campaign will spend about $3.8 million to

defeat the Connerly initiative.

"Nobody will be able to say he is taking on some

Mother's Day resolution," Ross said. "He is jumping

into a real fight and is jumping into the side that is

down."

Even though Bustamante won't be spending the money on

television spots promoting his run for governor, his

likeness will be on the air regularly in coming weeks

as he touts his opposition to Proposition 54.

Connerly was appointed by former Gov. Pete Wilson to

the University of California Board of Regents. As

lieutenant governor, Bustamante is also a regent.

Bustamante accepted a $2,000 donation from Connerly

after he was elected lieutenant governor in 1999, but

returned it last summer as he prepared to run for

reelection and after Connerly gathered sufficient

signatures to put his latest initiative to a statewide

vote.

Connerly was the lead proponent of Proposition 209,

the 1996 initiative to end race- and gender-based

affirmative action in California public works

projects, college admissions and other areas. Voters

approved that measure, just as they approved

Proposition 187 in 1994 to end most government

services to illegal immigrants.

Democrats nonetheless use both measures to rally

voters, particularly minorities, to turn out to the

polls. Bustamante is hoping that Connerly's latest

offering will strike similar chords with Democrats,

even though it deals with an issue that, at least on

its face, seems much more arcane that illegal

immigration or affirmative action.

At the same time, the lieutenant governor hopes to put

to rest a fund-raising controversy that has been

swirling around his campaign for more than a week.

In a maneuver that resulted in a lawsuit and sharp

rebuke by his rivals, Bustamante in the last two weeks

has raised $3.8 million into an account he set up

years ago to mount his 2002 reelection campaign for

lieutenant governor.

State law, in a provision that favors incumbents,

allows politicians with old campaign accounts to raise

unlimited sums for those accounts. Bustamante planned

to transfer the money from his old account into his

current gubernatorial campaign account.

The move would have allowed him to get around newly

imposed restrictions that limit donations to $21,200

from individuals, unions, corporations and other

entities.

Several rivals in the recall attacked Bustamante over

his fund-raising. Newspapers have editorialized

against it, and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi,

a fellow Democrat, on Friday became the first

statewide officeholder to publicly question the wisdom

of the move.

"I think it is a political mistake to be engage in

activity that raises this question in a campaign,"

Garamendi told The Times. "The risk outweighs [the

benefit]. I think this is a major political problem

for him."

The Fair Political Practices Commission, the agency

that enforces campaign finance law, was planning to

meet in closed session next week to discuss

litigation, although it was unclear whether the

discussion would focus on Bustamante's gambit.

Believing that he FPPC would not act, state Sen. Ross

Johnson (R-Irvine) -- who helped write the 2000

campaign finance measure, Proposition 34 -- sued

Bustamante to prevent the transfer. Johnson could not

be reached for comment Saturday.

Bustamante strategist Ross predicted that the

lieutenant governor's critics would continue attacking

him over his fund-raising tactics, but said their

argument would be weakened.

"Are they going to attack us for using money that we

got from Indians to deal with an issue related to

race?" Ross asked.

Referring to the plight of Native Americans, he cited

a federal policy in the 1950s under which the

government tried to terminate smaller bands,

particularly in California. He likened that policy to

Connerly's initiative: "You simply declare that a

racial minority no longer exists."

Connerly could not be reached for comment, and the

pro-Proposition 54 campaign did not respond to an

e-mail and phone calls.

Ross said he spoke to Bustamante on Thursday night

about the idea of shifting strategy. That was the

night one tribe gave Bustamante's old committee $1.5

million, a union representing state engineers

contributed $700,000 and a second tribe gave

Bustamante $300,000 after having donated $300,000 the

week before.

Ross and Bustamante's attorney -- Lance Olson, the

state Democratic Party counsel who also helped draft

Proposition 34 -- had contended that the law permitted

Bustamante to transfer the money.

But although Ross said the campaign's internal polls

found no damage to Bustamante from the issue, the

consultant concluded that the lieutenant governor

could be "losing the political argument."

"This is just not an argument we want to have," Ross

said. "It distracts. I don't need to add to the

confusion. We die in a confused argument. We need to

keep this [campaign] simple and direct and

straightforward. I can't afford to have this thing go

on and on and on, particularly when you have such an

attractive opportunity [in Proposition 54] that he

feels strongly about and appeals to our base voters."