A small-town lawyer is tied to funding for electoral-vote change

By Shane Goldmacher - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A4

The name of the donor behind a controversial initiative to change how California apportions its vote for president in 2008 was revealed in campaign filings late Monday.

But Democrats opposed to a measure they decry as a "Republican power grab" are no closer to actually identifying the mysterious financial backers of the campaign.

The proposed ballot measure, written by prominent Sacramento GOP attorney Tom Hiltachk, would shift California's Electoral College votes from a winner-take-all system -- in which Democrats have won all the state's presidential electors since 1992 -- and instead award one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. Two electoral votes would go to the state winner.