We've been hearing that Gov. Schwarzenegger's nominee for Secretary of State, Bruce McPherson, is an "affable and moderate" Republican, with "strong experience" and "unimpeachable integrity."
But now, we are also hearing that his transition team includes several members with "too close ties" to the governor's office, and other members likely to be opponents of California's new "paper trail by 2006" rule -- including a lobbyist for the firm representing the now-infamous Diebold Election Systems, as well as Alameda County's former Registrar of Voters, who was "a driving force" behind getting touchscreen machines certified for use in CA.
The CA Senate has already approved McPherson's nomination. The Assembly committee vote is set for tomorrow (Tuesday), and the full Assembly is expected to vote on the nomination on Thursday.
It has been reported that Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, a Democrat, has assured Gov. Schwarzenegger that McPherson's nomination would be approved, but the LA Times on March 17th had Nunez's spokesman saying "The advisory transition team is very disturbing to us. There seems to be too close ties there to the governor's office."
Transition team members include: Adan Ortega, Jr., a lobbyist for the firm that represents Diebold Election Systems; Steven A. Merksamer, an attorney whose firm represents "Citizens to Save California," the big-money group behind the governor's special election ploy; Beth Miller Malek, whose partner at Wilson-Miller Communications, Marty Wilson, is described by the LA Times as "the governor's chief fundraiser"; several members of the governor's own administration; and the former registrar of voters of Alameda County, Bradley Clark, a cheerleader for paperless electronic voting machines, who was described by UC Berkeley's journalism school newspaper in 2000 as "a driving force in researching and instituting touchscreen machines and bringing them to the attention of Secretary of State Bill Jones, who certified the machines for use in California."
from my email to Assembly Speaker Nunez and my Assembly representative, Patti Berg:
"Sadly, I don't expect that Assembly Democrats will choose to fight this nomination, but I expect that my party's representatives in the Assembly will -- unlike the State Senate Democrats -- put it loudly and firmly ON THE RECORD that if Mr. McPherson and his team think they can bend fundraising rules for the governor's special election or -- worse -- circumvent the implementation of a paper trail by January 2006 for voting machines in California -- they need to know that Democrats in the Assembly will fight furiously and publicly to ensure that Californians will get the accountable and recountable elections we want and deserve."
If you choose to email your own Assembly representative or Nunez, you can cc your email to the Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles group at pdlavote@aol.com
assemblymember.nunez@assembly.ca.gov
Nunez's office phone: 213-620-4646.
You can hook up with your own CA assemblymember using the "Find Your District" feature here:
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/