4 Democrats Attack Party’s Prop. 25 Opposition

SACRAMENTO — In a rare defection, a group of Democratic stalwarts Monday denounced their party’s decision to contribute heavily to a campaign to defeat a political reform initiative on Tuesday’s ballot.

At a news conference in Los Angeles, former Secretary of State March Fong Eu, longtime Democratic financial backers Stanley Sheinbaum and Max Palevsky and pollster Pat Caddell accused the party hierarchy of being out of step with rank-and-file members who overwhelmingly support campaign finance reform.

All four are backers of Proposition 25, a reform initiative sponsored by millionaire Ron Unz and former acting Secretary of State Tony Miller.

“I’m just so embarrassed by what they [party officials] did,” said Eu. “It sends a very regrettable message to the people of California that the California Democratic Party opposes the reform.”

Late last week in an unprecedented move, party leaders dumped $500,000 into the campaign against Proposition 25 to counteract a $1-million donation Palevsky had given backers of the initiative the day before.

Party officials insisted that they supported campaign finance reform but could not back the Unz-Miller proposal because it provided some taxpayer financing of initiatives.

Palevsky said he is so outraged by the party’s action that when the primary is over he intends to denounce it in full-page advertisements in newspapers statewide. He said the headline on the ads will be one word in bold black letters: Shame.

Proposition 25 would tighten political fund-raising by setting contribution limits, banning corporate donations, providing blackout periods, requiring frequent disclosure and offering taxpayer-financed advertising credits to campaigns that agree to spending limits.