California Republican Party

The California Republican Party has joined a lawsuit seeking to stop federal oversight of spending on state and local elections.

Party chairman Ron Nehring said the complaint, filed in Washington, D.C. against the Federal Election Commission, aims to throw out a portion of the McCain-Feingold Act that dictates how federal regulations apply to party outreach activities.

The act, passed in 2002, subjects national parties to federal limitations on donations, and bans so-called "soft money" donations to parties from corporations, unions and individuals. Such requirements are in effect regardless of how the party would spend the money, which the suit contends is a restriction on free speech.

A map of the new political landscape in California, with counties Barack Obama won in blue and those John McCain won colored red.

The California political landscape is no longer defined so much by a north-south divide between Democrats and Republicans, but rather an east-west split between coastal regions and the inland counties, according to some professors and political observers.

Thad Kousser, professor of political science at University of California, San Diego, cited voter registration figures and recent election results as evidence of the California Republican Party's declining strength in the state's heavily populated coastal regions.

"There's no longer a north-south split in California between Democrats and Republicans," Kousser argued. "There's an east-west split."

The California Republican Party filed a complaint Monday with the Federal Election Commission over four different situations where the party said Barack Obama's presidential campaign and/or its allies are flouting the law.

In one part of the complaint, the party said Obama's campaign failed to disclose its release of a donor list to ACORN, a federal housing rights group under investigation for possible voter registration fraud.

An adult day care home manager who reportedly filled out election ballots for developmentally disabled adults drew a request for an investigation from the California Republican Party Wednesday.

In a press release, the group made note of a KXTV news report Wednesday that said David Simerely, the director at the Thumps Up! adult care center in the foothills town of Sonora, helped 10 or more center clients fill out their Nov. 4 ballot, mostly in favor of Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

A consultant working with the state Democratic party said she's filed a complaint with the FCC over commercials Republican Abram Wilson is running in his 15th Assembly District campaign.

Robin Swanson of Swanson Communications said the commercials state that they're paid for by Wilson's Assembly campaign, when the California Republican Party actually paid for them.

The California Republican Party made note of another potential voter registration fraud case this week, calling on Secretary of State Debra Bowen to investigate and fulfill a pledge for nonpartisanship in her office.

Party officials sent a press release late Monday that said a group called the Education and Registration Fund was shut down by the Ventura County Elections Division for violations of elections law, specifically hiring underage workers to sign up new voters.

The CRP said state Democrats had hired the group for voter registration.

However, it was unclear Tuesday what action the Ventura County Elections Division had taken against the group, if any.

SACRAMENTO - California Secretary of State Debra Bowen said that Republican claims aside, there's no partisanship in how her office looks at potential voting fraud cases, including one that led to the arrest Sunday of a 23-year-old man in Ontario who'd been signing up new voters for the GOP.

Bowen, speaking at a "drive-thru registration" event on the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 4 election, said she'd investigate Mother Teresa if there was reason to think the late Nobel Peace Prize winner was engaged in voter fraud.

"If a complaint is brought against any party, any individual, my office will investigate," Bowen said.

The California Republican Party Sunday accused Secretary of State Debra Bowen of using her office in a partisan manner in having the owner of a signature-gathering firm arrested and charged with voter registration fraud.

Bowen is targeting Marc Anthony Jacoby - who was arrested Sunday - to deflect attention from the affiliation between Democrats and ACORN, a group suspected of voter registration fraud in several states.

The California Republican Party got directly involved in two competitive Assembly seats in a big way this week, donating $85,000 for Republican Abram Wilson in the 15th and $125,000 for Republican Danny Gilmore in the 30th.

Party spokesman Kevin Roberts said the donation is a sign that the GOP considers both seats high priorities to win on Nov. 4.

A San Bernardino County Republican group mailed out a newsletter containing what many are calling a racist depiction of Barack Obama on a would-be $10 bill that surrounds the Democratic presidential nominee with ribs, watermelon, and a bucket of fried chicken.

The Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated, wrote in their October newsletter that if Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps instead of dollar bills, reports The Press-Enterprise.