Anti-immigrant ties in the drive for a big-money takeover of California politics

Supporters of California's Proposition 32, the measure that claims to get special interest money out of campaigns but in fact targets unions while allowing corporate money to keep flowing, have connections to basically any kind of offensive politics you could name. It starts with the assault on unions and the protection of corporate spending, of course, and goes on to homophobes and school privatizers. But it goes on. Several of Prop. 32's big backers have also given money to some truly vicious anti-immigrant politicians.

For instance, at least two Prop. 32's biggest donors have given to Allen Mansoor, now a candidate for State Assembly and previously mayor of Costa Mesa, California:

In 2005, well before Arizona ever passed its anti-immigrant law SB 1070, Mansoor authorized Costa Mesa police to run immigration checks on individuals suspected of crimes, as well as on unlicensed drivers. He even proposed authorizing local police to investigate federal immigration crimes'creating a national news story over fear the rule would result in the racial profiling of Latinos.

But Frying Pan News' Matthew Fleischer raises a bigger issue:

Earlier this week, the Prop. 32 campaign netted a massive $11 million donation from a mysterious non-profit calling itself Americans for Responsible Leadership. The organization is based in Arizona.

Little is known about ARL, and even less about its financial supporters. Our efforts to contact the group by press-time were unsuccessful.

Despite the scant details over the Arizona money's origins, however, its infusion into the political process ultimately points to the greatest cause for concern over Prop. 32'the complete unknown.

Take union money out of politics and we just don't know what could happen. Republicans don't have to have a concrete agenda in place now. If they win this one, they'll have knocked out the financial power of one of the big forces fighting them from elections at every level to ballot measures. That's why they rightly see this measure as a chance to make Republicans competitive in California elections.