You knew there had to be some connection. From The San Jose Mercury News (reg req'd):

Lawyers behind a California ballot proposal that could benefit the 2008 Republican presidential nominee have ties to a Texas homebuilder who financed attacks on Democrat John Kerry's Vietnam War record in the 2004 presidential campaign.

Charles H. Bell and Thomas Hiltachk's law firm banked nearly $65,000 in fees from a California-based political committee funded almost solely by Bob J. Perry that targeted Democrats in 2006. Perry, a major Republican donor, contributed nearly $4.5 million to the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that made unsubstantiated but damaging attacks on Kerry three years ago.

Yes, Hiltachk is the lawyer who submitted the dirty trick initiative for the June 2008 California ballot (not to mention Arnold's former personal lawyer) and if this thing makes it on the ballot and passes, the initiative would deliver around 20 electoral votes (the equivalent of Ohio) to the Republican presidential candidate instead of the full 55 to the Democrat. In other words, a low turnout election in California could single-handedly determine the outcome of the national election.

Supporters of the measure claim that changing the way California allots its electoral votes would make the process more democratic and fair, but the revelation of this connection between the creators of the initiative and the Swiftboat funder reveals the brazen partisan power grab that the initiative really is, certainly not something our post-partisan governor can support (see here for more on the effort to get Arnold to take a public stand on the initiative.)

In addition, the revelation hopefully will make Perry's involvement in actually funding this initiative less likely, which is key as the measure's supporters begin the expensive signature-collecting process.

Their success could hinge on whether they get the financial backing to collect more than 400,000 petition signatures needed to qualify the proposal for the ballot. And while Perry has not donated to their cause, his wealth and connections make him a potential financier for a drive that could cost more than $1 million. Running a statewide campaign would cost millions more. [...]

But without money, from Perry or other sources, the proposal will never take off. To get on the ballot "it needs money," [Republican analyst] Hoffenblum said.

The problem for us, of course, is that if it does make it onto the ballot, it will also cost millions to defeat. That's why we need to kill this thing before it even gets on the ballot. That effort still takes money though, and my colleagues at the Courage Campaign and Calitics have banded together to to launch a $20 for 20 fundraising campaign via Act Blue to stop this dirty trick in its tracks. We've already raised over $7500 and we're today's Act Blue top "Hot Page."

As Digby says:

These people have no compunction about cheating. They've shown that. Look what it got us in 2000. And if they succeed again, the press will just laugh and giggle about haircuts and cleavage and tell everyone to get over it. Just like last time. And the time before. And the time before that.

The difference is, this time we're organized. Help us out if you can. Also, David Dayen has more over at Calitics.

Update [2007-9-4 17:46:32 by Todd Beeton]: A new poll from Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates shows support for the initiative at 38% with opposition at 28% and undecideds at 33%. This is good news. Not only does an initiative generally need to be above 50% to have any hope of passing, but the more people learn about the initiative, the more they oppose it. So with a concerted education campaign, those undecideds will most likely fall into the No column.