We've caught the dirty tricksters on video.

As you know, California Counts -- a cabal of right-wing political operatives linked to Rudy Giuliani -- is working hard to steal the White House (again) in 2008. They want to fool California voters into changing the rules so Giuliani -- or some other regressive Republican presidential nominee -- can rob at least 20 Electoral College votes from California next November.

When Steven Attewell, an eagle-eyed member of the blog Daily Kos, alerted me that California Counts petition-gatherers at UC Santa Barbara were gathering signatures to help "children with cancer," I headed out to investigate.

And, sure enough, when I looked carefully at what they wanted me to sign, I noticed that "children with cancer" was just a sneaky tactic to get people to sign the so-called "Electoral College Reform Initiative" -- what we call the dirty trick initiative.

Now, Secretary of State Debra Bowen is considering whether to open an investigation -- if enough of us come forward with stories like what I saw at UCSB.

Click here to watch my YouTube video of the sneaky petitioners trying to trick college students. If you've seen a signature gatherer using sneaky tactics to obtain signatures for the Dirty Trick Initiative, please let us know and we will pass on the information to Secretary Bowen:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/sneaky

It's against the law to obscure or misrepresent petitions. Saying "I'm helping children with cancer" to get people to sign a petition about changing the Electoral College is just plain wrong -- and it might be illegal.

As Secretary Bowen's office told the Daily Nexus, the UCSB newspaper, they will open an investigation into the "California Counts" campaign if enough people come forward with information about wrongdoing:

"Secretary Bowen takes allegations of elections fraud seriously," [Bowen Press Secretary Kate] Folmar wrote. "She encourages anyone who has witnessed a violation of the California Elections Code to contact the Secretary of State's Fraud Investigations Unit. Potential violations brought to the fraud unit's attention are thoroughly investigated and referred for prosecution when there is sufficient evidence of wrongdoing."

The Courage Campaign is in touch with the Secretary of State's Fraud Investigations Unit and will be passing on my video to aid in any potential investigation.

Send this YouTube to your friends and tell them to keep their eyes peeled for dirty tricksters when they go holiday shopping this weekend. If you encounter a petitioner trying to trick you with a line about "children with cancer," then click here to report when and where you saw the dirty tricksters:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/sneaky

Let's put these California Counts signature gatherers on notice and collect evidence for the Secretary of State to launch a formal investigation.

Thanks for taking the time to help us kill this dirty trick. Again.

Erik Love
Courage Campaign

P.S.: Keep up to date with all of the latest information about the dirty tricks initiative at: http://www.nodirtytricks.com/