Don't expect members of the Senate Republican Caucus to write big checks to back the referendum of the district lines they fought to qualify for the ballot.
Senate GOP leader Bob Huff said today that the caucus probably won't finance the November campaign asking voters to reject the maps drawn by the Citizens Redistricting Commission.
"We have seats to defend. That's a higher priority," the Diamond Bar Republican said.
Senate Republicans, who are expected to lose seats under the new maps, were the major force behind the effort to qualify the referendum, which was certified for the ballot yesterday. The caucus and the state GOP had poured millions into qualifying the measure in hopes that the state Supreme Court would rule that new maps should be drawn in time for 2012 if the effort was headed towards the ballot.
But with the Supreme Court's ruling that the current districts should be used for this year's elections, questions have emerged about whether anyone will step up to fund the measure in the November election. California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro would not commit to providing money to the campaign during a Friday press conference to open the state party convention in Burlingame.
"What we're going to do is look at our resources, look at the issues in front of us, like the spending cap, and over the next six months, we are going to decide on exactly how far we should push each individual thing we're facing," he said.
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