Alex Padilla isn’t even a senator from California yet, but he’s already coming in for criticism by Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The California secretary of state is among a small group of Democrats who Gov. Gavin Newsom is reportedly considering appointing to the Senate seat being vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Yet, Padilla is now drawing scrutiny from a group of prominent House Republicans over what they call an unlawful contract that he sought for the state of California with a consulting firm that has strong ties to President-elect Joe Biden.
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A letter Tuesday to California Department of Finance Director Keeley Martin Bosler inquired about Padilla’s “questionable $35 million voter contact contract” that was awarded to SKDKnickerbocker. According to the Republican lawmakers, Padilla is attempting to use millions of dollars from the CARES Act (aimed at coronavirus-related aid) to fund a contract with SKDKnickerbocker, Biden’s main election campaign advisory firm.
“Instead of using taxpayer money to enrich political allies of Secretary Alex Padilla with a contract that likely violates the law, we request that you immediately return the federal money to the United States Treasury,” wrote House Committee on Oversight and Reform ranking member James Comer in a letter to Bosler.
“The Secretary’s attempt to pay SKD with federal money appears to be unlawful and an effort to influence the federal election. Documents reviewed by Committee Republicans and provided to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Office of Inspector General show that the Secretary of State’s Office plans to use Help America Vote Act (HAVA) grant money from the CARES Act to fund the contract,” wrote Comer, a Kentucky Republican, joined by GOP Reps. Rodney Davis of Illinois, the ranking member on the House Administration Committee, House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Subcommittee on Government Operations ranking member Jody Hice of Georgia.
The letter notes that according to an article in the Sacramento Bee, Padilla received $34 million worth of invoices from SKDKnickerbocker for the voter contact contract.
Padilla spokeswoman Paula Valle disputed the claims made by the Republican lawmakers, saying the Sacramento Bee’s story is inaccurate.
“This was not a no-bid contract. That is not accurate. It did go to bid. It was an emergency contract because, obviously, we were not given funds by the state legislature until July. The legislature appropriated $36.5 million to us for use for a public education campaign,” Valle told the Washington Examiner. “So, that didn’t happen until July. We didn’t get an emergency contract out until August. We did select a certain number of firms or individuals to have bid on the contract and, basically, from there, we had numerous submissions to review.”
Valle also says the $35 million CARES Act funding the GOP House lawmakers are asking about was appropriated through the legislature.
“Primarily, the money we anticipated utilizing was actually from the state in our budget. We always have HAVA funds or CARES Act funds. There was conversation about potentially using some of those funds, but not the full funds for a public education campaign, which is actually allowed,” she said. “So it is allowed in their language to be able to do certain kinds of outreach to ensure that individuals have the information they need with regards to COVID-19. What is not allowed is a GOTV effort. But our effort is not a GOTV effort.”
Ultimately, California government officials were to choose among three major public relations firms: Mercury Public Relations, Grace Public Affairs, and SKDK. A California government official involved in the process said nothing was initially publicly disclosed to them about the political partisan leanings of the final three firms but that questions were asked of each company to avoid any potential conflicts.
“We did not select SKDK because they were Team Biden’s, so to speak. We didn’t even know they were Team Biden. And that was not even on their website. We selected SKDK because they were the best public relations firm, who provided us the best write up presentation as it related to our scope of work,” the official said.
The Republican members previously called on the Election Assistance Commission inspector general to investigate the contract and also called on Padilla to provide answers.
Padilla is on a short list of candidates being considered by Newsom as a Senate replacement for Harris. Padilla, 47, is an MIT-trained engineer who was a longtime Los Angeles City Council member and state senator before being elected secretary of state in 2014.
