Republicans investigate California mail-vote contract that went to ‘Team Biden’ firm

Congressional Republicans say they are launching an investigation into a $35 million contract that the California Secretary of State’s Office awarded to a firm with ties to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

As reported in The Sacramento Bee last month, Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s office awarded the contract for a voter education and outreach campaign to the firm SKD Knickerbocker, which touts itself as being proud to be a part of “Team Biden” on its website.

According to the state agency, SKD Knickerbocker, whose clients have included many high-ranking Democrats, was chosen from a pool of three finalists through an expedited emergency bid process. The firm is now tasked with running “Vote Safe California,” a state information campaign to encourage voting by mail and inform Californians about changes to Election Day due to the coronavirus.

In a letter to Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Wednesday, three house Republicans said there are “serious questions” about how the contract was awarded and possible conflicts of interest.

“Being awarded a $35 million contract to contact voters using taxpayer money while publicly advertising its work on behalf of Joe Biden’s campaign for president and employing a senior advisor to his campaign essentially provides a pro-Biden entity the opportunity to conduct get out the vote efforts,” the letter says. In February, Biden named Anita Dunn as a senior adviser to his campaign. Dunn, a managing director at SKD Knickerbocker, is a longtime Democratic strategist.

“Unfortunately, this voter contact operation is being funded by taxpayers,” the letter said.

The letter also takes issue with the fact that the office awarded the contract outside of the typical process, which can take three to six months. The Secretary of State’s office told The Bee last month that the contract was expedited because of how close the election is and the urgency of the message.

“Without transparency in the contracting process, political bias rather than price likely influenced the award,” the members of Congress said.

The letter was signed by U.S. Rep. James Comer, ranking Republican member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, U.S. Rep Rodney Davis, ranking Republican in the House Committee on Administration, and Jody Hice, ranking Republican on the House Subcommittee on Government operations.

The letter also cites a recent Reuters report, which said Microsoft Corp has alerted SKD Knickerbocker that it is the target of Russian state-backed hackers. The hacking group, known as “Fancy Bear,” is the same set of spies blamed by the federal government for leaking Hillary Clinton’s emails. According to Reuters, a person familiar with the firm’s response said the hacking attempts were unsuccessful.

“Since the California Secretary of State’s office is a client of SKD Knickerbocker, these attempted hacks raises serious concerns about whether any data related to voter information is being targeted,” the letter says.

As a result of the concerns, the Committee on Oversight and Reform is conducting an investigation into the contract, and is asking the state to turn over pages of documents detailing how SKD Knickerbocker was chosen to execute the “Vote Safe California” campaign and what kind of voter information the firm was given access to.

The committee is the principal oversight committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and told Padilla it has “broad authority to investigate any matter at any time.” The committee is chaired by U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, a New York Democrat. The letter also requests a copy of all proposals for the contract submitted to the state office, and any documents provided to the Secretary of State ensuring employees of the Biden campaign are not involved in the project.

The committee is asking Padilla to schedule a briefing on the contract matter with committee staff no later than Sept. 25.

Both the Secretary of State’s office and member of the SKD Knickerbocker team told The Bee that those working on project are nonpartisan and have no ties to specific politicians.

According to the firm’s proposal, obtained by The Bee, the project team includes multiple employees who have worked extensively on electing Democrats to office. One of the project team members, communications specialist Tania Mercado, is listed as previously working for California Sen. Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate. Matt Herath, a media specialist with the firm, has worked on campaigns for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, according to the proposal. Jason Rosenbaum, a digital specialist, led digital advertising for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Hilary Rosen, a longtime media figure who also worked with California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, is listed as the senior advisor on the project, according to the proposal.

California Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove criticized the contract in a statement on Thursday, calling for an investigation into the actions of the Secretary of State’s office.

“Once again, a top Democrat official has shown partisan favoritism when it comes to spending valuable tax dollars,” Grove said. “This taxpayer-funded contract is especially disturbing because it calls into question the integrity of California’s upcoming election. It appears that the state’s top election official is abusing his office to favor voter outreach for Democrat candidates.”

“Imagine the outcry if Democrats found out the state awarded a $35 million contract under the guise of ‘Vote Safe California,’ to an organization with strong ties to ‘Team Trump,’” Grove added. “Democrats would not only demand that this contract be rescinded, but would call for the individual who awarded this contract – in this case, the Secretary of State – to resign.”