It's people like Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata who give politicians a bad name. Fortunately, he's on his way out because of term limits, but he's still trying to do damage before the door smacks him on the backside at the end of the year.

Perata, and his political pals, are fighting Proposition 11, the bipartisan redistricting reform measure on the November ballot. It's the voters' best chance yet to bring competition back to Assembly and Senate elections in California. Perata and Co. want the politicians to control the process, so they can draw lines that benefit themselves.

Proposition 11 was put together by several good-government advocates, including California Common Cause, the League of Women voters and the AARP. But Perata, who has a reputation as a bully, is trying to make the sponsors appear to be the bad guys in this election fight. There's a reason for that. The bully can't win the debate on redistricting reform on its merits. So he demonizes the reformers.

It's a tactic that's been successful in initiative campaigns. Confuse the issue and voters will vote "No." It's a cynical strategy, but it works.

Perata has set up a committee to fight the measure called "Citizens for Accountability -- No on the Power Grab." It's Perata and his special-interest friends, of course, who don't want citizen accountability and the power grab is by the politicians in Sacramento. But he will try to sell this lie to California voters and the special interests say they'll give him all the money he needs to do it.

This is disgraceful, but about what you'd expect from a politician whose legacy is built on deceit. I hope the voters don't fall for it. They should vote "Yes" on Proposition 11 in November.