Chuck Bell shares an office with George W. Bush.

A life-size, cardboard version of the commander-in-chief stands next to Bell's desk in his downtown Sacramento office. On a nearby side table sit wooden Russian nesting dolls bearing the images of Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, and Russian leader Boris Yeltsin.

But contrary to its appearance, this is not the office of your average political junkie. Bell is an acknowledged expert on election law who serves as general counsel of the California Republican Party. Bell and his firm, Bell, McAndrews, Hiltachk & Davidian, LLP, advise candidates and office-holders regarding the myriad requirements of federal, state and local election laws and assist them in complying with those laws. The firm also engages in election-related litigation, ranging from challenges to ballot initiatives to lawsuits arising out of election contests.

Such a summary, however, hardly describes the range of Bell's work. As Los Angeles attorney Eric George described it: "You can hardly have an election law matter of great prominence in California without his name being associated with it."

In 1998, Bell's firm advised Chief Justice Ronald George and Justice Ming Chin in their confirmation campaigns. Last year, Bell represented California Republicans, who joined Democrats and two smaller political parties in successfully challenging the state's blanket primary system in the U.S. Supreme Court. In California Democratic Party, et al. v. Jones, 120 S.Ct. 2402 (2000), the Court held that the blanket primary created by Proposition 198 violated the political parties' First Amendment right of free association.

On a Friday in August, Bell and partner Thomas Hiltachk spent the morning in federal court challenging the legality of Proposition 34's ban on contributions by lobbyists to state lawmakers on behalf of an organization of lobbyists. Later that day, Bell pondered the possibility of filing legal actions relating the state's redistricting if the Legislature adopted a plan that Republicans found unsatisfactory. And if these issues were not keeping him busy enough, Bell also serves as chairman of a subcommittee entrusted with recommending the appointment of United States District Judges as well as the United States Attorney and U.S. Marshall for the Eastern District.

Bell approaches these duties with a manner that his colleagues described as forthright and courteous and with a knowledge of election law and the electoral process that several described as "encyclopedic."

Eric George, who worked with Bell on the confirmation campaign for his father, Chief Justice George, described Bell as someone who is at home in the rough-and-tumble world of politics but not a captive of that world. Bell is not one to allow politics "to compromise his very fine judgment," George said.

Tom Gede, who has known Bell for years and opposed him in the Prop 198 case, praised Bell as "an attorney of just incredible integrity and civility."

"He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the political party apparatus and the interests involved," Gede said. "He is one of those guys who is terribly bright and can recite the minutiae of complicated matters with ease."

"I think Chuck is a very good lawyer," said Lance Olson, counsel for the California Democratic Party. "He's thorough, he's professional, he's courteous. He's just a great guy and though we're on opposite sides (of the political spectrum) I consider him a good friend."

Robert K. Puglia, retired Chief Justice of the Third Appellate District, who sits on the subcommittee picking Eastern District judges that Bell chairs, called Bell "very incisive, insightful and bright. He's clearly a very capable advocate."

Bell, who is 54 years old, began his legal career intent on focusing on communication law. His first position after receiving his law degree from Stanford University in 1974 was as counsel in the Office of General Counsel in the Federal Communications Commission.

However, Bell's graduation from law school coincided with the beginning of election law reforms inspired by Watergate, reforms that greatly expanded the field of political law. In 1980, he joined the political law firm now known as Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello & Mueller. Bell was a partner in that firm when he and Hiltachk left in 1991 to form their own firm. In 1993, Bell's firm merged with Simmons and McAndrews, a Santa Monica law firm headed by Colleen McAndrews, a former commissioner on the Fair Political Practices Commission.

"At bottom, I think if I didn't like politics I wouldn't love this job," Bell said. "I love it because it is a combination of being at the center of political activity and doing substantive law, law that is actually quite detailed and complex and has some interesting interplays between federal, state and local law, and sometimes between tax law and election law. I have just really enjoyed it."

Bell's Eastern District subcommittee is part of an agreement announced in late May between the Bush administration and California's two Democratic senators. The agreement resulted in the creation of a bipartisan Judicial Advisory Committee. The committee is broken down into six-member subcommittees, each composed of three Republicans and three Democrats, for each judicial district.

Bell's subcommittee received more than 30 applications to fill the vacancy created when Judge Lawrence K. Karlton took senior status last year. Bell said the subcommittee will eventually recommend three judicial candidates to the statewide committee. The Republicans on the subcommittee will make recommendations for the United States Attorney and Marshall positions.

Bell is a member, and served as founding chairman of the California Political Attorneys' Association. He also serves as a member of the board of governors of the Republican National Lawyers' Association and a member of the advisory committee for the California Studies Program at California State University, Sacramento. Bell is a member and former chairman of the Federalist Society of Sacramento and a vice chairman of the Free Speech and Election Law Practice Group of The Federalist Society For Law and Policy in Washington, D.C. He has also served as president and a member of the board of directors of the Sacramento Life Center.

Bell is married to Janice Freeman Bell and has two children, Brien, 15, and Jennifer, 13. He lives in Sacramento.