If you want to take on the difficult challenge of convincing California voters to chop up their state into three pieces, who are you going to call?

How about a company that helped engineer the U.K.’s “Brexit” departure from the European Union?

Prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper is the main mover behind the proposal to divide the state, and the initiative gathered sufficient signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot. To get the required voter support for the plan, Draper had help from a strategy firm that played a key role in getting U.K. residents to vote to leave the E.U.

The Sacramento Bee spotted a state regulatory filing from Draper showing that of the roughly $560,000 he spent on getting the split-up measure approved for the election, about $6,000 went to Gunster Strategies Worldwide.

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“The Washington D.C. firm and its CEO Gerry Gunster played a key role in the United Kingdom’s vote to exit the European Union in 2016 through a controversial ‘Leave.EU’ campaign,” the Bee reported Monday.

Draper, asked via email whether consultancy Gunster was helpful in getting the measure onto the ballot, and whether the firm’s Brexit role was a factor in his choosing it to assist with his splitting-California bid, responded only, “They are awesome.”

A spokesman for the “ONECALIFORNIA” campaign against the state-split measure had a different characterization.

“Californians take great pride in our state, and the sleazy politics of division that Draper’s consultants used in their Brexit campaign will have no appeal here,” Steve Maviglio told the Bee.

The three-state measure would create a coastal strip called “California” running south from Monterey to just past Los Angeles. “Northern California” would begin north of Monterey, run east and north to the Nevada border, and include all territory north to the Oregon border. “Southern California” would run south from the Northern California border, skirt the coast from Monterey past Los Angeles, and include San Diego, Death Valley and the rest of the area east to Nevada and Arizona.

If voters approved the measure, Congress would have to approve the break-up.