Signature Gathering Scare Ads are Right On — Potential Identity Thieves are All Around us, Starting with Political Consultants
I, like virtually every member of the California media and
good government community, was appalled when the group calling itself
Californians Against Identity Theft and Ballot Fraud, backed by the building
trades and pipe trades unions, broadcast a radio ad claiming -without evidence
— that signing an initiative petition put you at great risk for identity
fraud.
But now
that I’ve thought about it – and seen the new, revised ad from the same
mysterious group – I realize I was wrong to condemn this ad. I think the
admakers here are onto something. If anything, the group CAITBF doesn’t go far
enough.
Let’s look
at four messages of the CAITBF ad campaign that should be expanded to protect
all of us against the identity theft-related dangers of political
participation.
Gov. Brown Calls Legislators Girlie-Men by Another Name
He might just as well have called them Girlie-Men.
Gov. Jerry
Brown has been giving interviews recently in which he seems bent on confirming
a theory, offered tongue-in-cheek in
this space, that he really is just an avatar inhabited by Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger.
Brown used
one of Schwarzenegger’s favorite – and least effective – techniques:
challenging the manhood of legislators of both parties who won’t go along with
him. Brown told the LA Times that lawmakers lack courage and "cojones" – that’s
Spanish slang for balls. That’s calling them Girlie-Men by another name.
You might
ask what’s wrong with that, given that legislators aren’t exactly courageous.
First, it reminds people that Brown himself isn’t exactly courageous.
(Remember, this is "Mister I Won’t Raise Taxes Without a Vote of the People").
Second, it’s counter-productive.
OMG! Ted Costa Is Right On Pensions!
You want proof positive that the debate over how to fix
pensions for California public workers is stale and dumb?
How about
this? Ted Costa has the smartest proposal for pension reform out there.
Costa’s
newly filed initiative is long and complicated and, in a few places, crazy. But
Costa, the original proponent of the recall of Gray Davis and frequent filer of
initiatives, has – more than anyone else with a pension proposal – gotten the
big stuff right.
Costa does not propose, as so many
do, to replace the current pensions system with a two-tiered system, with no
pensions for new employees. His initiative would keep the pensions and impose
all sorts of new caps and rules to limit pensions. But the retirement security
of a defined benefit plan is preserved for all.
Five Trades California Should Swing
If you follow sports, this is the season of trades. The
baseball non-waiver trading deadline just passed with a flurry of deals. And
the National Football League has seen a week full of trades, with more to come.
If only we
could make trades in California governance. But you know how that goes –
gridlock, supermajorities, legal realities.
But it’s summer, so let’s leave
reality aside. Here are five deals that would be worth swinging, if we could.
1. Trade Gov. Jerry Brown to Texas
for cash, and a jobs strategy.
Texas has
money in its reserve fund it doesn’t want to use because Gov. Rick Perry
prefers to cut schools and health programs first. And, as it happens, Jerry
Brown still has political capital that he apparently doesn’t want to use on any
of the big changes the state needs. So let’s make an exchange of underutilized
assets.
Now Is The Time For Remaking Tax System
You couldn’t come up with a better time than right now if
you wanted to remake the California tax system.
It won’t be
easy, but many of the stars are aligned. And no one has more incentive to make
such a change happen now than Gov. Jerry Brown.
Brown has a
number of needs that could be met by a big push for comprehensive tax reform.
First, he needs more revenues for the budget if he wants to avoid making more
cuts to important public services. Second, he needs to find a way to talk about
jobs and the economy, and taxes are an obvious way there. Third, he needs to
breathe some life into his stale governorship by taking on game-changing
reform; if he doesn’t go on offense, and show himself to be a force for fixing
a broken system, the California public is likely to turn on him.
Summer of Referendum
There’s an old Swiss saying: every time the referendum bell
rings, an angel gets its wings.
OK, there’s
not really an old Swiss saying like that.
But there
should be.
The
referendum is the low-fat yogurt of direct democracy: pleasurable but
guilt-free. You’re not tearing some guy out of office mid-term, like in a
recall. (You might call that firing squad democracy). You’re not circumventing
budgets and legislative checks and all semblance of accountability, as you are
with a California initiative. (You might call that drunk-in-a-bar democracy)
A
referendum is nothing but direct democracy. Someone objects to something the
legislature does, and so the people step in to pass judgment. It doesn’t get
any more direct than that — the people communicating directly with those they
elect. No intermediaries. (The initiative, which is a way for the people to
circumvent those they elect, is in this way quite indirect).
Portantino Treatment May Soon Seem Tame
Assemblyman Anthony Portantino should stop complaining – and start counting his blessings. He’s lucky he’s not being treated more harshly by his Democratic colleagues than he already is.
Portantino was informed that his office budget would be cut – and that his staff might have to spend a month on unpaid leave in the fall. The assemblyman sees this as punishment for his vote against the budget passed by his own party. In response, legislative Democrats have accused Portantino of mismanaging his office expenses.
I don’t know why Portantino’s being punished. But I know this: his treatment should be considered a warning to present or future Democratic legislators who might stray from the party line.
A very gentle warning.
Because if Portantino thinks this is harsh, imagine how a wayward Democrat might be treated in 2013 if the party wins control of 2/3 of the legislature, as some analysts are now predicting.
What the GOP Needs to Get for Giving Up Two-Thirds
If Tony Quinn is right, the Democrats may get a two-thirds
supermajority in the Assembly next year.
This
possibility should focus the Republican mind. Now is the time for the GOP to
press for a constitutional reform deal. Republicans have a big card that they
should give up for good reason – the two thirds requirements for raising taxes
or fees. But they shouldn’t just give it up. They need to get something very
specific in return.
What should
that be?
The
reflexive would likely start with: at the very least "a real spending limit and
pension reform." Republicans, those are fool’s gold. Spending limits are
totally unpredictable – you don’t know how they’ll work, or not work as they
interact with all the other spending and tax formulas in California. (See the
Gann spending limit and a host of other spending restrictions passed over the
past 30 years). And the pension reform that Republicans want is unlikely to
last because it is based on a two-tiered system, with less generous retirements
for new state employees than old ones. Two-tiered systems are inherently
unstable. When the good economic times return, they inevitably revert to
one-tier systems.
Bargaining with Mr. Fox
Joel Fox,
proprietor of this web site, has a suggestion for a constitutional amendment
that’s at least half-right. The power of referendum should be extended to cover
tax increases.
What’s so good about it? First off,
the referendum is the one direct democratic power that should be used more.
Referendums have been filed fewer than 80 times in the history of California –
because the short time period (90 days) and high number of signatures make it
far too costly and onerous. (If you want to reverse a law, you’re better off
just doing an initiative – since you have to collect the same number of
signatures and get more time – 150 days). And California has limited the kinds
of laws that can be subject to referendum.
Fox is right – we should end that.
California should reorient its ballot system around referendums – or votes on
the product of the legislature. Not just taxes but other kinds of legislation –
perhaps even budgets – should be subject to referendum.
Left, Right and Wrong on ‘Reform’ of Initiative Process
The good news: reform of the initiative process is finally
on the table in California. The bad news: the left and the right are getting
reform wrong.
There’s a
whiff of hypocrisy on both sides.
The left, which rails against the rich in most contexts,
loves the rich when it comes to the initiative process. It’s pushing bills that
add regulations and restrictions on signature gatherers that will make a
process that’s the province of very rich people and institutions the even more
exclusive province of super-rich people and institutions.
The right,
which claims to be worried about budget deficits and runaway spending, thinks
busting the budget is fine if it’s done by initiative. In particular, conservatives
are attacking common-sense changes that would force initiatives to live within
the budget, by requiring spending cuts when a measure mandates spending.