Does California Need a Monarch?
OK, I may be catching royal wedding fever, but this damn
question keeps sneaking into my mind.
Would
California be better off with its own king or queen?
Crazy to
ask, but I can’t stop thinking about it, perhaps because the nuptials of
William and Kate are already the number one story on the LA local news.
Sure, it
ain’t going to happen, but would it be so bad?
One big problem that underlies many
of our California maladies is that we have no sense of our own history. Californians
and their leaders move fast. They come and go. And yes, once in a while, they
return (see Brown, Jerry). But for the most part, we govern, and mis-govern
ourselves. The big decisions in California have had little to do with memorable
individuals or leaders-and everything to do with decisions on constitutional
amendments or initiatives that we ourselves made. Which may be one reason why
we forget the damage we ourselves have done, almost as soon as we have done.
We are all just prisoners here of our own device
I have a request of the people of California. Show up for
one of Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget town halls – and say something that isn’t the
same old nonsense.
Brown’s latest, at a high school in the Santa Clarity
Valley, was a pointless and predictable affair. Each speaker rose to say
something utterly predictable that sought to shift the blame – to whomever they
don’t like.
There was the teachers’ union guy, hitting all the talking
points about the cuts that have come, and demanding that the legislature take action
on school funding, even though the union’s own formula helps tie the
legislature’s hand on school funding.
The angry student stood up and demanded to know why legislators’
salaries and benefits haven’t been cut, when they already have been.
My Apology to Marilyn Davenport
"Mike Schroeder acted with intent to hurt Marilyn and to hurt the Orange County GOP. It’s Mike Schroeder flexing his muscle. He took something that should have been inconsequential and turned it into an international media circus. Mike Schroeder should be the one apologizing to Marilyn Davenport and the Orange County GOP." – GOP activist Teresa Trujillo, as quoted in the Orange County Register.
Dear Marilyn,
Since Republican officials like Mike Schroeder, who made public that harmless little email of yours (the one with President Obama’s face on a chimpanzee), won’t apologize to you, please permit me to step in and issue you a heartfelt apology in their place.
The Political Tool Brown Needed, But Couldn’t Have
Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget and temporary tax push is stuck,
in part for lack of leverage.
It sure would have been nice if he
had been able to gather signatures on a ballot initiative as he negotiated with
lawmakers in March. But that would have cost too much (thereby giving too much
power to his financial backers) and taken too much time.
Jeez, it’s too bad there isn’t a
quick, fast, cheap way to collect signatures on an initiative petition.
Oh, that’s right. There is such a
way.
Electronic signatures.
Prop 25 – I Told You So
Isn’t it great how Prop 25 has fixed the budget process?
Remember
all the arguments for Prop 25? The majority party will own the budget now. They
can fix the problem all by themselves. They’ll move quickly. The minority party
won’t hold the budget hostage. Instead, they’ll offer a specific alternative
that they can take to the voters in the next election.
How’s that
working it out?
It isn’t –
for reasons that should have been obvious to reformers then, but weren’t. I
can’t tell you all the grief I received from good government folks, not to
mention folks on the left (and some on the right), for calling Prop 25 a
mistake last fall. I was told that it was at the very least a good first step
in the right direction.
Well, I
told you so.
Court Documents: E-Signatures Would Improve Ballot Access, Without Deluge
I’ve been
reading documents from the lawsuit filed by Michael Ni, a San Mateo County
voter associated with the firm Verafirma, seeking to have electronic signatures
accepted for initiative petitions.
The
case is moving through the courts. The state argues that the law does not
permit such signatures. Verafirma disputes that.
But
what struck me in the court documents were a couple of powerful briefs, both
from progressives, that make the argument that electronic signatures could be a
force for political engagement. Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education
Project, wrote the court that e-signatures could ease engagement among Latino
voters – because while turnout among such voters is low, the "Latino adoption
rate for smartphone technology is
outpacing that of the total population."
Inland California Here We Come!
To the people of the San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento
Valley and the Imperial Valley and the Inland Empire And All Those Other Places
Not On the Coast That I Never Bothered to Learn the Names Of:
Get ready
for an invasion.
An invasion from the coast.
Because
those of us in the counties are really, really worried about you.
And so we are on our way to visit
you and seek your help.
Let the People Decide on Drought
Does Jerry Brown even care about the will of the people?
Example: he just went and declared
the state’s drought over. No consultation with legislative Republicans. No vote
of the people. Yes, it’s been raining more the past couple years. But what
makes him an expert in weather? It’s hard to believe the arrogance of
politicians thinking that they have special knowledge about the seasons and the
rain patterns.
Declaring
whether the state is in drought, or not, is the sort of momentous decision that
the people of California must make themselves.
The people of California know better than the politicians
when it’s raining. And the people of California know better than the
politicians when it’s not raining. The people of California can see with their
own eyes what the water levels are in our lakes, rivers and reservoirs.
It’s time
to stop politicians like Brown from meddling in meteorology. What Californians
need is a special election that offers them a real choice.
The Redistricting Commission Channels Lady Macbeth
Thank goodness for the redistricting commission. In rough times like these, we sure do need some mindless drama and cheap comedy. And the commission keeps delivering.
Now let’s stipulate: anyone with a map of California and a calculator knows that the work the redistricting commission is doing (or at least contracting out, since the commissioners don’t seem to want to do their own drawing and math) will matter not at all to the politics of the state. California is so geographically segregated by party affiliation that, in a state with a big population and a tiny legislature, it’s virtually impossible to create more competitive seats.
And since the commission is barred from looking at party data, they won’t have the information at hand to create such seats anyway. Heck, the best thing the commission could do for political competition is to break its own rules and create the most partisan districts possible (so that the top two primary might have a chance of producing a few more moderates)
So the commission’s primary role is to be apolitical and non-partisan. This is impossible in a political, partisan world.
Exclusive Breaking News! Brown, Both Parties, Reform Groups to Embrace Constitutional Review
Confronting the role of the state’s broken governing system in the wake of the collapse of budget talks, Gov. Jerry Brown, leaders of both California political parties, and a variety of reformers plan to announce Friday that they will jointly support a wholesale rewrite of the state constitution, sources said.
The announcement reflected a shared frustration and a wholesale reversal for the governor, party leaders and leading reformers, who had been content to pursue short-term budget-balancing strategies and incremental reforms that would not resolve the state’s constant budget and governing crisis.