Can This Con-Con Measure Pass?
The game is on in quest of a new constitution for California. In filing the initiative to call a state constitutional convention, Jim Wunderman of the Bay Area Council said this is an “historic day” for the state.
Perhaps. Getting the call for a constitutional convention approved by the voters and successfully creating a new constitution faces many hurdles. Elsewhere on this site, Joe Mathews gives a run down on the details involved with establishing the convention, including the complicated delegate selection process. Loren Kaye contributes his view on the powerful Clerk position created for the convention as proposed by the initiative.
My purpose is to give some thought to whether this constitutional convention measure might pass if it qualifies for the ballot.
The complication of the delegate selection process will work against it. Just reading the paragraph dealing with delegate selection in the million-plus population cities repeated word for word in the Mathews piece would move voters to grab bottles of aspirin. Not knowing where a convention could lead will make for an unsteady hand as voters reach to mark a ballot.
Instant Cliff Notes on the Constitutional Convention
After two readings, here’s my cliff notes version of what’s
in the proposed initiative to call a constitutional convention.
Aren’t
there two initiatives?
Yes. There are. The first is easy to understand. It changes the constitution to permit the voters to call a convention directly – thus paving the way for the second initiative, which sets out how such a convention would be put together. There are a couple pieces of news here: Any limits placed on conventions by the initiatives calling them would be “judicially enforceable.” And the people would have to wait 10 years after the last convention before they attempt to call another.
What’s the stated reason for
fixing the constitution?
Are Times Desperate Enough for Reform?
When it comes to reforming government in California, an old adage says it best:
“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.”
To translate that into crassly political terms, every officeholder is anxious to improve the way California works, but only if he doesn’t get hurt.
Talk to a Democratic legislator about the current two-thirds vote required to pass a state budget and you’ll hear plenty of pious talk about how a simple majority should always rule.
But that “Democracy Forever!” argument would vanish if it were the state’s Republicans and not the Democrats who held a solid majority in the Legislature.
I want to be the Convention Clerk
Much of the controversy over the movement to create a constitutional convention for California surrounded the make-up of the convention: who would comprise the convention delegates and how they would be selected. The Constitution today provides that “Delegates to a constitutional convention shall be voters elected from districts as nearly equal in population as may be practicable.”
Seeking to avoid a panic over direct elections for delegates, proponents announced an excruciatingly detailed process for selecting 465 delegates, involving a random jury-pool selection for about half the members and a highly-constrained selection by local elected officials for the other half. In all, about 3,300 words are consumed detailing delegate qualifications and the selection process. Take that, special interests!
But if you’re looking for a power center in this meta-process, skip all the delegate selection arcana, and focus on the powers, duties and responsibilities of the quaintly-named “Clerk.”
New National Study Shows Importance of Cultural and Heritage Travel to U.S. Economy (and California)
A new study, the first of its kind, confirms that cultural
and heritage tourism is huge – and bigger than many of us thought in terms of
economic impact. I can tell you as Chair of the U.S. Travel Association that this
is great news for just about every destination in the U.S., as all of us have products
that will appeal to this market.
Especially noteworthy is that this group is affluent and travels more and
further as a whole- which means they are less impacted by the slow economy than
other types of travelers.
The study, conducted by Mandala
Research for the U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism (USCHT) Marketing Council,
in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce,
shows that 78% of all U.S. leisure travelers (118.3 million adults)
participate in cultural and/or heritage activities while traveling, spending an
average of $994 per trip and contributing to more than $192 billion annually to
the U.S. economy.
What Budget Crisis? Greenmailing The Northern California Power Agency.
Throughout California, budget problems are forcing local governments to pinch pennies to maintain resident service levels. Sadly, this isn’t enough in many cities and counties. Layoffs have been an unfortunate consequence of the red ink. There’s no good way to tell a loyal employee that they no longer have a job.
I’m heartened by the fact that, in the face of economic hardship, many local governments are doing everything possible to save money, be efficient, and identify ways to protect municipal services. These dedicated public servants are doing their job and representing the public sector with honor.
Sadly, it only takes one bad actor to give an entire community a bad name. A recent example is the Northern California Power Agency, an obscure Joint Powers Authority headquartered in Roseville, but representing a wide geographic region including Redding, Santa Clara, Lompoc, Ukiah, Healdsburg, Oakland, Lodi, and Truckee-Donner among others. It is an inconspicuous public consortium that represents and provides support for 20 local governments in California.
Each local government assigns a representative to serve as a commissioner.