Aarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!
I have a little less hair to tear out after two pieces of news yesterday.
1. The effort to call a constitutional convention is on life support after signature gathering was “paused” because the con con committee, Repair California, doesn’t have near enough money to qualify.
2. Democratic donors and interests are coming together to spend $20 million to attack Meg Whitman and help make Jerry Brown governor.
If you want to know why California’s governing system is in disrepair – and why the it won’t be fixed anytime soon – just consider those two pieces of news together.
Spending $20 million to elect a governor (and attack a gubernatorial candidate) is – I’m sorry there’s no other word for it — insane given the realities of our system, particularly the requirement of a 2/3 vote for tax and budget legislation (and anything else that can be tied to such legislation).
In our two-thirds system, it doesn’t much matter whether a Democrat or Republican is governor. The real power resides in the handful of members of the minority party who have to be bribed… er, negotiated with…– to pass a budget or tax increase. And it probably matters even less whether Jerry Brown (a fairly centrist Democrat) or Meg Whitman (a fairly centrist Republican) is the next governor. Both say so little about their policy intentions (Brown will “engage the legislature”; Whitman will “focus”) that there’s no discernible difference between the two.
The point is: until the system is changed, the identity of the governor is beside the point. So it’s maddening to watch people waste millions on a pointless gubernatorial contest while an opportunity to make systemic change goes dark for lack of funds.
Yes, the constitutional convention was a highly controversial and problematic idea. I, for one, was hardly sold on the overall approach, particularly the use of politically disconnected citizens in a large convention. And there was a significant risk that such a convention, if called, would be a fiasco.
But the convention backers got two big things right.
1. California’s constitution needs change that are too broad to be accomplished merely by initiative. The constitution itself needs revision. That can happen either through a convention, or through a revision commission. But it has to happen.
2. The effort to revise the constitution must be open-hearted and open-minded. The convention supporters went the extra mile in this regard, including opponents of their idea in their own events and encouraging disagreement and debate.
Whatever you thought of the convention idea, the news yesterday – which I think all but guarantees the death of this idea, at least for this cycle — was bad for California. California Forward and initiative sponsors are doing great and important work, and California Forward’s careful and strategic approach looks wiser and wiser by the day. However, the debate about reform in California is still far too narrow, and too dominated by elites.
The constitutional convention supporters broadened that debate and focused attention on California’s systemic problems. The apparent demise of their effort puts this state even deeper in the hole.