The Second Annual F&H Black Bart Award: Californian of the Year
For a second year, Fox and Hounds Daily will offer the Black Bart Award
as Californian of the Year. As with last year, veteran California political
writers and analysts, John Wildermuth and Joe Mathews, will join me in nominating a
Californian of the Year; and a couple of honorable mentions, if the writer
chooses.
There are no specific criteria to follow in making the selection. Each
author will explain his reason for making his choice. Then we will try to reach
consensus. Perhaps, the selection took one courageous act, or a dastardly deed
that had great repercussions, or performed heroically in difficult
circumstances.
Last year’s award winner was then state senator Abel Maldonado,
recognized because Maldonado’s actions and ambitions seemed to dominate the conversation
over the course of the entire year from his February budget vote, to his
maneuvering for the top two primary to his November nomination for Lt.
Governor.
Californian of the Year
If you’re sick and getting sicker, you look for a top doctor. If you get pulled over by the cops and blow a .15 on the Breathalyzer, you call the best lawyer you can find. When a pipe breaks and water is filling the basement, it’s no time for the guy with the “Plumbing for Dummies” book.
When times are tough, people want a professional in charge and times don’t get any tougher than they are in California right now. That’s a huge part of the reason the voters in November picked Jerry Brown to run the state for the next four years and why the once and future governor is my choice for Californian of the Year.
These days, it’s no compliment to call someone a “professional politician.” On any recent list of America’s most respected professions, you’d find politicians in the basement, rambling around with the used car salesmen, infomercial hosts and oil company CEOs.
But while the country is run by the people, the country’s government is run by politicians elected by those people. And as California has discovered, rookie officeholders aren’t necessarily the reincarnation of Hiram Johnson, Earl Warren, Pat Brown or Ronald Reagan.
Finally, A Common Sense Initiative Reform
California has the most inflexible
initiative process in the world – which is to say, our process is totally
divorced from the legislative process. This state makes it harder than most
states and countries to fix errors and negotiate compromises on initiatives
before an election. And California is the only place on the planet that does
not permit the legislative body to amend or change an initiative statute once
it’s passed, except by another vote of the people.
Nearly every legislative session
brings proposals to reform the initiative process. But these almost always are
really efforts to stop the process, or make it more even more costly than it
already is. And usually, the proposals are one-offs, a single change that may
make very little difference at all.
This month, Assemblyman Mike Gatto
of Los Angeles offered the most thoughtful approach to initiative reform I’ve
seen. Gatto, who seems to understand that changing something like this requires
a package of reforms, has introduced five constitutional amendments that fit
well together.