Political Reform: All Articles and Books

Democracy Inaction

Articles — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:44:00 -0400

What a long, strange week in Washington.

Early on, you could tell things were not proceeding along their usual track. At the Senate Banking and Finance Committee, right-wing Republican Jim Bunning laid into the bailout plan as "socialism" that was "un-American," and was met by cheers and acclamations from ACORN and Code Pink members in attendance. (So much, in fact, that Bunning crankily told them to pipe down. "I've been doing this long enough," he said. "I don't need any help.") The next day at the joint economic hearing, after progressive stalwart Lloyd Doggett of Texas railed against the bill's cost, Ron Paul quipped, "You've confused me a bit… more

Let the Citizens Gather to Decide on State Reforms

Articles — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 11:40:00 -0400

All reform proposals for making California government more representative and responsive face the same obstacle: Entrenched interests, including lawmakers, who benefit from the status quo.

The best means for overcoming those interests is a citizens assembly, a body of approximately 160 average citizens -- randomly selected like a jury pool to ensure diversity and impartiality -- empowered to formally propose electoral reforms via a statewide referendum to their fellow voters.

The citizens assembly members study political reform recommendations for nine months, listening to experts and holding public hearings. Then they vote on which reforms to place directly on the ballot. Unlike a constitutional convention, a citizens assembly's mandate is not… more

California's Political Environment May Prove Too Toxic for Green Energy Propositions

Articles — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:14:00 -0400

It would seem that measures promoting renewable energy and alternative fuels would be shoo-ins here where gas prices are among the nation's highest. Two thirds of Californians polled say they want their state to be a leader in advancing technologies that reduce pollution and combat climate change.

But a pair of ambitious ballot initiatives--Proposition 7 (aka "Big Solar") and Proposition 10 ("Big Natural Gas")--designed to do just that appear to be in trouble because of growing fiscal concerns. Prop 7 would require utilities to procure half of their power from renewable resources by 2025 and Prop 10 calls for a $5-billion bond, with most of the money earmarked for… more

Will There Be Powdered Wigs?

Articles — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:22:00 -0400

California's elites are talking, and here's what they're saying: this governor can't get things done, the legislature is hopeless, the entire state government is dysfunctional. (OK, just because they're elites, they're not wrong. These are Western Elites, not the dreaded Eastern Elites who are being so, so, so unfair to Sarah Palin). The you know what has hit the fan. The only way to fix this is top-to-bottom reform.

So let's have a constitutional convention.

What does your blogger think? Put the convention in some place nice (Monterey, maybe, or how about Coronado?) and I'm there, live blogging every second. But while I hate to burst bubbles (OK, I… more

California's Ballot Billions

Articles — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:40:00 -0400

There's little chance that the state budget eventually passed in Sacramento will actually rid California of its stubborn $15.2-billion deficit. But in the improbable event that the Legislature and governor balance the budget without resorting to such gimmicks as raiding other accounts, enjoy the moment. In just 10 weeks, California voters will likely throw it out of whack again. California has two budgets. One is passed by lawmakers. The other is improvised at the ballot box. The state's Constitution requires that the budget put together in Sacramento at least pretend to be balanced. The spending that voters enact operates under no such discipline. We do what we please.

And what… more

The Groundhog Day Election In Los Angeles

Ron Tang — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:22:00 -0400

After a fiercely fought primary election, no winner emerged in last week's election in the LA County Supervisor race between City Councilmember Bernard Parks and State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas. With barely one-sixth of all voters participating, millions of dollars spent, and a race that turned increasingly negative, neither Ridley-Thomas nor Parks could muster a majority (50 percent plus one) in the nine-candidate field. As a result, both candidates must now duke it out for another five months until the November general election -- leaving voters in the crossfire of more mudslinging and personal attacks.

According to some political consultants and politicians,… more

Mr. Lessig Goes To Washington

Ron Tang — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:41:00 -0400

In late March, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig came to DC to draw back the curtain on the second act of his career. Lessig, with his placid mien and quiet voice, does not exude the aura of a star, but over the past decade he's become one of the most influential public intellectuals of the Internet age. Along with a small group of activists, legal academics and computer geeks, Lessig has built from scratch a global grassroots movement to reform copyright and intellectual property law. Videos of his lectures are passed along like samizdat by bloggers. "The first time I… more

Democracy Inc.

Ron Tang — Sun, 18 May 2008 08:38:00 -0400

In Thousand Oaks, the owner of a local chain of home improvement stores called Do It Centers is locked in fierce, expensive competition with Home Depot. But the contest has nothing to do with which can offer the lowest prices and the friendliest service, or which will sell you the better chain saw.

No, even though this war is all about business, it's being fought on a political battlefield, and will come to a head on June 3, when the residents of Thousand Oaks vote on a municipal ballot initiative known as Measure B.

Measure B represents a small but growing species… more

Arnold vs. Arnold

Ron Tang — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:00:00 -0400

Education cuts and reform campaigns can be the drinking and driving of California politics. Each carries certain risks when pursued separately. Combined, they can be deadly.

This is a truth that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has found hard to accept. Three years ago, just as he launched his breakneck drive to win voter approval of budget and political reforms, he decided to withhold part of a mandated increase in education funding from his 2005-06 budget proposal. The delay in Proposition 98 funding soon consumed the public attention that Schwarzenegger wanted directed toward his reform proposals. His favorability rating dropped more than 20… more

A Way Out Of the Nader Dilemma

Ron Tang — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

With Ralph Nader in the race, Democrats are fuming and no doubt preparing to use the same legal tricks they used in 2004 to keep Nader off the ballot in many states. Republicans are cackling with glee.

But Republicans shouldn't cackle too loudly. They've also been hurt by the spoiler dilemma.

In fact, the GOP lost control of the U.S. Senate due to Libertarian Party candidates in Montana, Washington, Missouri, Nevada and South Dakota spoiling things for Republicans. And many observers believe that Bill Clinton beat George H.W. Bush in 1992 only because Ross Perot drained away enough votes from Bush.

The… more

Our Senate Problem

Ron Tang — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

"The most troublesome task of a reform President," wrote Henry Adams, is "bringing the Senate back to decency." Adams was writing about the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, which began with an Obamaesque promise of national reconciliation and reform but was dragged into scandal by the senatorial kleptocrats of the day.

The Senate has changed since then -- its members are elected now, though no less likely to be millionaires -- but it's still true that the Senate is where ambitious presidencies die. Dozens of subtle explanations are offered for the early failures of the Clinton administration -- from the early… more

Why Tuesday Won't be So Super

Ron Tang — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

With Super Duper Tuesday looming on Feb. 5, the presidential horse race is about to move into its mid-game. At the end of this process, we may end up with the first president in history who is a woman, or an African American, or a former prisoner of war, or a Mormon or an ordained Southern Baptist minister.

Beyond the headlines and election results, when you lift up the hood of our nation's nominating process, you see a pretty gnarly sight. There's nothing simple or easy to understand about it, in fact it has evolved into a complex, chaotic snarl… more

How to Make Primaries Balanced, More Relevant

Ron Tang — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

In the aftermath of Iowa and New Hampshire, many Americans have begun to question the nominating process itself. Are two tiny rural states really the place to kick off an all-important national selection process? According to a survey conducted for the Associated Press and Yahoo News, fewer than 1 in 5 voters favors Iowa and New Hampshire's "favored state" status, and nearly 80 percent would rather see other states get their chance at the front of the line. Officials in those other states fear that if they hold their presidential primary too late in the season, the nominations… more

The Trans-Atlantic Clash over Political Economy and Fulcrum Institutions

Ron Tang — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

While the United States and Europe share much in common, they also exhibit basic differences, an "American Way" and a "European Way," that are diverging and had been leading to frequent clashes even before the U.N. rift over Iraq. In a globalized capitalist world, where all nations are seeking models of development that allow "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" for its people, this clash within the West is every bit as elemental as the clash with Arab-Islam because it is multidimensional -- economic, political, social, and international in scope. Few in the world wish to emulate the… more

Republican Power Grab Returns to California

adminn — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:34:00 -0500

It's ba-aaaaack! Like the hockey masked assailant in the Friday the 13th movies that refuses to die, the GOP ballot measure designed to ensure that their presidential candidate wins nearly half of California's electoral votes has been revived. And it's got Democratic leaders nervous.

GOP operatives have found a new sugar daddy to bankroll their proposition that would award one electoral vote for each congressional district won by a presidential candidate, instead of giving 100 percent of electoral votes to the candidate that wins the statewide popular vote.

In 2004 John Kerry won all 55 of California's electoral votes, but under this proposal he would… more

How to Revive Redistricting Reform

Articles — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:40:00 -0400

In the movie Groundhog Day, the Bill Murray character, a weatherman who is doomed to repeat the same day over and over, asks a question that haunts redistricting reformers in California: "What would you do if you were stuck in one place and everyday was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?"

With the recent failure of the Legislature to place redistricting reform on the ballot -- for the second year in a row -- reformers are scrambling for a way forward. One way would be to spend millions of dollars to gather signatures on a voter initiative. But… more

Election Security That Works

Articles — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:03:00 -0400

These are anxious times for election security and voting equipment. The system is truly broken, starting at the federal level with a lack of national standards, a chaotic testing regimen, untrustworthy vendors, a revolving door between the industry and government regulators, and a decentralized hodgepodge of election administration from coast to coast.

Into that abyss has stepped Debra Bowen, California’s secretary of state. Many of us have supported her call to make elections more secure, and Bowen came into office with the best of intentions. Yet her staff’s inexperience and misreading of the bigger picture have caused more chaos than necessary… more

New Politics Gets Newer

Articles — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:15:00 -0400

Who would have predicted that the defining difference in the Democratic presidential campaign would involve not Iraq but reform of the political process, particularly the role of lobbyists? At the candidates’ joint appearance at the YearlyKos convention of netroots activists in August, the question of taking money from lobbyists earned Barack Obama and John Edwards -- who don’t -- their biggest cheers, and Hillary Clinton -- who does -- her biggest boos. Since then, the fight has only escalated.

Most Democratic strategists tell their clients that reform of the political process is a marginal issue, of interest to a few NPR… more

Building a Better Presidential Election

Articles — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 08:42:00 -0400

California is used to power grabs, as are other states of electoral significance, like Ohio and Florida. All three states have seen partisan attempts at redistricting reform, which treated them as pawns on the national political chessboard.

Now in California comes the latest power grab, an attempt to manipulate the Electoral College vote to help Republican candidates for president. GOP operatives are seeking to pass a ballot proposition that will award one electoral vote for each congressional district won by presidential candidates, instead of giving 100 percent of electoral votes to the candidate that wins the statewide popular vote.

In… more

How Ed Jew Got Elected

Articles — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:33:00 -0400

With all the controversy swirling around embattled San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew regarding FBI investigations and his in-district residency, some have asked the question: How did this guy ever get elected?

Ironically the answer reveals a new dynamic in San Francisco elections that may diminish the nastiness of mudslinging campaigns, to the relief of all. San Francisco has seen its share of vicious political races. Campaign mailers showing Nazi swastikas, cockroaches and pornography, along with accusations of anti-Semitism, slum landlordism and more, have defiled our mailboxes and doorsteps. While negative campaigning will never go away, it may be possible to… more