[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Zack Kaldveer, Sherry Reson, and Don Goldmacher

Recent events during and after the California Primary suggest Los Angeles is in the midst of an electoral crisis. And a crisis for Los Angeles is a crisis for California. With the largest concentration of voters in the State, 18 Congressional Districts are partly or wholly contained in the County, along with 14 State Senators and 26 Assembly-members. The votes cast and counted in Los Angeles County significantly affect the outcome of every state wide election and initiative.

So what’s the problem? Let’s begin with the now infamous “double bubble ballot” responsible for the initial disenfranchisement of over 60,000 “decline to state” (DTS) voters in the February primary. The ballot was designed by former County Registrar Conny McCormack – a woman with close ties to Diebold and an overt hostility to the electoral reforms advocated by Secretary of State Debra Bowen (recent recipient of the John F. Kennedy “Profile in Courage” award).

Conny McCormack and her “Double Bubble Ballot”

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Same Play as Last Year: No Respect for Laws Passed by the Majority and Supported by Californians—Only This Year, They’re Also Picking on Workers

By Frank D. Russo

Republican State Senators held a press conference last week and demanded that California delay implementation of AB 32—our landmark global warming law—and that other changes be made to our state’s overtime law, a progressive reform enacted decades ago. This is like a bad dream. And it could not come at a worse time than now, where there is a need to pass a budget on time or California will face irreparable harm to its creditworthiness and increased costs in borrowing.

Last year, the state budget was held up by this band of 15 because they wanted to deny California Attorney General Jerry Brown the funds to enforce California’s basic environmental law—signed by Ronald Reagan when he was governor—the California Environmental Quality Assurance law known as “CEQA.” They had egg on their face, came out on the short end of the stick and were blamed by California voters for their obstructionism. And they were thwarted.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

If you look at the recommended diaries list you'll see a diary entitled "Congressional Transparency on a Map." It is from the good folks at the Sunlight Foundation. It discusses their push for members of Congress to release their schedules on the web. They've used a number of creative means to get these members to open their schedules, including a bounty program to regular citizens to get their member to confirm that they would post their schedules online.  It's really a good idea to bring some of that famed "sunshine disinfectant" to our Capitol.

So, I have a question. How many of our California Legislators release their schedules online? So, if you know of a legistlator who has done so, point it out in the comments. And if not, any suggestions for getting more some of our state Senators and Assembly members to release their schedules onlne?

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

It is not an unreasonable question that George Skelton poses in today's column. Structurally speaking California's government is incredible difficult if not impossible to govern. This is not a sexy topic by any means, incredibly wonky and insider, but so much of what is interesting and vibrant is stifled by the process. We are so huge, yet so small.

California's state Senators actually represent more people than a U.S. House Representative. They are not of and by the people. Large amounts of money dominate decisions and campaigns.

Skelton notes other reasons why California is so ungovernable:

* The two-thirds vote requirement for practically any legislation involving money. Gov. Pat Brown's historic water plan didn't require a two-thirds vote and never got one. Today, it would need to.

* Legislative term limits that result in inexperienced, shortsighted legislators rising to power.

* Egregious gerrymandering of legislative districts -- by legislators themselves -- that virtually eliminates two-party competition and results in the election of rigid ideologues. Lawmakers keep promising to surrender their redistricting power, but somehow never get around to it.

read more »

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The Orange County Register has an editorial today whose title says it all: "No budget better than bad budget".

It's a real doozy, but I wonder if it represents the real Republican Senators' (minus one) attitudes about this whole mess we are in. What's the big deal if there's no budget--who needs state government anyway? Republican State Senators are issuing press releases with nice statements that they really care about all those clinics that are not being paid, they really care about those less fortunate in our state, and they really want to protect the environment. They say they want action on global warming--and are actually citing language from AB 32, the landmark law passed last year to reduce greenhouse gases--that none of them voted for (and that they don't want enforced until 2012).

But strip away the varnish on this, and I wonder if this comment to one of our articles doesn't really reflect what's going on here:

by jsw [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Today's Blog Roundup is on the flip. Let me know what I missed.

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by jsw [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Today's Blog Roundup is on the flip. Let me know what I missed.

To subscribe by email, href="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=658390">click
here and do what comes naturally.