Redistricting is perhaps one of the dryest topics in politics, but at the same time the once-a-decade act of redrawing district boundaries to account for population shifts has major implications for party representation in state legislatures and in Congress.

Reform groups like California Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, and California Forward worked years to take this responsibility out of the hands of lawmakers and assign the task to an independent citizens commission because of the inherent conflict of interest – representatives were literally choosing their voters instead of allowing voters to choose their representatives.

The Citizens Redistricting Commission completed its work earlier this year, but new investigative reporting by ProPublica reveals a coordinated attempt by Democrats to influence the public process to their benefit.  The headline speaks for itself: How Democrats Fooled California’s Redistricting Commission.

It’s understandable that good government-types’ gut reaction … Read More »

In my early days as a college student and emerging political reformer, I learned a lesson right away that continues to ring true to this day.  Without getting into specifics, I witnessed the seemingly incomprehensible:  reform groups with nearly identical goals choosing not to work together because of minor differences regarding the best path forward.  It should go without saying that we’re stronger when we work together than when we work separately.  So the lesson for me has always been to figure out how to unify efforts that share a common purpose.

Enter Americans Elect.  The group wants to use an open online nomination process for a bipartisan presidential ticket in 2012 and potentially execute the most disruptive political innovation of the 21st Century.  By gaining ballot access in all 50 states, the group will empower Americans to, in their words, … Read More »

You know you’re getting somewhere when you write a blog about a United States Senator and her staff sends you an email the following day.  Okay, a bit of an exagerration.  Regular readers of this blog, however, will remember our last post highlighting a video clip of Sen. Dianne Feinstein making the case for more centrism in our politics.  Well it just so happens that earlier this week No Labels issued call to action to promote their Make Congress Work! campaign that consisted of email blasts to members of Congress.  In my district, I sent an email to U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Thus far, Feinstein is the only official to have responded.  Given the sentiment she expressed in the video clip, it’s no surprise she was the first.  Here’s the text of her … Read More »

via YouTube > Public Policy Institute of California

Wise words from California’s senior U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein:

If you elect people that want to solve problems and want to work to the middle of the political spectrum, you can get something done – because most of America is in the center of the political spectrum.  If you elect people who are outliers – who are on the far right or the far left – who will pound the table and will not compromise you will not get anything done.  And that’s what I believe is characterizing the gridlock in Washington.  People will not compromise.

In case you haven’t heard the news, there are myriad tax proposals floating around with at least one or more likely to appear on next November’s ballot for voter approval.  According to the Los Angeles Times:

In the latest proposed fix for California’s fiscal crisis, Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to announce a multibillion-dollar tax initiative in the coming days, asking voters to raise levies on upper-income earners and increase the state’s sales tax by half a cent.

The levies would expire at the end of 2016, said sources with direct knowledge of the plan. The governor’s office has been fine-tuning the tax measure for weeks with its labor allies. It hopes to file language with the attorney general’s office as early as Friday so it can start gathering the signatures needed to place the measure on the November 2012 ballot.

The proposal … Read More »

The Think Long Committee for California today released its long-awaited recommendations for fixing California.  While many folks would roll their eyes at a list of reforms from yet another blue ribbon panel, the ideas in this particular report have a strong likelihood of becoming reality.  Specifically, the suggestions are backed by a $20 million commitment from billionaire Nicolas Berggruen.

The “integrated” recommendations – not unlike those which we’ve included in our draft agenda – cover a broad range of policy goals, focusing on those issues that are the most fundamental to our future prosperity:

Create a positive business environment for job creation
Reduce the personal income tax across the board while retaining California’s progressive rates
Fund education by an additional $5 billion while fostering reform
Provide $2.5 billion to the University of California and California State University systems to keep higher education within reach of California’s families
Empower … Read More »

In a rather direct threat to members of Congress, AARP recently unveiled an ad opposing Medicare and Social Security cuts.  Here’s the problem:  if we’re even going to pretend to tackle the nation’s budget deficit in a meaningful way, everything must be on the table.  And guess what?  Medicare and Social Security comprise more than a third of the entire U.S. budget and that share is only going to increase over time.

The ad suggests that  50 million angry seniors will unseat incumbent legislators next November if any cuts are made to these programs.  And in a disingenuous act to appear constructive, AARP suggests that addressing waste and loopholes will bring us into fiscal balance.  Watch the video for yourself:

Nothing could be more symbolic of everything that’s wrong with our current political system.  AARP is spouting the same ‘us versus them’ … Read More »

At first glance, this may be the most boring political movement ever to emerge.  Not only is the term “moderate” less than inspiring, but moderate voters themselves are the least likely group to be politically active.  And the reasons why aren’t so obscure:  those who get involved in politics do so because they want to see change and those individuals who are the most ideologically committed are the ones who want the most change.

Similarly, those who want change are willing to invest time and effort to make that change happen.  Random newsflash:  there are plenty of other enjoyable activities in which a person may engage aside from politics.

But we’re entering a new phase.  Our political institutions have become unresponsive to the challenges that confront us:  high unemployment, stagnant economic growth, and record debt and deficit levels.  Worst of all, there’s an … Read More »

The momentum is picking up steam to fix our broken system of governance at all levels.  Just this week, five significant proposals covering a broad range of issues began or continued to emerge:

1. No Labels’ Congressional Reforms

On December 13, No Labels will unveil its congressional reform agenda.  According to the group, the reforms will not require new laws, but rather will consist of “simple rule changes that once enacted could take effect immediately and reduce the gridlock in Congress.”  They’ve begun to release some of their ideas on the website PolicyMic which include:

A “Three-In-One-Out Plan” for Congress where members are in session for three consecutive weeks and go back to their districts for a fourth week in each month instead of their current Tuesday through Thursday schedule each week.
An American version of the UK’s Prime Minister’s Questions  where the president would appear before a … Read More »

On October 20 we wrote a letter to Secretary of State Debra Bowen to inform her office of our intent to qualify as a political party for the 2014 election cycle.  Specifically, we requested clarification regarding the feasibility of using California’s new online voter registration system, as authorized by SB 397 (Yee) which Gov. Brown signed into law this year.

First of all, it’s worth noting that Secretary Bowen has some of the most professional and courteous staff members I’ve dealt with at the state-level.  Secondly, this letter unambiguously gives us the green light to leverage this new system to qualify as a political party.

Read the letter below:

Download the PDF version

The system should be in operation at some point next year.  We’ll then have until the end of 2013 to acquire 103,004 members in order to officially qualify.