Posted on 05/04/2010 8:13:14 AM PDT by SmithL
As often recounted in this space, the Capitol's most enduring conflict pits business groups against a "Big 4" coalition of labor unions, environmentalists, consumer activists and personal injury attorneys.
The latter push for higher taxes, more business regulation and expanded tort liability. The former try to block or alter what they call "job killer" bills.
In between their constant clashes in the Capitol, the two political armies do battle in legislative elections, a field of battle that the 2001 gerrymander of legislative districts made much more complex.
The gerrymander rendered the November elections irrelevant by designating the party ownership of all 120 legislative districts, thus making primary elections in Democratic districts the only ones that really matter. Typically, business would support a relatively moderate Democratic candidate in the primary while the Big 4 would back a more liberal Democrat.
The game would change again if Proposition 14, creating a "top two" primary election system, is approved by voters in June.
The top two vote-getters in the primary would face each other in the November election, regardless of party. That means, in theory, two Democrats or two Republicans could wind up in a November runoff.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
California race for governor: NONE OF THE ABOVE, they all suck.
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One party rule — that’s the goal of this proposal.
A truly BAD idea.
But how do you keep a third candidate from running?
Since the “gerrymander” is the source of the problem, why not offer a Proposition to ELIMINATE the GERRYMANDER?
A computer program could be written to create election districts of approximately equal populations with the prime goal of minimizing the perimeters of those districts.
This would make the election districts more compact. It should make elections held in those districts more competitive — by allowing ALL the votes to count, not just the votes cast in the favored party’s primary.
It is waayy past time to give the USSC the chance to rule that “gerrymanders” deprive some voters of their constitutional right to have their votes count.
I believe that ballot proposition has already passed and will be implemented after the census.
Sorry, but no. The problem is that there is ALREADY "one party rule". The situation in Callifornia is precisely what it was in Louisiana years back, when the Dems had so much control that the only election that really mattered was the Democrat primary, where all the candidates were selected by the party power structure. Implementation of the "top two" open primary broke the monopoly power of the Dems, and was THE contributing factor to the election of the first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
It results in coherent districts which pretty much follow county boundry lines.
Or you could help strengthen the AIP.
If you want a steady diet of RINOs in perpetuity, vote YES on 14.
...and is exactly why this should-be red state gets so many liberals and RINOs in elective office.
Iowa is full of libtards and social conservatives who are suckers for populist appeals like ethanol. It is custom made for an asshat RINO like Mike Huckabee.
I already voted NO on 14.
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