Jerry Brown hopeful about Proposition 14

Sacramento Bee ^ | 6/15/10 | Jack Chang

[SmithL]

While the state Republican and Democratic parties have opposed the voter-approved open primary measure Proposition 14, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown expressed support Tuesday for the idea, saying it could help break partisan gridlock paralyzing Sacramento.

When asked by The Bee in March about the initiative, Brown refused to take a position.

Brown opened his remarks to the business group the Silicon Valley Leadership Group on Tuesday by lamenting polarizing partisan politics. He then segued into Proposition 14, which would advance the top two vote-getters in a primary to the general election, regardless of their party affiliations.

"With the recent enactment of this open primary, that may hold some promise so that people can converge in a more moderate perspective," Brown said. "People can run and appeal to voters from the other party. ... You'd get two members from the same party where you would actually get more choice than you might otherwise get if you have parties as gatekeepers as they are now.

"This has the possibility of opening that up, and therefore it gives me some optimism."

Brown warned, however: "Most of the history of reform is one of unintended consequences."

[donhunt]

It’s an election year.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Brown!...you’re an idiot!!!....The whack left has gone so far off the reservation, there’s nothing left to compromise!...The left is not going to compromise anything!...Quit blowing smoke out your rear end!

[Waco]

Brown needs to get his head out,,,give the gerbil a fighting chance.

[Domangart]

It was about right. It is the unknown results that are the problem. He , in his old age forgot to add that the people who vote don't think like that.

[BenLurkin]

could help break partisan gridlock paralyzing Sacramento.

That gridlock has been the only thing which has saved the California taxpayers.

[FormerACLUmember]

Prop 14 is a tool to impose a One Party Tyranny on California.

[Wuli]

I wasn’t watching the vote on Prop 14 during the California primary elections and did not know that it had won approval by those who voted.

If the California GOP did not oppose that voter initiative, out of some misguided fear of going against an anti-incumbent populism, then they were fools. In a Dim dominant state like California it is NOT hard to imagine some GOP candidates NOT making it the general election ballot in an “open primary” system.

Parties are not simply “partisan”, they provide a political collection point for distinctively different perspectives as opposed to the mindless perspective of political “pragmatism” that begins with the notion that “the government” process and government remedies are the solution for everything in the first place.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

This amendment locks in control of California by the Democratic party.

[Sic Parvis Magna]

This is what I wrote yesterday about the blanket primary adopted by CA.

The arguments in favour of this proposition are laughable. They claim it leads to less partisanship and polarization and allows for more choice; neither is true.

[itsahoot]

If the California GOP did not oppose that voter initiative

I think all the voter guides I received from party poopers supported this insanity. Didn't get my family's vote, but I vote for a lot of losers.