CA: State's political minority packs big punch

Oakland Tribune ^ | 8/3/03 | Brian Melley - AP

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO -- In a state that swells with 35 million people, it has taken fewer than a million voters to put the job of Gov. Gray Davis in jeopardy.

In a Legislature made up mostly of Democrats, it took only a handful of Republicans to put the state's budget in a monthlong stranglehold.

As left as California may lean, a radical recall process and a constitutional requirement that two-thirds of lawmakers approve a budget gives a conservative minority influence that far outstrips its share of government.

Framed by forces that shaped the state, the constitutional changes made during the last century are having major impacts now and lending credence to the image of free-spirited Californians who embrace change like it's the trend of the week.

"As someone said the other day, If it only takes a million people to get this on the ballot, hell, a fourth of California's crazy. It can happen any time,'" said John Ellwood, a public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Exhibit A is the effort to toss Davis out of office.

Seventeen states have recall provisions, but none is quite as unique as the Golden State's.

To send Davis back on the campaign trail a mere nine months after he narrowly won his second term, signatures were required of only 12 percent of voters in last fall's gubernatorial election.

While it will take a majority of ballots Oct. 7 to remove Davis from office, choosing a successor could take far fewer votes. Voters will face two questions: whether to recall Davis and who should replace him.

More than 100 people have taken out applications to be on the ballot and if enough voters choose to dump Davis, the state's 38th governor will be the candidate with the most votes -- a scenario that could anoint someone with the support of only a small plurality of support.

Indeed, California is a bit quirky.

California's recall, referendum and ballot initiative processes date back to 1911. As the progressive movement swept westward, it became more radical the farther it went, Ellwood said. California and Oregon set the lowest thresholds to get measures on the ballot.

Because it takes so few voters to launch the recall and initiative processes, there has been fear that they would lead to minority rule. But that isn't the case, said John Samples of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C.

It's far easier for minority and special-interest groups to succeed by lobbying to defeat an initiative than to succeed in getting their own issue approved by voters.

"It's hard for smallish groups to get their way," Samples said. "They can stop (an initiative), but they can't get things done. It's not an effective way."

Fewer than a third of initiatives pass, Ellwood said.

The measures were ushered in by Republican Gov. Hiram Johnson, a progressive, after railroad bosses bought influence in the Capitol, staining the image of lawmakers.

To some extent, mistrust survives to this day.

"California is sort of the peak of distrust of representative institutions," Ellwood said. "It's a Western state. All these initiatives are in the West where you have the highest level of individualism."

Ever since tax revolters passed Proposition 13 in 1978, setting limits on property tax hikes, and inspiring a nationwide wave of direct democracy, voter wariness of politicians has been palpable, said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll.

In numerous polls since, Field has recorded a healthy skepticism toward lawmakers when it comes to influence from special interests and when an issue concerns the broader public interest.

"They feel legislators can be manipulated and they feel they're less prone to that," DiCamillo said. "Voters may think they make better decisions when the issues are very general and very broad."

In a recent Field Poll, more likely voters said they supported the supermajority -- or two-thirds support -- required to pass a budget or raise taxes.

The power that constitutional requirement gives to a minority party was illustrated this summer as the state grappled with solving its record $38 billion budget crisis. Democrats wanted to raise taxes, Republicans said no and stood firm.

While Democrats have stacked the California Legislature for nearly 45 years, they have been shy of the supermajority in at least one of the houses, leading to late budgets in all but three of the last 20 years.

It took nearly a month before the Senate passed a Republican compromise Sunday and the Assembly signed off Tuesday after a record-setting 29-hour session.

"It demonstrates that the public is leery of one-party control," DiCamillo said. "Even though one-third of the Legislature can hold up the process, certain segments of the public support that because they think it will lead to compromise."

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On the Net: Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley:

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/gspp/

Cato Institute: http://www.cato.org/

The Field Poll: http://field.com/fieldpoll/

[NormsRevenge]

Ping

[NormsRevenge]

Assembly Minority Leader Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, right, talks with fellow Assembly GOP members Tony Strickland of Thousand Oaks, left, Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, second from left, and John Campbell, of Irvine after the Assembly failed to pass the state budget on the first vote early Tuesday morning, July 29, 2003, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. In a state that swells with more than 36 million people, it has taken less than a million voters to put the job of Gov. Gray Davis in jeopardy. In a Legislature made up mostly of Democrats, it took only a handful of Republicans to put the state's budget in a monthlong stranglehold. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

[John Jorsett]

hell, a fourth of California's crazy

Yeah, and we keep electing them ...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

A little history lesson eh! Good.

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