Free Republic

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

The No on 89 campaign, which is opposing the campaign finance measure, is running its first television ad in major markets throughout California.The 30-second ad will appear on broadcast channels statewide until Election Day. The group has spent about $3 million to air the spot.Here is the text of the ad and an analysis by Jim Sanders of The Bee Capitol Bureau:•ON SCREEN: Camera zeroes in on a man lounging on his front porch, newspaper in hand, near two children playing with a dog on the front lawn of his fashionable, two-story home.•MAN: I'd love to rein in the special...

Dollar limits on free speech? Perhaps. A fiercely contested measure on the Nov. 7 ballot would make California the first state to restrict corporate spending on ballot measures, a practice that has been treated as free political speech for decades. Proposition 89 would ban corporations from spending more than $10,000 to support or oppose California ballot measures. A key legal question is whether corporate profits are fair game for such curbs because they stem from consumers who paid for a product or service, not a political cause. Opponents call Proposition 89 a blatant ploy by its sponsor, the California Nurses...

The "Yes on 89" campaign began running its second television ad Monday in major markets statewide, including Sacramento. The group will spend about $2 million airing the ad, which will appear on cable and broadcast channels until Election Day, which is Nov. 7. Following is the text of the 30-second ad and an analysis by Jim Sanders of The Bee Capitol Bureau. •ON SCREEN: A video screen in the background flashes images from political ads, identifying them as "Big Oil" or "Tobacco" or "HMOs." Nearby, an assembly line of glum voters gets slammed on the head and pounded to the...

The small band of would-be political reformers gathered outside San Diego City Hall after taking a recent “corruption tour.” They looked at the Del Mar-area home that former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham sold to a defense contractor at an inflated price, starting the unraveling of his career and landing him in federal prison. [snip] Their prescription: Proposition 89 on the Nov. 7 ballot that would set up a system of public financing for political campaigns for state offices. One problem: None of the examples they gave – involving federal and local offices – would be affected by the initiative. “There...

For the money spent on candidates and ballot measures thus far this year, California could run its 120-member Legislature with a staff of 2,200 for an entire year -- and have more than $160 million left over. The campaign money is private, not public, but the amount is staggering, exceeding $400 million, an average of $972 per minute, $58,333 per hour or $1.4 million per day through last Thursday, records show. If divided equally among California neighborhoods, the massive pot already would mean an extra $31 for every household, with mountains of additional cash expected by Election Day. Many of...

A November initiative could dramatically transform California politics, raising taxes to pay for publicly financed campaigns, strictly limiting private giving and taking particular aim at ballot measure spending. If voters approve Proposition 89 and it withstands court challenges, California will become the first state to restrict spending on ballot measures, though the limits would not apply to two of the biggest players in state politics: trial lawyers and Indian tribes that own casinos. At least two other major sources of campaign cash — attorneys who represent plaintiffs and wealthy Indian tribes — could continue spending unlimited amounts for and against...

The cast of characters at Monday's press conference was unusual, to say the least. The participants represented each of the major factions in last year's special election: the drug companies, big-business Schwarzenegger allies and unions. But this time they were all on the same side. They all opposed Proposition 89, which would create publicly financed campaigns in California. "It's a murderers' row of political spenders in California," says Common Cause's Ned Wigglesworth, who supports Proposition 89. If, as the saying goes, politics makes for strange bedfellows, then California's 2006 elections are one giant slumber party. Held in the twelfth-floor suite...

A California Nurses Association publication indicates the group is pushing the Proposition 89 campaign-finance measure as a Trojan horse to get what it covets most: universal health care, opponents said Monday. Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, said the strategy basically was spelled out in a document that appeared on the nurses association Web site. "They have a two-step process here," he said. "One is to eliminate the ability of business to communicate with the voters. The second step is to have government-run health care on the next ballot ... and deny voters the ability to hear...

Phoenix -- Six years into its brave new world of publicly financed campaigns, Arizona's "clean money" elections system already is creaking with signs of age. Backers of California's Proposition 89, which would provide $200 million a year for public financing of California candidates, point to the success of the Arizona system as an example of what could happen in California. But many of the political pros who work every day with the system have curbed their enthusiasm. "On the whole, it has opened up the political process to a new pool of candidates,'' said Michael Frias, campaign director for the...

Defying some of his strongest supporters in the race for governor, state Treasurer Phil Angelides on Thursday threw his support behind a November initiative that would use taxpayer money to fund campaigns and would markedly restrict political donations to candidates. The decision to endorse Proposition 89 puts Angelides at odds with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, his Republican opponent. The initiative would increase the tax on corporate profits by 0.2% to create a public war chest of about $200 million that would be distributed to candidates. Schwarzenegger has rejected Proposition 89 because it would increase taxes. He also said recently that he...

OAKLAND, Calif. - In a break with some of his party's most influential supporters, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides said he will endorse the campaign finance-reform initiative on the November ballot. The initiative, sponsored by the California Nurses Association, would limit campaign contributions and authorize public financing for state candidates. Angelides said he wants to reduce the influence of HMOs, oil companies and tobacco companies in Sacramento. "When I was a college student, I got involved in politics at a time when what mattered most was your energy and your enthusiasm, not the size of your bank account," he told...

General Election - November 7, 2006 Prop. 1A Transportation Funding Protection: YES! For years, the Legislature has raided our highway taxes for general fund spending. Though it’s more window dressing than relief, this measure makes it marginally harder to do so. Prop. 1B Transportation Bond: NO! Although some of this money is for long overdue road construction, most goes for equipment, maintenance and social programs that will be obsolete decades before our children have finished paying off the debt. Californians pay the third highest tax per gallon of gasoline in the country – and yet we rank 43rd in per...