November election

[jweinberg]

OK. I have done a lot of research and this is how I'm voting on November 8:

Prop 73 - No
Prop 74 - No
Prop 75 - No
Prop 76 - No
Prop 77 - Yes
Prop 78 - No
Prop 79 - Yes
Prop 80 - No

Discussion welcomed.

Comments

[eastbayted]

I've been swayed on 80.

I'm still on the fence about 77. I acknowledge some reform is necessary to redistrict the state. I don't have a problem with the judge-selection process, though five judges might be better than three. It doesn't bother me that the judges likely will be white males, either (which is one of the arguments I've read against the redistricting).

I do have a concern about the judges employing old census data, as well as the fact that the new districting would take effect in the June 2006 primary, which means election officials need to know the new boundaries by the end of December 2005. That doesn't seem like enough time for the new districting to be completed and reviewed by the public.

Prop 77 - part II

[jweinberg]

The November general election means nothing in such districts. The majority-party candidate is assured of victory. Instead, what’s important is the primary contest. And how do you win a partisan primary? By appealing to activist and loyalist elements within your party. So candidates in primaries accuse each other of not being “true Republicans,” or of being too willing to compromise on core Democratic issues like the environment. Typically, moderates lose these primaries to hardliners. The nominees are then rubber-stamped in November, even if there’s significant independent and crossover vote for moderate minority-party nominees, because the district registration is so heavily tilted. The result is a Legislature (and Congress) full of extreme partisans, responsive only to the members of their own party, with no incentive to compromise or back down from obstructionist tactics

Re: Prop 77 - part II

[eastbayted]

Thanks for taking the time to write this all up. I am most intrigued by how crocodiles play into this process (and to a lesser degree, the birdcages and squirrels). In fact, if the selection process was to happen as you describe, this thing would pass by a landslide.

Whatever the case, consider me swayed on the issue.

Prop 77 - Part I

[eastbayted]

A popular school of thought holds that today’s political atmosphere of intense partisanship can be largely attributed to non-competitive legislative districts. These districts are so heavily tilted toward one party or the other that they foster the election of strongly partisan representatives. Legislators from such districts tend to avoid working with the other party because it can leave them vulnerable to charges of party disloyalty in their home district primaries. The result is that legislators are predisposed toward obstinacy and against compromise