One of the reasons that many minority groups opposed Prop 11 in 2008 was because they worried that minority voices would not be heard. The Prop 11 folks offered many reasons why that wouldn’t be the case, yet when you peruse the numbers, there’s not much to be encouraged about there.  Some things that jump out:

* White men are vastly over-represented. Despite the fact that white men represent less than 25% of California, they are over 50% of the pool of qualified applicants. 52.3% to be precise.

* Republicans are also over-represented. They’re nearly 40% of the qualified applicants. Far more than Democrats, despite the registration advantage for Democrats

* Asians, Latinos and African-Americans are also under represented.

This panel is going to end up to be very expensive and be unrepresentative of the state as a whole. Yet, we are stuck with this system until we can repeal it. So, for the time being we need to make sure that we bring a robust and diverse mix of progressives into the application pool. The process for applying is relatively simple, but many activists will find they are disqualified. So, find some progressive friends, and make them apply.

The Deadline has been extended to February 16. That’s ONE WEEK from today!



Here’s the application site. Go there now, and tell all of your friends to go there.  We desperately need more progressives on this panel. And hey Greens, how about it? Apply, it’ll be a blast!