As we head into e-board (and await Brian’s updates), here’s a few things I’ve noticed around the Web-o-sphere:

• It’s a few days old, but I should mention that AB583, Loni Hancock’s Clean Money bill for California elections, was amended.  The latest is that it will be placed on the June 2010 ballot to enact a pilot program that would provide voluntary public financing in the 2014 Secretary of State’s race.  The original plan was to make the 2010 Governor’s race clean money, along with a selected Assembly and Senate race.  While shifting this to the lower-cost Secretary of State’s race increases chances of passage, it basically puts off any chance at clean money for another four years.  So it’s bittersweet, to me.

• This Alex Kozinski situation has gotten a lot of noise on political blogs – I even linked it up in quick hits.  Kozinski, the chief judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, was presumably caught with pornographic materials he stored on a public website, and now he’s offering himself up for investigation.  But the truth might be more sinister.  As Lawrence Lessig explains, Kozinski may have been the victim of a smear campaign by a lone nut who accessed material that was private but unsecure.  Worth a read.

• At the moment there are ten initiatives which have qualified for the November ballot; the latest would float $5 billion in bonds to subsidize purchases of clean-energy vehicles and research into renewables.  I’m a bit worried that such a long ballot with an what will probably be record turnout is going to bring lots and lots of low-information voters to the polls making decisions on the state’s future armed with little in the way of facts.  In other words, just another California election.

• On Tuesday, all couples in the state will be permitted to marry regardless of gender.  In anticipation, the New York Times ran an interesting article about marriage and gender relationships.  Very interesting stuff.

• Fabian Nuñez endorsed Kevin Johnson in his runoff race for Sacramento Mayor.  That race will happen in November.  No word on Johnson’s position on the allegations that refs gave the 2002 Western Conference Finals to the Lakers over the Kings, which may be a salient issue in Sac-town.

(Some interesting ideas – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

I am convinced that we will never fix the problems of our non-responsive California government though piecemeal changes. Term limits, which I voted for, have failed to produce the changes we wanted and have made it easier for money to dictate policy. All the measures we’ve passed to demand that money collected from certain taxes go only to certain projects have failed as well (and we face yet anther one of those in February.) Prop 13 has starved our treasury, but I can’t afford to see it repealed. And all of these efforts have been an expression of our distrust in our government and were sold as the way to check their power.  For instance, no State run health care plan can ever pass public muster until we trust the politicians not to treat us badly as the insurance companies do.

Well, the solution is pretty obvious, but nearly impossible to achieve. We must be able to trust our government (and the public must perceive them as trustworthy.)  If we trusted them, we wouldn’t need a super majority to increase taxes because we would be assured they would be spending it on something we needed. We could let our representatives have a career in their positions if the voters returned them to office and then benefit from their years of experience. And I am convinced that the only way to achieved that is to make a lot of changes all at once and have it sold by the people we trust most – ourselves!

Cont…

Some of the things we need to push include public financing of campaigns to reduce the effect of money on our elections;  making mail in voting and instant runoff voting standard to increase voter turn out and participation (and reduce the turnout decline associated with run off elections;) reforming our redistricting process with a goal to make the districts MORE competitive rather than less so people feel like their views are getting a fair airring even in districts where they are the minority; reforming lobbying rules so that nothing takes place outside of public scrutiny; and so on and so one.  There are a lot of good ideas out there and each one is getting run by a separate special group and that is all well and good, but I don’t think any of them will work alone and that’s presuming they can each garner enough support to pass on their own.

But what might work is if all those ideas were presented to the public as one gargantuan effort to reform our system all at once.  I think that appeals to the California sensibility and reduces all the various campaigns into one simple campaign – fix it all now.  Of course no one is going to really believe it can all be fixed all at once, but it is an easier sell and and better plan to pass as much  reform all at once with that caveat that we need to keep working at it (i.e. not letting our elected officials change it back to a system that responds to money rather than votes.)

And there is no better place to start this effort than in the California Blogosphere and among the Democratic clubs.  First we need to identify all the areas of change that are needed, then find a solution out there that looks like it will work, then put them all together in one list and figure out how to make that a ballot initiative and find a unique way to get it the signatures to qualify it.  And starting immediately after identify existing plans, start to push those plans, link to their sites, attend their events, talk about those plans…etc.  Perhaps someone who knows about Wiki’s can start one.  Sadly this will happen without much support from the democratic party power structure, though there will be democratic politicians who will support it, and I doubt the republican party will support it either, though some republican politicians might (this is really a NON-partisan effort) and in fact the lack of institutional support would lend creditability to the effort.

If we work really hard, we might get this on a ballot sometime in 2010, just in time for the new census and the next scheduled redistricting.  But I’m not sure exactly what need to be done next…’cause I’m just a guy who spends most of his time working to support his family.

They are having something of a launch party(More info.), too! (Which, of course, has a Calitics event listing) So, on Sunday from 1-3 PM, you can go haul yourself out to the Presidio (probably in a car, b/c public transport to the Presidio ain’t the greatest), and see some of the following electeds: Representative Barbara Lee, State Senator Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D – Berkeley), Assemblymember Mark Leno (D – San Francisco), Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Now, I would point out that all of these officials knows how to raise money the old-school way. Some are really, really adept at raising money, and some have less need for the skill.  But, we should be congratulating all of these officials, no matter their backgrounds, for supporting Clean Money. After all, we work in the here and now, and work to make the future better. Clean Money is key to ensuring a more truly representative democracy.

The Clean Money Campaign has a great fax-your-legislator tool. Right now, the good folks over there are trying to stop AB 1430, a bill that would end local campaign finance restrictions at the municipal and county level in favor of the state restrictions. This would eliminate several publicly financed campaign laws, including ones in both SF and LA. This is a really bad idea.

Unfortunately, AB 1430 (Garrick, R-Carlsbad), passed the Assembly last month.  It will soon be taken up by the Senate, so the Senators need to hear how much we oppose this measure.  Sorry to nag twice in one day…but hey, that’s kinda the point of blogs, right? To tell the quiet story, and all that? Well, this bill needs to be stopped before it gets to Arnold’s desk. So, here I am nagging you to write the letter. Please?

Even though Loni Hancock’s Clean Money bill, allowing for a pilot program to attempt public financing for state elections, was turned into a two-year bill, meaning it won’t be eligible for passage until 2008, I was under the impression that campaign finance reform was making some progress in the state legislature.  And while this shocker legislation is more about the state exerting control on local municipalities more than anything else, it certainly puts a damper on public financing efforts, as it would virtually eliminate any local limits on contributions.

Legislation that opponents said would eviscerate local governments’ ability to limit the size of campaign contributions was approved Tuesday by a state Senate committee.

The bill, backed by a powerful coalition that includes the Democratic and Republican parties, labor unions and the National Rifle Association, cleared the Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee on a 3-0 vote.

Special interests and the state parties want to dictate what they can spend on campaigns at the local level, and they want to disallow any reasonable attempts by the local governments to limit their influence.  This is really a blow against federalism in the context of the state vs. the local governments, and I find it distasteful.  If Santa Monica wants to experiment with Clean Money, or limit campaign contributions, why should the state disallow it?  Assemblyman Martin Garrick, the Republican sponsor of the legislation, is using truly devious logic to push this forward:

Garrick said the measure was merely an attempt to clarify current law and avoid a “patchwork of laws” preventing political parties and other statewide organizations from communicating with their members about which candidates the groups support and oppose.

“What I am assuring is that members of a membership organization like the California Teachers Association or the League of Conservation Voters can afford to freely communicate . . . with their members,” he said.

But Ned Wigglesworth, a lobbyist for California Common Cause, said the bill would open up an “enormous loophole” by preventing cities and counties from capping campaign donations that are arranged by candidates and used to pay for mailers sent by political parties to their members.

“It’s about local control over local elections,” he said. “Without such safeguards, local contribution limits would be rendered worthless.”

This would be devastating.  It may even allow organizations to avoid reporting requirements.  What the hell are we doing here?

Ron Calderon, Mod Squad member in good standing, chaired the committee that passed the bill.  Your state senator ought to hear from you on this one.  It would be a major step backward in the goal to remove the influence of big money in state politics.

This is deadline week in the California State Assembly.  Hundreds of bills will be voted upon so that they can be moved on to the Senate.  Obviously, major special interests want to have something to say about which bills pass and which leave.  The best way for them to impact that is through campaign contributions.  And this year, they’ve got a new campaign to which to contribute.

The law bars them from donating more than $7,200 directly to Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles). But nothing has prevented teachers, doctors, gambling enterprises, insurers and others from giving much, much more to a cause close to Nuñez’s heart.

Those interest groups wrote checks for as much as $250,000 to help bankroll a ballot measure that would tweak California’s term limits to give Nuñez another six years in the Legislature. Seventeen unions, corporations, utilities and professional associations have donated a combined $1.68 million for a signature-gathering effort to put the measure before voters next February.

The contributions, all made within the last two months, come as lawmakers led by Nuñez are deciding on hundreds of bills of concern to the donors. The groups had already spent a combined $3.5 million in the first three months of this year trying to influence the Legislature, governor’s office and state agencies, state records show.

This is not a problem in and of itself, unless the bills that come out of the Assembly match up favorably with the campaign contributors.  We’ll be watching.  But the appearance is certainly not pristine.

over…

Jay Stewart, executive director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Better Government Assn. in Chicago, said he doubted that union members and corporate shareholders were clamoring for a term-limits overhaul. But the large donations are certain to be noticed by Nuñez, he said.

“Common sense tells you that if you support an issue near and dear to any legislator … to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, you’re probably going to get your phone call returned,” Stewart said.

There’s a list of donors here.  A lot of them are trade unions.  We’ve always known that special interest dollars on all sides corrode the trust that people have in their government.  The best way we can change this is to lobby on behalf of AB 583, the pilot program for public financing of elections which will be voted on tomorrow.  However, this won’t impact special interests giving to initiative committees that, in this case, extend the term of service for legislators.  So initiative reform is something that we need as well.

A few points of good news from the Legislature. First, the homeless dumping bill, SB 275 passed out of the full Senate. Press release over the flip.

Also, Loni Hancock’s clean money bill, AB 583 was passed out of the Appropriations Committee. AB 583 is currently a focus of clean money that will use one open Assembly seat and one open Senate seat along with the 2010 Gov’s race to test the system.  It could be a really good way to test the system. You can write your Legislator via the CA Campaign for Clean Money’s letter program. They’ll actually fax the letter for you.

CEDILLO-DELGADILLO HOMELESS DUMPING BILL

ADVANCES TO ASSEMBLY

Two days after a decisive vote of support in Senate Appropriations, SB 275 passed with a majority vote of the Senate. The bill now advances to the Assembly.

Homeless dumping continues to be an acute issue. During the Appropriations hearing earlier this week, the Union Rescue Mission (URM) distributed advocacy kits to committee members. The kits contained a letter from URM director Rev. Andrew Bales describing another recent dumping incident at the shelter and a DVD of a 60 Minutes news segment on downtown Los Angeles skid row’s ongoing problems with local hospitals.

Although the bill places the threat of a misdemeanor crime on the horizon, it does not seem to be deterring the practice. The May 14th incident occurred even as SB 275 advances in the legislature, on the same day the bill was being considered in a committee hearing.

“From day one, our objective has been to make significant progress in the struggle to end the inhumane and illegal practice of homeless patient dumping,” remarked Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.  “This legislation represents another vital tool in our battle, and I applaud its continued support in our legislature.” said Delgadillo.

“The Senate did the right thing today. We are excited by the bi-partisan support the bill received in committee, the bill has resonated with members from diverse districts across our state. While homeless dumping has recently become a heightened issue in Los Angeles, people connect with the inhumanity of the practice and want to help,” said Cedillo. “We look forward to this support carrying over to the Assembly.”