About this Blog
Direct democracy -- the Switzerland-inspired system of initiatives, referenda and recalls that allows voters to make and repeal laws in 24 states -- is poorly understood. It isn’t even very direct. Direct democracy has become blockbuster democracy: a half-billion-dollar international industry of signature gatherers, consultants, and election lawyers who use ballot measures less as a method of making law and more as a tool of mega-communications to boost some politicians, hurt others, and supplement lobbying campaigns.
Blockbuster democracy is a decentralized business that practices wide-open politics. This blog aims to provide a center of news, analysis and conversation for and about the industry. We will report from blockbuster democracy’s capital -- California -- but we’ll monitor ballot measures from across the country and around the globe.
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Lockyer vs. Reed on Pensions
Over at Chris Reed's "America's Finest Blog" (a reference to San Diego's self-proclaimed title, "America's Finest City"), there's an interesting exchange between Reed and a spokesman for California treasurer Bill Lockyer over the demise of a 2005 initiative that sought to limit future pension benefits. The title and summary prepared by the office of Lockyer, who was then attorney general, helped kill the measure, but, as someone who wrote the book about the campaign, even without the title and summary, the pension initiative would have been toast. The issue is being revisited now because Lockyer, at a legislative hearing last week, blasted lawmakers of his own party -- he's a Democrat -- and said that pension obligations would bankrupt the state.
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