The Blockbuster Democracy Blog

In California, tomorrow is the day for the May revise, when the governor offers a revision of his January budget. It's the launch of the budget season in most years. Leaks of the governor's proposals typically drip out in the days before. The LA Times is reporting on its web site that Schwarzenegger is going to take the delicate question of revenues to voters. He wants to give them the choice, in a November ballot measure: borrow against future lottery revenues, or see sales taxes raised to cover the budget deficit.

Here's a San Jose Mercury News look at the two measures. One thing that distinguishes Prop 98 from 99 is the former's elimination of rent control, which is why it's backed by owners of apartment buildings and trailer parks, including Tribune Company chairman Sam Zell.

This piece in the Contra Costa Times asks whether there's "donor fatigue" as Gov. Schwarzenegger raises money for his redistricting initiative and perhaps, some sort of budget reform ballot measure (or measures) in November. It's a fair question. The problem may not be fatigue but donors' clear-eyed assessment of the political chances of redistricting and budget reform. Redistricting has a perfect record at the ballot over the last 15 years -- it's lost every time -- and budget reform proposals of all stripes (notably Prop. 56 in 2004--backed by Democrats and unions -- and Prop. 76 -- backed by Schwarzenegger and Republicans --  in 2005) have gone down to defeat. What is the point of spending good money on reform proposals that will go down to defeat, no matter their merits?

Having failed to qualify his anti-affirmative action initiative in Oklahoma and Missouri, Ward Connerly's group gives $90,000 for signature gathering in Arizona; he's given $180,000 so far. That may sound like a lot, but it's not enough to qualify an initiative in the state. Keep an eye on this.

Reason magazine, now edited by the brilliant Matt Welch (friend of the blog and fan of God's favorite baseball team, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim), has become a must-read, even for us non-libertarians. Here's a thought-provoking piece that uses the South Dakota abortion initiative to think about the limits of ballot initiatives and majorities when it comes to rights.

Get used to it. Most of the country's blockbuster democracy news is coming from the Centennial State. A bit of news from California and elsewhere appears at the bottom of this post.

 COLORADO PEACE: It appears that there's been a cooling on one front of the all-out initiative war in Colorado. The trial lawyers and the sponsor of an initiative to limit contigency fees are putting their swords away. The contigency fee initiative -- and 9 counter initiatives filed by the lawyers -- have been dropped. Hat tip: Point of Law.  according to the Point of Law legal blog.

DENVER ET COMMISSION GETS A HEARING: Its sponsor says there's evidence that aliens -- and he doesn't mean Mexicans, Mr. Tancredo -- are already among us. At the hearing, concern is expressed about the commission's cost -- $75,000 -- and how easy it is to qualify the measure (only 3,900 signatures) and of course, about what late night comics might say. Learn more about the Extra campaign as its new web site.

This blog took a shot last week at senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill yesterday for the hypocrisy of going after ballot initiatives as part of reform proposals. But Cogdill and his Assembly counterpart Mike Villines at least are offering a number of reform ideas. It's a long, piecemeal rollout, as they tackle contracting, education, and budget reform. Given the power of labor and the fact they're the minority party, few of these ideas have much chance of passing. But it's good that they're raising issues--California desperately needs a serious, wide-ranging debate about the structure of its government, its budget system, and its tax system. Here's the latest set of proposals. Of these ideas, the ones that have the best chance of making it are the ones calling for more government transparency (requiring public agencies to publish their expenditures on the Internet in a searchable form), the elimination of some state mandates to local school districts in bad budget times, and the speeding up of voter-approved infrastructure projects.

In the most deplorable conditions imaginable. The referendum result enshrines the rule of the military junta in the constitution. From AP.

Filing ballot initiatives is cheap. It's qualifying them that costs money. And it's fun to make a point. That seems to be the idea behind a San Francisco ballot initiative that would rename a city sewage plant for George W. Bush. It's also an example of the city living up to its reputation for subtle, restrained political commentary.

At the California Progress Report, Stern offers a brief description of some of his recommendations for the initiative process. This is well researched, and well thought out report. Of these recommendations, all of these make sense, and the idea of expanding the time limit to qualify a measure from 150 days to 365 days is a great idea that would allow more grass roots participaton in signature gathering. The only idea that doesn't make sense is the idea of a $100,000 contribution limit, which is almost certainly unconstitutional.