California Forward

Politicker has the following account of a panel sponsored by California Forward, the new reform group led by former Congressman and Clinton Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. Speakers, including the state senate's incoming top Democrat, Darrell Steinberg, predicted that voters next year will be asked to reverse the two-thirds requirement to pass a budget. Unions also may sponsor an initiative to raise taxes. Such a move would make some sense because raising taxes requires two-thirds in the legislature but a simple majority of voters when a tax hike is offered by ballot initiative.

Capitol Weekly has a good piece on the Schwarzenegger redistricting initiative as a test of a new non-profit reform group, California Forward, led by former Congressman and Clinton Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. Panetta is one of the best strategic thinkers in the state, but fighting dysfunction in the Clinton White House is nothing compared to fighting dysfunction in California state government.