Political Reform: Media Appearances and Press Releases

Reihan Salam in Newsweek | 'Expertinent: Building a 'Grand New Party''

Communications — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:27:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Experts expect the GOP to lose between four and seven seats in the Senate and 10 and 20 seats in the House--giving the Democrats their largest majorities in a generation. And John McCain hasn't led Barack Obama in a single poll since May 3.

Enter Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam. Named by David Brooks of the New York Times as "two of the most promising" of "an emerging "group of young and unpredictable rightward-leaning writers," they're editors at the Atlantic Monthly and co-authors of "Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream," released earlier this week....

Q: People lay blame at the feet of President Bush. Obviously the historical backdrop has changed over time, but how much do the mistakes of the past eight years contribute to the current collapse of the GOP?

SALAM: There have been plenty of other books that have offered a litany of what went wrong with the Bush Administration. We don't disagree. But it's certainly true that 2000 presented Republicans with a rare opportunity. When you look at the rhetorical shifts that George W. Bush made in his campaign, it seemed like the public and certainly the conservative public was receptive to a broad shift in political orientation toward a domestic, reformist agenda. When you look at a lot of the policies that John McCain was pointing to, you saw a willingness to break with some conservative orthodoxy. But no one really seized that mantle, in part because 9-11 presented such an attractive opportunity to go back to the kind of rock-ribbed conservative fundamentals of the Reagan era--namely, national security, this time under the guise of terrorism rather than communism. There was an ability to draw on the classic tropes that this generation of conservative politicians was very familiar with. But I think there could've large-scale Republican realignment had they married that national-security politics to more meat on the bone domestically...LINK to the Newsweek: Stumper Q&A session

Steven Hill in the Washington Times | 'Cuts Urged in Political Ambassadorships'

Communications — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:25:00 -0400

New America in the News:

The American Academy of Diplomacy sent letters to the two presumptive presidential candidates last week, proposing several criteria for choosing non-career ambassadors, including foreign affairs experience, communication and persuasion skills, and leadership abilities...

..."It might be perfectly fine in today's climate, where you can raise more money over the Internet than ever before," to make a pledge such as the one the academy has called for, said Steven Hill, director of the Political Reform Program of the New America Foundation.

"With Barack Obama raising so much money over the Internet, it might be easier for him to agree to something like this, because perhaps he's not as dependent on large donors who want that kind of quid pro quo," Mr. Hill said... LINK

Top L.A. Labor Group Embraces Election Reform

Communications — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:29:00 -0400

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO has endorsed a critical reform for Los Angeles elections: Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). The County Federation, the second largest chartered Labor Council of AFL-CIO in the country, represents over 350 unions and over 800,000 workers. Maria Elena Durazo, the County Federation’s Executive Secretary-Treasurer, noted that IRV would benefit voters, working families and taxpayers alike: “By saving millions of taxpayer dollars and relieving voter fatigue, IRV will benefit all of Los Angeles. We strongly urge the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Villaraigosa to put IRV on the… more

Steven Hill in the Sacramento Bee | 'Parties Split Over Teen Voting Bill'

Communications — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:44:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Steven Hill of the nonpartisan New America Foundation said democracy is not well served by a status quo in which 7 million Californians are eligible to vote but don't bother to register.

Among the youngest adults, ages 18 to 24, slightly more than half have filed voter applications, the PPIC survey found.

"To get people to vote, the first thing is to get them on the rolls," Hill said. "If they're not on the rolls, they can't vote – end of story..." LINK

California State Controller John Chiang Endorses LA Election Reform

Communications — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:16:00 -0400

Los Angeles, CA -- California State Controller John Chiang has endorsed a critical election reform for Los Angeles: Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Chiang, California's top fiscal officer and highest ranking Asian American elected official, announced his support at a City Hall panel discussion held today at Los Angeles City Hall's Bradley Tower.

Controller Chiang noted that IRV will help boost voter turnout by reducing voter fatigue: "I think part of the fatigue with the American electoral system is with the runoffs -- with the endless electoral cycles where people do not get time to govern and people don't get time to… more

New America Foundation in Ventura County Star | 'Decline-to-State Voters Need to Know They Have Options'

Communications — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:08:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...Some partisans scoff at the independent voters, saying that they "have no opinion or convictions." But, independent voters very often have a mix of beliefs and principles that don't completely fit into one party's mold. A study done at the New America Foundation shows that the independent voter is generally younger, male, college-educated, a fiscal conservative (willing to accept fewer government services in exchange for paying less in taxes), pro-choice, an environmentalist, pro-securing the border, and growing in numbers of minorities. Sounds like a pretty concerned, informed bloc of voters...LINK

Gautam Dutta on KPCC | ''Instant Runoff' Proposal Would Do Away With Some Runoff Elections in LA'

Communications — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:33:00 -0400

New America in the News:

The idea of "instant runoff" voting appears to be gaining steam in Los Angeles. The L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, labor unions and the League of Women Voters want change: a proposal would eliminate runoff elections in non-partisan races in several categories. KPCC's Frank Stoltze reports...

Gautam Dutta: Only six percent showed up to vote. In fact, in some precincts, nobody showed up to vote. That election cost five million dollars, and that's a cost of $40 per voter... LINK for audio and transcript

L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce Endorses Key Election Reform

Communications — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:55:00 -0400

Contact: Mr. Gautam Dutta, Esq. (213.480.0994; dutta@newamerica.net)

Los Angeles CA -- The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce has endorsed a critical election reform: Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, and key labor unions like UNITE HERE have also endorsed IRV.

"Instant Runoff Voting will create more competitive races, increase voter participation and eliminate costly runoff elections," said Gary Toebben, President & CEO, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. "The L.A. Area Chamber strongly urges the City Council and Mayor Villaraigosa to put IRV on the ballot this… more

Steven Hill in Newsday | Will Candidates Falter Without Independents?

Communications — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:06:00 -0500

New America in the News:
Without independents, will McCain, Obama falter? (Newsday)
"Certainly, closed primaries are better for those who have a stronger following among party faithful," said Steven Hill, the director of the political reform program for the nonpartisan New America Foundation.

Steven Hill in Financial Times on California Political Reform

Communications — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 11:08:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Republican candidates are trailing Hillary Clinton in the presidential polls but the revival of a campaign to change the way California allocates its 55 electoral college votes has raised the party's hopes for next year's election.

The California Counts campaign, which has several prominent Republican backers, wants to replace the "winner-takes-all" system for electoral vote allocation with one based on the number of congressional districts won by each candidate.

"It would essentially give away 22 electoral college votes that a Democrat candidate could count on [in California]," said Steven Hill, director of the political reform programme for the New America Foundation, a non-partisan think-tank.

If the proposal is ratified, the number of electoral votes picked up by the Republican candidate could be more than the combined electoral votes of Nevada, Utah and New Mexico. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

NPR Interview with Mark Schmitt at Bloggers' Convention

Communications — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:00:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Senior Fellow Mark Schmitt talks with National Public Radio about his blogging on TPMCafe.com, while attending the YearlyKos Convention in Chicago:

LYDEN: And you -- looking to have an impact here on the campaign?

Mr. SCHMITT: I'm not looking to have too much of an impact on the campaign. I'm more interested in how different issues are playing out in the campaign. So I, you know, if I'll write about tax policy, I'll comment on how I think some of the different candidates are handling an issue like that or an issue like political reform, CAFE finance reform, which I was on a panel about today, rather than trying to have an impact, you know, in terms of supporting one candidate or the other.

LYDEN: Well, let me ask you. This is billed as the blogging convention that is the highest profile so far for political candidates. Do you feel like you're satisfied with getting access to them, with getting them to come and deal with you as the -- dare I say this -- media of the future?

Mr. SCHMITT: One could hardly be dissatisfied...

For the complete story, visit the NPR web site.

Gautam Dutta Named Deputy Director of Political Reform Program

Communications — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 08:06:00 -0400

(SACRAMENTO, CA, August 1, 2007) — The New America Foundation is pleased to announce the hiring of Gautam Dutta as Deputy Director for the Political Reform Program. Mr. Dutta, a passionate proponent of political reform, will continue his advocacy of New America's signature reforms such as instant runoff voting, proportional voting and redistricting reform."As an attorney, civic leader, and Los Angeles Commissioner, Gautam has the right combination of skills, experience, leadership and passion for political reform that we were looking for in our Deputy Director," says Program Director Steven Hill. “We are thrilled to have him on… more

Los Angeles Times Quotes Lynne Serpe on Instant Runoff Voting

Communications — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:51:00 -0400

New America in the News:

This Wednesday's [Los Angeles City Council's Rules and Elections Committee] meeting may be different because the committee is going to discuss instant runoff voting. If you're tired of the endless electioneering in the city, this is a good thing...

As attentive readers may recall, this column believes that perpetually low turnout in city elections is due, in part, to the city's insistence on holding elections in March of odd-numbered years. Any wonder that turnout in this year's election was just 11% and even lower during the May runoffs?

That means city elections follow directly on the heels of far sexier general elections in November of even-numbered years. The result: Election season feels like hockey season. It never ends...

The New America Foundation, which is pushing the proposal in cities across the country, says Los Angeles could save money with instant runoffs, having spent $30.9 million to administer separate runoff elections since 1993.

That's not to mention all the fundraising and campaign promises — not all well thought out — that accompany runoffs.

More important, the foundation says that candidates vying to be someone's second or third choice would stick to the issues more closely — and sometimes even build coalitions around issues.

"Local elections are some of the most important in terms of having an impact on your daily life," said Lynne Serpe, deputy director of the foundation's political reform program. "I think that elections have become so negative and nasty that people tune out and turn off..."

For the complete article, please visit the Los Angeles Times website.

New Study Highlights Problems with Runoff Elections in Los Angeles

Communications — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:47:00 -0400

LOS ANGELES, CA – As Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposes decreasing the city of Los Angeles’ budget deficit, a new study suggests another way to save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars: eliminate the May runoff election and instead use instant runoff voting to elect majority winners in a single election.

Los Angeles taxpayers are about to spend an estimated five million dollars for a May 15 runoff election in which fewer than 10… more

Steven Hill on Independents and Primaries in San Francisco Chronicle

Communications — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:51:00 -0500

New America in the News:

If California's independent voters want a voice in next year's presidential primary, they better start paying attention to Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic candidates.

While the nearly 20 percent of California voters who register as decline to state will be welcome in the Democratic presidential primary, they will be barred from casting a ballot for any of the Republican presidential hopefuls.

"Since 1999, the state party rules have said that only Republicans can participate in its presidential primary,'' said Jon Fleischman, a state party official who also runs a popular GOP political Web site. "The purpose of a primary is for party members to come together and decide who should represent them. If you don't want to be involved as a party member, why should you vote?''

California Democrats have a different view of the proposed Feb. 5, 2008, presidential primary. Decline-to-state voters can simply request a Democratic ballot, either by mail or at the polls, and have their choice recorded alongside those of the party regulars...

Closed party primaries aren't fair to independent voters, who are forced to vote in November for candidates they weren't allowed to choose, said Steven Hill, director of the political reform program for the nonpartisan New America Foundation.

"All taxpayers have to pay for this primary election, but 20 percent of the voters can't be involved,'' he said. "Unless the parties want to pay for the elections themselves, they shouldn't be private affairs. We need to get back to the point of view of the voters, not what's good for the political parties...''

For the complete article, please visit the San Francisco Chronicle website.

David Lesher on California Independents in San Francisco Chronicle

Communications — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:38:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was playing to a growing crowd of voters, in California and across the nation, when he used his inaugural address last month to urge people to "move past partisanship'' to a new home in the political center...

It's a sentiment that appeals to the burgeoning number of voters who don't want to be identified with the Republican or Democratic parties and to the many people unwilling to be tied to their party's candidates or policies...

Nearly a fifth of California voters are registered as "decline to state" ...[which] includes voters who are ultraconservative and others on the extreme left, but polls done by the policy institute show that most of them fall in the broad political center...

Decline-to-state voters are younger, with 27 percent under the age of 34, compared with 16 percent for the Democrats and 14 percent for Republicans. More than half of those voters are college graduates, a higher percentage than in either of the major parties.

And considering that they have an average income well over the state average, California's independent voters "are like a young professional group compared to the other parties,'' said David Lesher, director of the "post-partisan" New America Foundation's California project...

Despite the growth of centrist voters, the country's political choices -- and the candidates who will make them -- continue to be dictated by Democrats and Republicans. And a [poll] by the policy institute in October indicated 71 percent of California independents thought Republicans and Democrats were doing such a poor job of representing the American people that a third party was needed.

However, those results could be as much anger at a system where centrist voters are locked out as a longing for sweeping changes in the country's political system, said Lesher of the New America Foundation.

"Are we seeing the birth of a third party or are these people independent because they don't want to be a member of any party?'' he asked. "Many of these voters enjoy the freedom to look at candidates across the spectrum.''

For the complete article, please visit the San Francisco Chronicle website.

Voice of America Reports on New America's Ten Big Ideas Event

Communications — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 23:14:00 -0500

New America in the News:

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democrat from New York, and Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, were the keynote speakers at a conference this week unveiling a number of radical ideas meant to inspire change in U.S. policy on areas such as health care, climate change, and energy efficiency. Both senators, who say they are good friends despite political differences, said they believe the country needs courage and compromise to make the radical changes they say are needed to solve some long-standing problems. VOA's Marissa Melton reports from Washington.

The theme of the Ten Big Ideas for a New America conference, hosted by the nonpartisan New America research group this week was, well, the Ten Big Ideas in the title, proposals by scholars on election systems, economics, health care, retirement, and higher education to improve long-standing problems in U.S. policy. But the big-name speakers, Clinton, Graham, and New America founder Ted Halstead, focused on a broader idea. Each said the results of November's congressional elections, in which Democrats gained control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, signals a new feeling in the nation that this is the time for a new approach to old problems.

Halstead said there is support now for aggressive change in U.S. policy, after more than a decade of Republican control in Congress. "The political moment in America now is so ripe for big ideas. No question, the recent election was as significant turning point in American political history. As we all know, it was the end of conservative political domination of Congress that began in 1994. But what was so interesting about this recent election and this new era in American politics is that the pendulum has not swung back to traditional liberalism. Rather, this new era belongs to those who are willing to step outside of the partisan fray and offer the American people what they most want, which is bipartisan cooperation on bold reforms to solve our national problems..."

For the complete report and to listen to an audio clip, please visit the Voice of America website.

NY Times Profiles New America's Ten Big Ideas Event with Sen. Clinton

Communications — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:43:00 -0500

New America in the News:

At a conference devoted to “big ideas” for the nation’s future, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said this morning that compromise need to be “a goal – not a dirty word” in politics and government, remarks that reflect her own pragmatic style but that are more moderate than the views of some of her rivals and hard-core elements of the Democratic primary electorate.

With some of her 2008 presidential opponents offering sharply partisan messages, and another of them, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, seeking to transcend partisanship, Mrs. Clinton staked her place in the middle of the political rhetoric as she tries to appeal to broad swaths of the American electorate – even at the risk of alienating some Democratic primary voters.

“I don’t think Americans are looking for some kind of group-hug bipartisanship – I think they’re looking for leaders who can get back to reality-based policy-making,” she said at the New America Foundation’s “Ten Big Ideas for a New America” conference in Washington, a few blocks from the Capitol.

“The answer is not that we’re going to get rid of partisanship — as long as there are human beings jousting for influence and position, they’re going to take all kinds of opposing, partisan stances,” she said. “But it does mean that we can be smarter about how to narrow the differences between partisan ideas, and try to eliminate the partisan gamesmanship.”

“We have to reinvigorate the public debate and make a compromise a goal – not a dirty word,” she added a few minutes later, “because that’s how we’ve made progress historically – by looking for that common ground that we can stake out together...”

For the complete article, please visit The New York Times website.

S.F. Chronicle Cites New America Survey in Support of Citizens Assembly

Communications — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:11:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Below the surface of all the big issues facing California -- education, prisons, transportation, immigration, political reform -- lies the disturbing reality that the grassroots of citizen political involvement are drying up. In recent years, alienation between Californians and their government leaders has burned like a wildfire across the state, melting voter turnout and heating up cynicism toward the political establishment in Sacramento...

Until we find a way to rebuild citizen participation, and a sense of trust between Californians and their elected officials, solutions to the state's serious long-term problems will elude us. To that end, I have a modest proposal to begin watering the grassroots of California's democracy: a statewide citizens assembly to review ballot initiatives prior to elections...

A citizens assembly has been used with success in British Columbia to empanel a representative, bipartisan group to deliberate over matters of political reform. There 160 citizens met one weekend a month to develop a method of political reform that was considered too "hot" for politicians to handle. In a recent survey commissioned by the nonpartisan New America Foundation, three-fourths of California voters participating said they would support a similar citizens assembly to deal with the thorny issue of state political redistricting...

For the complete article, please visit the San Francisco Chronicle website.

New America Survey Shows Overwhelming Support for California Citizens Assembly

Communications — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 04:32:00 -0500

Contact: Steven Hill (415-6655044) or David Lesher (916-448-3721)

The poll analysis, survey questions and results are available for download in PDF format.

SACRAMENTO, CA – As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for more competition in elections, a survey commissioned by the New America Foundation finds that nearly three-quarters of California voters would like to see the governor and the Legislature create a citizen’s panel to explore ideas for making the state’s election process more fair and competitive. If lawmakers did not convene the panel, two-thirds said they would vote for an initiative to create one.

The findings… more