New America in California: Publications, Events and More

It is a tragedy when a perfectly good political sex scandal goes to waste. It’s especially tragic in Los Angeles, which famously lacks the kind of public narratives that dominate news cycles and force citizens to pay attention to their elected leaders.

Los Angeles’ latest missed opportunity arrived last week with the glorious news that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose marriage broke up a few years back after an affair with a political reporter for a Spanish-language TV station, had been caught… more

On June 11th, 2009, San Joses city leaders joined election experts for a discussion on instant runoff voting. Currently, in order to be elected to office in San Jose, a candidate must secure a majority of the votes cast. Sounds simple enough, but if no candidate receives a majority in the initial election, then a runoff election is held in which the top candidates must compete again. This process is lengthy, results in low voter turnout, and can cost $500,000… more

And worse, Newsom's opaque accounting amounts to "budgetary jujitsu," said Steven Hill, an avocate of reform in elections who works for the New America Foundation. He said he's skeptical the money will be paid back. "You don't undermine the ...

Electoral reform advocates Rob Arnow and Steven Hill have discovered that Newsom has once again raided the public financing for mayoral candidates fund, but sought to disguise the move by including a $1.9 million contribution to the fund in his published budget, then draining $1.4 million from a fund transfer that wasn’t highlighted. And that doesn’t even count the $5 million “loan” that Newsom last year took from the fund – which he opposed the creation of -- promising he’d… more

Media Contact Liz Wu California Media Relations Manager 510-295-9859 wu@newamerica.net

Executive Summary

San Jose uses a two-round runoff system to elect its mayor and city council, with the first election in June and a runoff election in November if no candidate wins a majority of votes in June. Voter turnout in the June general election is about half that of the November election, with turnout disproportionately lower among traditionally disenfranchised communities.  With most elections being decided in a low turnout June election, a small and unrepresentative segment of the community is having an oversized effect

California faces a crater-size, $24 billion deficit - and we're about to throw away millions more on three elections we don't need. But here's the good news: If we adopt Instant Runoff Voting, or IRV, for special elections, we can save that amount and more.

With IRV, taxpayers could save nearly $2 million July 14 (fittingly, Bastille Day).

“You’ve got to get the two world’s largest polluters on the same page and get them into those global conversation,” Terry Tamminen, director at New America’s Climate Policy Program, told CNBC Thursday, in regards to climate talks between the US and China. Link to video

Media Contact Liz Wu California Media Relations Manager 510-295-9859 wu@newamerica.net

Media Contact Liz Wu California Media Relations Manager 510-295-9859 wu@newamerica.net

I recently spent several days in Northern California and came down with a mild case of wealth poisoning. This often happens when I travel to places like San Francisco and Palo Alto. The greenness, tidiness, and modernity of the Bay Area start to chafe, like a Barbra Streisand interview, and I become homesick for the soothing grime of Los Angeles. The feeling is especially strong in Silicon Valley, which seems determined to show the world how rich you can get… more

President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court justice has been widely hailed as a triumph for Latinos. But it could just as likely spell the end of the very idea that there is such a thing as Latino America at all.

Zero-emission vehicles could have a strong future in China as "pollution limits China's growth", said Lisa Margonelli, a New America Foundation Fellow who has written widely about alternative energy in China. In one article, she pointed out that ...

Today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to announce a further $3 billion in proposed budget cuts. That's in addition to the more than $5 billion in cuts outlined earlier this week in areas such as social services, education and parks. We review the state's budgetary quagmire. Audio currently not available for this program.

Host: Dave Iverson

Guests:

Now you can add same-sex marriage to the long list of things that Californians have turned into an incoherent mess.

With Tuesday’s California Supreme Court decision upholding Proposition 8’s gay-marriage ban--and the marriages of those couples who tied the knot last year while gay marriage was legal--California finds itself in a very strange place, matrimonially speaking.

"This would fundamentally change the formula of politics in California," said Steve Hill, director of the Political Reform Program for the New America Foundation. It would, for example, encourage regional thinking -- there would be a delegation elected from the Bay Area, one from the Central Coast, one from the Gold Country, etc. In effect, California would be treated as what it nearly is -- a country -- with broad issues addressed by representatives from what amount to states...

Media Contact Liz Wu California Media Relations Manager 510-295-9859 wu@newamerica.net

President Obama has a problem. He’s promised to close the detainee facility at Guantanamo, Cuba, but is finding it hard to find a place to put them. States all over the union are saying not in my backyard.

California has a problem. It needs federal loan guarantees for its short-term cash flow borrowing. But President Obama and members of Congress are saying -- at least right now -- that such assistance isn’t forthcoming. The other 49 states, after all, don’t want… more

The economy is a wreck, and crime is down. Does that mean hard times and lawbreaking aren't linked?