From Mark Pitsch’s article in the Wisconsin State Journal: The Legislature ‘s top Republican says the Wisconsin Supreme Court is exceeding its authority by drafting plans to rewrite the boundaries of voting districts. *** The Supreme Court says it has to be ready to write legislative district maps in the event lawmakers can ‘t agree… Continue Reading
Author Archives: Rose Institute
“Incumbents, Beware”
That’s the title of Josh Kraushaar’s article in Politico, writing about developing Congressional primary battles: An unusually large number of members of Congress are being seriously challenged in primaries this election cycle… *** Unlike in past election cycles, when redistricting or ethical misconduct has largely driven the primary challenges, many of these newfound challenges are… Continue Reading
Dr. Pitney in Whittier Daily News
From Troy Anderson’s article in today’s Whittier Daily News: For the first time in more than a decade, a high-stakes race is under way for a Los Angeles County supervisor seat in an election that could significantly reshape the region’s longtime political power base.While still months before voters hit the polls, Los Angeles City Councilman… Continue Reading
IRI at USC
I just realized we don’t have a link to the Initiative & Referendum Institute of the University of Southern California on our side bar. If you think there is a resource, organization, or other websites that we should link to, please let us know. Continue Reading
Redistricting Roundup
Dan Weintraub asks whether or not the Governor is “headed for another debacle at the polls, ala 2005?” And if the Democrats oppose the redistricting initiative, it will almost certainly go down. Recent history around the country — and here — suggests that no attempt to reform redistricting can succeed without the support of the… Continue Reading
Spotlight on the Policy Wonks
The prize for the hottest [alright, so I exaggerate a little] policy report in California in the last few weeks likely goes to Sasha Horwitz of the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) and Termed Out: Reforming California’s Legislative Term Limits (pdf). See our earlier post for more info. His bio from the CGS website: Sasha… Continue Reading
Redistricting Roundup: Voters FIRST Initiative
Dan Carino, Capitol Weekly Capitol Weekly is also running an article by state senator Alan Lowenthal: We don’t really need a multimillion-dollar signature-gathering drive to put redistricting reform on the November ballot, as the governor and advocates have promised to do. All we need to do is pass a bill out of the Assembly that… Continue Reading
Some Recent Comments
Be sure to read Douglas Johnson’s interchange in the comments with Eric McGhee of PPIC about Mcghee’s recent report. Also, Johnson responded to Steve Maviglio of team Nunez beneath this post, in part because Steve made some puzzling comments here. Continue Reading
CA Dems to Gain How Many Congressional Seats in ’12?
Chris Reed of the San Diego U-T disputes Dan Walters recent claim that without congressional redistricting reform we could see a “Democratic Legislature and a Democratic governor swiping five or six seats in California for the 2012 elections to solidify their party’s hold on Congress.” Dan Walters responded, as did our consulting fellow Douglas Johnson:… Continue Reading
PPIC Legislative Reform Conference Coverage UPDATED
UPDATE: PPIC has posted video of the event. See also George Skelton’s Los Angeles Times column: It was refreshing to re-inhale whiffs of odorous politics — to hear old lawmakers wax nostalgic about boozing, carousing and secretly cutting deals in smoke-filled rooms. Refreshing, because much of today’s poll-driven, spin-dependent, politically opportunistic legislating is offensive to… Continue Reading