From Claremont McKenna College alum (now assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota) Kathryn Pearson’s op-ed in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune: When it comes to the selection of candidates for state and federal office, the caucus system is even more undemocratic. Delegates to congressional and state conventions are… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Rose Report
Redistricting Roundup
Jon Coupal, attorney and president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, pens an op-ed about the defeat of Prop. 93: The only chance of upgrading the overall quality of our state representatives and making them more accountable to their constituents is through redistricting reform that bars politicians from choosing their own voters. Making districts more… Continue Reading
Kosmont-Rose Cost of Doing Business Survey: Santa Monica
From Kevin Herrera’s article in the Santa Monica Daily Press: Factor in traffic congestion and the lack of parking, as well as business taxes — which are some of the highest in Los Angeles County — and it becomes clear that small businesses face an uphill struggle to remain open. Last year Santa Monica was… Continue Reading
Redistricting Roundup: Post Prop. 93
From Tony Quinn’s op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune on the Governor and the failure of Proposition 93: With term-limits reform off the table, Schwarzenegger also can concentrate on redistricting reform. He has endorsed an initiative that would give the mapmaking job to a 14-member commission, which would redraw the state’s legislative districts according to… Continue Reading
Partisan, Issue-Driven Websites
The California Assembly Republicans have created an interesting partisan website dedicated to “California’s Budget Crisis.” One sees more and more of this sort of online political activity as time goes on. See, for instance, the Assembly Democrat’s “Home Mortgage Crisis” website. Via Judy Lin at CapitolAlert.com. Continue Reading
Political Video Games?
Interesting post on politics and video games (including the Redistricting Game) by Paul Waelchli at the Research Quest blog. Continue Reading
CA Primary Vote Count: Don't Hold Your Breath II
Regarding the “Don’t Hold Your Breath” post below: As of Sunday, the Secretary of State now reports 845,000 uncounted ballots, still with no reported uncounted ballots from LA County. This means the total remaining to be counted is now well over 1 million ballots. Turnout based on ballots counted so far is 47.7. Add one… Continue Reading
93 and Redistricting
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin has an interesting analysis: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and reform groups should now turn their attention to a real reform: removing the power of legislators to draw district boundaries ensuring their own re-election. Under an initiative that may be headed for the November ballot, that authority would be given to an… Continue Reading
Nunez Takes Responsibility for 93
From Samantha Young’s AP Report in the San Jose Mercury News: “In hindsight, I can tell you I would have done a lot of things differently,” an unusually subdued Nunez told reporters during a rare news conference on the Assembly floor. He said he planned to take a hiatus from politics once he leaves office… Continue Reading
Counting the California Primary Vote: Don't Hold Your Breath
Thanks to Kevin Roderick at LA Observed, Mike Spence at the Flashreport, and Steven Greenhut at the Orange Punch for the links to my post on the California Republican Divide. The Secretary of State’s office officially says it knows about 553,323 ballots that still remain to be counted. But the real number is obviously much… Continue Reading