Since winning a supermajority in the Legislature in the November 2012 elections, we have seen Sacramento Democrats go on a mad power grab.
Assemblyman Dan Logue
For years, they have prevented legislation Republican-authored from receiving a full vote of the Legislature. Rules are changed on a whim so they can push through their favored proposals. Debate on significant legislation is often cursory, at best. Worse, proposals are too often passed through at the eleventh hour, without sufficient public scrutiny.
Liberals at the State Capitol are clearly out-of-touch and are working overtime to extend their grip on power. Most troubling is a new proposal by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg to end special elections and instead have the Governor fill vacancies through appointments.
California has a proud tradition of direct democracy, dating back to the Progressive Era. Whenever Sacramento ignores the voice of the people or does the bidding of the special interests, the people have the ultimate power to change course through regular elections every two or four years, and by using the initiative, referendum and recall processes.
But that could change if Democrats have their way. Up until now, the one area where Democrats have not held nearly-unchecked power is at the ballot box. In recent months, they have been flexing their supermajority muscles to chip away at the people’s ability to take back their government. They have enacted several pieces of legislation to make it harder to qualify statewide ballot measures, while also restricting when they can be voted on.
In the last few years the Democrats have introduced 29 bills the make it much more difficult
For the public the participate on ballot propositions alone.
As a matter of principle, I believe that voters should always have the final say at the ballot box on who will represent them in the People’s House. One would expect to see this kind of proposal coming out of Cuba or North Korea, countries that don’t value democratic rule and whose rules govern with an iron fist. But it should be downright offensive to all fair-minded Californians who value the people having the final say over the course of their government.
Consider that had the Democrat proposal been in place this year, this means that literally millions of Californians would be represented by a state lawmaker who they did not elect.
Senator Steinberg says that his main reason for proposing to end special elections in California is the cost of conducting the election. But a recent report by the California Taxpayers Association highlights that there has been at least $18.9 billion worth of waste, fraud and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars since 2000. Surely we can find a few million dollars’ worth of waste to eliminate to offset the costs of a special election.
I believe it is no exaggeration to say that, if Senate Democrats have their way and special elections are eliminated, this will be the end of checks and balances in state government.
And we end up with a State that reflects Greece and Detroit with no checks and balances.
We have already seen Democrats empower unelected bureaucrats to impose costly fines and enforced burdensome regulations on small businesses and individuals without a vote of the Legislature. Out-of-control state government has already made California number one in poverty, number one in taxes and dead last in freedom among the 50th states. This is also why we have one of the worst lawsuit climates for business in the country. Imagine how less accountable state government will be to the people if special elections are eliminated!
Wherever you stand on the issues, we should all be able to agree that the right to vote of all Californians must never be infringed upon. Millions of brave Americans have died throughout our history to protect our freedoms like the right to vote. It’s time for the people to make their voices heard in Sacramento that they want Democrats to keep their hands off their right to vote.
North State Assemblyman and Assembly Elections Committee Member Dan Logue represents the 3rd Assembly District in the California Legislature.