PHIL’S BAD PRESS DAY
FR friend Steve Maviglio, who had been handling some press duties for Phil Angelides during the legislative break, is back at work for Speaker Nunez these days. But I am sure as he is looking at press coverage of the Gubernatorial race today, he is rolling his eyes. Since he is in Sacramento, he has to read a buzz column that starts out with a story about how basketball legend Magic Johnson was a no-show for an Angelides fundraiser. But that is only the beginning of bad-press Monday for the ersatz Governor Angelides… You have a major story in the Los Angeles Times dumping on Angelides for a lack of charisma, the Contra Costa Times wondering if Angelides will gain any traction, and then Bill Bradley on his New West Notes website throws dirt into the political grave of Angelides, highlighting that the only way he gets press is by talking about whatever the Governor is talking about, in the hopes of getting a down-story quote. And it’s only Monday, Phil!
TERM LIMITS MEASURE WILL SINK REDISTRICTING REFORM
Over the weekend and today there are hearings and back-room meetings trying to discuss how the legislature can tackle the issues of redistricting and term-limits reform. Everyone involved with these discussions today should take a moment to read a column in today’s Wall Street Journal by native-Californian John Fund, a member of the WSJ editorial board. It is a poignant reminder of how popular term limits are with the electorate, not just in California, but nationally.
In this website publisher’s opinion, the likelihood of California voters passing legislation that weakens the current term limits in the Golden State is very remote. You are adding a significant challenge when you pile on two massive PR challenges — the first is that it would be the legislators themselves (not citizens via signature petition) placing the loosening on the ballot, and the other is that I have heard no discussions about having the new limits apply only to new legislators. How exactly do the proponents of modifying term limits to give legislators more time in Sacramento plan to deal with an ad campaign, funded by U.S. Term Limits et.al., that focuses attention on the self-serving nature of this measure. Add to the challenge, from the GOP side of the aisle, that term limits are very popular. Everyone keeps focusing on the dysfunction of the legislature under term limits, and they are forgetting that the institution was equally dysfunctional before term limits. Putting into place a system that creates fair legislative districts starts to address the issues that make term limits popular in the first place — and the current, flawed redistricting plan should be changed.
Combining both reforms on one ballot question is constitutionally questionable, and placing a clause in the redistricting reform measure requiring the concurrent passage of the term limits measure is just dumb. It’s the equivalent of tying a rope around the leg of redistricting reform, and then around a huge anvil, and then wondering if it will float. It will sink to the bottom of the political sea.
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August 14th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Thank you for the info on the Assembly Republicans running the Illegal Immigration Task Force. If there is a meeting in the Clovis/Fresno area, we’ll be there. I’m a retired teacher and would just despair when a new child would come into the 3rd gr. class with little background in a school of any kind and not a word of English! Total emmersion is it! Sincerely, Harriet Nicholson