California’s great reformer, former Gov. Hiram Johnson, envisioned that “direct democracy” would be an effective curb on special interest influence.
At the time, more than a century ago, the Southern Pacific Railroad dominated a corrupt state Legislature and other political venues. Johnson wanted voters empowered to circumvent such dominance via initiative (legislating by ballot measure), referendum (repealing laws passed by the Legislature) and recall (ousting politicians deemed ineffective or corrupt).
The next 15 months will be an especially busy test of Johnson’s direct democracy.
A recall directed at Gov. Gavin Newsom, once a longshot, now appears to have a fair chance of succeeding. Mail voting will begin in a couple of weeks and Newsom and his Democratic Party are obviously worried that low turnout of pro-Newsom voters could be fatal to his political career.
Looking ahead to the general election in November 2022, voters will face at least one referendum and three initiatives that are drawing both support and opposition from moneyed interests — a scenario far different than Johnson’s populist vision.
The referendum, backed by the tobacco industry, would torpedo Senate Bill 793, a 2020 measure signed by Newsom that bans flavored tobacco products. SB 793 backers contended that it was needed because “Fueled by kid friendly flavors like cotton candy and bubblegum, 3.6 million more middle and high school students started using e-cigarettes in 2018.”
One initiative is the latest skirmish in a 46-year battle over legislation signed by Jerry Brown in 1975, his first year as governor, that limits “pain and suffering” damages in medical malpractice lawsuits to $250,000.
Medical care providers and their insurers backed the law, known as MICRA, to curb what they said were outlandish damage awards that were making medical services financially untenable.
Ever since, personal injury lawyers and their allies have tried, both in the Legislature and via the ballot, to modify or repeal MICRA, but have repeatedly failed. The 2022 initiative would keep MICRA on the books, but make its limit virtually meaningless.
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A second initiative is another skirmish in a years-long battle, this one between environmental groups and the plastics industry over responsibility for waste. The former have often prevailed in the legislative arena and at the ballot. Their new measure would directly impose the burden for reducing plastic waste on manufacturers.
Proponents have already raised several million dollars to pass the measure, but while the American Chemistry Council opposes it, no formal campaign against it has been announced.
The third initiative promises to be the most expensive because it will determine control of what could be a multi-billion-dollar expansion of legal gambling into sporting events.
Sponsored by a coalition of Indian tribes that already have a monopoly on slot machines and other forms of casino gambling, the new measure would give them and a few horse racing tracks a similar monopoly on sports wagering, which is now illegal.
The tribal ballot measure climaxes years of wrangling in the Legislature over the legalization of sports betting that went nowhere.
Under the measure, such bets would have to be placed in person at the casinos or tracks and it’s likely to be opposed by on-line sports betting sites such as DraftKings and FanDuel, which have hinted they may place their own measure on the ballot.
At the moment, however, the tribes’ only formal opposition comes from poker parlors which see sports betting as new competition for Californians with a yen to gamble.
It’s theoretically possible that other measures could make the 2022 ballot, but given the signature requirements and deadlines, it’s highly unlikely that more will surface.
Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times. CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
LarryElder is a conservative and right wing. He is a registered Republican. Elder labels himself a libertarian, describing himself as a "small-l" libertarian as opposed to a member of the Libertarian Party.. He is an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, frequently praising him on Twitter.[ Elder has argued that it is unfair to blame Trump for his role the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Elder lists in his book, The Ten Things You Can't Say In America released in 2000, his "Ten-Point Plan" to save America. He calls for abolishing the IRS; passing a national sales tax, reducing government by 80%; ending welfare and entitlements, abolishing the minimum wage, and eliminating corporate taxes.
Elder opposes minimum wage laws, arguing that "The ideal minimum wage is $0.00." He opposes universal basic income.[
In his 2020 film, Uncle Tom: An Oral History of the American Black Conservative, Elder criticizes the War on Poverty.
On a CNN Crossfire segment in 2013 along with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Elder attacked Christie for accepting the "architecture of the welfare state" and claimed that "government took almost 50 percent of the American people's money" through mandates,a claim he supported by referring to an analysis by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform.[ PolitiFact rated his claim "Mostly False" finding that the number was hard to approximate, but taxation would reach "It's easy to get to the mid-to-high 30 percent range", though the last 10-15 points would be difficult to reach.
Elder has been critical of the public-sector labor unions, especially the California Teachers Association; he contends that some 15,000 California teachers are "incompetent."[37] He has proposed "across-the-board waivers" from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.[37]
Social issues
Elder has argued that Roe v. Wade should be overturned and abortion laws should be decided at the state level.[28]
Elder argues in his book, The Ten Things You Can't Say In America, released in 2000, for ending farm and tobacco subsidies and legalizing drugs.[29][38] Despite his pro-legalization stance, he has also disputed the characterization of anti-drug laws as racist, pointing out that many black politicians such as Harlem's Rep. Charlie Rangel have historically pressured Congress to pass tough anti-drug laws, most notably the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.[39]
Elder has a history of making anti-LGBT remarks.[24]
In 2021, Elder accused California of having a "soft-on-crime ethos"; he opposes a California law that banned police from using certain chokeholds.[37] Elder opposes 2014 California Proposition 47, which reclassified as misdemeanors many lower-level drug and property crimes that had formerly been felonies, and said that if elected governor he would press for the proposition to be repealed.[37]
Elder opposes gun control.[40] He has criticized Gun buybacks and argued against gun-free zones in schools.[41]
COVID-19 pandemic
In 2021, Elder pledged to remove all public health mandates, such as vaccine requirements, face mask requirements or regular COVID testing, for state government workers in California.[
JME – you’ve convinced me that Mr. Elder has great ideas and feasible stances on issues to make CA great again. Thanks to your comment, I’m voting YES on the recall and voting for Larry Elder. The number of attacks on Mr. Elder tells me who Newsom, his union overlords, and his sycophants, are most concerned about.
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(3) comments
Just for the Record:
LarryElder is a conservative and right wing. He is a registered Republican. Elder labels himself a libertarian, describing himself as a "small-l" libertarian as opposed to a member of the Libertarian Party.. He is an ardent supporter of Donald Trump, frequently praising him on Twitter.[ Elder has argued that it is unfair to blame Trump for his role the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Elder lists in his book, The Ten Things You Can't Say In America released in 2000, his "Ten-Point Plan" to save America. He calls for abolishing the IRS; passing a national sales tax, reducing government by 80%; ending welfare and entitlements, abolishing the minimum wage, and eliminating corporate taxes.
Elder opposes minimum wage laws, arguing that "The ideal minimum wage is $0.00." He opposes universal basic income.[
In his 2020 film, Uncle Tom: An Oral History of the American Black Conservative, Elder criticizes the War on Poverty.
On a CNN Crossfire segment in 2013 along with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Elder attacked Christie for accepting the "architecture of the welfare state" and claimed that "government took almost 50 percent of the American people's money" through mandates,a claim he supported by referring to an analysis by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform.[ PolitiFact rated his claim "Mostly False" finding that the number was hard to approximate, but taxation would reach "It's easy to get to the mid-to-high 30 percent range", though the last 10-15 points would be difficult to reach.
Elder has been critical of the public-sector labor unions, especially the California Teachers Association; he contends that some 15,000 California teachers are "incompetent."[37] He has proposed "across-the-board waivers" from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.[37]
Social issues
Elder has argued that Roe v. Wade should be overturned and abortion laws should be decided at the state level.[28]
Elder argues in his book, The Ten Things You Can't Say In America, released in 2000, for ending farm and tobacco subsidies and legalizing drugs.[29][38] Despite his pro-legalization stance, he has also disputed the characterization of anti-drug laws as racist, pointing out that many black politicians such as Harlem's Rep. Charlie Rangel have historically pressured Congress to pass tough anti-drug laws, most notably the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.[39]
Elder has a history of making anti-LGBT remarks.[24]
In 2021, Elder accused California of having a "soft-on-crime ethos"; he opposes a California law that banned police from using certain chokeholds.[37] Elder opposes 2014 California Proposition 47, which reclassified as misdemeanors many lower-level drug and property crimes that had formerly been felonies, and said that if elected governor he would press for the proposition to be repealed.[37]
Elder opposes gun control.[40] He has criticized Gun buybacks and argued against gun-free zones in schools.[41]
COVID-19 pandemic
In 2021, Elder pledged to remove all public health mandates, such as vaccine requirements, face mask requirements or regular COVID testing, for state government workers in California.[
JME – you’ve convinced me that Mr. Elder has great ideas and feasible stances on issues to make CA great again. Thanks to your comment, I’m voting YES on the recall and voting for Larry Elder. The number of attacks on Mr. Elder tells me who Newsom, his union overlords, and his sycophants, are most concerned about.
Black Lives Matter Vote for Larry Elder :)
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.