Bipartisan Measures Crushed By State Voters

Bipartisan Measures Crushed By State Voters
Constitutional Convention, recalls against Governor and Legislature proposed

Humboldt Sentinel
5/20/09
By Charles Douglas

EUREKA -- As polls and pundits widely expected, the bulk of the budget-related ballot initiatives -- crafted by a deeply unpopular Governor and an equally scorned Legislature -- were soundly defeated by California voters yesterday, ending a campaign marked by voter disgust and dismal turnout.

With election night final results posted in all jurisdictions, every single proposition was crushed by landslide margins of 25 points ore more; only Proposition 1F, which was widely regarded as a ‘sweetener’ initiative with little practical budget effect, won with nearly 74% in favor. From now on, state lawmakers will be unable to raise their own salaries, or those of other elected officials, during deficit years.

"Tonight we have heard from the voters and I respect the will of the people who are frustrated with the dysfunction in our budget system," Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stated in a prepared release after election results were in yesterday. “We must move forward from this point to begin to address our fiscal crisis with constructive solutions."

Yet the slate of measures were billed by both the Republican Governor and the Democrat-dominated legislature as constructive and bipartisan, weren’t they?

The numbers tell the tale: Prop. 1A, to create a budget stabilization fund, defeated 34-66; Prop. 1B, to shift around education funding, defeated 37-63; Prop. 1C, to extract more revenue from the state lottery, defeated 35-65; Prop. 1D, to de-fund the First Five child health care programs, defeated 34-66; Prop. 1E, to de-fund mental health care programs, also defeated 34-66.

“Voters saw through these two propositions, despite efforts to dress them up as pain-free or even beneficial,” stated Dave Fratello, campaign manager for No on Prop. 1D & 1E, in a post-election release. “Both 1D and 1E sought to cut programs that the voters themselves demanded. Once they realized that, voters forcefully rejected them.”

“Clearly,” Fratello added, “voters do not want to try to balance the budget on the backs of children and the mentally ill.”

Even with these landslide figures, the real landslide was the level of voter apathy. Voter turnout reached a record low for the decade, with only 23% turning out statewide. Only in tiny Sierra County did a scant majority (53.6%) go to the polls; in the deserts of Imperial County, voter turnout barely broke 15%.

Humboldt County voters also stayed home in numbers not seen since the district elections in November 2001, just after the 9/11 attacks; in all, 28% of Humboldters turned out, according to figures released by Clerk/Recorder Carolyn Crnich.

Community leaders outside of Sacramento circles pointed to the rejection of these measures across all party lines as proof positive that the state’s political class has lost touch with reality.

"Democrats and Republicans are offering no fundamental fixes. There are billions of dollars in savings if we employ single payer universal healthcare, decriminalize pot and hemp, reform the prison industry and convert to green technologies. Until they are willing to do that, these 'leaders' cannot be taken seriously," said Tom Bolema, a Sonoma County Council member.

The Courage Campaign (couragecampaign.org), a multipartisan alliance of California progressives, is calling for popular action to fill the credibility void in the state Capitol with proposals to wipe out the supermajority budget requirement, to re-index taxes towards the wealthy, and to call a state Constitutional Convention. Although this might lead to yet another slate of ballot measures, Courage Campaign chair Rick Jacobs seems to think the initiative process may the only way to achieve reforms to the initiative process itself.

“The Courage Campaign trusts the people of this state to convene a convention and effectively hit the “reset” button for state government -- to clean the slate and start over,” he said. “California’s best days are ahead. We have the most diverse population of any state in the country. We have plenty of wealth, plenty of smart, hard-working people, and plenty of resources to meet the challenges that face us. If we trust the people to engage California’s problems, we can build a bright and prosperous future for our progressive state.”

Populist-minded conservatives are also looking for a shock to the sclerotic political system, in the form of mass recall elections launched against both the Governor and legislators, regardless of whether a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ appears after their name. Total Recall 2009 (totalrecall2009.com) has already started to collect recall signatures against Schwarzenegger, and backers are encouraging community organizers to file similar petitions against their representatives in the Assembly and State Senate.

They will need approximately 1.1 million valid signatures collected and submitted over the next five months -- which would like result in yet another special election for California voters.