I attended a gathering in Sacramento today of several hundred civic leaders who think that California's government has become so dysfunctional that we should call a citizens convention that would propose major changes to how our state government works. Some states do this routinely, but California has not had one since 1879.

The summit, convened by the Bay Area Council and co-sponsored by Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, The William C Velasquez Institute, Courage Campaigns, the Center for Governmental Studies, and the New America Foundation, saw a standing room only crowd that seemed ready to tackle some serious issues.

Ideas for what topics a convention could consider included reforming the budget process, term limits, the number of constituents each legislator represents, and ways to improve the citizen initiative process. Lt Governor Garamendi, for example, suggested that California move to a unicameral legislature like Nebraska has, which would mean that 120 legislators could represent fewer people and stay in office for up to 14 years (as they do now in two different chambers.)

Lately, those of you who have had the misfortune of getting caught in one of my rants have heard how angry I am about the pay raises that that the Legislature gave to itself and staff this year.  In case you are tempted to feel sorry for them, Ca. Assembly members earn $116,208 / year.  Don't even get me going on the recent full-time six-figure commission appointments, aka golden parachutes for ex-legislators. SF Chronicle just reported that they have put in their orders for new cars to lease for 2009.  This might just be a drop in the bucket of a projected $28 billion budget shortfall, but it is offensive in the threatened face of cuts to essential services.  

Well, the Sac Bee came out with this cartoon.  I thought it said it all.

Wanted to report on the election protection efforts of Common Cause on Election Day 2008. I was on calls reporting on efforts in CA and the nation. As of 4pm, election protection efforts have fielded more than 72,000 calls nationwide and 5,096 calls in CA.

We heard on the 10am call that there were long lines in Los Angeles and that many polling places didn't have the supplemental registration lists for those registering late. So those folks had to vote by provisional ballot. In addition, many polling places in LA didn't have enough ballots. In some cases they didn't have any.

It may not be glamorous, but there's something exciting about pictures like this -- what just one of the many Election Protection command centers look like around the country, with trained volunteers and legal professionals taking calls and logging it into our database for any follow up.

This is from LA, where polls remain open and calls continue to pour in.  You can view the breakdown of calls we've been getting all day at the OurVoteLive site.

The LA Times enthusiastically supports the National Popular Vote plan for California, which Common Cause and a coalition of groups have been pushing in CA and around the country.The National Popular Vote bill in California is likely to get a vote in the Senate soon, and then it goes to the Governor's desk; unfortunately, Schwarzenegger vetoed it two years ago, but the Times argues for him to reconsider.

California Common Cause has worked for years to change the process by which politicians currently draw their own political districts -- a process that in effect allows politicians to choose their voters before voters can choose among politicians.

These efforts took a big step forward today with the official launch of the Voters FIRST initiative.  This ballot question, filed by Common Cause, AARP, and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, will appear on the November 2008 ballot if enough Californians sign petitions to support it by next April.
Read the full text of the initiative here.

Today, the campaign received a big boost in receiving endorsements from the California League of Women Voters and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The North County Times, a California newspaper serving San Diego and Riverside Counties, reported that money can talk, especially in San Bernardino County, at all levels of government.  San Bernardino's Bill Postmus spent an outrageous $2.4 million dollars on his campaign to win the seat of county assessor in his local 2006 election.

In California, where the majority of its 58 counties and 478 cities do not cap individual contributions to candidates running for local offices, special interests such as developers and casino-operators are spending thousands to buy political influence at the expense of the community.

The latest ad from California's Yes on 89 campaign is available on YouTube.

Click here to watch it now.

For anyone not familiar with election season in California, this is a pretty accurate portrayal of what it feels like to be a voter, especially when it comes to ballot measures.