I have a couple of questions
Repairing California Government
By David S. Broder
Wednesday, October 8, 2003; Page A29
Now that the miserable recall experience is over, California can finally get serious about repairing the damaged structure of its government.
The misguided effort to convert the broadly shared public discontent with economic stagnation and political gridlock into a recall effort against Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was made possible only because Republican Rep. Darrell Issa pumped almost $2 million of his own fortune into a commercial signature-collection campaign. The recall ended with voters facing a rotten choice among two Democrats, Davis and Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante, both widely viewed as corrupted by campaign cash, and one Republican, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been repeatedly accused of being a sexual predator.
One would hope that Californians would draw the right conclusion and be less willing to sign the next recall petition. But the reality is that the Progressive-era trio of populist experiments in direct democracy -- initiative, referendum and recall -- remains wildly popular with millions in the state.
That being the case, the next two California elections are likely to feature initiatives proposing serious structural changes in the way the state government operates and the way people gain office in Sacramento.
My first question: Why couldn't California get serious about "repairing the damaged structure of its government" before now?
My second question: If "initiative, referendum and recall [remain] wildly popular with millions in the state," who exactly will be pushing the structural change initiatives? And why didn't they push those chages before?
