I was no fan of California Forward's version of the change to majority vote rules. It simply gave up too much ground on the revenue front in exchange for the budget vote. Yet, it looks like it's going the way of Repair California:
Officials from the reform group California Forward said today that unless deep-pocketed donors come through with pledges for big support, the campaign to qualify a package of their budget reform proposals for the November ballot could be put on ice.
California Forward Co-Chair Robert Hertzberg, a former Democratic leader of the Assembly, said today the group needed to secure a "few hundred thousand dollars" by week's end in order to move forward with an initiative campaign to qualify two budget reform measures, which include lowering the vote requirement for passing a budget from two-thirds to a majority vote. (CapAlert)
Seeing it die the same death as Repair California's (also flawed) efforts, does leave a bad taste in one's mouth about the initiative system even if I didn't like the measure itself. It leaves our governance up to a few rich people.
We desperately need to end the supermajority requirements, but it's becoming painfully clear that we need to do far more than that. We need big ideas on how to reform government, completely unrestricted. We need a convention that can take up any idea, is built upon thousands of democratically elected representatives. Give them a month, and they'll figure something out.
But, hey, I'm just rambling. Perhaps it's the sheer scale of all the money that is needed for real reform. It makes my head spin. |
