Wow.

[learnteach]

Two women came by with 14 referendums that they wanted signatures for. I've never seen a larger load of crap, much of it wanted by the Governer, in my life. "Act to Protect Children": Increase teacher probation period from 2 years to 5 years. "Fiscal responsibility act": If the budget is not passed, the governor can just cut spending as he wishes. "Union Watchdog Law" Unions have to have inform all members of exact spending and seek their approval for every political ad. "Redistricting": Have the gerrymandering done by retired judges appointed by the governor.

The women obviously didn't know the referendums and had no emotional commitment to any of them; I think they were collecting for money.

BE CAREFUL and read these things. Oh, there was a great Lemon Law in there as part of the lead off--but why do we need more laws about cars? And I'm sure that the four pages of small print had a few surprises in them.

Comments

[loudoggeek.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to take a close look at them but I sure hope the union one is what I think it is -- it's about time. It pissed me off to no end back when I had to pay the dues that much of that money was going to support people and causes I that I didn't agree with, but I had no choice but to go along with it.... And I know I wasn't the only one.

Go Governator!

Support it ok;

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

but read it first--it will answer your condition, but is a direct strike against the teacher and nurse unions.

If he's really the Governator, why is he going this route rather than using the normal channels of government? Why pay for signitures rather than pay for politicians?

Hey, anyone tell me how to find referendums on the web?

What's up with the used car referendum?

Re: Support it ok;

[terpsichoros.livejournal.com]

Just visiting after connecting you to your LJ.

Initiatives on the web: http://ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm

Paid signature gatherers will often be pushing somewhat contradictory initiatives; while the big signature-gathering companies do specialize in "liberal" or "conservative" initiatives, they're not ideologically rigid, and they'll work for almost anyone.

Arnie is going to the voters, because everything takes a majority of either the Legislature or the voters, and he's found that he's not getting a majority of the Legislature for anything. The Democrats have almost 2/3 of the seats, and have decided that they have a better chance of regainng the governor's office if they can paint him as ineffective, so they'll oppose anything he proposed unless the Democrats would catch hell for opposing it (stem-cell research or protecting abortion or something like that).

The big myth of American politics is that the Executive actually has a lot of power to change the way things are done. Really, he only has that power when the legislature is at least agreeable to working with him. Arnie's finding that out the hard way.

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

I don't see any petitions forbidding business from participating in the political process. All those WalMart employees might not agree with their bosses lobbying for uncompensated overtime.

[loudoggeek.livejournal.com]

Well, you can always go to the board meeting and raise hell, and if you fail and they fire you you can go work for Kmart. No such luck with the unions. If you're in a government related union job there's nowhere to go and asking questions will get you fired. Big difference. If you don't play with the teacher's union or the nurses union there aren't lot of other games in town. And if you're a customer of the services of say, the teacher's union, you can't even opt out (like going to Sears from Walmart). You pay anyway.

Did you know that if you get a job that is considered "barganing unit" you have to pay union dues whether you join or not? That's why we need to put some kind of controls in.

[gizbot.livejournal.com]

Anyone know how much it costs to get something on the ballot?

I have about 100 common sense propositions, like, 'all bonds must pass by 60%' or 'redistricting must be contiguous locations'.

[whumpdotcom.livejournal.com]

I'll remember to keep the garden hose ready for when the petitioners come by.

Unfortunately, the Governor's minions are also sending petitions by mail.

Why don't they just have a referendum to turn the US into a dictatorship? It'd just save time.

[kawgirl.livejournal.com]

Hm. The garden hose is a good idea. In the past, I have found that petitioners and mormons tend to go away if a) they hear my dogs trying to get to the front door to see who is there (they make quite a commotion), b)I rant at them more than they rant at me, or c) I show up to the door dressed only in a towel. Oddly, c gets the quickest response, I think due to discomfort with nudity and/or fear of getting yelled at. Option b takes the most effort, but can be amusing. It can also backfire. Option a is the most amusing because you can see the folks on the doorstep fighting their fear to stay and talk to you. Sometimes fun is how fast they turn and run if the dogs manage to emerge like a waterfall from the kitchen. But the garden hose. This I have not yet tried.

If we had a referendum to just turn the US into a dictatorship, it'd happen all at once and "we" wouldn't be able to fool "ourselves" that "we" were trying to do the "right thing."

*grumble*

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Although, I have to say that I support the gerrymandering bill -- it's at least a change from what we know doesn't work.

But money and corruption will find their way in. They always do.

Rabid Politics

[korwyn.livejournal.com]

The rise in paid signature gathering seems to be the greatest threat to the citizens use of the process. I also find the process has become more of a maze where the objective is to create items that say and do distinctly differing things.

Referendum items I would like to see:
1) A non-binding one sheet general category included with your taxes. Data to be tabulated by the taxing authority and reported to the lawmakes as a guide to voter desires for spending. Also to be published in papers of record.
2) A institutionalized option to vote "none of the above" in all races. If None of the Above wins the next highest number of votes wins. In the best of all worlds all candidates are excluded from the race and a new election is held in 60 days.
3) A ban on paid signature gathering.

*sigh*

I got a push poll the other day that was so blatant that I wanted to scream. It sounded ok, as an automated poll till it got to the question on the Judges. The phrasing of the question was straight out of the script that the administration is trying to pass off as facts.

Why is it that we have had a death of civility and governace in congress and the state houses?