Los Angeles Times
While much of the rest of the country is ramping up for the holiday season, political forces in Sacramento are girding for political battle.
Though the 2014 election is nearly a full year away, a series of de facto deadlines are fast approaching that will shape the makeup of next November’s ballot.
Initiatives to raise medical malpractice awards, hike tobacco taxes and give local governments the right to scale back public-employee pensions are among the ballot measures being considered. Each of those proposals, if they go forward, could induce campaigns costing tens of millions of dollars. Decisions about whether to proceed will be made within the next couple of weeks.
Billionaire George Soros has written a $500,000 check to help finance a potential ballot measure that aims to lower the number of criminals serving prison terms of 25 year to life under California’s three-strikes law.
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The hedge-fund titan and longtime supporter of liberal causes made the donation on Jan. 30, according to records filed with the secretary of State’s office.
Former Tour de France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong will announce a $1.5-million donation to Proposition 29, the June ballot measure in California that would create a new $1-per-pack tax on cigarettes to pay for cancer research.
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The donation will come from Armstrong’s Texas-based foundation, which spends millions every year promoting cancer awareness and funding cancer research.
In what could be a harbinger of the 2012 election, Colorado voters Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a measure that would have raised nearly $3 billion for education by temporarily increasing state income, sales and use taxes. With 59% of the projected vote counted, Proposition 103 was trailing 65% to 35%, the Associated Press reported. The debate over the measure closely mirrored recent rancor in Washington over the question of whether more spending will revive a moribund economy or slow down a nascent recovery.
In a sharp blow to Mayor Mike McGinn — whose opposition to a tunnel through downtown became a centerpiece of his administration — Seattle voters gave a resounding “yes” to building the biggest deep-bore tunnel ever constructed to carry cars swiftly past the central city. The nearly 60% yes vote on a referendum clears the way for groundbreaking on the $1.9-billion tunnel, part of a $3.1-billion project to get rid of the earthquake-prone, two-level viaduct that many see as an eyesore along the scenic waterfront.
The Los Angeles Police Commission has voted to kill the city’s controversial red-light camera program, rejecting claims that the system makes streets safer while costing the city nothing. Tuesday’s vote means that the red-light cameras installed at 32 intersections throughout the city could stop operating within a few weeks unless the City Council takes the unusual step of stripping the Police Commission of its authority over the issue.
A group in Compton is trying to get a measure on the ballot that would prevent the city from ending its contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department without a vote of residents. A group led by former City Clerk Charles Davis, with backing from the sheriff’s deputies union, submitted petitions to the city Wednesday for a ballot measure that would modify Compton’s charter. The petitioners submitted 9,898 signatures, well over the 15% of registered voters required to call a special election. Compton currently has 40,197 registered voters, according to the clerk’s office, which would set the mark at 6,030.
In better times, Los Angeles city elections have served as vehicles for leaders’ ambitious ideas ”” from expanding the city’s solar energy capacity to building more than two dozen new libraries. This spring’s contest testifies to an era in which city leaders cannot afford new promises and are having trouble keeping ones already made. The times are most clearly reflected in a series of measures on the March 8 ballot aimed at putting the city’s finances on firmer ground.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Monday that he is not inclined to support a measure on the November ballot aimed at protecting funds for local government. Villaraigosa made his remarks at a Capitol news conference alongside his cousin, Speaker John Pérez (D-Los Angeles) and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums. Pérez stood with Dellums and Villaraigosa to announce support for the Assembly Democrats’ budget plan, which includes a $900-million repayment to cities for money borrowed in an earlier budget plan.
California voters went to the polls Tuesday and recast future elections in the state by passing a ballot measure that creates open primaries, one of five propositions on the ballot. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who championed the open-primary measure called its passage a “historic change” that “sends a clear message that Californians are tired of partisan gridlock and dysfunction.”
California voters, by a modest margin, think they should be allowed to grow and consume marijuana, according to a new poll that also found more than 1 in 3 voters had tried pot and more than 1 in 10 had lit up in the past year. The Los Angeles Times/USC poll found that voters back the marijuana legalization measure on the November ballot, 49% to 41%, with 10% uncertain about it. But support for the initiative is unstable, with one-third of the supporters saying they favor it only “somewhat.”
Supporters of a proposal to eliminate the two-thirds requirement for the Legislature to pass a budget will begin submitting more than 1 million signatures to county election officials across the state Friday. The measure, backed by a consortium of labor unions and Democratic leaders in both legislative houses, would allow budgets to be passed by a simple majority vote. Votes to increase taxes would still require a two-thirds vote.
A citizens group seeking ethics law changes in Utah said Tuesday it is soliciting signatures for its initiatives online, potentially setting up a showdown with state elections officials who must decide whether electronic signatures are valid when it comes to placing an initiative on the ballot. No state currently allows electronic signatures to be submitted for initiatives, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But The Peoples Right LLC contends that Utah’s electronic signature verification law allows registered voters to submit their names online.
Opponents of a bill that would allow gay marriage in D.C. want to put a measure on the ballot to let voters weigh in. Opponents filed paperwork with the Board of Elections and Ethics on Wednesday to try to put the referendum on the ballot. Previous similar attempts have been unsuccessful.
It’s looking less likely that California voters will take up the issue of gay marriage in 2010. Some gay rights activists planned to ask voters next year to repeal Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage that voters approved last year. But this week, a key organization backing the 2010 effort said it needed more time to develop a successful campaign.