CALmatters Commentary: California tests populist vision of direct democracy dailyrepublic.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailyrepublic.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Californiaâs great reformer, former Gov. Hiram Johnson, envisioned that âdirect democracyâ would be an effective curb on special interest influence.
At the time, more than a century ago, the Southern Pacific Railroad dominated a corrupt state Legislature and other political venues. Johnson wanted voters empowered to circumvent such dominance via initiative (legislating by ballot measure), referendum (repealing laws passed by the Legislature) and recall (ousting politicians deemed ineffective or corrupt).
The next 15 months will be an especially busy test of Johnsonâs direct democracy.
A recall directed at Gov. Gavin Newsom, once a longshot, now appears to have a fair chance of succeeding. Mail voting will begin in a couple of weeks and Newsom and his Democratic Party are obviously worried that low turnout of pro-Newsom voters could be fatal to his political career.
Time to end PG&E before PG&E ends Northern California life as we know it mantecabulletin.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mantecabulletin.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In summary
California is testing Hiram Johnson’s vision that “direct democracy” can overcome special interest influence.
California’s great reformer, former Gov. Hiram Johnson, envisioned that “direct democracy” would be an effective curb on special interest influence.
At the time, more than a century ago, the Southern Pacific Railroad dominated a corrupt state Legislature and other political venues. Johnson wanted voters empowered to circumvent such dominance via initiative (legislating by ballot measure), referendum (repealing laws passed by the Legislature) and recall (ousting politicians deemed ineffective or corrupt).
The next 15 months will be an especially busy test of Johnson’s direct democracy.
Editorial: The state recall provision needs reforming latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.