LA Times (Aug 16): Gov., Lawmakers Still Miles Apart on Ballot Measures

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Los Angeles Times
Dated

Gov., Lawmakers Still Miles Apart on Ballot Measures
By Jordan Rau, Times Staff Writer

Sacramento — Despite months of talks, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders are nowhere near reaching compromises that could avert the Nov. 8 special election called by the governor, officials said Monday.

The Legislature, as it moves to finish work for the year, has until Thursday to place its own proposals on the special election ballot, according to the secretary of state. Last year, Schwarzenegger and lawmakers fashioned last-minute agreements that avoided pitched fights over local government funding, workers' compensation insurance and state borrowing.

But lawmakers said no such settlements are imminent for the proposals Schwarzenegger has endorsed on the ballot: limiting state spending, lengthening the probationary period for teachers and stripping legislators of the power to shape their own election districts . . . .

The specter of the special election, which would include five initiatives along with the three endorsed by Schwarzenegger, has largely overshadowed proposals that could make their way through the Democrat-led Legislature before it adjourns Sept. 9. Nonetheless, those measures will likely reach center stage as the session's end looms.

Read more.

If people really feeling strongly that there should not be a special election, then Arnold will be blamed and rightly. He's driving this thing.

Frankly, I don't think there's anything so urgent on this "special" ballot that it can't wait until the next scheduled election.

[waldnorm]

1. That's the Point . . .

Get particular initiatives passed in a low-turnout election. Affect unions, teachers, let alone immediate redistictring which would pool resources onto the state of California and less focus on nation-wide strategies. What do you think this whole special election was about? Why is Arnold pushing it. He WANTS a low turnout election, one where his "base" can affect the entire state. It's yet another attempted power grab of the impeding corptocracy. That is why voter turnout is important in this election.

[Oerdin]

2. Kind of explains everything.

"stripping legislators of the power to shape their own election districts"

That quote more then anything else really does explain why incumbants are so against prop 77.