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SACRAMENTO (AP) - Two months after voters rejected Proposition 77, supporters of the redistricting measure announced a new initiative campaign Wednesday to take the power to draw legislative and congressional districts away from lawmakers. "I think there is broad agreement across the political spectrum that our current political system is broken, and that one of the reasons it is broken is that we have politicians drawing their own political boundaries," said Derek Cressman, director of TheRestofUs.org, a political watchdog group. "Democrats, Republicans, independents - everyone agrees that is an inherently corrupt process and it must be changed." The new initiative...

LOS ANGELES - California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George opened the arguments on Proposition 77 Wednesday by saying the debate may seem like "life after death" for the redistricting initiative voters defeated Nov. 8. But George said the justices wanted to settle "important questions of law" to provide guidance for future cases, even though the decision would have had no effect on Proposition 77. At issue were the differences in the wording in the Proposition 77 petitions circulated for signatures and the measure submitted to the state attorney general for placement on the ballot. Two lower courts ruled...

WASHINGTON - Congressional incumbents and Capitol Hill alumni rallied 'round in the final week of the fight against California's redistricting overhaul. The well-placed Proposition 77 opponents came from many states, and with their checkbooks wide open. Amid California's most expensive election ever, the far-flung lawmakers helped pump up the forces defeating Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's agenda. "There are a number of members of Congress who don't want to face the voters," Tulare Republican Rep. Devin Nunes said Friday, "and Prop. 77 would have made that happen." At least 53 House members contributed to the anti-Proposition 77 effort between Halloween and Tuesday's...

Dear Governor: November 9, 2005 06:19 AM EST There is no such thing as a fusion candidate, no such thing as a bipartisan campaign or a non-partisan issue, and come election night, there are just two parties, one at the GOP HQ and one at the Dem HQ. There's a winners' party and a losers' party. Last night you were speaking to the losers' party. I didn't go. Why bother? The polls had shown for a few days that only Prop 75 had a chance (the measure to stop public employee unions from deducting political dues from their members' paychecks...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Despite voters' rejection of Proposition 77, the Legislature's top leaders are promising to try to get a new plan on the ballot as early as next June that would strip lawmakers of the powerful job of drawing legislative and congressional districts. "I'm more than open to a redistricting effort which takes the power to draw boundaries from the Legislature and gives it to a truly independent group," Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said Wednesday. He wouldn't discuss details but said a fresh proposal would be unveiled shortly. Proposition 77, one of four initiatives on Tuesday's...

TODAY, Californians are heading to the polls to vote on several major propositions that shall dramatically affect both the political and economic future of our state. We are following the activity and will report the results. California Propositions 2.8% of precincts reporting as of Nov 08 08:13 PM PST Results: http://www.sfgate.com/election/

CA Propositions 75, 76, 77 Defeated; Propositions 73, 74 Could Go Either Way: On the Eve of a Special Election, California voters defeat Propositions 75, 76 and 77, but divide on Propositions 73 and 74, according to a final SurveyUSA tracking poll. Support for Propositions 73, 74, 75, and 77 continues to erode. (Proposition 76 is addressed separately in the next box.) Proposition 73, on parental notification for abortions on minors, led by 11 points 1 week ago, and leads today by 4 points. It may hang-on and win, but if so, by the narrowest of margins. Extending the trend...

The John Ziegler Show on KFI has revealed the identify of the questioners of last night's state-wide broadcast forum on NBC and Telemundo. The forum included Arnold, Barbar Kerr (teacher's union) and Fabian Nunez (Dem legislator). Two of the questioners for Arnold are members Democrat central committees and one is a Democrat Congressional candidate! This forum allegedly included an independently selected balanced audience.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Voters in California and Ohio will decide next week whether to strip state politicians of the right to draw their own legislative district lines, the first public tests of a national effort to increase electoral competition and reduce the power of incumbency. The two ballot initiatives, California's Proposition 77 and Ohio's Issue 4, would transfer the power to set congressional and legislative boundaries to independent panels, robbing state lawmakers of their traditional ability to twist and shape district lines for political advantage. Similar initiatives are in the works in Florida and Massachusetts, and at least a dozen...

NO side leads YES side on all four of the propositions backed by Governor Schwarzenegger.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Supporters of the redistricting initiative on next week's special election ballot have enlisted Arizona Sen. John McCain in their campaign to take away the Legislature's power to draw legislative and congressional boundaries. McCain, the co-author of federal legislation in 2002 that banned unlimited "soft money" donations to political parties, appears in television commercials scheduled to begin running Tuesday urging voters to approve Proposition 77. It is one of eight measures on the Nov. 8 special election ballot and one of four promoted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Proposition 77 would give the duty of drawing new districts to...

The second wave of the Stanford University/Hoover Institution/Knowledge Networks (S/H/KN) internet poll conducted during the final week of October shows two of the four propositions supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with comfortable leads, one narrowly ahead, and one trailing badly. The latest poll results show Proposition 74 (teacher tenure) slightly ahead, 53-47, but with a margin that is within the sampling error of the poll. The two most controversial propositions appear to be heading in opposite directions. Proposition 75 (public employee union dues) has a comfortable lead, 64-36, but Proposition 76 (state budget process) trails by double digits, 45-55. Finally,...

Jury duty is good citizenship, but using that phrase to fool voters into reading your political mail is not. That's the feeling of Proposition 77 advocates, who were upset last week that opponents of the redistricting initiative sent mailers to Republicans with the words "JURY DUTY" next to a postmark. "This is really an outrage, it's a pretty sleazy tactic here," said Steve Poizner, a pro-77 campaign leader who said the appearance is meant to make voters think they are opening a jury summons. Inside, the mailer attacks Proposition 77 but makes no reference to juries. "Rumor has it that...

SACRAMENTO - As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger struggles to make his case for reform measures on the Nov. 8 special-election ballot, he and his opponents have stepped up their battle for the state's Latino voters. The governor taped a town-hall forum on Spanish-language Univision that aired statewide over the weekend, even as opponents launched their first Spanish-language TV ads featuring Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa attacking the governor's proposals. The high-profile events are just the latest campaign efforts aimed at courting the 2 million Latinos registered to vote in California, accounting for 14 percent of the statewide electorate. "We've been on the air...

A Public Policy Institute of California polls shows none of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's initiatives on the Nov. 8 special election ballot with majority support. The poll also found voters also dissatisfied with the job performance of the governor, the state Legislature and President Bush. All results are from the sampling of likely voters. _ Proposition 73, the parental notification initiative, had support of 42 percent of likely voters but was opposed by 48 percent. _ Proposition 74, the teacher tenure initiative, was supported by 46 percent of likely voters and opposed by 48 percent. _ Proposition 75, the union dues...

Statistics show that three elderly white men will likely draw political boundaries if voters approve Proposition 77, which critics say could shortchange minority communities. The measure would place redistricting of the nation's largest state in the hands of the smallest redistricting commission drawn from a pool of retired judges, with no requirement that it contain women or minorities. Racial and ethnic composition of the judges would be relatively unimportant, supporters claim, because district boundaries must adhere to strict criteria and any final plan must be approved by voters. Critics counter that the process must be viewed as fair and impartial,...

Most political analysts would agree: The single most politically significant measure on the Special Election Ballot is Proposition 75, dubbed “Paycheck Protection” by its proponents. Proposition 77, the Redistricting Reform measure, is also a major reform. But without a change in the campaign funding paradigm (especially at the state legislative level), fair districts will not necessarily be competitive districts--Republicans are significantly outspent by the majority party. No, it is the major loss of political resources by public employee unions that would rock the foundations of the status-quo in Sacramento. Most political insiders, let alone members of the public, are unaware...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Opponents of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to change the way legislative districts are drawn are using retired Judge Joseph Wapner, former star of the television program "The People's Court," in commercials attacking the ballot initiative and its corporate supporters. The three television ads, which began running Monday in most of the state, accuse oil and insurance companies, developers and Wal-Mart heirs of contributing heavily to Yes on 77 committees to elect lawmakers who will support their agendas. The ads also contend that Proposition 77 would give too much political power to retired judges. Wapner served 20 years...

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) - Defending his special election before an audience of voters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday said his "year of reform" ballot initiatives are crucial to continue the changes he started after taking office two years ago. He cast the Nov. 8 election as the next step of the 2003 recall election that propelled him to office. Voters, he said, sent him to Sacramento to rebuild the state's economy and fix a moribund political system. After 400,000 new jobs and billions in new revenue, it was time for him to enter Act II, he said. "Now is...

The following is an Associated Press Story released this afternoon. Lawmaker who voted for current districts backs redistricting Read More... Craig DeLuz Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense... www.craigdeluz.com

THE GREATEST POLITICAL SWINDLE of the last 50 years in California has been the conspiracy between Democrats and Republicans to protect their own hides by redrawing the state's legislative and congressional districts. Proposition 77, which would take the redistricting process out of the hands of politicians, offers voters a chance to prevent such mischief. Californians should vote yes on Proposition 77 on Nov. 8.

SACRAMENTO - The concept has an intrinsic appeal: Deprive entrenched lawmakers of the ability to draw political boundaries and hand it over to a batch of presumably neutral retired judges. That's the thrust behind Proposition 77, one of eight initiatives that will appear on the ballot for the Nov. 8 special election called by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.Schwarzenegger stumped for the measure in San Jose on Monday, touting the value of a rare, mid-decade redrawing of the district maps for Senate, Assembly, congressional and Board of Equalization seats.It's arcane stuff for many voters. But in the ultra-political atmosphere surrounding the...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative in the upcoming special election would create some closer races — even in the populous Bay Area and Los Angeles Democratic strongholds — but would not shift decisive power to Republicans, a new report will show today. The study by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley is foreshadowed in research papers obtained by the Oakland Tribune and roughly matches previous findings by institutes at Claremont McKenna College and the University of Southern California. In a study of one East Bay legislative seat, currently held by Sen. Liz Figueroa,...

Separate ballot measures in California and Ohio to remove lawmakers from the drawing of legislative districts have been dogged by accusations that they are essentially partisan power grabs. Now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, hopes to counter those claims by throwing his weight behind the Ohio measure, even though no prominent Republican elected official in that state has done so and many Republican lawmakers there are raising money to defeat it. ... A top supporter of the measures in both states said Mr. Schwarzenegger would participate in a series of public events this week to signal his stance. (snip) In...

I keep reading that stories that support for the ballot propositions backed by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is very weak. Even the Washington Times claims two are failing ("in the polls"), as if that finding represented a concensus of polls (Oct. 17, "For Arnold stakes are high"). I had thought I had seen them doing well, so I looked it up on the internet. The most recent poll I could find was done by Survey USA, released October 2nd. Its results: Proposition 73: Physicials must notify a parent of a pregnant minor 48 hours before performing the abortion. Yes, 59%....

Tony Quinn is co-editor of the California Target Book, a nonpartisan analysis of state legislative and congressional elections. Lost in the aftermath of September 11 was the enactment of new district lines for California’s 120 legislative districts and 53 House seats. The once-a-decade redistricting had been expected to generate political heat and partisan fireworks, but this year’s exercise passed with almost no one noticing. That’s because both political parties early on agreed that this year the reapportionment process would be a status quo redistricting in which each party kept the existing number of seats. It was, in effect, a bipartisan...

California Ballot Propositions November 8, 2005 Special Election General Recommendations New endorsements posted as they become available. Click on proposition number to see IGS Hot Topic on the initiative. Or see our ballot measure summary guide at the bottom of this page. LIBRARY Institute of Governmental StudiesUniversity of California109 Moses Hall #2370  Berkeley, CA 94720-2370  510-642-1472 (voice)  510-643-0866 (fax)   ORGANIZATION/NEWSPAPER  73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 Alameda Co. Taxpayers Association                 ACLU of Northern CA  n n n - n - - - Assn. CA Water Agencies    ...

Redistrict California, a committee supporting Proposition 77, will launch a $2 million television advertising campaign Monday. Its commercial will air for one week on both cable and network stations statewide. The 30-second spot features a professional actress, Sacramento-area resident Golden Henning, who portrays a disgusted elderly voter belittling the Legislature outside her home. The following is the text and an analysis by Jim Sanders of The Bee Capitol Bureau. WOMAN: Legislature, ha, ha. I wouldn't. ... They're a bunch of. ... Well, never mind. VOICE-OVER: Legislators draw their own districts, so they can't lose. WOMAN: I wouldn't give you 2...

WASHINGTON - A $4 million donation from Shangri-La Entertainment last week may be the biggest prize that California Democratic House members have been able to bag in the fight to defeat Proposition 77, the redistricting ballot measure backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. But it is just the beginning of the money flow to their fundraising committee, one of several set up to beat the measure but the one that House Democrats are feeding. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, has challenged her Golden State Democratic colleagues to raise $100,000 apiece. "I am very committed to defeating Proposition 77, and...

California's redistricting initiative, which was launched by Republicans and pushed by GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is fighting to avoid being tagged as a one-party power play. Leaders of the Proposition 77 campaign are pressing for support from other parties and independent watchdog groups to blunt allegations that a stronger GOP is the ultimate goal. Bill Mundell, chairman of a pro-77 committee, said that perception is key. (snip) Proposition 77 leaders say the initiative would make elections more competitive and fair for all parties. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona joined the governor to promote the redistricting measure - and all...

David Horowitz has joined the fight against CA Proposition 77, the redistricting initiative, and calls on Republicans to vote NO on Prop 77. This op-ed piece explains the dangers Prop 77 poses to Republicans in CA and how its passage could start a trend that hands the House to the Dems.

Arnold Resurgent? Last summer, I spoke at an event at which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also talked. He was in the midst of doing battle with the Democrats in California's legislature and, above all, with the public employee unions, who were spending large amounts of money on advertising. At that time many were saying that his "reform" agenda, embodied in five propositions that will be on the ballot in November, was in deep trouble. Arnold expressed confidence and said that in his bodybuilder days, what he and his competitors most feared was peaking too soon. He argued that his opponents had...

BURBANK, Calif. - With his popularity at an all-time low, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned Monday to another political star - Sen. John McCain - to help sell his November ballot proposals to a skeptical public. In a brief, joint appearance with the governor in a hotel conference room, the Arizona senator urged California voters to support the four initiatives backed by Schwarzenegger on the special election ballot. They said little about the specifics of the proposals and instead depicted them broadly as an important step in efforts to make government more accountable. "I have campaigned for reform efforts all over...

'Curtain up! Light the lights! You got nothing to hit but the heights!" Arnold Schwarzenegger might not sound like Ethel Merman, but he's belting out her song as the curtain rises on the November special election. He's gambling as Merman puts it in the 1960's Broadway hit "Gypsy," that his "lucky star is due." And soon we'll know whether "everything's coming up roses" for Arnold and the GOP. With a month to go until the Nov. 8 vote, the oddest thing about this election is that it is not really about the four initiatives he's endorsed, nor the four others...

Lawyers for Redistrict California, the committee controlled by Steve Poizner to pass Proposition 77, say they have returned $1.75 million in campaign contributions to Gov. Schwarzenegger and the California Recovery Team, after Democrats threatened legal action against the committee. Democrats say they are waiting to make sure the committee returns the money, and remain ready to file a complaint against Gov. Schwarzenegger and the redistricting committee controlled by Poizner for breaking the same state financing laws Speaker Fabian Nuñez's initiative committee may have broken. Last week, Nunez returned $140,000 in donations after Capitol Weekly reported those contributions may have been...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Common Cause and two other political reform groups on Wednesday endorsed Proposition 77, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to take the power to draw legislative and congressional districts away from the Legislature. "The current system, where self-interested politicians are responsible for drawing political boundaries, is rotten to the core," said Chellie Pingree, national president of Washington, D.C.-based Common Cause. "It's time to get the fox out of the henhouse and to put an end to California's rigged system of elections." Proposition 77, one of eight measures on California's Nov. 8 special election ballot, would give the power to...

NEW! POLL SHOWS OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR REFORM A recent public opinion poll of likely voters in California shows overwhelming support of Propositions 73, 74, 75, 76, 77. Proposition 75- Paycheck Protection- received the highest level of support at 60% in favor. Among Likely voters: PROP 73 59% Yes 39% No 2% Undecided PROP 74 55% Yes 44% No 2% Undecided Prop 75 60% Yes 37% No 3% Undecided Prop 76 58% Yes 36% No 6% Undecided Prop 77 59% Yes 36% No 5% Undecided Conducted by: Survey USA Sponsoring News Organizations: KABC-TV Los Angeles , KPIX-TV San Francisco 1,200 California...

In January, the governor issued a challenge to the Legislature's Democrats: change how you do business, or I will change it for you. The Democrats yawned. They were sure that Schwarzenegger would cave. The Democrats had been in charge before he got there, and they would be in charge long after he was gone. But a funny thing happened: Schwarzenegger didn't cave. How could that be, they asked, since he knows we are in charge. Schwarzenegger said: Tough: change is necessary. He said he would qualify initiatives, call a special election, and get the people to bring about change. The...

Proposition 77 is better than nothing. And nothing is what Californians have been getting for years from politicians' empty promises. Californians should vote yes on Proposition 77, a political reform initiative on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. The initiative proposes to take the drawing of political boundary lines away from politicians and give it to a panel of three retired judges. Maybe your eyes have rolled back into your head. You ask: "Who cares?" You should care a lot. The system now: Every 10 years, a U.S. Census is conducted. Based on its population statistics, the boundary lines of...

If you want people to vote against a political reform measure, do you really want your campaign represented by a man who went to prison on political corruption charges? That's just what happened in Bakersfield earlier this week when The Californian's editorial board hosted an informal debate on Proposition 77, the redistricting reform measure on the Nov. 8 ballot. If passed, it would take the drawing of legislative and congressional district lines out of the hands of politicians, who can manipulate the lines to ensure their re-elections. It would turn the job over to a non-partisan panel of retired judges....

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned in Silicon Valley for several "year of reform" ballot initiatives Wednesday, comparing his quest for change in state government to the technological advances that the region's famed computer companies have brought to consumers. At a "town hall"-style campaign gathering at Sun Microsystems, Schwarzenegger urged the audience to support four ballot measures aimed at curbing the power of the Democrat-controlled Legislature and their allied public employee unions. He is pushing Proposition 74, which would extend, from two to five years, the time teachers must work to receive tenure; Proposition 75, which would...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - In an effort to jump start his campaign to change how legislative and congressional districts are drawn, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has contributed $1.25 million of his own money to the Yes on Proposition 77 committee. The committee also received another $1.25 million from Steve Poizner, a Silicon Valley billionaire who is heading up the drive to pass the redistricting measure. Both donations were reported to the secretary of state Friday. Poizner said Tuesday that he and Schwarzenegger agreed to make the contributions at a meeting earlier this month in which the governor also asked Poizner to serve...

A hotly disputed study of Proposition 77's likely effects concluded Monday that California's redistricting initiative would produce an additional 11 competitive seats in the Legislature and 10 in Congress. The Rose Institute study, likely to become a centerpiece of debate over Proposition 77, was immediately touted by supporters of the initiative as a boost to their campaign and by opponents as one-sided propaganda. The 36-page study, using computer modeling, predicted that passage of Proposition 77 in the Nov. 8 election would boost the number of competitive seats in California politics to: * Ten in the U.S. House of Representatives, compared...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A key supporter of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting measure announced plans Tuesday to form an independent, nonpartisan campaign supporting Proposition 77 - largely over fears the measure will fail if tied directly to Schwarzenegger's other Republican-backed ballot initiatives. Bill Mundell, a Southern California businessman who donated more than $300,000 to help qualify the redistricting measure for the ballot, said his new group would operate separately from the governor's California Recovery Team in support of the initiative. The move comes on the same day the California Recovery Team announced that Steve Poizner, a Silicon Valley billionaire and Republican...

Boldly treading where few other Republicans want to go, Roseville Rep. John Doolittle has stepped forward as a leading critic of the redistricting measure supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. (snip) Doolittle, who in Congress is trying to advance up the House Republican leadership ladder, is resolute. He insists that he has received "almost no grief" from fellow California Republicans over his opposition to Proposition 77. "I think people know I am a pretty strong and loyal Republican," the 54-year-old, eight-term congressman said. "This proposition is bad for the Republican Party." With only nine of the 20 members of the California...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The California Teachers Association, among the most vocal opponents of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election initiatives, contributed $21 million this week to groups campaigning against the governor. The high-dollar distribution comes just as the fall campaign is set to begin in earnest, with both sides targeting the Labor Day weekend as the unofficial kickoff. Schwarzenegger helped raise and spend nearly $20 million during the first half of the year to qualify and promote his ballot measures and has raised about $6 million since July. Marty Wilson, the governor's fundraising manager, said he expects Schwarzenegger will reach the...

I've been getting calls about the various ballot propositions for the Special Election. Here's how I see them: Proposition 73: Parental Notification for Abortion. If parental consent is required for a child to use a tanning booth or get her ears pierced, shouldn’t parents at least be notified if she’s getting an abortion? YES. Whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, this should be the all-time no-brainer. Proposition 74: Teacher Tenure. Do parents have a right to expect a higher level of competence before a teacher is granted life-time tenure? YES. This modest measure simply increases the teacher probation period from two...

WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission voted Thursday to let members of Congress raise unlimited "soft money" donations to fight Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative. The 6-0 decision by the commission came in response to a request from U.S. Reps. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, and John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, both of whom oppose the redistricting plan. The decision will allow federal officeholders to raise unlimited sums from unions, corporations and other donors to support or oppose any measure on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. In general, federal campaign finance law limits federal officeholders to raising $5,000 each from donors for...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two California House members from opposite parties are asking a federal elections panel for permission to raise unlimited money to oppose Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting measure. Reps. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, and John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, are seeking an advisory opinion from the Federal Election Commission that would allow them to collect "soft money" from unions, corporations and other donors to support or oppose ballot measures in the Nov. 8 special election. Both oppose Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative. Berman's chief of staff, Gene Smith, said the request was motivated by their desire to raise money to fight it. Schwarzenegger's...

The following initiatives have qualified for California's Nov. 8 special election ballot. Propositions 74, 76 and 77 are part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "year of reform" package. PROPOSITION 73, PARENTAL PERMISSION FOR ABORTION: A constitutional amendment promoted by anti-abortion activists that would require girls 17 and younger to get parental permission to receive an abortion. It is opposed by abortion-rights organizations that say many minors live in homes where they risk emotional abuse or physical violence, or where the pregnancy is a result of incest. PROPOSITION 74, TEACHER TENURE: Would increase the time required for public school teachers to gain...