This wasn’t your father’s electorate, much less your grandfather’s. Even as California’s white population declined sharply in the last generation to well below 50 percent, middle-age white homeowners still dominated California’s elections. And this widening gap between voters and the overall population contributed to chronic political gridlock. Read More

I read with dismay the article about Proposition 30 and Gov. Jerry Brown (“Passage of tax increases spells big win for governor,” Thursday). On the cover, the subheading read: “Governor says taxes will pave way to state fiscal stability.” In the story it then says that, “The changes will provide $6 billion to balance the state budget.” Read More

Democrats in California might possibly have pulled off a feat not accomplished in our state since 1933, which was the last time that one party captured a simultaneous supermajority in both houses of the state Legislature. The potential for a supermajority in the state Capitol now puts a spotlight on the party and what it can accomplish toward fixing our state’s structural problems. Read More

Let’s begin with the bedrock principle that voters deserve full disclosure of who’s giving money to whom for what. In fact, we’d be much better served to make full and immediate disclosure of campaign funds our sole regulation of political money, rather than the complex melange of federal and state laws, regulations and court decisions that now purport — but fail — to protect the political process. Read More