California Electoral College Threat is Bogus

I front-paged this by accident (0.00 / 0)

but I'll leave it here unless folks object:

• It's a pretty important topic, and
  
• It's way cool that an occasional blogger catches a well-funded Republican initiative in a fundamental error, and the MSM in a half-baked story.
  

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by: elwood @ Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 09:27:00 AM CDT

Thats a very good point. (0.00 / 0)

However.

Couldn't the GOP argue that the legislature gave legislating powers to the public by starting their wacko initiative process?  Therefore the legislature did make the change?

And, of course, you all know that I'm not a lawyer.

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by: Nicholas Gunn @ Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 09:51:46 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

That seems like (0.00 / 0)

an "unConstitutional delegation of authority."

The impermissability of that sort of delegation is what killed the line-item veto.

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by: elwood @ Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 10:16:06 AM CDT

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I think Elwood is right about the law (0.00 / 0)

but especially right about the willingness of the current Supreme Court to set aside such archaic niceties as the constitution when necessary to retain power. The Democrats would be well advised to put a lot of effort into defeating this at the polls. Which of course is energy and money diverted from other election tasks. So in  sense it is a win-win for the bad guys.

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 11:29:35 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

The CA Secretary of State (4.00 / 1)

should refuse to allow it on the ballot, on Constitutional grounds.

Let the GOP go to court.

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by: elwood @ Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 11:49:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Good luck on that! (0.00 / 0)

No way the Sec. of State would block a ballot initiative in California -- no way. Ditto the Legislature, which last I knew was close to 50-50, "ignoring the will of the people." The Mass. Legislature does that routinely, notably on the bilingual education ban, which passed 2-1 but was overturned by the 75% Democratic legislature, but the national GOP would put a lot of heat on the state legislators.

Whatever happened to "you can't change the rules in the middle of the game?" We need a national commission on keeping or eliminating the Electoral College.

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by: JimC @ Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 10:17:32 AM CDT

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Since posting that (0.00 / 0)

I looked into the history of California ballot props.

The State Supreme Court took one off the ballot in recent years, but you're right -- the SecState doesn't, and perhaps cannot.

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by: elwood @ Sun Aug 12, 2007 at 13:52:46 PM CDT

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I just hope that we can deal with this legal question (4.00 / 1)

before the election.  I'd rather not have to watch this work its way through the courts after the election and have another president decided on a court decision, even if that president happened to be my choice.

That type of legal challenge with obvious, direct political consequences would just further fracture the political process.

Where do we go from here?

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by: Gavin @ Sat Aug 11, 2007 at 13:07:30 PM CDT

This is not bogus (0.00 / 0)

The initiative was drafted by a Republican lawyer and election law expert.  They know what they are doing.  He was one of the masterminds between Arnold becoming governor as Davis was being recalled.  It seems it would be perfectly legal for the legislature to delete this power to the electorate by initiative.  This effort is ignored by us at our peril.  Californians know it is for real.  We don't need to dis their efforts to nip this in the bud.  Also, be very careful.  Your posts here are being used to dampen opposition to the effort to stop the initiative.

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by: muzzyrudd @ Mon Sep 03, 2007 at 17:47:24 PM CDT

They certainly know what they're doing -- (0.00 / 0)

Creating a huge distraction that will draw Democratic resources nationally. But it violates the US Constitution. If you would like to engage on that, go ahead.

And your effort to stifle speech through fear sux.

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by: elwood @ Mon Sep 03, 2007 at 18:28:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]