Jon Fleischman

Jon is the elected Vice Chairman, South of the California Republican Party.

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FlashReport Weblog on California Politics

 
 

GOP Votes For Open Primaries

 

by Jon Fleischman - Publisher (bio) (email)(print)

 
2-19-2009 7:21 am
The following Republican legislators voted to place on the ballot a "reform" of California's election process to end partisan primary system.  Under the proposal that will appear on the June 2010 ballot thanks to their critical votes, all voters may cast their ballots for any candidate, and the top two candidates, regardless of political party, move on to a general election runoff.  This system is more or less designed to reduce the influence of the party system, and create more moderate, middle of the road public officials.  I would note that it is a certainty, in my opinion, that under this system, we would never again in California have enough conservatives in the legislature to stop routine 2/3rds vote to raise taxes (which, by the way, IF the so-called spending limit that will be on the upcoming special election ballot passes, would also raise the spending cap).

SENATE
Roy Ashburn
Dave Cogdill
Dave Cox
Jeff Denham
Abel Maldonado

ASSEMBLY
Bill Berryhill
Tom Berryhill
Sam Blakeslee
Mike Duvall
Paul Cook
Connie Conway
Bill Emmerson
Nathan Fletcher
Jean Fuller
Danny Gilmore
Brian Nestande
Jim Nielson
Cameron Smyth
Mike Villines

It is also worth noting, to make it worse, that the context of the vote for the open primary was that its placement on the ballot was a demand of Senator Abel Maldonado to get his critical vote to pass the Big 5/Big Taxes budget.  So also hanging on the above GOP legislators is proximate responsibility for $14+ billion in new taxes.
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Comments

Against the Republicans who staged the stupid coup? Finally, there is a budget AND there are open primaries!

Posted by Katie Teague at February 19, 2009 7:31am

Crap! Above is the wrong comment! Anyway, I am doing the HAPPY DANCE because at least some of the local Ventura County lawmakers had the sense to vote for an open primary.

Posted by Katie Teague at February 19, 2009 7:34am

an "open" primary it is NOT. I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at the "Charlie Brown/Lucy pull the football" sure to come during the campaign on the ballot propositions that Abel sold the state out for. Meaningful spending caps?--NOT. Sanity in regulations? NOT.

Posted by Tom Tanton at February 19, 2009 7:38am

Lets see how this works...four brite eye incompetent private industry attornies run in primary all propose a steady diet of tax and spend couched in "it for the kids". The unions fund all four candidates....so much for open primary...you end up with two losers to finally clean you out...

Posted by Robert Bosich at February 19, 2009 9:27am

What on earth are these people thinking? This will force Republicans to court Democrats and unaffiliated voters just to be on the November ballot. We can say goodbye to having a true Republican choice in many districts, even those that have someone nominally designated as such on the ballot.

Posted by Rohit Joy at February 19, 2009 9:31am

God forbid Republican candidates should court democrats and unaffiliated voters. We don't...that's one major reason why we continue to lose seats along with influence in the budget process.

Posted by Carl Fogliani at February 19, 2009 9:52am

If we continue to pound on our own members, we will never have to worry about those "moderate rascals" selling us out - we will run ill-fitting candidates in swing seats and lose them, giving the Dems the 2/3rds they need to make us totally irrelevant. But, we will ba a pure race, I mean party.

Posted by Barry Nestande at February 19, 2009 10:10am

The people who voted for the open primary should never be supported by the Republican Party again. In San Francisco and the rest of the S.F. Bay Area there will not be Republicans on the ballot to get the message out. The elections will be Socialists vs Communists or Stalinists. I suspect it will be the same in all California urban areas.

Posted by Howard Epstein at February 19, 2009 10:33am

Carl, go ahead and defend the indefensible. The "pounding" members are taking is not only necessary, but long overdue.

We're already irrelevant, we made sure of that this morning. Get a clue.

Why don't you and I debate it in front of the entire convention Sunday. Good luck.

Posted by Michael Der Manouel, Jr. at February 19, 2009 11:11am

The democrats are giving us an incredible opportunity here and nationally. They are going way too far and there will be backlash. Let's pick up the pieces and figure out how to win some elections.

Posted by Jeff Lalloway at February 19, 2009 12:22pm

NATHAN FLETCHER voted for open primaries?
What the hell is the matter with you, Nathan?

You have just destroyed one of the reasons 'decline-to-state' voters register Republican!

Not to mention that you have just disenfranchised the "party" electorate!

Unbelievable and VERY sad.

Posted by Dr. MaryRose Consiglio at February 19, 2009 3:20pm

Michael:

No pounding going on whatsoever in AD 26 over giving the people the option to choose an open primary system (and I doubt any other district for that matter)...to me it seems more of the folks upset with this are those who believe too strongly in an obsolete party structure that can no longer compete for the modern California electorate as a whole...but can still win primaries.

How in the world can we contemplate a future where Bay Area districts no longer have nominees to get the message out? It seems we've been there for a while already. In an open primary system maybe those nominees will figure out that their district is 20% GOP and it might behoove them to talk to members of other parties if they would like to try to win or at the very least tie up democrat resources, not just put their name on the ballot for a couple state party appointments.

If it is the CW that the Republican caucus of 29 will moderate, should it not also be the CW that the 51 democrats will become more moderate as well, causing a more rightward tilt of the legislature due to their vastly larger numbers and more safe districts? Is it not a reach to say that it could make it more difficult for the majority party to cobble together tax hike votes particularly since they hold most of the swing seats now?

As for a debate at the convention, I'm sure I'll still be shaking off the hospitality suites and riddled with guilt...

Posted by Carl Fogliani at February 19, 2009 11:01pm

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