Attorney and IVC Media president Chad Peace focuses on election reform. He helped pass CA’s top-two primary and San Diego’s Measure K. His work analyzes how system design and structural reforms can give independent voters a more meaningful voice.
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In 1995, Congress addressed this issue with the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, sponsored by Republican Senator Kempthorne of Indiana and signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton. The purpose of the bill was “to curb the practice of imposing unfunded Federal mandates on States and local governments..." and
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Although campaign finance laws limit the amount an individual can donate to a particular candidate, a California Watch Investigation shows that several influential party donors, on both sides of the aisle, are dodging the rules by funneling money through local party committees. County parties, in many hotly contested races, have
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Former San Francisco Mayor and Speaker of the House has some harsh words to say about the need to reform our civil service: "The system was set up so politicians like me couldn't come in and fire the people (relatives) hired by the guy they beat and
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Since the Christmas day bombing, it's been popular to trash Obama for his administration's failure to thwart the attack; a failure of intelligence. Just a little flash-back, here are some responses from Bush administration officials to the attack on 9/11: "What you have are
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Following Senator Nelson's infamous "Nebraska Compromise", which forces the other 49 states to pay for Nebraska's new Medicaid recipients, journalists, legislators, and citizens have lashed out for what has been labeled a "sleazy back-room deal" by many folks across the political spectrum.
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In 2007, the modern tea party movement took shape, in a vastly different form than it now presents itself. Spurred by an impending recession, a government overrun by deception and corruption, and an unprecedented expansion of government under eight years of “conservative” leadership, the first modern day tea partiers had
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The federal trial court in Washington handed down the attached opinion yesterday in the ongoing litigation over their open primary. There were three main challenges that remained to be resolved after the Supreme Court's decision: 1) an as-applied challenge, based on potential voter confusion (the Supreme Court expressly
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In an interview with CNBC, Gray Davis gives his assessment of California's budget mess and some positive words for California's non-partisan primary initiative.
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From FreeandEqual.org: A Back Room Budget Deal earlier this year means the so-called "Top-Two" Primary will be voted on by California citizens. The vote would institute a Washington state style "Top-Two" system, in which the top two vote getters in the primary are the only
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Los Angeles Times Editorial - February 20, 2009: A ballot measure to adopt open primaries, in which voters would cast their in a single primary and the top two finishers would meet in the general election regardless of party affiliation, would allow the majority of centrist Californians to assert their
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A multi-firm team of CAIVP attorneys including a constitutional law specialist have completed work on a revised open "top two" primary proposal modeled after the state of Washington. The revised measure includes substantial changes from the original draft submitted to the secretary of state in October. Changes include
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Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) -- one of the lead Blue Dogs -- made a startling admission to lefty Liberadio today, suggesting the White House quietly encouraged him to buck House leadership on the stimulus. Cooper was one of 11 Dems to vote no -- joining every GOP House member. "