On September 13, a few minutes after midnight, the California legislature adjourned for the year. The 2013 session was the first one in which all of California’s Assembly members had been elected in the top-two open primary system, also known as Proposition 14.
Proponents of the top-two system said after the November 2012 election that the new Assembly would be less polarized. Specifically, proponents touted two Assembly races in which two Democrats were on the ballot against each other in November. Proponents said that the more “moderate” Democrat beat the incumbent Democrat. When proponents of California’s top-two system talk about “extreme” Democrats, what they really mean are Democrats who vote in accordance with the wishes of organized labor.
In the 10th Assembly district, including all of Marin County and the southern part of Sonoma County, incumbent Michael Allen, who was a former employee of a labor union and who had strong labor backing, lost to Marc Levine. In the 50th Assembly district, in southwest Los Angeles County, incumbent Betsy Butler, who was strongly supported by the Teachers Union, lost to Richard Bloom.
But, during 2013, new Assemblymembers Levine and Bloom also voted in accordance with the wishes of organized labor, as shown by the roll calls on these controversial bills: (1) AB 1373 doubles the statute of limitations for death benefits for public safety officers and firefighters, from 240 weeks from the time of injury to the time of death, to 480 weeks. The bill was supported by labor and opposed by many local governments. No Democratic Assemblymember voted against it. Both Allen and Bloom voted for it. (2) AB 10 increases the minimum wage to $10. The bill was supported by labor and opposed by the state Chamber of Commerce. No Democratic Assemblymember voted against it. Both Allen and Bloom voted for it. (3) AB 241 makes domestic workers, including in-home health care workers, eligible for overtime pay. It was supported by labor and opposed by the state Chamber of Commerce. No Democratic Assemblymember voted against it. Both Allen and Bloom voted for it. (4) SB 7 requires charter cities to use contractors who pay “prevailing wage” rates to employees for public works projects. It was supported by labor and opposed by many local governments. No Democratic Assemblymember voted against it. Allen and Bloom voted for it. (5) AB 857 requires statewide initiatives to use volunteer labor to collect at least 10% of the signatures. This bill is perceived to assist labor, which can use its organizational structure to comply with the new requirement; the bill is perceived to injure initiatives sponsored by big business. The bill was backed by labor. No Democratic Assemblymember voted against it. Allen and Bloom voted for it.
Dan Walters, California’s premier political columnist, wrote on September 13, “Unions Held Whip Hand in California Capitol.” Read his column here.
ANTI-Democracy minority rule gerrymanders before, during and after the MORON top 2 BOGUS *reform*
— esp. with the rigged CA gerrymander commission (with a number of Donkey spies/agents) rigging the gerrymander districts for the 2012 CA elections.
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P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
How did people not see this coming. Top Two wasn’t a reform, it was a deform!
100% of voters were able to vote in the election that decided who represented them in the Assembly in the critical election.
When preferred candidacies are omitted from the final balloting and only candidates who sought the votes of a strategic few are left on it despite how few votes they might have polled together, well that arrangement is guaranteed produce a result where far less than 100% will be represented, that is in the actual, critical sense.
Voters do want to be represented and top-two is no help.
The United States has the least democratic i.e. functional electoral system in the “free” world. Between restrictive ballot access, deforms such as Top Two and our single member district, winner take all, kill or be killed method of “representation” nobody is really represented. http://archive.fairvote.org/media/documents/FairVote_Doug_Amy_Book.pdf
In the fourth paragraph, do you mean “Levine and Bloom” rather than “Allen and Bloom”? Allen is the one who lost in 2012.
I’m skeptical of comparisons based on a limited number of specific bills. Aren’t there left-right scale scores based on much larger numbers of votes? Couldn’t they be used to compare the 2013 votes of Levine and Bloom with the 2011-0212 votes of Allen and Butler?
Thanks, I corrected the post. If you can find some source that ranks the California legislative session of 2013 for far more bills, that would be welcome.