Two California Democratic Public Officials Comment on Top-Two

Posted on by April 17, 2017
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On April 12, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla and State Senator Bill Monning (D-Carmel), the Majority Leader, spoke at Cal Poly Students in San Luis Obispo. They were asked about the top-two system that has been in effect in California starting in January 2011.

Senator Monning said, “It has eroded the voice of minority parties and when you look at some other democratic systems that have parliamentary representation, you see we have narrowed our choices by the top-two system. Most often it has limited the general election ballot to Democrats and Republicans. It has silenced the voice in general elections of that broader spectrum of political viewpoints.”

Secretary Padilla said little about the effect on minor parties, but he said the chief reason the legislature functions better now than in the past is because term limits for legislators were relaxed in 2012. He also said top-two may have injured voter turnout, yet inexplicably he also said, “It’s working OK.”

One can hear the entire hour at this link. The question about Prop. 14 came at the very end, near the 53 minute mark (the entire you tube is 55 minutes). Thanks to Andrew Harris for the link.

D.C. Circuit Identifies Judges Who Will Hear Anti-Trust Presidential Debates Case

Posted on by April 17, 2017
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The three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, who will hear Gary Johnson v Commission on Presidential Debates will be Laurence Silberman, Janice Rogers Brown, and Cornelia T. Pillard. The hearing is Friday, April 21, at 9:30 a.m.

This is the case filed by Gary Johnson and Jill Stein that argues that the Commission on Presidential Debates has been violating federal anti-trust laws. It should not be confused with Level the Playing Field v FEC.

Silberman is a Reagan appointee. Despite his long service, he has never before had a case involving minor parties or independent candidates. Here is his wikipedia page. Brown is a Bush Jr. appointee who ruled for the government in the case involving petitioning on interior post office sidewalks, although she wrote that the post office’s policy made little sense. Pillard is an Obama appointee.

Montana Files Brief in U.S. Supreme Court in Republican Open Primary Case

Posted on by April 15, 2017
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On April 10, Montana filed this brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, in Ravalli County Republican Central Committee v McCulloch, 16-806. The state brief asks the Court not to hear the case. The lower courts had upheld Montana’s open primary, against a challenge by the Republican Party. The lower courts said the party had not shown that letting members of other parties vote in its primary did the party any harm.

A similar case is pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, filed by the Hawaii Democratic Party. The Court will probably act on both cases simultaneously, and should decide in the next few weeks whether to hear these cases.

Ballot Access for Montana Special U.S. House Election is in Hands of Ninth Circuit

Posted on by April 14, 2017
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On April 13, the petitioning candidates who want to be on the ballot for the Montana special U.S. House election filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit. The brief documents that one of the candidates, Thomas Breck of the Green Party, did collect over 400 valid signatures (the counties checked them) on Sunday, April 9, the very day after the U.S. District Court said 400 signatures would be enough.

The Ninth Circuit brief points out how unfair it is for the U.S. District Court to have set the requirement at 400, after it was too late to get the 400 signatures. The case is Breck v Stapleton, 17-35310. A decision could come down at any time. There will be no oral argument in the Ninth Circuit.