California Progress Report has this commentary about Proposition 14, the top-two ballot measure on the June 8, 2010 California ballot. The commentary, by Calitics editor Brian Leubitz, also appears in Calitics, and itself links to Enik Rising, a blog by political scientist Seth Masket. Masket is the author of “No Middle Ground”, a 2009 book about polarization in the California legislature. Disclosure: these blogs refer back to the May 10 KQED debate between Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado and Richard Winger, and contain a link to that debate.

On June 1, 2000, the Initiative and Referendum Institute filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., seeking to invalidate a new postal regulation barring petitioning on post office-owned sidewalks. That case is now only 5 days away from being ten years old, and we are still waiting for a decision in the U.S. District Court.

On August 31, 2000, the U.S. District Court ruled that the matter could not be settled without a trial. That trial was held, and on December 31, 2003, the judge upheld the regulation. Plaintiffs appealed. On August 9, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals partially reversed the District Court. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that post office sidewalks that are parallel to streets must be available for petitioning. The U.S. Court of Appeals sent the case back to the U.S. District Court for a decision about post office interior sidewalks. That is still undecided. Plaintiffs are making every reasonable and tactful approach to persuade the judge that he should issue an opinion.

The New York Times has this neutral story about California’s Proposition 14, the top-two measure. It is unfortunate that the story does not mention that Proposition 14 increases the requirements for parties to remain ballot-qualified. That is one of the most significant characteristics of Proposition 14, but no newspaper has mentioned that aspect in a news story except for the San Francisco Chronicle, which has mentioned it twice now.

The story is on the front page of the May 27 paper copy of the New York Times. It is continued on page three and includes a fairly large picture of Governor Schwarzenegger and Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado.