On September 11, the New York State Court of Appeals, the highest state court in that state, heard arguments in Skelos v Ravitch, on whether the Governor has the right to appoint a Lieutenant Governor in the event of a vacancy. See this story. The outcome is not easy to predict.
On September 11, Cleveland, Ohio city councilmember Brian Cummins posted an identical comment both to IndependentPoliticalReport, and to this site, saying he is both a Green Party member and a member of the Democratic Party. He is in the news because he is in the November 2009 run-off for re-election, and his opponent in that run-off, Rick Nagin, is a member of both the Communist Party and the Democratic Party. See here. Scroll down to comment #8.
The Public Policy Institute of California released a poll on September 11 about various ideas for changing California government and politics. Among the findings was that 70% of the voters favor the “top-two” proposal that will be on the ballot in June 2010, and only 23% oppose it. See here for the survey results. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
The Public Policy Institute of California released a poll on September 11 about various ideas for changing California government and politics. Among the findings was that 70% of the voters favor the “top-two” proposal that will be on the ballot in June 2010, and only 23% oppose it. See here for the survey results. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On September 10, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle, a Bush, Jr. appointee, granted a preliminary injunction, keeping the names and addresses of signers of a referendum petition from being placed in the public record, at least while the case is decided. In order to grant the injunction, the judge had to determine that the plaintiffs (who favor secrecy) are likely to win the case. Here is the decision, which is called John Doe #1 v Reed, C09-5456.
The judge said, “The Court is not persuaded that waiver of one’s fundamental right to anonymous political speech is a prerequisite for participation in Washington’s referendum process…The referral of a referendum is protected political speech, which includes the component of the right to speak anonymously…the Public Records Act is not narrowly tailored to achieve the compelling governmental interest of preserving the integrity of the referendum process.” Thanks to Paul Jacob for this news. Nothing in the decision indicates that the issue turned on the fact that this particular referendum petition is highly controversial. The logic of the decision would apply to all petitions.
