Online Resources to Remember

Many listed at http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/sources.cfm?issue_type=campaign_finance

Favorites so far:

1. California Voter Guide
http://www.calvoter.org/index.html

2. California Voter Guide Archive incl. Donors to Initiative Campaigns
http://calvoter.org/voter/elections/archive/index.html

3. California Clean Money Campaign
http://www.caclean.org/

4. Arnold Watch http://www.arnoldwatch.org/

side note: Arnold & special interests: http://www.arnoldwatch.org/special_interests/oops.html

5. Primary Data on Ballot Campaign Donors http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/Campaign/Measures/


6. Hastings Ballot Database http://holmes.uchastings.edu/cgi-bin/starfinder/0?path=calprop.txt&id=webber&pass=webber&OK=OK

7. California Digital Library http://www.cdlib.org/

8. Ballot Initiative Strategy Center http://www.ballot.org/index.asp?Type=NONE&SEC={060E2B47-D1ED-421D-BCB1-7F632925D11A}

9. Institute on Money in State Politics http://www.followthemoney.org/

NEW LIT 2 ADD 2 REVIEW

SOURCES 2 ANNOTATE & ADD 2 BIBLIO:

Excerpt from a Dec. 10, 2007 LA Times column by George Skelton

"Still, both sides are hoping for a legislative agreement within the next month or two -- before the worsening state budget deficit really sours moods, claims all the leaders' attention and prompts many lawmakers to question whether the state should be borrowing more money anyway.

A high-powered coalition of business, agriculture, labor and water leaders decided not to wait. Last week, they filed four $11.7-billion bond initiatives. They'll poll voters and choose the most popular measure.

"The status quo is unacceptable," says Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce who heads the coalition.

Especially at risk are fragile old levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which funnels drinking water to 24 million people and irrigates 3 million acres. It needs to be re-plumbed and made more fish-friendly because courts have cut back on water pumping to protect endangered species.

The coalition's initiative would earmark $3.5 billion to help build two dams in Fresno and Colusa counties and expand a third in Contra Costa County.

Perata also has filed a rival $6.8-billion bond initiative supported by environmentalists.

Schwarzenegger is expected to strongly support the coalition's measure if Capitol negotiations fail.

Last week, the governor formally gave up on the Legislature passing a redistricting bill and endorsed a ballot initiative sponsored by reform groups. In fact, he became the campaign chairman.

"The people of California are not served well by a system so gerrymandered that 99% of the incumbents get reelected in the districts they themselves draw," Schwarzenegger said. "We need a system of truly competitive legislative districts so when lawmakers go home they can be held accountable."

The initiative would establish an independent commission to draw legislative districts. Congressional districts still would be shaped by the Legislature. The reformers didn't want to weather the big bucks opposition of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco).

Democratic legislative leaders -- Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) -- reneged on a pledge to pass their own redistricting reform.

"I don't want to sit here and say Nuñez was lying," says Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause, one of the initiative sponsors. "I just don't think he has the political juice to make it happen. His [Democratic] caucus members won't let him."

So once again, interest groups will bypass the Capitol and take matters into their own hands."

Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money by David S. Broder
New York: Harcourt, 2005.
--Some main interest groups in CA:
Casinos
Insurance
Gas
Energy
Unions = democratic supporters, so conservativess mobilize against them (96) - also complicated by insurance wtf???
--Is it always easier to be the opponent than the proponent?
--Do interest groups screw up the legislature and would they fight either way, regardless of the existence of the initiative? (pg 87)
--Why does this author start out HATING the process? it seems to weaken his analysis. it makes me not want to trust him
--"since no such measure had a chance in the Democratic legislature, as everyone knew, the real threat lay in an initiative"
--"fiscal impact statement" on 226 (116)
--in the words of a signature gatherer, big financial backers could be "trial lawyers, timber industry, sierra club" (213)


Consultants and Direct Democracy, by David B. Magleby; Kelly D. Patterson
PS: Political Science and Politics © 1998 American Political Science Associati
--CA has controversial initiatives (161)
--gvien way to lots of interest groups (161)
--consultants make bank (161-162)
--campaign is about persuading voters not actual reality (163)
--idea: 1988 Insurance & counter strategists(168)
--consultant stratagiists (168)


Prospects For The Initiative Process
By Elizabeth Gerber, June 6, 2000


http://www.ni4d.us/library/prospects.htm

"A second factor that exposes the initiative process to the influence of interest group money is that voters in direct legislation elections choose policy directly rather than electing representatives who choose policy on their behalf. As a result, direct legislation, especially the initiative, lacks the deliberative quality of legislative policy making."

" As a result, voters who desire information about the content of propositions have few alternatives but to rely on interest groups for that information. When interest groups can influence the channels of political communication, they may be able to use their informational advantages to mislead voters"

"The absence of useful cues makes direct legislation voters especially reliant on substantive information disseminated by interest groups during the campaign."

"since one of the primary justifications for the signature requirement is to measure popular support for a proposition, many argue that this purpose is defeated when a proponent can simply pay professional petition circulators who care little about the initiative legislation (Garrett 1999)."

"It is clear that money is sufficient to qualify a measure for the ballot (see Garrett 1999)."

"grassroots citizen interests tend to rely on organized interest groups to offset the steep cost of qualifying and later campaigning for their initiatives. "

"Given the great advantage that money provides at the qualifying stage, we would expect the set of measures that make it to the ballot to reflect this bias towards wealthy interest groups. Surprisingly, however, the bias, if one exists at all, is not overwhelming."

"Whereas money is sufficient to qualify a measure for the ballot, recent research indicates that it is far from sufficient to pass initiative legislation. A number of studies have addressed the role of money in the initiative process, particularly at the campaign stage. The basic finding of this research is that while some amount of money is necessary, allowing proponents to purchase advertisements, mass mailings, and other forms of campaign information, groups with vast financial resources are regularly stymied at the ballot box. Something important is lacking from their expensive campaigns."

* * *
Copyright (c) 1999 Texas Law Review
Texas Law Review

June, 1999

77 Tex. L. Rev. 1845

LENGTH: 21818 words

SYMPOSIUM: Money, Agenda Setting, and Direct Democracy

NAME: Elizabeth Garrett *

Well-financed groups and individuals are aware of the power of direct democracy as an agenda-setting tool, and they know that adequate funding is the only requirement to appear on the ballot. Accordingly, initiatives are increasingly providing these groups - many already in command of other political resources that can be deployed to affect the policy agenda - with additional agenda-setting power.

* * *

Paradise Lost by Peter Schrag

* * *
Elisabeth R.
Gerber,
Interest Group Influence in the
California Initiative Process.
PPIC Research Brief Sept 1999 Issue 15
http://www.ni4d.us/library/interestgroupinfluenceincalifornia.pdf

* * *'


Direct Democracy’s Effects on Political Parties
Shaun Bowler
Todd Donovan
http://law.usc.edu/academics/centers/cslp/conferences/direct_democracy_05/documents/bowler.pdf

* * *

Bowler & Hanneman Just How Pluralist is Direct Democracy? The Structure of Interest Group Participation in Ballot Proposition Elections. 2006
--contributions to initiative campaigns &structure of interest group participation

* * *
The Effectiveness of Money in Politics:
Ballot Measures, Candidate Elections and Roll Call Votes
Thomas Stratmann

http://law.usc.edu/academics/centers/cslp/conferences/direct_democracy_05/documents/stratmann.pdf

* * *
Rethinking the Unconstitutionality of Contribution and Expenditure Limits in
Ballot Measure Campaigns
Richard L. Hasen*

http://law.usc.edu/academics/centers/cslp/conferences/direct_democracy_05/documents/hasen.pdf

Poster of Research Plan

Lit Review Format

Pre-Lit Review:
--make excel file: summary of findings
--group in termsof shared dependant & independant variables first
--sometimes it is important to summarize each paper for own purposes but that's not a lit review
--try to group it, keep it simple, i.e. group by methodolgy
--at the end summarize your own view
--that's what makes it a lit review and not an annotated bibliography
--discuss if this is even the right approach: like if its about minority IDs, are public opinion polls that helpful?
--conclusion is more like what you're aiming for in a lit review i.e. if there needs to be a design change
--synthesis not summary

Lit Review Format:

I. Intro
--define topic
--point out trends
--give a sense of how the rest of its organized

II. Body
--group it
--3 is a nice number of groups
--define: say here how its defined & here's my parameters
--basically just interviewing each source and discussing/noting relevant parts for analysis

example:
1) presidential politics: scandal/public corruption
2) popular media & scandal -"framing"
3) public opinion?
--attitudes
--presidency
--power
--authority
4) Watergate - corruption of office
Lewinksy affairs - personal

III. Conclusion
--what's the impact

notes from class, etc

*things to keep in mind:*
-institutional arrangements
--elections/voter behavior, ID
--dealignment
--pluralism
--direct democracy
--issue content/salience
--media/consumer politics
--coalitions/bargaining
--politicians
--Legality of ballot initiatives in Primary (Yes)
--David Broder
--Database of CA initiatives
--Causal factor is the point
--Start w/simple question

What is it they wanted?
What did they get?
What didn't they get?
Why?"


*some interest groups:*
Cali. Assoc. of Realtors
Cali. Manufacturers Assoc.
Cali. Medical Assoc.
Pactel Group
Western States Petroleum Assoc.
Cali. Chamber of Commerce

Remember:
~Take an analytical approach to history
~provide basic context/background info
~cite all arguments
~When drafting, let it flow & put one note at end w/sources so you can keep writing

annotated biblio 2.0

Baldassare, Mark. A California State of Mind. Berkley: University of California Press, 2002.

The author discusses initiatives in general and specific terms with regard to the 2000 elections.

———. "PPIC Statewide Survey: Special Survey on Californians and the Initiative Process." Public Policy Institute of California. October 2005

Baldassare uses a survey to assess the dominant policy issues in California and how the institution of ballot intiatives affects policy and voter concern over these issues.

Boehmke, Frederick J. "The Effect of Direct Democracy on the Size and Diversity of State Interest Group Populations."The Journal of Politics 64, no. 3 (2002): 827-44.

Boehmke proves that Interest groups that represent citizens as opposed to economic interests are more likely to have success with their ballot intitiatives.

———. "Sources of Variation in the Frequency of Statewide Initiatives: The Role of Interest Group Populations." Political Research Quarterly 58, no. 4 (2005): 565-75.

Boehmke finds that states with ballot initiatives have more interest groups. In particular, if there are a lot of interest groups that represent interest groups, there are less inititiaves passed, whereas interest groups that represent citizens without economic interests utilize the initiatve process more often.

Bowler, Shaun and Robert Hannamen. " Just How Pluralist Is Direct Democracy? The Structure of Interest Group Participation in Ballot Proposition Elections" Political Research Quarterly
59 No. 4 (2006): 557-568. Accessed October 25, 2007.


Bowler and Hanneman look at the donors behind initiative campaigns and describe the campaign for an inititave in terms of the coalitions formed bewteen groups and the role played by large donors as well as powerful groups such as the teacher's unions and constuction industry.

Cahn, Matthew Alan, H. Eric Schockman and David M. Shafie. Rethinking California: Politics and Policy in the Golden State. New Jersey: Prentice Hallo, 2000.

These authors describe the initiative process and include a table that lists initiatives and referenda in California by subject and by decade.

DeBow, Ken and John C. Syer. Power and Politics in California. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006.

This book explains basic elements of the California political system and gives an overview of how initiatives have become the primary way of passing laws in California.

Gerber, Elisabeth R. "Legislatures, Initiatives, and Representation: The Effects of State Legislative Institutions on Policy."Political Research Quarterly 49, no. 2 (1996): 263-86.

Gerber discovers that the type of policies passed on the state level vary with regard to which intsitution was used to create them, i.e. the legislature or the ballot initiative.


———. "Interest Group Influence in the California Initiative Process." November 1998, 34 pp.

According to Gerber, citizen-based interest groups are more adept at acheiving their goals through the ballot intitiate process and economic interest groups are more successful when they use their resources to fight initiative proposed by citizen interest groups.



Gerber, Elisabeth R., and Justin H. Phillips. "Development Ballot Measures, Interest Group Endorsements, and the Political Geography of Growth Preferences."; American Journal of Political Science 47, no. 4 (2003): 625-39.

Gerber and Philips find that local development decisions made by voters appear to be strongly influenced by interest group participation as opposed to other practicalites or implications of the proposed policy.

Gerston, Larry N. and Terry Christensen. Recall! California’s Political Earthquake. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 2004.

This book explained how business interests supported Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign for governor.

Janiskee, Brian P. and Ken Masugi. Democracy in California. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.

This book discusses the ways in which California interest groups take action to influence policy. The authors discuss the five main areas of interest group politics and they also talk about how factions are good for democracy from a Madisonian perspective.

Price, Charles M. "The Initiative: A Comparative State Analysis and Reassessment of a Western Phenomenon." The Western Political Quarterly 28, no. 2 (1975): 243-62.

Price studies how initiaves proivde a needed alternative to the state policy making process.

Silva, J. Fred. "The California Initative Process: Background and Perspective." November 2000, 42 pp.
Resource Material for The Speaker's Commission on The California Initiative Process. November 2000.

History of initiatives in California as well as suggested reforms.

Feedback on Research Proposal:

There is literature on:

1. Direct Democracy – mechansims available to cite
2. Initiatives – impact on democratic politics
3. Interest group politics in California
4. Progressivim – history in California

For example, David S. Broder Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money