Image by OPINION – California has experienced an alarming decline in available dollars for the Crime Victims Fund. These sharp drops in funding for California nonprofits will directly result in victims of crime not being able to access much-needed services.
Balancing the political power between L.A. and the San Francisco Bay Area. (Illustration: Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)ANALYSIS: With five months to the 2018 gubernatorial primary election, there is a natural tendency to try and find the single major factor that will determine the outcome. Will it be Donald Trump, absentee voters, young people, the gas tax, racially polarized voting, the open primary, North versus South, the growing number of independent voters, the new registrants since President Trump was elected, or 25% of the electorate who registered to vote in 2016? The fact is, it will be all of these things.
An illustration of California's flag. (Lukasz Stefanski, Shutterstock)Immediately after the 2016 there were a number of people and organizations that made quick analyses of the electorate, and what happened. Here in California, we appeared to be bucking a national trend: While the Republican ticket over performed in key swing states on the East Coast and upper mid-west, California saw Democrats regain legislative super-majorities in both houses, hold swing congressional seats and make Republicans appear more vulnerable than they have in many years.
The lighthouse off Front Street in Crescent City, Del Norte County. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)After hours of passionate testimony, almost exclusively in support of beleaguered executive director Charles Lester, the Coastal Commission voted 7-5 to fire him. Four months later and 600 miles to the north, the aftershocks of the Commission’s political earthquake are still being felt: On June 7, Martha McClure, a commissioner who voted to fire Lester, lost the Del Norte County supervisor seat that she has held for the past 20 years.
Illustration by Judd Hertzler/Capitol Weekly.ANALYSIS: Most politicos are fans of the movie The Candidate, a 1972 political drama where a U.S. Senate candidate, Bill McKay, seeks an underdog win in his first campaign. The energy and excitement builds up for months leading to a pivotal sunny Tuesday in California when everyone heads to the polls. The movie is filled with young excited volunteers rushing out to put up door hangers, check polling locations to see who’s voted, and make phone calls to those who haven’t – all parts of the traditional get out the vote efforts known in the business as G.O.T.V. But if this campaign were a modern campaign it would also be a losing campaign.
An image from the stage of the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival.Review: For five weeks this summer, the normally flat and barren stage by the Land Park duck pond has been transformed into a three-dimensional Veronese Plaza with twin balconies, two ground-level doorways, and a center ramp and staircase. With the backdrop of the evening sky, the park’s expansive greenery, and flocks of flying geese, the magic of Shakespeare takes place.
Voters cast ballots at the November 2014 general election in Oak View, Calif. (Photo: Joseph Sohm) We Californians justifiably become excited about our many remarkable achievements: we make terrific movies; Silicon Valley leads the planet in technological innovation; our traffic jams are world class. But when it comes to voting, we give a statewide shrug. A mere 42.2 percent of registered voters — registered voters — bothered to cast ballots in the November 2014 general election. Los Angeles County bottomed out statewide with a turnout of 31 percent. It gets even worse: The June 2014 turnout was 25.2 percent.