Background Information on Our Initiatives:
The general consensus around California is that our State Government is a mess. As soon as we agree on this point, all the finger pointing starts. As accountable and responsible citizens, before we began this work, we stepped back from all the debates. We ask you to do the same, and take a breather with us here for a few minutes. Step back from all your past positions. The acrimony, bitter hatred, blame of others, and our many differences serve only our individual and collective frustration, anger, and childishness. Here is the initial news from the field: Many from all political stripes support what we have started. There are no solutions possible for all of us until we change our conversations. To change our conversations, many of us found we had to change our closed-mindedness, and open up to the opportunity at hand as a total "California" community. We can resolve the many crisis situations with a new approach. We are Californians. We are all accustomed to clean starts and fresh beginings. Clearly, a Constitutional Convention called by the Citizens of California is a new approach! This is our State Government. We own it. Let us endeavor to change it, so California can get back to work, and so our State works again for all of us.
As the author of both our proposed Constitutional Articles 36 and 37, I found I had to leave my personal agendas at the door. I was challenged to step back and re-focus on a new vision, with new glasses, with new considerations. As I did before, let us all open up to everyone else's many different perspectives and perceptions and listen to each other. Our Constitution contains so many wonderful specifics that are never applied. We established the 8 hour work day. We established mechanisms for our direct control of our Government. We have water, health, and tax issues to resolve, as well as massive pruning, program eliminations, and core issues regarding our Personal Liberties such as an end to the failed War on Drugs as a Prohibition to end, and Prisons to close. We have failed policies like the Three Strikes Rule, and Boards and Commissions that are useless for the 21st Century and beyond. The matter of establishing a State Currency backed by Gold and Silver is a States Rights matter worthy of consideration. We have so much to address. We need to do the work at hand across the board now. Any piecemeal approach will not work. There is too much broken and too much never done correctly. The current state of affairs in California is all our responsibility and clearly our Government does not have the attitude, ability, or spirit of compromise necessary to get the job done. We are all being held hostage by too many driven by simple greed. It is time. We must all step up and be responsible now. My personal experience is that messes do not clean themselves up. Our Public House is in shambles. So how do we propose to clean up the mess?
Structurally, our State Constitution is a mess. Constitutions are supposed to be concise. Our State Constitution has critical language embedded that is best repositioned as amendments. Constitutional Amendments hold the same legal constitutional effect, but are purposefully separated from the Articles that structure and empower our Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches of our State. There are additional housekeeping matters we have not done in 130 years, and our government never go around to do the job. We need to incorporate our
Federal Bill of Rights into our State Constitution. This was never done. Is our State Constitution going to protect the individual from the Tyranny of the majority? Are we going to respect personal liberty and freedom of choice? As our Federal Government seems to have trouble with the fourth amendment, fifth amendment and FISA and Terrorism laws that strip our fundamental rights as Americans, it is time that we reaffirm our rights, by incorporation of the Federal Bill of Rights into our State Constitution as initial Amendments. We can implement Single Payer Health Care as a fundamental right in California. We can and should secure our State Labor Law protections as State Constitutional Amendments. We can have a State repeal of Taft Hartley to protect our workers across California and secure our work places and our State Free Choice Rights. We can and should address the failure of our State Pubic Utilities Commission to secure real benefit in our revenue streams from Oil Extraction Fees, and use fees on our Public Utilities, who support the Initiatives of the Bay Area Council. It is past time for the Corporate Titans of California to step up and pay their fair share, as we add pass thru public funding to our utilities bills to stabilize our State revenue streams. I bring these matters up - as these are the issues no one wants to address. If we end the Prohibition in California we save $20 Billion to $30 Billion annually, where solutions are best delivered in the medical and social services arena - not thru Law Enforcement and Prisons. The California Prison Industry has bankrupted our State. And who is opposed to ending the Prohibition? Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big Health Care, and the Tobacco and Alcohol Lobbies. When I read the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution, the language that ended the first great prohibition reads very simply. It took a first great depression to end the first great prohibition. We are in the beginning of a second great depression and California can not afford Nixon's failed war on drugs. Is it really any body's place to block any others two individuals choice in marriage partners? We do not block inter-racial marriage. Once any person turns 18 years of age, dont they have adult responsibility and the freedom to make their own choices? So meat and potatoes is served. We have a lot to work thru. We have political third rails that no politician will touch. We - the voters are the third rail. Lets turn off the power, fix the structural issues - beginning with a concise State Constitution and task our elected Delegates to tackle what government can not nor will not. I mention controversy - but this community effort to address all that does not work is not about any controversy. These Initiatives are about protocol, and methods and processes. The issues and decisions on how to address them all are the topics for our elected delegates.
In the recent California Supreme Court May 26th 2009 Ruling on the "Constitutional Validity" of the
California Voters 2008 Constitutional Initiative known as Proposition 8, the Court went to great lengths to cover the history and legal facts of life regarding the current California Constitution. In our post-racial community of the now millennial period of American history, who would have known that the big topic of the first ten years of the term of our current Constitution, was how to keep Asians out of California? Few who have arrived in California in the last 75 years know anything about our California history. Our State is steeped in rascism. Other than the now dead Native American California Languages, Spanish was our first State Language. California was a Crown Colony of Spain, not England or France. How many recent California immigrants from Texas, Oklahoma, and the South know and appreciate our Spanish and Mexican heritage. In many ways our State Borders did in fact cross Mexico. For many native Californian families, our Border with Mexico is an obstacle that separates bloodlines long established before General Fremont had his way, and the Gold Rush attracted Pioneers from the Eastern shores of America, from Europe, and from many other Nations from all across the globe.
In very real terms, California is the leading State in our United States of America. We are the location where East meets West, where North meets South, where the Racial, Cultural, and Religious Traditions of the earth all meet and join. The fact we must never forget is that as California goes, so goes the United States. We can and should take pride in our world possition. In the California Supreme Court's May 26th 2009 ruling, we also learn of the power of our Initiative Process won by early California Progressives. We have the right as voters in our State to change our Constitution piecemeal, one issue at a time. We have already conducted a Constitutional Convention by Initiative for the last 30 years, one issue at a time. We propose that now we have made a mess and we need to clean it all up in one reasonable process - thru a "Full Scope Constitutional Convention". If we pass our proposed Article 36, we grant ourselves the right by Initiative to call for a no-holds-bared Constitutional Convention. As the Author, I call Article 36 the Bootstrap Initiative, as we boot strap our Peoples Power to call for the Convention no Politician has the guts to face and promote. Based on these principles, I considered well the language of the two Initiatives that our State Attorney General has now issued Titles and Summaries, and the Secretary of State has certified for our circulation of petitions of endorsement for the November 2nd, 2010 Statewide Ballot. Clearly, we have the right to amend our Constitution by Initiative. In 130 years we have allowed over 500 Constitutional Changes. Some amendments are small like the recent 2008 Proposition 8, of few words. Other amendments go to great length and crippling specific language like the 1978 Proposition 13. Few realize that the 1978 ratio of Commercial Real Estate Taxes to Residential Real Estate Taxes collected yearly has shifted from a 60% (Commercial) to 40% (Residential) ratio to the 2008 ratio of 40% (Commercial) to 60% (Residential). Our family lost our home in Palo Alto in 1975 due to being taxed out of our home. I support Prop 13. And there is a Commercial loophole that needs to be closed. This fact can not be addressed without a Constitutional Convention. No majority wants to change the Residential Real Estate Tax protection of Prop 13. But this protection needs be addressed at an amendment to a strong short concise set of Articles that Frame our State. The Rights of Minorities need be protected by Amendments to that same strong frame. Why not undertake a thorough overhaul of our State Government now? If we get honest, we must undertake this job as the owners of our State Government. This is our duty and obligation as responsible citizens all. Some council fear and doubt. They say we can not trust the People of California. Well, look around. We are the people of California. From Del Norte to Imperial Counties and all points between, I trust you. I trust in your collective wisdom. I stand with all of you. I trust you the People of California more than I trust our elected Officials, who appear motivated for the large part by personal greed, for campaign money and contributions, and bribes from the sacred cows of our plethora of special interests and their Sacramento Lobbyists. It is time for us to overhaul our State.
One clear fact that we are all awakening to, is that a Constitutional Convention is in order now. It is time. If you have never visited the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, I urge you to make the visit. Structurally, there are staircases that go to ceilings, doors that will not open, halls to dead-ends, and more puzzling construction without purpose. The objective was to keep building - regardless - the construction continued 24 hours per day. Our State Government shares that same design. Sarah Winchester built to both accommodate and scare away the ghosts of all who died from the hot lead shot from her families Winchester Rifles. With the same compassion for Sarah, we must put an end to our overbuilt Constitution and dysfunctional State Government. Our California State Constitution rivals only Alabama in breadth and volume. The State Capitol County of Alabama, Jackson County is only now preparing the largest County Bankruptcy in United States History. Bloated Constitutions are designed to fail. Our Counties will suffer the same fate as Jackson County in Alabama if we do not take firm hands to the reins and pull hard on the bit of our runaway horse of State Government. Enough! When you need to rebuild a house, a good start is to demolish the one still standing. What is our ultimate goal? We need a constitution that holds our true values, and serves us, and not the special interests of which there are too many to name. Special Interests have a place, but none should control the common welfare and community trust of our California Commonwealth. Like citizens all, we fit in and belong. This is our State and home. As we have work to do, the prime questions are: how do we do this, and who does the heavy lifting. I trust elected Californians motivated to do the job. I do not trust appointed Grand Juries picked in secret - by God only knows who. How do we choose our delegates? We elect them, like in any democracy. California is not Iran. We do not want nor will we tolerate a Council of Experts appointed by who? Who is going to select the Delegates for Big Business? Arnold Schwarzenegger? The State Legislature? Judges with conflicts of interests due to their current positions and long standing relationships with the current failed State? As a voter, I can make up my own choice of who to vote for thank you. My Assembly District is familiar to me. We all know each other here at home. I do not have a clue who to choose from Los Angeles or Lake Tahoe. My guess was every voter feels the same way about their local Community. So let us secure the signatures and place our Propositions on the November 2010 Ballot and lets see how the voters want to proceed. Shall we elect our delegates? Should we allow secret groups to pick and select without any voter control of the process? I have no problem going head to head with the Bay Area Council and their plans that appear to serve the needs and desires of Big Business. To quote a recent US President from Texas - "Bring it on"!
The founding principles of our American Constitution held dear three core principles: Political Equality, Majority Rule, and Personal Liberty. In 1787 these ideas were very radical. Today we recognize these values as the bedrock of American Conservatism. We must respect others Personal Liberty and Freedoms as much as we expect others to respect our own Personal Liberty and Freedoms. I studied our Federalist Papers at length. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay speak to us today with the same clear voices first heard in arguments for and against ratification of our then new and now cherished United States Constitution. With their writing as my counsel, and with the May 26th 2009 Ruling of the California Supreme Court as my guide and measure, I went to work. The result is my call to all of California for a sanity check. I drafted the guidelines for a process to empower us and to allow us to call a California Constitutional Convention to order. I designed the process to enable us to task our elected delegates with the mission to re-write our State Constitution. Our job is not to write the Constitution, rather, our job is to agree on the process, empower the process, start the process, and when the work of the Convention is done, we will either vote to accept or reject the new State Charter. The principle of all political power originating with us - the People of California, by majority rule in our Initiative process is sacred according to the recent directions from our California Supreme Court. I thank them for their guidance and direction. The various corporate protection components of Proposition 13 wash away with our win on November 2nd, 2010. No person need fear our opening up all our Constitution for review and overhaul. As we set our agreed procedures in place, to elect our delegates, and ultimately to ratify (that is our hope and prayer) our New Constitution, the old vaporizes like a bad racist nightmare, and we can embrace our humanity once again, as free people, as a prosperous State, as leaders of the free world, and as Californians. Let the whole world watch us exercise American Democracy in action. By placing everything on the table, we grant our California a new life, with a new frame, and a set of clear Amendments forward, which should reaffirm the best in our Constitution, and eliminate the structural dysfunction that blocks our effective self government.
The current Constitution has 35 Articles. You can go read them all here:
Current Constitution of the State of California. As you discover, the Articles are not so clear. Remember you enter a written Winchester Mystery House as you begin, so you keep your sanity in the process. Much of the language is wonderful. Many of the concepts are dear and need be retained as amendments. Certain constructions lead to dead-ends. Some stairs go nowhere. You will find Boards and Commissions of no value in the 21st Century. I have no idea why some of these constructs that cost real money even justify the words that keep them as useless appendages. Page after page, with detail only a control freak would admire, follow. I found it a 7-pot-of-coffee read. Blocks here - and assurances there, constitute what appears more a bowl of intertwined noodles than a clear concise State Charter. If you want to contrast our State Constitution to a decent body of work, read the
Constitution of the United States of America, and notice how the Amendments follow in good order. What is wrong with clear legible plain language, well structured, and which incorporates the wisdom of now 220 years of collective American experience? There is no boogie man under the bed. Look around you. There is just us, all of us. We can do better. The only thing stopping us is ourselves.
So what are my proposed Article 36 and Article 37? They are the amendments we will vote on in November of 2010 to empower us to call a State Constitutional Convention and at the same time - Call the Convention. All 35 existing Articles will continue in full force until we ratify the New Constitution, which our 400 Elected Delegates will draft for our approval or rejection. The State we have now will not change until we vote to ratify our New Constitution, and the terms of our new Charter go into effect in an orderly and timely manner. This is a deliberate process that will last thru 2011, and be ready for our use by late 2011 or the first month of 2012. Our Primary Elections of ALL NEW CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERS, should take place in the spring to June of 2012. Our new Officers will be elected in the November 2012 General Election, and our New Officers will be Inaugurated to our reformed State Government in January of 2013. What will be different? We will have a functional New Constitution with all the identified problems corrected, and new People to take up their positions in Government.
When does the current Constitution become null and void? When we ratify the New Constitution and follow our new constitutional procedures to elect our new Constitutional Officers. If you think about it, there has to be an orderly transfer of power from our old government to our new government. There is no Martial Law interim period. There is no structural change until the new Constitution goes into effect, and our new Officers, who will be Elected by us, are inaugurated and sworn into Office, to replace every existing Constitutional Officer now or who is either still in power or was newly elected in our Statewide Elections of November 2nd 2010. The November 2012 Election will be when we truly start over fresh.
What will the new government be? Who will hold Office? What will the relationships be between our New State and our current Counties? What will the law be? Well, I wish I could give you answers to all these and more of your good and timely questions. The fact is that no one knows the answers. The work of our Elected Delegates will determine most of these future facts. Our hope should be that we will have much better California than we have now. We do not have to accept their work. My hope is that we will accept the work of our Elected Delegates and that the Delegates, which we elect will undertake this very important endeavor, will hold everyones best interest as their motive and guiding star. I will do my best to answer these questions as best I can now - but remember we need not nor should not put the cart before the horse here. The Issues will tare us apart. The process is what we need to come to terms with in agreement and then begin. The work of our Convention begins when our representatives convene and not before. What will the new government be? It will be a Democratic Representative Republic. Who will hold Office? Newly elected Constitutional Officers will hold the Offices we elect them too. What will the relationship be between our State and our current Counties? What ever the Delegates design those relationships to be, if we ratify their work. What will the new law be? Your guess is as good as mine. I did require the California Supreme Court participate as they are on our payroll, and are legal experts who work for us already. I did specify the Chief Justice of our Supreme Court be the non-voting Presiding Officer of the Convention. I did specify that the Convention will have excellent legal counsel present as staff. I did specify we open up all the current 35 Articles of our Constitution for the overhaul, as that is the scope of what needs to be done. I suggest that anyone who says we need a limited scope to a Constitutional Convention is working an agenda that is probably not in the interests of somebody else. Since the Bay Area Council proposes a limited scope - I ask you to ask your selves why? If this is our Convention - why should we limit what our Elected Delegates look at and review, especially given that we provide expert testimony, appearance of all with special issues and appeals, and especially given the subpoena power of the Convention to call any and all to appear and present to the Convention Body or Committees? Anyone who holds on to single issue "repairs" does not grasp that we do not need single issue repairs. We need a total overhaul, that we get to ratify before it becomes our new State.
One thing I am personally sick and tired of is all the political power plays, promotion of self interests, self dealing, and dealing for others selfish interests, which are all clearly motivated by personal greed. We can not legislate that people become good. We can not order others to start thinking like Statesmen and Stateswomen. People will be people. With this in mind, I remembered and reflected on the dynamic of the American Constitutional Convention, and I hope a similar dynamic comes into being. At that time, in 1787, when what Thomas Jefferson referred to a fifty five demi-gods assembled each with their own agenda, the agendas fell away. When convened, our Founding Fathers realized their personal agendas were not nearly as important as the agenda of a young nation. What they did over the long hot summer of 1787 was structure our Constitution based on our Commonwealth and Common Needs. We did not get our Bill of Rights until December of 1791. The dynamic I hope our Elected Delegates enjoin is a coming together out of the interests of our California Commonwealth and Common Needs now. We must hope that our Elected Delegates rise to the needs of our time. The change we now work to bring about here in California is in fact necessary for the economic recovery of our Nation. Without California, the United States economy will not repair. Given the news from Washington DC none of us should plan on any assistance from our Nations capitol. Washington DC is now ruled by Wall Street not Main Street. If we are going to repair California, the task is up to us alone. We can do this. Our resources are the envy of the world. Unlike our current Governor, we need not dissassemble California. We need only organize and assemble as citizens and do for our State what our State can not do for it's self.
This process begins with our securing the 650,000 to 700,000 valid signatures of endorsement of our two Propositions relatively quickly. We will have thru mid December of 2009. We will begin our signature drive by mid-August of this year. (shortly). We need to qualify the propositions for the November 2010 Statewide ballot, and we then need to organize the State. We can do this. We need volunteers and money from everyone in $10, $20, $100, $500 and $1,000 increments. Our strength is our numbers. I anticipate the election to be the mother of all elections. I expect very strong corporate opposition to an Elected Body of Citizen Delegates to assemble at our Constitutional Convention. I expect very strong opposition by all who refuse to let go of Nixon's failed War on Drugs, and from all who depend on the California Prison Industry for their personal paychecks and retirement plans. I expect the International Shipping, Oil, Insurance, Energy, and Banking Industries to mount a campaign of deception and media manipulation unseen in the history of the world. Why join in? Because it is the correct thing for all of us to do. We can not win if we don't try. If we do nothing, we loose even more. Look at your life. Is it better today than it was 10, 20, and 30 years ago?
I will write a little on each of the major sections of Article 37 below as I wrote that proposed lengthly proposition. Let me now explain the working components. None are Republican or Democratic Party Issues. Pubic Finance seems new, but California already passed bi-partisan law that sets up public finance that is far more expensive than what I propose. But after all, I am a businessman. I value resourcefulness far more than borrowed or granted finite resources. Here are the short list of included component items of Article 37. You are welcome to read the Article on line. I am transparent. I have detailed all the major specific sections in proposed clear simple english as the black-letter-law my prayer is that we enact on November 2nd 2010. Article 36 specifies that we have the right to propose and grant ourselves the power to call a Constitutional Convention. Article 37 calls for and specifies the processes that follow for our Constitutional Convention to convene, from the qualification of anyone who wants to run as a candidate for delegate thru the ratification by the voters (you and me). Here are the basic sections in Article 37, empowered by Article 36.
Delegates and Scope:
Delegate Elections:
Who Can Run?
Public Campaign Finance:
Free Expression:
Special Statewide Delegate Election:
Open Voting Systems:
Certification of Elected Delegates:
Why Asilomar Conference Center?
Sequestration of the Convention:
Convention Support Staff:
Convention Security & Term:
Experts, Testimony, Issue Proponents:
Power of Subpoena:
Record Keeping & Future Library:
Presentation of Our New Constitution:
Special Statewide Ratification Election:
Requirements for Initial Election of:
All New Constitutional Officers
(Legislative, Executive, and Judicial)
The Orderly Transfer of Power & Authority:
The Constitution Library:
Constitutional Convention Record Access:
Translation of all Record of Proceedings:
I hope I have not lost you already. If you stop reading here, you cheat yourself and loose your effectiveness as a proponent and presenter-advocate. We will need thousands of surrogate citizens to argue why this matters and why now? It is one thing to want change. How will we deliver? What is the plan?
Simply put, Political Equality means just that. Everyone gets one equal vote to be counted and it better be fair and square with no corporate trade secrets covering up a rigging of the vote and denial of the value of each and everyone of our voices.
I picked the Assembly District System for our pool of elected Delegates as each Assembly District is supposed to be comprised of an equal population. I did not do the gerrymandering. I worked with the gerrymandering as I had no other choice. I assume the Assembly Districts are all - on average - equal population segments of California. We have 80 Assembly Districts with roughly 400,000 voters in each District. Our Counties are not proportional. Alpine County is small. Los Angeles is huge. So electing Delegates by County does not work for Political Equality. Every Elected Delegate should represent their constituencies. What the Democrats and Republicans call "Safe Distircts" does not apply here. Why? Because we are not electing one - we are electing five. Of course there will be Slates. Politics is a team contact sport. There is no point in herding cats here. This is about process. I determined that there will be minorities elected as they will marshall votes in ways not seen in partisan elections. The goal is that California Represent it's self as is. the top five vote getters will proceed to the Convention for sequestration - just like a jury - but for many months. This is not a process without huge sacrifice. No one leaves and goes home for weekends. Once elected, we do not see them until they are done. No one gets to leave for family emergencies. The races will be non-partisan.
Majority Rule means that a minority does not rule. This is Democracy. Super-majorities are mechanisms that are used to over-ride Political Equality. So we do not propose Minority Rule. The Dog wags the tail, the tail does not wag the dog.
Personal Liberty means you are free to vote for or against. That is your freedom. I urge all to participate as we are a community of everyone. This is our State. Let's fix it. We vote for or against. Our Elected Delegates have those same rights in all votes in all matters of the Convention.
Delegates and Scope:
I designed the 400 by looking around at my Assembly District in San Francisco. I do not agree that our one Assembly Person represents all of the 400,000 voters in AD13. Many are not represented by the politics of the Gay Community in the Castro District of San Francisco. This does not mean that Tom Ammiano is a bad guy. It means that there are 90,000 Russian Americans that he may not carry the torch for. We have so many Chinese in San Francisco's three Chinatowns, that Tom and the Gay Vote does not champion. We have a large Conservative Japanese Community that does not have a vote in Sacramento. These are demographic facts. If we had five Assembly Members from San Francisco, San Francisco would be better represented in Sacramento. I calculated that all the State's Assembly Districts had similar circumstances with various sub-district demographics. So I picked the number five - out of thin air. Five top vote getters should allow others than one majority in any District to win a slot in their Assembly District. Five per Assembly District multiplied by our current eighty Assembly Districts equals 400 Delegates.
Scope is simple. I put everything on the table. This is fair. No one should have any quarter protected from Convention review. As our current Constitution has so many interwoven parts, you can not look at some and avoid others. The simple way to re-write a whole Constitution is to re-write the whole thing. This will allow a far more sane structure and a more focused use of Amendments. If the Convention seeks to put a 2/3 vote of the People as a threshold to future Amendments, at least the Amendment process would become simple and focused.
Delegate Elections:
Who Can Run?
Anyone who declares their candidacy for Delegate can run. To qualify as a Candidate, each must secure one thousand signatures of registered voters in their Assembly District within 30 days. If you have not asked for signatures, do not think for a minute that this is easy. Once qualified, the Candidate will receive Public Finance and may not use their own money in their election. This is not an option. This is a hard and fast restriction on all candidates in all Assembly Districts.
Public Campaign Finance:
I wrote in $200,000 of public finance per candidate. Why? A mailer to all voters in a 400,000 person Assembly District costs $50,000. Full Page Advertisements in the Press cost $5,000 to $10,000. A simple set of Television Spots costs upwards of $80,000. An Office, buttons, signs, and the website - all this adds up. As I am frugal, I picked $200,000 per candidate.
Free Expression:
This is the "Swift Boat and Willy Horton" type of political expenditure. The US Supreme Court has held that Political Free Speech is a First Amendment Right. What I did was agree with the Court - but I restricted the "knowledge of", and "collusion with" a campaign to be prohibited. Since the all the Candidates will have public finance and all will be limited to their set public provided amount, Free Expression Advertising shall not be done in conjunction with a campaign. As so many will run in so many locations, my hope is the Free Expression Teams will sit this out. There are no guarantees. Regardless, I did my best to meet the requirements of the Federal Supreme Court, and use their rules for regulation and insulation of Free Expression Committees.
Special Statewide Delegate Election:
The Special Election of Delegates must be done on the same day in all Assembly Districts. Having worked for seven years in the San Francisco Department of Elections as a Deputy Field Director, Precinct Inspector, and Precinct Worker, I used my knowledge of election law, to comply with all the needs of a fair and open election process. My only change was in the realm of Voting Systems.
Open Voting Systems:
Open Voting Systems are the most inexpensive solution to election fraud perpetrated by the Government. In San Francisco, after an election, the Department of Elections does what is called a "Canvass". This is where the staff sit around with voting pens and review ballots and "correct" the vote so the will of the voter is correctly determined. Well - are you surprised? The Absentee Voter Ballots are printed and then put in the mail by the printer to God only knows where. There is no "Chain of Custody" control of the Absentee Ballots. So, armed with this knowledge, and holding the vote as sacred, I removed Absentee Balloting from the Special Election Process. The Open voting Systems are under consideration for County Implementation in Los Angeles County now. Our Secretary of State may demand that all Counties in California change over soon. I just wrote this into our Initiatives as the vote will be honest and audit able. If Iran did this - they would not have a question of what to do with the eleven million more votes than there were live voters. Open Voting Systems are ready for prime time and we should use a platform that can not be rigged. This matters.
Certification of Elected Delegates:
The Open Voting Systems provide for ballot tabulation at the Precinct. All Precincts then deliver their paper ballots along with the tabulation for re-tabulation at the Department of Elections. This stops the Department of Elections from "Canvassing" after the vote to change the numbers to their liking. This eliminates governmental voter fraud. Joseph Stalin said that it does not matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes. The processes we specify provide for fair, honest, rapid count elections that are accurate to the vote. Certification of Elected Delegates takes place at all 58 County Department of Elections Offices on Statewide Standard Systems (that cost 1/10 of what is available on the market and can be used over and over). Since the 80 Assembly Districts span the Counties, all the tabulated results and ballots then travel under seal to Sacramento to the Secretary of State's Offices, for final tabulation by Assembly District and final certification of the Elected Delegates. The final list of Elected Delegates is then reviewed with Candidate Financial Statements to make sure the legal requirements of the Public Finance restrictions were obeyed. If an Elected Candidate if found to have violated the public finance restrictions of the Special Election of Delegates, that offender is disqualified as a winner and the next highest vote getter is awarded the Delegate Slot. The final list is then sent under Seal to the Governor of California for Sequestration.
Why Asilomar Conference Center?
The Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove is surrounded by one of our State Parks. This make security of the perimeter easy, as the Center is isolated from the Public. The Center houses up to 650 persons. This should accommodate the Delegates, the Supreme Court, Convention Staff, and Convention Security. If the Governor wants to Station the California National Guard on the perimeter, there are plenty of Camping facilities to accommodate our troops. There are all the needed amenities to cover the needs of the Convention. Pacific Grove is not Sacramento, nor Los Angeles, nor the San Francisco Bay Area, nor San Diego. It is a neutral area politically in California and geographically distant from all the populated power centers.
Sequestration of the Convention:
Once the Governor receives the list of 400 Certified Elected Delegates from the Secretary of State under seal, the Governor is bound to dispatch the California Highway Patrol to the homes of all the Delegates for immediate sequestration and travel under guard to Asilomar Conference Center.
Once the California Highway Patrol notifies the Governor that all Delegates are sequestered at Asilomar and secured on the facility of the Convention, the Governor will release the names of our Delegates to the Public. Our Delegates will not be allowed to leave until they have finished with the New Constitution. Once our Delegates have delivered the New Constitution to the Governor and various other Constitutional Officers, they are free to return home. The Secretary of State will publish the proposed Constitution for the study of the people and 90 days later, we will have a Statewide Special Ratification Election.
Convention Support Staff:
Article 37 provides for Convention Legal and Para Legal Staff, whom will also be sequestered. There will be printing and copy services provided that are secure so no work of the Convention escapes the control of the Convention. There will be adequate recording staff, and video teams to document the Convention for posterity.
Convention Security & Term:
Security is provided for the Convention for the term of the Convention.
Experts, Testimony, Issue Proponents:
The Convention shall have access to all Experts, and all Issue Proponents necessary to review all component Amendments, Issues, and the pro and con on all matters. Provisions are made so that the Delegates have access to all information they desire to accomplish their mission.
Power of Subpoena:
The Convention shall have the full power of subpoena to demand the presence of any and all persons they deem necessary to hear from in their deliberations and crafting of our New Constitution.
Record Keeping & Future Library:
All legal recording will be provided for, and any New Media Teams necessary for the future digitization of the Convention Proceedings.
Presentation of Our New Constitution:
The New Proposed Constitution shall be presented to the Constitutional Officers of the State of California and then made public on the Internet for all to review pending ratification.
Special Statewide Ratification Election:
Approximatly 90 Days after the presentation of the New Constitution, there will be a Statewide Ratification Election. If the New Constitution is not accepted, there will be a second Ratification Election held at the next possible Statewide General Election.
Requirements for Initial Election of:
All New Constitutional Officers
(Legislative, Executive, and Judicial)
The New Constitution must specify the process for the initial election of New State Constitutional Officers, and the process must include provisions for primary and general elections of all new State Constitutional Officers.
The Orderly Transfer of Power & Authority:
Our New Constitution must specify the process for the orderly transfer of power from our old government to our new government.
The Constitution Library:
The New Constitution will provide for a Constitution Library for all interested people to study what we did as a State and to preserve the record of the Constitutional Convention for all persons with free access to exhibits and to the record of the proceedings. The California Supreme Court will keep the records until such time that the Library opens to the general public without restriction.
Constitutional Convention Record Access:
All normal record keeping procedures of the California Supreme Court will be used for public access to the Convention Record, until such time as the Librarian of the Constitution Library is ready to receive all records for keeping and public display at our new Constitution Library.
Translation of all Record of Proceedings:
Article 37 specifies that all record of the Constitutional Convention and Convention Records shall be translated into all the Diplomatic Languages of the World and made available on line for people anywhere across the world to study and learn how we in California re-created our Government.
