Prop. 89: We've Opened a Door for Reform That Will Never Be Closed
Advocates of political reform in California said today that despite a defeat in Tuesday’s election, the campaign for Proposition 89 has laid the groundwork for the inevitable enactment of a change in the political system.
“We have opened a door for reform that will never be closed,” said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association. Prop. 89 helped generate a statewide discussion of the problem and the need for solutions, she noted.
“Across the board, the biggest winner on Tuesday in California was big money,” said DeMoro.
The November election was the most expensive in California history with well over $550 million reported by late October. Through Monday, more than $258 million was raised just on two ballot measures, propositions 86 and 87, mostly by a handful of large oil and tobacco firms.
Across the U.S., it was also the most expensive midterm election ever, according to figures from the Center for Responsive Politics. At least $2.8 billion was consumed nationally, a 20 percent increase over the last midterm election in 2002.
What is most dismaying, DeMoro said, “is the decline in the voting population and the alienation of ordinary Californians from the political process. Big money continues to overwhelm voters who feel shut out of the political system and are increasingly showing it by abandoning participation in our elections.”
A Tuesday Field Poll projected that just 36 percent of Californians eligible to vote would be at the voting booth. In the final numbers reported this morning, only 6.74 million votes were cast in the Governor’s race, less than 19 percent of the state’s total population.
CNA said it will work with Assemblymember Loni Hancock and the large coalition that backed Prop. 89 for reintroduction of another bill to curb political corruption and to reduce the influence of special interests in Sacramento. A similar bill last year passed the state Assembly before failing to advance in the state Senate.
Ten years ago, CNA sponsored an initiative, Proposition 216, to end HMO abuses. Though Prop. 216 lost, it was the catalyst for a series of reforms that within three years resulted in legislative implementation of virtually all of the provisions of 216, including nurse-to-patient ratios.
DeMoro predicted similar results would follow this election. She noted that recent California polls have shown that 66 percent of Californians believe big interests dominate Sacramento, and 61 percent believe large campaign contributions have an adverse effect on public policy. A CNN survey last night reported that 94 percent of 32,000 people participating believe politicians “generally do the most for their donors,” not their constituents.
“We will now escalate the call on the Legislature to act, and we challenge all Californians, including those who claimed they favor reform but just disagreed with some provisions in Prop. 89, to show their commitment to genuine reform of our dysfunctional political system,” she noted.
DeMoro said CNA will also step up efforts for reform on other critical issues facing Californians, “especially the growing collapse of our healthcare system and the disgrace of having 6.5 million uninsured and millions more underinsured residents. We will transform healthcare in California, soon.”
A unique campaign
Prop. 89 both “pushed the debate on campaign finance reform and helped shine a light, literally in many cases, on the debilitating effect of massive corporate spending on our political process,” DeMoro said.
Additionally, many will recall Prop. 89 as establishing a new model in statewide grassroots campaigns. Features of the unique effort included:
- Bus fleets of nurses that traversed the state, talking to thousands of voters
- A much-praised rap video and song by Colette Washington that was aired, played on the radio, and performed across California, About Time for 89
- A Spanish language song Si en la 89, recorded and performed by the noted Los Angeles band XochiSoneros, that also aired on many stations across the state
- Frequent appearances by Batman, the bat signal shining on sites of political corruption, and visits to sites of corruption by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff (or someone closely resembling him)
- Political theater outside campaign fundraisers, including a “Dash for the Cash” on the final day that the legislative session was being held, accompanied by dozens of fundraisers across the street from the Capitol.
CNA also expressed its thanks to the thousands of volunteers who worked on behalf of Prop. 89, and the hundreds of community organizations and leaders who supported the initiative. “CNA nurses are inspired by the dedicated clean money election volunteers who worked tirelessly on phone banks and wrote hundreds of letters to newspapers. We look forward to continuing our coalition efforts,” DeMoro said.
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