Tim Tagaris wrote today that Ohio's "Reform Ohio Now" package constituted the most important electoral initiative in the country this fall. As an expatriate Ohioan, and someone who cares deeply about fair elections and about reclaiming my home state - I do think that Reform Ohio Now is of tremendous importance.
However, I don't think it's most important thing happening this fall. And no, it's not Tim Kaine or John Corzine either.
The on-again-off-again California Special throws a slate of propositions at the electorate, which if passed, will be felt far beyond the borders of the golden state. Couched as workers rights, spending, and electoral "reform," the propositions sponsored by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his friends are actually the first volleys in a nationwide strategy to undermine what little power the Democratic Party, and other left leaning organizations still wield.
The propositions are backed by a small number of wealthy corporate contributors like Robin P. Arkley and Univision's Jerry Perenchio- but more importantly, they're being stage managed by the glitterati of the anti-tax movement. Lewis Uhler, chair and founder of the Norquist aligned National Tax Limitation Committee introduced and leads the efforts behind Proposition 75. Proposition 75 is a union buster - par for the course for the contemporary conservative movement - but this one targets only public employee unions, essentially attempting to cripple the Democratic Party by cutting off one of it's main sources of support. While publicly claiming that 75 is about workers rights, Uhler & Co. have made no bones about their real intents. They want to wrest control of California's legislature from the Democrats, enabling them to make substantial tax cuts, and cut funding for programs that they're ideologically opposed to paying for - programs like education and other social welfare programs.
The other propositions in the Governor's package: Props 74, 76 and 77 further bolster the claim that this election is more about crippling the left than about enacting any sort of "reform."
Proposition 74 not only extends the time that teachers would have to wait before receiving any of the traditional job protections, but also retracts that protection from teachers who've already completed their probationary period. It will both make it more difficult to recruit new teachers, and give the CTA and CFT a spanking they don't deserve.
Proposition 76 seeks to limit spending as proportion of income, but both lacks the safety valves to ensure that we're properly funding education and public safety - but also gives unilateral power to make mid-year cuts to a governor whose blue pencil seems only to affect social welfare and healthcare programs. Prop. 76 also effectively hobbles Proposition 98 - the voter approved measure that guarantees educational funding levels - meaning that the governor won't have to restore the educational funding he cut as part of the plan to recover losses from the energy price-fixing scam of the early 2000s.
Proposition 77 attempts to take control of the legislative redistricting process from the elected assembly and hand it to a board of judges appointed by the governor[edt] appointed by some convoluted scheme I don't understand. Aside from the legal issues arising from a mid-census redistricting, 77 doesn't contain the fairness measure found in other "Iowa Plan" redistricting measures like Reform Ohio Now's State Issue 4.
Taken individually, each of these measure are annoyances - conservative shots across the bow. Taken together - which they must be given that they're coordinated by the Governor's office/reelection campaign - they represent a first significant battle in a war on social programs and education undertaken by a wealthy few who don't want to pay their fair share in taxes. If we loose any of these measures, we could lose significant ground in California - the state that has anchored every national progressive legislative and electoral effort for the last 25 years.
In Ohio, we have the opportunity to make modest gains -ones I'm very happy about. In California, we simply cannot afford to loose - and that's why it is the most important election in the country.