2010: The Year of the Open Primary

As 2010 draws to a close, open primaries remains front and center among political reform.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• ‘Candidate’ has a vision for Pennsylvania (John R. Ingram II, president and CEO of Ingram Real Estate Group, Allentown, Centre Daily Times/Focus o Harrisburg) CALLS FOR: The elimination of closed primaries in Pennsylvania, to be replaced with open primaries, where any registered voter would be allowed to vote for any candidate, whether Republican, Democrat or independent.
• Moving to the center (EDITORIAL Press Democrat - Sonoma County CA) These two changes — redistricting and the open primary system — offer the best hope in a long while that Californians will see Sacramento move more toward the center and toward progress. From that perspective, 2011 looks to be a promising year already.
• Party leaders out of step with voters (THE OLYMPIAN) The unanimous decision out of California is good news for Washington state voters, too, because it’s yet another legal decision on the right of voters to select the candidate of their choice regardless of party affiliation. 
• POLITICAL CHANGE IS COMING TO CALIFORNIA (by Greg Lucas, CAIVN) Both changes -- Proposition 14 in June and Proposition 20 in November -- were opposed by most incumbent politicians. Proposition 20 expanded the powers of an independent 14-person redistricting commission approved by voters in 2008 to include California's congressional delegation. Voters defeated a rival measure, Proposition 27, backed by the congressional delegation and incumbent state legislators which would have abolished the commission.
• Political reform/Looking back (By John Howard, EXCERPT Capitol Weekly) Big year for California political reform
• Open primaries could stymie tea party success (James Rufus Koren, San Bernardino Sun) Because of a change in how California's primary elections are conducted, candidates likely won't be able to win primary elections with so few votes, and tea party groups might not see any such victories in the future, said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College.
• Top 2 primary system still standing (EDITORIAL Daily News - Lower Columbia WA) There's no mystery as to why party officials here and in California are so determined to scuttle or, failing that, change the Top 2 primary system. It's a system in which voters have the freedom to choose who they deem to be the best candidate, regardless of party affiliation.

REDISTRICTING

• CITIZENS REDISTRICTING COMMISSION REFLECTS GROWING INFLUENCE OF INDEPENDENTS IN CALIFORNIA (by Damon Eris, CAIVN) In his application for the Commission, M. Andre Parvenu of Culver City apparently first identified himself as a member of the Peace and Freedom Party but then sent a follow-up email stating that he is in fact a decline-to-state voter, not registered with a political party.

NO LABELS

• Brown: A time when "no labels" was a reality (By Fred Brown, The Denver Post) I can remember a time in the Colorado legislature when party labels really seemed not to matter so much. Legislators got elected and became more loyal to the legislature than they were to their parties. Party leaders were not often seen at the Capitol. Members of the Joint Budget Committee, in particular, became JBC members more than Republicans or Democrats.

2012

• Obama Can Win by Securing the Middle (Ronnie Shows-Former Congressman, Mississippi's 4th District, Huffington Post) The only way he can get back these independent voters that he won in 2008 is to adopt more centrist positions and reduce unemployment. If he cannot, the President will be vulnerable to a Republican challenger who will appeal to these independent voters by campaigning on conservative policies to end the current employment slump. To keep the White House, we need a President who appeals to moderate voters -- not just hope that Republicans nominate Sarah Palin.
• And the Tea Party's next target is ... Scott Brown?! (BY STEVE KORNACKI, Salon/The War Room) That said, if Brown is challenged, he should be boosted by the ability of independent voters to participate in Massachusetts primaries.

NEW YORK

• Regime change to put insiders out in the cold - State jobs to end for Pigeon, pals (By Robert J. McCarthy, Buffalo News) Pigeon was instrumental in the June 2009 coup that produced Senate gridlock for a month and eventually resulted in Espada becoming majority leader.