Not Just Indies, But Dems and Repubs Agree: electing a nonpartisan President is a good idea

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Independents Applaud California Supreme Court Decision on Proposition 14 (POSTED BY NANCY HANKS, The Moderate Voice) Statement by Jackie Salit and Harry Kresky, independentvoting.org
• California's Top Two Primary System Opens the Door to a Broader and Stronger Coalition for Political Reform (Harry Kresky, Huffington Post)
• Different types of primaries (LETTER Wyoming Tribune from Richard Winger) Top-two systems are not good for independent voters.
• Commentary: California gets ready to face changes (By Jim Boren, The Fresno Bee) But the momentum right now seems to be with the reformers, despite the best efforts of opponents to keep their cozy systems in place.

I&R

• FRESNO BEE: Initiative rules need an overhaul (This editorial is from the Fresno Bee - in Press and Democrat) The process is a safeguard against legislative inaction. Changes including the new open primary and creation of a citizens commission to draw legislative boundaries never would have come about without the initiative. But the initiative process is in need of repair…. Several attempts have been made over the years to overhaul the initiative process. The initiative industry is formidable and has blocked changes.

2012

• Clarus Poll: 2012 Presidential Race (PRESS RELEASE PR NewsWire) "You'd expect independent voters to want an independent President. But more than two out of every five Democrats and Republicans also say electing a nonpartisan President is a good idea," said Ron Faucheux, president of Clarus Research Group. "There is clearly potential for an independent candidate to do quite well in 2012."

EDUCATION REFORM

• A sobering look at Florida school reform (By Valerie Strauss, Washington Post/The Answer Sheet) There are also places where the achievement gap in Florida is as stubborn as it has been elsewhere in the country. In fourth grade math, achievement gaps measured on NAEP between 2003 and 2009 have been stable, and the white-black and lunch-program participation gaps in Florida are similar to those gaps for the country as a whole. In eighth-grade writing measured on NAEP between 1998 and 2007, you see the same stagnant pattern.
• Where the Achievement Gap is Born: A Letter to Cathie Black (Susan Ochshorn, Huffington Post) [proposes early childhood education] Too many of our country's youngest children, however, lack the optimal circumstances for growth and development. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, of the 25 million young children under the age of 6 in the United States, 46 percent live in low-income families and 24 percent are growing up in poverty. The high levels of family stress and trauma often associated with poverty may result in discontinuity in the quality of children's daily care and education, compromising children's readiness for school. NOTE:  Susan Ochshorn is the founder of ECE PolicyWorks, a consulting firm specializing in early care and education policy research, program development, and project management.
• Education chief nominee calls 2011 year of reform (BY JOHN REITMEYER, THE RECORD STATE HOUSE BUREAU - NorthJersey.com - Fox) Cerf, a Democrat, is a former teacher and law school graduate who worked in the White House counsel's office under President Bill Clinton and as a clerk for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

LAST WORD

• Jesse Ventura says "all Minnesotans are liars" (By Hart Van Denburg, City Pages/The Blotter - Minneapolis) Ventura no longer supports third party movement, instead supports the abolishment of political parties… also upset with voters for not voting independent even though they claim to be independent...