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California Constitutional Convention initiatives filed by the people, for the people

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"Naturally, people who benefit from the taxpayers' gravy train are going to be resistant to change, whether it's the person getting $600 a month for welfare or earning $600,000 per year at the University of California.  However, we as citizens have the right to transparent access of all our state agencies and a government that works for us all so that we may each pursue prosperity and happiness."  Currier explains.

The voters should weigh in on the overhaul of our State Government, without the undue influence of any of the many with special interests – from the Governor's campaign contributors to various labor unions.

How will the Convention be financed?  For each and every day that the lawmakers are late with a budget, the cost to the taxpayers is $40 million.  Daily!  For the past ten years, the budget has been from 30 to 60 days late.  If the total were 300 days late for ten years on the low end, we paid out $12,000,000,000 (read $12 BILLION dollars) for no reason other than the Governor and lawmakers were in gridlock.  Some years it was much more.  The cost of a Constitutional Convention would easily pay for itself by the elimination of late budgets.  Clearly, the only winners in the California budget game are the banks and funding institutions that we just bailed out on Wall Street. We are paying a high price out of education and human services dollars for late budgets and unbearable incompetence that we can no longer afford.

Currier has ideas about what should be addressed, but says that the various parties can slug it out over solutions and issues during the time when the delegates begin campaigning once everyone agrees that a Convention needs to be called.

When we wake up to the fact that we are at the point that we can't educate our children and building prisons is a higher priority than building universities, when the revenue is so unstable, it is long past the time for citizens to step in and right the wrongs which have bankrupted our state.  Both the Governor and the Legislature have proven their inability to fix California.  The lawmakers are never going to repair our State, because they are clearly serving special interests instead of the people.  No one in power wants to concede that power, yet we all suffer because we allow ourselves to be manipulated by a very small number of people who don't care about us, regardless of what they say to win votes.

Win or lose, it's on.

There are 150 days after the Attorney General approves the Titles and Summaries, and the finance teams at the Executive and Legislative Branches weigh in. Then the Secretary of State certifies the two Initiatives for Currier to gather the 650,000 required verified signatures.

The timing just may be perfect.  Instead of doing 20 separate initiative campaigns, which cost millions of dollars each, 400 elected delegates would save us a lot of time and money and take care of most of our problems during the Convention.  It will be a different kind of decision process when delegates, as our representatives, are not funded by special interests, but  instead come together as regular citizens with a mission to attend to our commonwealth. What a perfect way to celebrate July 4, which could bring California's flawed system more in line with the ideals of the US Constitution, which was approved at just such a Convention.

Currier believes that normal citizens can and do achieve extraordinary positive results and outcomes, when everyone works together for our common interests.  California is the eighth largest economy in the world.  California is not broke, it is broken. Currier's campaign needs finances and volunteers, which he prefers comes from people who are tired of government control by special interests. He can be contacted at paulcurrier@mac.com

The text of Articles 36 and 37 can be read here:
http://internetalley.blogspot.com/

 

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B. Cayenne Bird is a 45-year veteran op-ed journalist and publisher. A descendant of Mary Todd Lincoln, and General Andrew Porter, she is passionate about human rights and criminal justice issues. A mother and grandmother with advanced degrees in (more...)
 

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