Senate’s sneak attack

Answer: When lawmakers’ jobs are on the line.

The latest example of this occurred on Monday, June 21, when the state Senate, acting with rare speed and bipartisan cooperation, approved a measure that would undermine an upcoming ballot initiative intended to change the way primary elections are held.

The initiative that has lawmakers in a dither would replace the current party primaries with a contest open to all participants, regardless of party. The top two winners would then duke it out in the general election.

The Senate, seeking to hold onto the parties’ grip on primary elections, which because of redistricting has made most seats safe, pushed its competing measure through in—believe it or not—just an hour. Then it sneakily attached the measure to what is likely to be a popular constitutional amendment to reduce state debt that will also be on the November ballot.

The bill, which would guarantee that every political party participating in the primary get a candidate in the general election, is now before the Assembly, where it no doubt will be quickly approved by the required two-thirds vote.

Ordinarily, we would agree that primaries should be intra-party contests. But the situation in California has become so corrupted, with legislators carving out such safe districts for themselves, that minority-party voters in these districts have become effectively disenfranchised. Throwing open the process would end that.

Had lawmakers been truly interested in giving voters an honest choice, they would have passed their amendment as a separate measure. Their real purpose—to keep their seats as safe as ever—is obvious.