[EL] Rick links to Sacto Bee story "Calif. Campaign Spending Boosts Business-Friendly Democrats"

[Richard Winger]

Yesterday Rick Hasen linked to a Nov 23 Sacramento Bee story, "California campaign spending boosts business-friendly Democrats", which purports to persuade the reader that the top-two system has been beneficial to more moderate Democrats running for the legislature.
This article, by Jeremy B. White, only mentions three particular 2014 legislative races.  One of them, is about the 62nd Assembly race between Democrat Autumn Burke and Republican Ted Grose.  The article does not say that Burke's opponent is a Republican.  The theme of the piece generally is about Democrat-versus-Democrat November elections, so a reader will assume the 62nd Assembly district race is one of them, but it isn't.  Furthermore, Burke was endorsed by the Calif. Nurses Assn, the Calif. School Employees Assn., and the Cal. Teachers Assn., unions who are strong enemies of the business interests that the article says got a win with Burke's election.  In any event, Burke would have won under the old semi-closed primary.
The article talks about the 15th Assembly district November race between Democrats Tony Thurmond and Elizabeth Echols, but both candidates were "left", and as even the article admits, Thurmond's time on the Richmond city council showed he was an opponent of the interests of Chevron.  This race was more about ethnicity and regionalism, whether Berkeley should continue to hold this seat of whether it was time, after two decades, for Richmond and the other Contra Costa County parts of the district to have a member.
Finally, the article talks about the State Senate 6th district, a Democrat-versus-Democrat race in which the more business-friendly, Richard Pan, did win over Roger Dickinson.
I have an article about to appear in the Californians for Electoral Reform newsletter that discusses all of the same-party California congressional and legislative races.  It is more systematic to discuss all the races, than to just cherry-pick a few races. Richard Winger
415-922-9779
PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
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