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November 1, 2005
USC Gould School of Law
Sponsored by USC-Caltech Center for the
Study of Law and Politics
and the Initiative and Referendum Institute at USC
On the eve of California’s first special election in a decade, scholars, journalists, and practitioners discussed the impact of the election on democracy here in California and throughout the nation in a conference held November 1st sponsored by the USC Gould School of Law. The half-day symposium unveiled some of the most recent scholarly research on the country’s initiative process and the policy implications for campaign finance, redistricting, and California state politics.
The second panel moderated by Nick Goldberg, op-ed Editor of the Los Angeles Times, looked at all sides of the heated initiative battle and what the initiative explosion means for state government. The California Special Election will give voters a chance to change some of the most fundamental features of politics and governance in the state.
For the rest of the story, please click here.
M. Dane Waters November 6, 2005 Los Angeles Times Op-Ed based on remarks made at the Special Election Conference
Notes from the Event [Taken by Rachel Weinstein]
9:00 a.m.
Welcome: Dean Matthew Spitzer (Dean, USC Gould School of Law)
9:30 - 11:00 a.m.
Panel 1 - "Ballot Box Governance: New Research on the Initiative Process"
Moderator: John Matsusaka (USC, Professor Business and Law, and President of the Inititative & Referendum Institute at USC)
Paper: "Direct Democracy Works"
John de Figueiredo (Professor of Strategy and Policy, UCLA Anderson School of Management) - Campaign Finance
Jonathan Katz (Professor of Political Science, Caltech) - Redistricting
Joe Mathews (Staff writer, Los Angeles Times) - California Governors
11:00 - 12:30 p.m.
Panel 2 - "The Initiative Explosion: What It Means for State Government"
Moderator: Nick Goldberg (Op-Ed editor, Los Angeles Times)
R. Michael Alvarez (Professor of Political Science, Caltech; Associate Director, USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law
and Politics)
Joel Fox (Co-Chair, Citizens to Save California; President, Small
Business Action Committee)
Elizabeth Garrett (Director of the USC-Caltech Center for the
Study of Law and Politics; Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public
Interest Law, Legal Ethics, Political Science, and Policy,
Planning, and Development, USC)
Kam Kuwata (Democratic Consultant)
M. Dane Waters (Chairman and Founder of the Initiative and
Referendum Institute)
John G. Matsusaka
Professor of Business and Law, and President of the Initiative & Referenum Institue at University of Southern California
matsusak@usc.edu
R. Michael Alvarez
Professor of Political Science, Caltech, and Associate Director of the USC-Caltech
Center for the Study of Law and Politics
rma@hss.caltech.edu
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