The big constitutional convention question: Who’s going to fix California?
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LA Times: Is a constitutional convention in California's future? With the state's fiscal woes mounting and Sacramento seemingly frozen in place, a group of California leaders has proposed a constitutional convention as a way to fix the Golden State's deeply entrenched structural problems. Perhaps the most important question about a constitutional convention is: Who would be the delegates charged with designing California 2.0, and how would they be chosen? There are three basic ways to select such delegates: Appoint them, elect them or randomly select them. Each has its pros and cons. There is no perfect method, maybe only a "least worst" one. Interestingly, a statewide poll commissioned by the New America Foundation in November 2006 found strong support (73%) for a randomly selected deliberative body, and that the public has a lot more trust in such a "citizen body" than in a government-appointed panel or even a panel of independent experts. So the voters may be out in front of the leaders on this one. California also could try an interesting hybrid, selecting delegates by a combination of random selection, election or appointment. However the delegates are selected, their proposals would be put on the ballot for voters to decide. One way or another, it would be the voters of California who design California 2.0.
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