Conference on the California Special Election

The USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics (CSLP) and the Initiative and Referendum Intitute (IRI) at USC are sponsoring an pre-election event on November 1, 2005, at the USC Gould School of Law, called “Democracy on the Brink: The California Special Election.” For those in Southern California, the event promises should be interesting as we get closer and closer to this special election.

Here’s the program, which is available on the CSLP website.

DIRECT DEMOCRACY ON THE BRINK: THE CALIFORNIA SPECIAL ELECTION
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

As California faces its first special election in more than a decade — an election designed to replace legislative lawmaking with ballot box governance — CSLP and IRI host an event bringing together scholars, journalist, and practitioners to discuss what the election portends for California and democracy in America.

Schedule
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: Dan Rodriguez (Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law)

John de Figueiredo (Professor of Strategy and Policy, UCLA Anderson School of Management) – Campaign Finance

Jonathan Katz (Professor of Political Science, Caltech) – Redistricting

Richard C. Seder (Education Policy Program Director with the USC California Policy Institute) – Education Finance

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)

Judy Muller (Political Reporter, ABC News; Assistant Professor,
Annenberg School for Communication, USC)

M. Dane Waters (Chairman and Founder of the Initiative and
Referendum Institute)

See you there!