[jlmorton]

It shouldn't be, though. There is way too much democracy in California localities.

There should be no elected school board, transit districts, utility boards, assessors, sheriff, and so much more. No one is properly informed about candidates for these positions.

For that matter, the Board of Supervisors should have no power other than oversight and impeachment. The Mayor should basically be a local dictator, with the power to do anything the State authorizes the municipality to do, at their sole discretion, with the oversight of an elected board.

[chgs]

Americans seem to have a view that if you get a part of an unengaged electorate to mark an x in a box every few years that’s democracy, and more is thus better.

Instead it removes accountability from public servants who can simply hide behind the “elected” excuse.

[basementcat]

What terrifies me the most are elections for judges. I am not a legal scholar and I rely upon local bar associations for qualification ratings (and I’m not convinced I made the right call all the time); to my horror I’ve had educated colleagues tell me they just pick cool sounding names.

[9283409232]

I do research on all judges before I vote and while I might not know what a good judge is, a bad judge sticks out like a sore thumb.