California activist pushes to expand government -- to 12,000 lawmakers

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

A California resident and one-time Republican presidential candidate has a radical plan to overhaul government in his state -- a ballot initiative that would increase the size of the state’s legislature to roughly 12,000 members.

 

John Cox, a San Diego County resident, says his plan is to divvy up the state’s 120 legislative districts into roughly 12,000 more community-based districts. The plan, he claims, would make California government more in tune with voters and less vulnerable to special interests.

 

Cox reportedly has cleared the first hurdle, getting state permission this month to collect signatures to get the initiative on the November 2014 ballot. But he still faces several other challenges in his bid to increase the size of the legislature for the first time since the late-1800s.

 

He will need to collect 807,615 valid signatures by May 19. And the initiative, if passed, could have to go before the state Supreme Court to become law, according to Bob Stern, who ran California’s non-partisan Center for Governmental Studies.

 

Though the idea seems outlandish, California activists have used the state's robust ballot question culture to enact a range of measures over the years. And Cox argues that it would actually save the state money, by paying lawmakers far less.

 

Stern, though, did not give this one good odds.

 

“It’s an interesting idea, but not realistic,” he told FoxNews.com. “The public won’t support it.”

________

 

Because apparently there aren't enough of 'em to go around...

 

[Valin]

What could possibly go wrong?