The Voices of Reform Project - Commonwealth Club

VoR BACKGROUND

"Voices of Reform" is a special project of The Commonwealth Club of California, and is made possible by generous grants from the James Irvine Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.

The Project reflects The Commonwealth Club's longstanding interest in California governance. In 1911, Progressive reformers affiliated with The Club amended the California State Constitution to provide a way for citizens to enact legislation directly and recall elected officials. They perceived that corporate interests were inappropriately determining the outcome of both legislative and judicial decisions, and believed that the citizens' interests were not being served by the normal constitutional structure of state government.

Almost 100 years later, in 2003, California held a gubernatorial recall election. Citizens exercised the 1911 provision for the first time to recall the state's chief executive. Although much of the debate in the media and among the public around the recall focused on the individuals involved, it was clear that structural problems with governance in California were also among the causes of dissatisfaction.

The event of the 2003 recall presented an opportune moment to initiate a statewide discussion on the need for structural governance reform. Californians were disgruntled with the status quo, and political and policy analysts sought to identify what had brought California to the situation where a majority of voters wanted to recall the governor. To nurture the nascent conversation on governance reform, The Commonwealth Club - in cooperation with many other public-sector organizations in California - launched Voices of Reform.

Voices of Reform seeks to foster probing discussions of key governance reform issues, make these discussions available to a broad range of people throughout the state, and encourage opinion leaders in this state to actively pursue promising reforms.

VoR organizes speaker forums and panel discussions throughout California, and a selection of VoR programs are broadcast on TV and radio, statewide. Transcripts and other material generated through these discussions are published in the Club's magazine, The Commonwealth, and in newspapers around the state.

On November 15, 2005, several members of the Voices of Reform Steering Committee sent letters to Governor Schwarzenegger and the state legislative leadership committing to assist their efforts to seek policy solutions related to structural governance issues. Voices of Reform is now in the process of convening over 150 political and community leaders from across the state and political spectrum, with the goal of identifying critical governance reforms that, if implemented, would significantly improve the transparency, equity, and efficiency of state government.

The Commonwealth Club is in a unique position to facilitate VoR activities, as a trusted, non-partisan convener, with a strong history in good governance. The Commonwealth Club's core competency is in providing neutral forums for dialogue (public and private), and amplifying informed discussion through the media. We are lead by a broad board of 44 president and CEO level leaders of corporations, foundations, media organizations, non-profits, and universities. The Club is recognized internationally as a premier venue for civic dialogue and meaningful discussion of civic affairs with over 18,000 members, and our programs are broadcast weekly on over 150 stations nationwide.

Issues VoR addresses include:

Legislative Redistricting
Legislative Term Limits
Campaign Financing
The State Budget Process
The State Initiative Process
Voter Access & Participation
Civic Engagement

VoR STEERING COMMITTEE

Kim Alexander
President, California Voter Foundation

Mike Alvarez
Professor of Political Science, Cal Tech MIT Voting Technology Project

Rebecca Avila
Assistant Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, USC

Angela Blackwell
Founder and CEO, Policy Link

Gwyneth Borden
Manager, Corporate Community Relations, IBM

Bruce Cain
Director, University of California Washington Program

Carl Cannon
Correspondent, National Journal

Terry Christensen
Professor of Political Science, San Jose State University

Kathay Feng
Executive Director, California Common Cause

Eric Garcetti
City Council Member, City of Los Angeles

Lisa Garcia Bedolla
Assistant Professor of Political Science, and of Chicano/Latino Studies, UC Irvine

Rosalind Gold
Sr. Director of Policy, Research, and Advocacy, NALEO Educational Fund

Mike Hanmer
Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Georgetown University

Robert Hertzberg
Partner, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, LLP

Jacqueline Jacobberger
Past President, League of Women Voters of California

Fred Keeley
Treasurer, County of Santa Cruz

Greg Larson
Director, Planning & Development, City of Santa Cruz

Bill Leonard
Member, California State Board of Equalization, District 2

Susan Lerner
Executive Director, California Clean Money Campaign

Jim McCauley
County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar, Placer County

Conny McCormack
County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar, Los Angeles County

Jeanette Morgan
Director of Government Affairs, National Semiconductor

John Moyers
Senior Fellow, The Center for American Progress

Michael Nacht
Dean and Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley

Judy Nadler
Senior Fellow in Government Ethics, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Robert Naylor
Partner, Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor

Robert Saldich
Former Pres. and CEO, Raychem Corp., Commonwealth Club Bd. of Governors

Dan Schnur
Political Consultant, Founding Principal, Command Focus

Joe Simitian
Member of the California State Assembly, 21st District

Bob Stern
President, Center for Governmental Studies

Phil Trounstine
Director, Survey and Policy Research Institute

Chui Tsang
President, San Jose Community College

Gerry Uelmen
Professor, School of Law, Santa Clara Law School

Tracy Westen
Vice Chairman and CEO, Center for Governmental Studies

Carol Whiteside
President, Great Valley Center

David Yarnold
Former Editor and Senior Vice President, San Jose Mercury News

VoR POLICY AND OUTREACH NETWORK

Coming soon, please check back later.

VoR STAFF

Director - Zabrae Valentine
Before joining The Commonwealth Club, Ms. Valentine was a Senior Program Officer for the National Democratic Institute, working in Lilongwe, Malawi. While with NDI, she provided training and technical assistance to Malawi Parliamentarians serving as chairs and vice chairs of the Malawi Parliament's policy committees, as well as to representatives of civil society, to support analysis of government policy and legislation and analysis and monitoring of the budget process. Prior to working for NDI, Ms. Valentine was a Legislative Aide to U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, responsible for agriculture policy. Ms. Valentine has an M.P.P. from the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy and a B.A. from Grinnell College in Iowa. She grew up in Sacramento.

Project Assistant - Anita Lee
Ms. Lee was formerly a Research Assistant for the Statewide Database (California's primary depository for information related to redistricting and other demographic data collected for state government operations) and the Election Administration Research Center, both of which are housed at U.C. Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies. At the same time, Ms. Lee interned part-time for San Francisco Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier (District 2) where she acted as office manager and volunteer coordinator. Ms. Lee grew up in San Francisco and has a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

INTERNSHIPS & EMPLOYMENT

Voices of Reform California Governance Intern

The Voices of Reform California Governance Intern provides assistance with a variety of activities, including researching issues, drafting background memos, and assisting in developing and organizing programs. Undergraduates or recent graduates are encouraged to apply. We are looking for people who write well, who are skilled at conducting Internet research, and who are excited about this subject matter. The required time commitment is somewhat flexible depending upon availability, but should be a minimum of 10-12 hours per week. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. (This is an unpaid internship.)

Interested applicants should email a cover letter to Zabrae Valentine, Director of the "Voices of Reform" Project, at vorinfo@commonwealthclub.org Please include a resume, a writing sample (5 pages max.), and 2-3 references.