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Monday Miniview with Carol Liu, Candidate for the 21st Senate District
By Centinel | April 7, 2008
I recently had the chance to digitally converse with Carol Liu, the de facto Democratic candidate for the 21st SD. The former mayor and assemblywoman is unopposed in the Democratic primary, and seems likely to succeed the termed-out Jack Scott, so rather than let her coast on up to Sacramento, I fired a couple questions her way last week. Ms. Liu was kind enough to respond and respond thoughtfully, which gives the FC Blog a reason to add to the cacophony of interviews echoing around the local blogosphere.
And so, without further ado…
Centinel: Do you feel that there should be greater consistency and transparency in the reporting of local and state campaign finance information? On the 460 forms filed in the most recent Pasadena City Council election cycle (for Steve Madison and Jacque Robinson), your occupation is listed as “housewife.” However, your contributions to national races have your occupation listed as a lecturer for the UC Goldman School of Public Policy. In your case, I doubt anyone would be confused, but couldn’t that kind of inconsistency undermine the effectiveness campaign finance disclosure laws, when most donors don’t have your kind of name recognition?
Liu: First, let me say that your recent focus on contributions to council members has been a service to the community and has occasioned a lot of comment and discussion. On the main issue, I strongly support disclosure and transparency and yes, inconsistencies and omissions are a problem. But there is another side to this issue that is well-illustrated by the data you cite for my own contributions.
For most of the last two years I have not been employed outside the home (though I’ll admit that “housewife,” as admirable an occupation as that is, isn’t really descriptive of my activities!). However, for the fall semester of last year I taught a class at UC Berkeley. So all the reports are correct for the time periods they covered despite the apparent discrepancies. This is a good example of how difficult it is to get and maintain accurate data on hundreds of donors over time.
Larger campaigns, like mine, generally hire specialized firms, at considerable expense, to handle this — yet mistakes are still made. Smaller, local campaigns often still try to do this with volunteers, who are likely to make more errors.
Unfortunately, one trade-off for our more detailed campaign reporting requirements (and penalties) nowadays is that we’re making it nearly impossible for volunteers to handle traditional campaign tasks any more. This simply accelerates the professionalization (and the cost) of running for local office, and I’m not sure that’s what any of us intended when we pushed for better regulation and disclosure. It’s a problem, and I wish I had a good answer for it.
Centinel: Redistricting reform is a big issue right now, with the City of Pasadena being the first municipality to endorse the California Voters First Initiative. Given that the 21st District ranges from Burbank to Silverlake to San Gabriel to Pasadena and more, do you think that the district lines are drawn in a rational way? How do you feel about redistricting reform for the future?
Liu: Like all California legislative districts, the 21st Senate District (which looks something like a badger) was drawn rationally from an incumbent-protection perspective. From any other perspective it is far from rational. We had much more sensible, compact districts when the State Supreme Court took over the redistricting process in the 90’s, which is one reason I support taking the whole process out of the hands of the Legislature. I particularly favor nesting two Assembly Districts within one Senate District to make it easier for constituents to know who their representatives are and for their representatives to work together – irrespective of their political affiliation – to serve their constituents. I haven’t yet read the new initiative, but I’m very much in favor of reform in this area.
Centinel: If you are elected, what are three ways that voters could use to determine if you’ve succeeded in meeting your own goals as a legislature? What bill would you have to pass, what funding would you need to get, what change in Sacramento would make you confident that you’ve served your constituents well?
Liu: The truth is that it is very difficult for one legislator to dramatically affect state government. In a way, that’s fortunate. Imagine our huge and clumsy bureaucracies trying to dance to 120 different tunes at once!
To be an effective legislator, you must put in the time and work to become knowledgeable and effective in a limited number of policy areas. That’s a big reason why I’m running for State Senate — because term limits forced me out of the Assembly at just about the time that I had learned enough and acceded into leadership positions (as Chair of the Higher Education Committee, Chair of the Women’s Legislative Caucus, and Co-Chair of the API Caucus) to be really effective. In Sacramento these days, most legislators come and go too quickly to make much difference. It is a serious and systemic problem.
Nevertheless, there are certainly ways that voters can evaluate those of us who serve by assessing:
- the number and quality of bills passed;
- the ability to help local communities get their “fair share” of limited discretionary funds in the state budget;
- the ability to run a responsive and effective local office and provide meaningful constituent services; and
- the rise to a position (or positions) of power within the institution — like chairing a key committee.
All of these are signs of an effective legislator.
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Topics: Main Page, Government, Pasadena |
April 7th, 2008 at 8:26 am
“It is a serious and systemic problem.” Interesting dilema consider the voters turned down changing the term limits and that argument was raised.
Term limits are a double edged sword, but if it keeps a turn of fresh faces and ideas as opposed to setting up political machines and their cronies it works for me.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:45 am
excellent interview — and it’s worthy of note that our soon-to-be State Senator is very aware of this blog’s work on campaign finance disclosure!
keep up the good work,
April 7th, 2008 at 9:47 am
i should add that i’ll refrain from a kudos or criticism of the soon-to-be state senator. given the uncontested primary and the “only Democrats need apply” nature of the district, does my opinion matter?
Note that while this state senate district is mostly foothills cities, it also includes van nuys and encino. how screwed up is that?!?!
April 7th, 2008 at 10:22 am
When trying to rush out the door to get to an appointment, one should never check the Google Reader for the latest post on Thefcblog. I’m late! Mini-terview extraordinaire! I hope more come down the pike. I can think of a few pols that need an opportunity to ’splain further.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:33 am
[…] anonymous Centinel at the Foothill Cities blog interviews 21st District senatorial candidate Carol Liu as if she’s running unopposed, […]
April 7th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
But what does she think of Steve Madison?
April 7th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
[…] there are blogs I gravitate toward: LA Observed, Leftovers from City Hall, The Foothill Cities, the Homicide Report, Under the Dome, Aaron Proctor, Frazgo, even yours from time to […]