Breaking up Is Hard to Do
Billionaire venture capitalist Timothy Draper has an idea for the future of California. “It’s important because it will help us create a more responsive, more innovative and more local government, and that ultimately will end up being better for all of Californians,” says Roger Salazar, a spokesman for Draper’s campaign. “The idea ... is to create six states with responsive local governments — states that are more representative and accountable to their constituents.” Yes, Draper wants to divide California into six states. Steven Maviglio and Joe Rodota, strategists with the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, respectively, have formed OneCalifornia to fight Draper’s plan. “This is a colossal and divisive waste of time, energy, and money that will hurt the California brand,” Maviglio said. “It has zero chance of passage. But what it does is scare investment away... at a time when the Governor is leading us to an economic comeback.” Because Draper got the required 806,000 signatures, the proposal will be voted on in California’s November 2016 ballot. (MS/Reuters) ...Here’s a hint: if both major parties can agree that it’s a dumb idea, it’s probably a dumb idea.Story Update: Draper sent me a bunch of emails touting this idea, but stopped when I objected to the spam. The measure failed to make it to the ballot, apparently since enough signatures were declared invalid to take it below the threshold needed.
Draper tried again in 2018, though the proposal was narrowed to splitting California into three states, and he did get enough signatures this time. The day before ballots were sent to print, the California Supreme Court blocked the measure from appearing on the ballot in a unanimous ruling, because “significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition’s validity.”
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 21.
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