Government Reform

I'd never dreamed anything could be more shocking than looking at my credit card balance, but that was before I opened this month's statement. There, staring me in the face, was a message informing me that if I paid the minimum balance each month, it would take 31 years to pay off the credit card. OK, the message wasn't staring; after all, it's just a message. But I swear I could hear it laughing. Think about it. Thirty-one years. That's longer than it takes to pay off a mortgage, longer than most marriages last, and almost as long as Geraldo Rivera has been annoying us on TV, though it feels much longer.

A Net fight Re "Google pulls plug on China search engine," March 23 Google's decision to pull out of mainland China demonstrates that corporations can flex as much political muscle as nations when they have the right leadership. Google stands to lose a significant amount of revenue, but the Chinese government stands to lose far more as the country's young people grow increasingly dissatisfied with their leaders' hard-line tactics. It's a remarkable moment in history when a technology giant can take a leadership role in coercing an oppressive regime to change.

Legislative leaders Thursday unveiled a long-promised plan to overhaul state government, the linchpin of which is asking voters to allow a simple majority of lawmakers to pass a budget. Currently, a two-thirds vote is needed, which means some Republican support is required. The new proposal would let Democrats pass spending plans without a single Republican vote under the current makeup of the Legislature. The catch? They need a two-thirds vote -- including some Republicans in both houses -- to put the question to voters in November.

The dream about a historic state constitutional convention "reforming" California government was just that -- a fantasy. But the conclave's possibility served an important role: a prod on the Legislature to produce its own reforms. Legislative leaders are about to unveil some bipartisan internal changes -- eye-glazing but potentially productive -- plus proposed restraints on the scourge of ballot box budgeting. The tentative package includes two constitutional amendments that would be offered voters in November.

Toyota Motor Corp. "deliberately withheld" evidence in lawsuits related to vehicle safety, exhibiting a "systematic disregard for the law," the chairman of a congressional committee said. The firm created "secret electronic 'Books of Knowledge' " that included information about design problems, yet never disclosed their existence in lawsuits, according to internal company documents released by the committee Friday. The allegations, made by Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, came two days after Toyota's chief executive appeared before Congress to apologize for the automaker's handling of the sudden acceleration issue.

The head of Toyota Motor Corp. skirted a transpacific row Thursday by agreeing to testify before a congressional committee probing a series of massive recalls by the Japanese automaker. After first indicating he would not testify -- a move that raised the ire of congressional leaders -- Akio Toyoda, president of the company and grandson of its founder, said he now planned to appear at next week's hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "I look forward to speaking directly with Congress and the American people," Toyoda said in a statement.

Remember redistricting reform, the effort to strip from legislators the power to choose their own voters? It's the power that leads to gerrymandering or, in effect, lawmakers rigging their own elections. Proposition 11, sponsored by a coalition of nonpartisan good-government groups and heavily funded by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, passed by a thin margin (1.8%) in November 2008. It called for creation of a 14-member independent citizens commission to draw districts for the Legislature and state Board of Equalization.

With heated contests looming for U.S. Senate, governor and other statewide posts, 2010 stands to be a blockbuster year in California politics. The state could also see a bumper crop of ballot measures. In recent weeks, nearly 90 proposed initiatives have been in the pipeline, elbowing to become the latest entrants in the state's century-old tradition of direct democracy. Gay-rights activists, abortion foes, marijuana proponents and government-reform advocates are getting into the act of citizen lawmaking.

Large-scale protests spread in central Iranian cities Wednesday, offering the starkest evidence yet that the opposition movement that emerged from the disputed June presidential election has expanded beyond its base of mostly young, educated Tehran residents to at least some segments of the country's pious heartland. Demonstrations took place in Esfahan, a provincial capital and Iran's cultural center, and nearby Najafabad, the birthplace and hometown of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, whose death Saturday triggered the latest round of confrontations between the opposition movement and the government.