Wednesday, July 17, 2013 (SACRAMENTO)

A 5-Point Plan for California’s First “Chief Engagement Officer”

1. “Get what you pay for” government.

Sacramento has become a merry-go-round for career politicians who use the
power of their positions to move up the political ladder instead of improving
California’s financial environment and quality of life. There’s no incentive to
ensuring economic development, recruiting businesses, advancing our education
system, or achieving better civic engagement. Elections shouldn’t be the only
time we judge our politicians. Taxpayers are currently paying six-figure salaries
for government complacency.

Pete’s Plan:
 Set the example for other politicians by getting paid according to my
performance.
 Establish my own “100-point Performance Dashboard”– a mixture of
indicators ranging from easing the business registration process to
increasing voter turnout. And I’ll post it online.
 I’ll get paid only for those portions of the dashboard that I successfully
execute.
 Launch a biannual “Eureka Prize,” awarding counties and Californians on
civic engagement measures, including the highest increases in voter
turnout and the development of online/handheld voting applications.

2. Quit driving jobs out of California by making life difficult for California
businesses.

The Secretary of State’s office is the first place you go when opening a new
business and the last place you go when the lights are turned off and the doors
are closed. The sight isn’t pretty. The registration process for businesses in
California is one of the worst in the country. In fact, many California businesses
register in nearby Nevada or in Texas while they wait for the California
registration to come through, just so they can open a bank account.
California has lost more jobs than any other state since the beginning of the
recession, and is one of the toughest states in which to start or grow a small
business. Governor Jerry Brown and the other career politicians in Sacramento
are doing nothing to stop it. Trying to start – and run – a business in California is
a nightmare of misguided information and various websites and 800 numbers,
instead of a streamlined easy-to-use process. This needs to change.

Pete’s Plan:
 Make all business registration available online.
 48-hour maximum turnaround for business registration without a premium
charge.
 Remove the $800 annual fee for the first year of operation for new
businesses – both corporations and LLC’s . And then reduce that fee to
be competitive with other states.
 Develop a “GoldMine BizPortal” that easily connects new businesses with
support services, the Board of Equalization, Employment Development
Department, and Franchise Tax Board.
 Provide customer feedback surveys with all business registration forms to
improve service.
 Issue a biannual “Coming & Going Report,” outlining why businesses are
starting in California – or leaving. Let’s stop hiding the facts.
 Maintain an ongoing “CA BizTracker” of business start-ups and failures on
the SOS homepage.

3. California is the world leader in technology and design – let’s use it to

make government run better and get more Californians informed and
involved.

California is home to the best graphic designers and technology experts in the
world, but you’d never know it from the way our elections are run. California has
been ranked in the bottom 5 states in the use of technology in the voting process.
Even states like Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Arkansas far exceed
California in the use of technology for voting purposes. And our electoral system
is also one of the worst in the country when it comes to counting absentee
ballots, provisional ballots, and the ballots of our armed forces members serving
abroad.

Pete’s Plan:
 Create a California-based “Design for Democracy” summit involving the
state’s best graphic designers, and launch a top-down review of all the
state’s civic engagement platforms – from our absentee ballot forms to the
Secretary of State’s website.
 Overhaul the ballot information packet to make it easier to read, more
informative, and more accessible in digital formats.

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  Launch handheld tools statewide for finding the nearest polling location
and tracking your absentee ballot.
 Improve communications and promotion of voting to our overseas military.
 Encourage immediate electronic voter registration at all points of contact
with the state – including when a Californian obtains a driver license, buys
or sells a home, or rents an apartment,

4. More Californians/fewer Sacramento politicians in the ballot initiative

process.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Third Circuit Court found that Governor Brown, the
Secretary of State, and the Legislature unconstitutionally placed Proposition 30
at the top of the ballot through an all-too-typical insider deal. The Ballot Initiative
is the “People’s Voice” in California and must be protected against Sacramento
overreach. We need more Californians involved in the initiative process, not
politicians. Through technology and better public engagement, we can keep the
ballot box in the hands of informed Californians, where it belongs.

Pete’s Plan:
 Propose a “Citizen’s Initiative Review”– a process that utilizes a “Citizens’
Jury” to review and comment on state ballot initiatives.
 Propose an “e-Petition” system with electronic signature gathering that will
generate online involvement in the legislative process.
 Develop an online system so citizens can weigh in on important legislative
issues on a real-time basis, and so that professional politicians hear from
real Californians, not just special interest lobbyists.
 Stand up and fight for the voters against power plays and phony “reform”
efforts –– that actually strengthen the power of special interests, like the
Prop 30 hijinks.

5. Follow the money: make it easy for you to track money in politics.

Current Secretary of State Debra Bowen was known as a technology leader

when she was a State Senator. But as just another politician using the Secretary
of State post as a failed springboard for higher office, she has presided over an
election results website that crashes repeatedly on election nights and a
campaign finance website that has been stuck in a “closed data” mindset. Until
recently, the Secretary of State actually charged hundreds of dollars for a simple
copy of the public campaign finance and lobbying databases.

Pete’s Plan:
 As recommended by the former head of the California Fair Political
Practices Commission, propose a ban on all fundraising activities by state
legislators and statewide officeholders while the legislature in is session.

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  Exempt challengers from this ban to help level the playing field that’s now
stacked so heavily in favor of incumbents.
 Create new computer applications to release as much campaign data as
legally possible for the public to review…instantly and free of charge.

Contact: Clay Russell / 213.265.7358 / clay@petesos.com

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