Following the money is now easier to do in California

A "Reform" With No Meaning

• What a waste of time.  A "reform" where you can track the mountains of campaign cash buying California politicians.
• What is the point of tracking money when voters have no meaningful choices on their general election ballots.
• The U.S. is the only "democratic" nation on earth where the same two bought and paid for parties magically win 100% of all elections.

(Los Angeles Daily News)  -  The state of California has launched a new campaign finance disclosure search engine, allowing users to more easily track state-level political donations to elected officials.

Called Power Search, the site is an update to Cal-Access, the Secretary of State’s existing campaign finance portal.

Power Search allows users to filter campaign donations from a particular company or organization from 2001 to the present. Search results can also be filtered by date, amount, location and other criteria.

“Both the public and the press should have quick and easy access to campaign finance information,” Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement. “Power Search is the first step in modernizing and upgrading Cal-Access.”

The new capabilities weren’t available through Cal-Access, which launched in 2000. That web portal will remain up, despite the launch of Power Search, because Cal-Access offers information on lobbyists, which the new site doesn’t.

Secretary of State press secretary Sam Mahood said officials will consider adding more features to Power Search.

“We want to consistently evaluate how we can best improve transparency,” Mahood said.

Power Search was created in conjunction with MapLight, a Berkeley-based nonprofit research organization that tracks political donations, and funded with a $100,000 grant from the San Francisco-based James Irvine Foundation.

While Power Search doesn’t show donations to Los Angeles city ballot measures or local politicians, the portal links to the city’s web site that offers that information.

Read More . . . .

A
The current California State Assembly with the same two corrupt parties "magically" winning 100% of all elections. 

A Modest Reform - State Board of Equalization
kk
Shake up the corrupt power structure in Sacramento and add 40 new seats to the State Assembly with 10 new members coming from each of the four State Board of Equalization districts (above map).
k
Structure the elections so they are more open to the public and not financed by the Elites.
k
Proposal #1) The residents would elect their local district Assemblyman in the normal manner.  But the resident would then have ten votes for their regional State Assemblymen.  The top ten vote getters in the regional district would go to Sacramento.  With a total of eleven votes available to them, voters would be able to elect independent candidates or even members of smaller opposition political parties like Green Party of California or the California Libertarian Party.
k
Proposal #2  Many nations use proportional representation for elections.  If a party wins 20% of the vote they win 20% of the seats.  That system could be applied in these regional districts.  If voters knew that their vote was not "wasted" on a minor party you might 10 or 15 of these seats going to existing smaller parties or new ones that would be created.
k
In any case, the corrupt system needs a major shake up, and the voters have the right to real and meaningful ballot choices.
l
Free elections.  What a concept.