Schwarzenegger: Other states should follow Calif. and open primaries to elect moderates

Schwarzenegger: More states should open primaries

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger commended California voters Wednesday for dumping the state’s partisan primary system and predicted fed-up voters would follow in other states.

However, there were no guarantees that passage of Proposition 14, which created open primaries in the state, would end the partisan bickering that has hamstrung Congress and state legislatures.

U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, pointed out that California’s legislative and congressional districts are heavily gerrymandered and favor one party or the other.

Thus, the winner of the primary who is in the majority party typically coasts to victory in the general election.

In some heavily Democratic or Republican districts, the minority party may not have “somebody on the ballot in November to champion the causes” of that party, Waxman said.

Schwarzenegger, the state’s outgoing Republican governor, contends that a partisan primary system forces candidates to pander to the extreme wing of their party to win primaries.

“We in California have said we’ve got to come to the center,” Schwarzenegger said at a news conference. “I think the rest of the nation eventually will find out this is exactly what the action is, not go way to the right, not go way to the left.”

There was no indication that other states were mobilizing to change their primaries.

California is only the third state to embrace open contests. Proposition 14 was patterned after a law in Washington state that survived a U.S. Supreme Court challenge and has been in effect since 2008. Louisiana has a similar open system for its general election.

In Utah, the Democratic House minority leader has introduced legislation to replace the state’s party nominating process with an open primary.

Utah candidates are now chosen by delegates to state party conventions, a process that led to three-term U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett losing his party’s nomination this year for re-election.

Its unclear whether the open primary proposal will advance in Utah. Republicans control the Legislature, and GOP chairman Dave Hansen has been an ardent defender of the party convention system.

Under Proposition 14, California voters can cast ballots for any candidate in a primary election, regardless of party, with the top two finishers moving on to the general election.

Approval of the measure reflected voter anger in California and across the nation at a system that critics complained has been dominated by a small coterie of political activists in each of the two major political parties.

Schwarzenegger’s campaign committee gave $2 million to support the initiative, but he did not say whether he would be willing to put his political muscle behind a national open-primary effort.

Later Wednesday, Schwarzenegger said his administration would share information with other states interested in an open primary.

Open primaries have long been opposed by California’s political parties, which have a history of challenging changes to election laws. The state Democratic Party was weighing its options regarding Proposition 14.

At least one organization was eyeing a court challenge.

“We’re ready to fight this nationwide,” said Christina Tobin, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit Free & Equal Elections Foundation.

Tobin said attorneys planned to spend the next few weeks reviewing the initiative before filing a lawsuit.

If the law is eventually upheld, California Democratic Party chairman John Burton predicted voters would be just as dissatisfied with Sacramento because state law requires a two-thirds vote for the Legislature to pass a state budget or raise taxes.

“People will find out they still have dysfunction because it takes two-thirds votes to go to the bathroom” in the Legislature, Burton said.

AP Writers Charles Babington in Washington, D.C., Cathy Bussewitz in Sacramento, and Brock Vergakis in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.