STATE OF DISARRAY
Jones thoughtfully, eloquently and correctly points to the conflict between naked ambition and electoral and structural stagnation as the main problem afflicting the California Legislature. However, he misses the cause: professionalism itself.
When Jesse Unruh transformed the Legislature to a full-time outfit in 1966 with Proposition 1-A, he unwittingly (or perhaps intentionally) turned the Legislature into a political steppingstone that attracted the opportunistic and ambitious. They, and professionally organized interest groups and unions, have contributed to the gridlock that we have today.
It is funny to recall that in the ‘60s and ‘70s, professionalism in government was thought to be a virtue.
CHRIS COLLET
Irvine
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