IRI

Initiative & Referendum Institute

at the University of Southern California 

Democracy on the Brink: A Conference on the California Special Election

USC Law School

November 1

On the eve of California's first special election in a decade, this half-day conference at the USC Gould School of Law brings together scholars, journalists, and practitioners to discuss the impact of the November special election on democracy in California and across the nation. The first panel highlights recent research on direct democracy and its implications for governance in California. The second panel brings together a diverse group of leading experts from academia, the media, and politics in a roundtable format to discuss the exploding use of initiatives and referendums in California and nationwide. The event is sponsored by IRI and the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Politics and is free of charge and open to the public.

For media questions, please contact Gilien Silsby, IRI Director of Public Relations, USC Law School, (213) 740-9690, gsilsby@law.usc.edu. For other questions about the conference, contact Betsey Hawkins, Program Manager of CSLP, (213) 821-5438.

PANEL 1

Ballot Box Governance: New Research on the Initiative Process

9:30 - 11:00 am

Moderator: Dan Rodriguez (Warren Distinguished Professor of Law, University of San Diego Law School)

John de Figueiredo (Professor of Strategy and Policy, Anderson School of Management, UCLA) - Campaign Finance

Jonathan Katz (Professor of Political Science, Caltech) - Redistricting

Joe Mathews (Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times) - Governors and the Initiative

Lawrence Picus (Professor of Administration and Policy, USC Rossier School of Education) - Education Finance

PANEL 2

The Initiative Explosion: What It Means for State Government

11:10 am - 12:30 pm

Moderator: Nick Goldberg (Op-Ed Editor: Los Angeles Times)

Michael Alvarez (Professor of Political Science, Caltech; Associate Director of CSLP)

Joel Fox (Co-Chair, Citizens to Save California; President, Small Business Action Committee)

Elizabeth Garrett (Director of CSLP; Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, Political Science, and Policy, Planning, and Development, USC)

Kam Kuwata (Democratic Consultant)

Judy Muller (Political Reporter, ABC News; Assistant Professor, USC Annenberg School for Communication)

M. Dane Waters (Chairman and Founder of IRI)

Conference organizers

Michael Alvarez, (Professor of Political Science, Caltech; Associate Director of CSLP)

Elizabeth Garrett (Director of CSLP; Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, Political Science, and Policy, Planning, and Development, USC)

John Matsusaka (President of IRI; Professor, USC Marshall School of Business and USC Law School)