At Global Forum, Libertarian leader looks at initiative process

CapitolBeatOK Staff Report

Published: 30-Jul-2010

Christina Tobin, the Libertarian party’s candidate for California Secretary of State, will speak at the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy beginning today (Friday, July 30) in San Francisco, and running through August 4.

The forum is a five-day international event and will include the two-day U.S. Conference on Initiative and Referendum at the University California’s Hastings College of Law.

Also speaking at the forum is Pat McGuigan, editor of CapitolBeatOK, who is part of a panel of journalists looking at news media coverage: “Initiative & Referendum in the Court of Public Opinion.”

Tobin will participate in a panel titled, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Paid For and Counted: An Inside Look at the Process, from the Signatures to the Votes,” Saturday, July 31, beginning at 3:45 p.m. PT. The panel will also include Theresa Amato with Citizen Works, Rick Arnold with National Voter Outreach, Elaine Ginnold with the Marin County Registrar of Voters, and Gerald Haefner of the European Parliament. The panel will be moderated by Nicole Winger, Deputy Secretary of State in California.

Sunday, August 1, beginning at 4:45 p.m. PT, Tobin will speak to conference attendees about her involvement with election reforms across the country and what she tags the “dangers of ‘top two’ primaries,” as well as her upcoming plans for Free and Equal Elections Foundation, of which she is CEO and founder.

“Being so close to home I wouldn’t miss this incredible conference for the world,” Tobin said. “The line-up of speakers, from Ralph Nader to Debra Bowen and John Fund to Jane Hamsher, is amazing. I am honored to be participating with such influential political minds from all over the world. The 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy is sure to have a big impact on this world. I invite everyone who can make it to San Francisco this weekend or next week to join us for this important conference.”

Other panel topics at the conference will include: “Is California’s Initiative Process Ruining the State, Or Saving It?”; “Big Money vs. Direct Democracy: Who Wins?”; “Do You Dream of Electronic Signatures?”; and “Starting Over: The Challenge of Writing a New Constitution with Direct Democracy.”