WITH THE passage of Prop 14 Tuesday, the reformation of California government that began with the passage of term limits in 1990 is now complete. No one knows exactly what changes Prop 14 will bring. But one thing’s for sure: They’re going to be momentous.

Term limits, you may recall, spelled the end of the careers of legislative bosses such as Willie Brown and John Burton. These far-left liberal politicians from San Francisco could never have been elected to statewide office. Yet these two men (and others like them), by virtue of their safe seats and the seniority system for leadership positions in the Assembly and the Senate, rose to some of the most powerful positions in Sacramento. Literally, while Burton controlled the Senate, no bill could become law without his personal OK. And he was a politician the ACLU would have considered was too liberal.

But while the ballot measure that brought term limits to the state Capitol put an end to the hegemonies of politicians like Burton and Brown, it didn’t go quite far enough to eliminate the power of special interests, which still call the shots in Sacramento via their control of the political parties. The faces of the party bosses may have changed because of term limits; their extremism did not.

But now, thanks to Prop 14, voters will suddenly have a whole different set of choices on election day. Sure, San Francisco and Santa Monica will still elect radical socialists to represent them in the Legislature. And Orange County will probably still pick right-wingers. But the vast majority of the people of this state would rather be represented by politicians who are in the center. Why haven’t they been able to get them? Because the system of partisan primaries has prevented middle-of-the-road politicians from getting their names on the ballot.

How good was Prop 14? The day after it passed, no less a Looney Tunes than Ralph Nader condemned it. And if Nader is against it, Prop 14 must really be something special.

Editorial: A runoff for sheriff

Published: June 11, 2010

ONE THING that’s unmistakeable about the results of the race for sheriff in Tuesday’s primary: Mike Kanalakis has some problems with the electorate. If Scott Miller, who was virtually unknown in most of the county before declaring his candidacy just a few weeks ago, was able to tie a two-term incumbent, then that incumbent has some explaining to do.

Except for some missteps during the 2008 wildfires, we think Kanalakis has done a good job. Miller, on the other hand, left a lot of questions behind when he was fired as police chief in Pacific Grove. With five months to go before the general election, it seems the voters are asking Kanalakis and Miller to take a time out from calling each other names and start talking about how they’ll protect the law abiding citizens of the county.