| PAST DEBATE |
| CALIFORNIA IS THE FIRST FAILED STATE |
FOR THE MOTION
MODERATOR
AGAINST THE MOTION
Andreas Kluth
FOR THE MOTION
Andreas Kluth
has been writing for the Economist since 1997 and currently covers California and the western states from Los Angeles. In previous assignments, he covered technology, Asian business and global finance.
Bobby Shriver
FOR THE MOTION
Bobby Shriver
was elected to the Santa Monica City Council by the highest percentage of voters in that city’s 120-year history in 2004. Re-elected in 2008, he continues his work to reduce homelessness in the city and across Los Angeles County.
Sharon Waxman
FOR THE MOTION
Sharon Waxman
is editor in chief, founder, and CEO of TheWrap.com, a primary news source focused on the business of entertainment and media. She is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, and a former Hollywood correspondent for the New York Times.
John Donvan
MODERATOR
John Donvan
is a correspondent for ABC News Nightline. He has served as ABC White House Correspondent, along with posting in Moscow, London, Jerusalem and Amman.
Gray Davis
AGAINST THE MOTION
Gray Davis
was overwhelmingly elected the 37th governor of California in 1998, winning 58 percent of the vote. As Governor, he made education a top priority, signing legislation to strengthen California’s K-12 system, increasing accountability in schools, and expanding access to higher education with a record number of scholarships and college loans.
Van Jones
AGAINST THE MOTION
Van Jones
worked from March to September 2009 as the special advisor for green jobs at the White House Council for Environmental Quality, where he developed policy recommendations to help implement the Obama Administration’s commitment to clean energy jobs.
Lawrence O’Donnell
AGAINST THE MOTION
Lawrence O’Donnell
is a senior political analyst for MSNBC and an Emmy-winning producer and writer of NBC’s The West Wing. From 1993 through 1995, O’Donnell was the Democratic chief of staff of the United States Senate Committee on Finance.
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PRE-DEBATE VOTE:
FOR: 31% AGAINST: 25% UNDECIDED: 44%
POST-DEBATE VOTE:
FOR: 58% AGAINST: 37% UNDECIDED: 5%
California tried. And then it failed. Uniquely charged by its constitution to guarantee the “happiness” of its residents – the state empowered its people to demand by referendum whatever they wanted to spend money on – from better schools to bigger prisons and to refuse by referendum to pay the bills. A legislature paralyzed by the absence of a workable middle – and a requirement for a 2/3 vote to impose taxes – combined finally to dig the state into a possibly inescapable hole. Having now earned the lowest bond rating of any of the 50 states, the rates it pays to borrow keep getting higher. Yet borrowing seems to be all California can do to get through from day to day. That is what is known as The Road to Bankruptcy. “Happiness” thus engineered is doomed to collapse. The question is whether California is a special case–with a uniquely dysfunctional political culture–or a bellwether of failure soon to come to other high-spending states near you.
MODERATOR
John Donvan is a correspondent for ABC News Nightline. He has served over a career of more than two decades in the following capacities for ABC News: chief White House correspondent, chief Moscow correspondent, Amman bureau chief, Jerusalem correspondent and correspondent for the ABC News magazine Turning Point. Donvan’s most recent major assignment was covering the war in Iraq as a unilateral reporter, for which the Chicago Sun Times named him one of the ten war stars.
FOR THE MOTION*
Andreas Kluth has been writing for the Economist since 1997 and currently covers California and the western states from Los Angeles. In previous assignments, he covered technology, Asian business and global finance. He is currently writing his first book, an in-depth look at triumph and disaster in modern life, told primarily through the true stories of Hannibal, an ancient Carthaginian general, and his Roman enemies Fabius and Scipio. Kluth blogs at http://andreaskluth.org/.
Bobby Shriver was elected to the Santa Monica City Council by the highest percentage of voters in that city’s 120-year history in 2004. Re-elected in 2008, he continues his work to reduce homelessness in the city and across Los Angeles County, with special emphasis on housing homeless veterans of U.S. Armed Forces. In addition, he has co-founded three organizations to help eliminate the financial and health emergencies threatening the people of Africa: DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), ONE.org and RED.
Sharon Waxman is editor in chief, founder, and CEO of TheWrap.com, a primary news source focused on the business of entertainment and media. She is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author, a former Hollywood correspondent for the New York Times and a leading authority on the entertainment business and media. Before the Times, she was a correspondent for eight years for the Washington Post. She started out as a foreign correspondent, covering Europe and the Middle East for a decade.
AGAINST THE MOTION*
Joseph “Gray” Davis was overwhelmingly elected the 37th governor of California in 1998, winning 58 percent of the vote. As Governor, he made education a top priority, signing legislation to strengthen California’s K-12 system, increasing accountability in schools, and expanding access to higher education with a record number of scholarships and college loans. While presiding over California during an economic expansion, Davis made record investments in infrastructure, created four Centers of Science and Innovation on UC campuses, and expanded state health insurance for an additional one million children.
Van Jones worked from March to September 2009 as the special advisor for green jobs at the White House Council for Environmental Quality, where he developed policy recommendations to help implement the Obama Administration’s commitment to clean energy jobs. He is the author of The Green Collar Economy, the definitive book on “green jobs,” and helped to pass America’s first “green job training” legislation, the Green Jobs Act, which George W. Bush signed into law as a part of the 2007 Energy Bill.
Lawrence O’Donnell is a senior political analyst for MSNBC and an Emmy-winning producer and writer of NBC’s The West Wing. From 1993 through 1995, O’Donnell was the Democratic chief of staff of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, and in 1992, was chief of staff of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. He also appears as a recurring supporting character on the HBO series Big Love.
FALL 2010 MOTIONS UNDER CONSIDERATION:
US airports should use racial and religious profiling · The Catholic church is a force for good in the world · Sex lives of politicians are our business · Obama’s foreign policy is a gift to America’s enemies · If the cure for cyber terrorism is government interference, let’s stick with the disease · American popular culture has been systematically degraded · Evangelical Christianity is finished politically · Campus liberals squelch fair and balanced discourse · Celebrities should have no rights to privacy · Bankers deserve their pay · It’s unethical to design our children · Obama’s America can declare victory over racism
*All Panelists are subject to change without notice
We have moved to a new venue: NYU SKIRBALL CENTER (566 LaGuardia Place) Reception 5:45 - 6:30PM Debate 6:45 - 8:30PM Tickets $45
We have moved to a new venue: NYU SKIRBALL CENTER (566 LaGuardia Place) Reception 5:45 - 6:30PM Debate 6:45 - 8:30PM Tickets $45
The pre-debate reception offers an opportunity to meet other New Yorkers and mingle with the evening's panelists. Enjoy complimentary wine and soft drinks in the Skirball Center lobby from 5:45 - 6:30PM and gain priority access to the auditorium. Doors open at 6:30PM for debate-only ticket holders.
