Tired of hearing about next week’s election from only the contenders and the media pundits? And yet still open to the kind of thoughtful, informed insights they won’t give you?
If so, you’ll probably enjoy a series of informal lectures and interviews providing nonpartisan perspectives on both what’s on the ballot and how voters make choices both here in California and nationwide, now available as free podcasts to download here.
“The November Election” is a seven-part UCLA Extension series led by Bob Stern, vice president of Californians Aware, with expert guest speakers.
Stern is former President of the Center for Governmental Studies, a nonprofit research organization located in Los Angeles; former chair of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws; and former general counsel for the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Stern has taught a course on politics and government for the UCLA School of Law as well as a course on Elections for UCLA undergraduates.
Part One: General Introduction: What’s on the ballot with particular emphasis on the presidential election, the U.S. Senate race and other competitive races throughout the country, as well as the California ballot propositions.
Part Two: A conversation with Mickey Kantor about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Debates, Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and more.
Part Three: The November Election – What‘s on the ballot? A conversation about ballot measures and the initiative process, with Joel Fox, co-publisher and editor of the Fox & Hounds daily and former president, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
Part Four: Guest speaker: Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, KNBC political analyst and professor of the Practice of Public Policy Communication at the USC Price School of Public Policy. Topics discussed: objective reporting, investigative reporting, and digital media.
Part Five: Guest speaker: Senator Ben Allen, 26th District, including the Westside, Hollywood and the South Bay communities of Los Angeles County. Topics discussed: Running for office and more.
Part Six: Guest speaker: Fred Woocher, JD/PhD, discusses Citizens United and campaign finance and more. Woocher is a graduate of Yale (A.B.) and Stanford (Ph.D., J.D.), and was president of the Stanford Law Review and law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., and Chief Judge David L. Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Part Seven: An election results postmortem to be listed here.
