The Rose Report Volume XIII, Issue I, Fall 2009 DIRECTOR’S REPORT: DR. RALPH A. ROSSUM It wasn’t that long ago that the only the Rose Institute’s name recognition means available to us at the Rose Insti- and allows us to have a more immediate tute to keep the public informed of our and substantial impact on public policy research programs, public policy con- questions in California. ferences, publications, and personnel was the hard-copy version of the Rose Our blog posts are now also being Report. We continue to publish it semi- pulled into the CMC Alumni Associa- annually, but we now also have many tion’s Linkedin Group. Linkedin is a so- and political history together with bio- other means at our disposal to keep cial networking site that focuses on job graphical information on state legisla- everyone up-to-date. I want briefly to networking for professionals. The CMC tors and constitutional office holders mention several of them alumni form a large Linkedin Group, since 1849. There are currently 107 and our blog posts are now sent to them. documents in the Archive, and we con- The first, of course, is our website avail- We also post all of our blog posts on the tinue to add to it on a regular basis. able at http:/rose.cmc.edu/. While this social networking site Facebook, so that site has existed for some time, it has all of our “fans” on Facebook can also be On October 15 of this year, the Rose recently been extensively redesigned. kept abreast of our work. Institute held a high-profile and impor- Interested parties will find new links to tant conference entitled: “Redistrict- information about our Board of Gov- We now link through both our college ing, the 2010 Census, and Your Budget: ernors, senior staff, consultants, stu- website and our blog the Miller-Rose In- Changes and Challenges for California dent management team, and student stitute Initiative Database – a database Governments.” Employing webcasting research assistants. It has links to a list recently-posted online by Professor Ken technology for the first time, we were of all press mentions of the Institute Miller, Associate Director of the Rose able to make the conference available and its people, to the highly-respected Institute, that provides information on in real time to those who were unable Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing all statewide initiatives approved by vot- to attend in person. Business Survey, and the Miller-Rose ers in the United States from 1904 to the Institute Initiative Database (about present and that summarizes case infor- Finally, we even Twitter at “RoseIn- which, more below). Our website links mation on post-election legal challenges stitute”! We used the Twitter account to our blog, our publications, and to on- to those initiatives. It is an extremely for the first time during our recent line copies of past issues of the Rose Re- valuable resource for scholars across redistricting conference to post real- port. I would be remiss without men- the country researching questions about time comments and analysis. We will tioning that it has a link to “Giving to direct democracy in action as well as ju- use it at future conferences and public the Rose Institute”! dicial review of these direct-ballot mea- events; in addition, we will employ it on sures. The database is collaborative in a regular basis to post links and other For the past four years, the Rose In- that it allows researchers to add their materials that are interesting but per- stitute has also maintained a blog: own work to the database (with our re- haps do not merit a complete blog post. http://rosereport.org/. It is used for view): http://initiatives.rosereport.org. larger, substantive posts both highlight- I invite you to employ these means to ing some of our ongoing research proj- We have posted our California Politi- learn about the Rose Institute and our ects and featuring new research that is cal History Archive and Database at work–and, more importantly, to deep- exclusive to the blog. The blog allows us the Claremont College Digital Library: en your understanding of the critical to post information and research in real http://rosereport.org/library. It chron- public policy challenges facing Califor- time without having to wait for printed icles California’s election, redistricting, nia. reports. It contributes significantly to Also in the News: Page 2..... Student Managers’ Report Page 6.......... A Look Back at the Redistricting Conference Page 3..... Kosmont Updates Page 8.......... Rose Institute Students’ Summer Experiences Page 4..... The Rose Report Online Page 10-11... Meet the New Hires Page 5.....The Girard Fellowship Page 12.........Tony Quinn on the 2010 Redistricting www.rosereport.org Page 2 ~Abhi Nemani ’10, Keith McCammon ’10, STUDENT MANAGERS’ REPORT and Emily Forden ’10 The energy in the back room of the Rose Institute these days included Patrick Atwater ’10 and Ian Johnson ’09, among is palpable. We have only been here since 2006, none of us others, the report has subsequently received attention from are old enough to have lived during the redistrictings of the the press and has set a standard for excellence we expect to Heslop and Hardy era, but from what we have heard -- and maintain throughout this cycle. the senior staff rather enjoys reliving it -- we can only hope it felt something like this. Maps coming out of every print- We were particularly pleased to see the level of board and er, hard deadlines around every corner, and even a few late alumni engagement in the conference. Board members nights now and then. As we approach the 2010 Census and Marguerite Leoni and Frank Trippepi spearheaded the ef- the pursuant redistricting, the Rose Institute is already at fort and pushed us to make the conference a reality in a mat- work, churning out high-quality research on all fronts, rang- ter of months, and Christopher Skinnell and Christopher ing from demographic and fiscal analysis to legal and survey Townsend were just some of our alumni on the panels and research. We can say in attendance. As expect- without equivocation ed, the commentary pro- this has been our most vided by the Institute’s exciting year at the Rose staff -- including Dr. Institute. And it’s just Ralph Rossum, Dr. Flor- getting started. ence Adams, Dr. Kenneth Miller, Doug Johnson, Most recently, the entire and even Patrick Atwater staff came together to ’10 -- was well-received host “Redistricting, The and so continue our tra- 2010 Census, and Your dition of leadership on is- Budget,” a day long con- sues of demographics and ference that prepared redistricting. city leaders for the poli- tics of the turn of the de- None of this could have cade. Over 75 state and happened without the local officials came to immeasurable dedica- Claremont McKenna’s Abhi M. Nemani Emily A. Forden Keith R. McCammon tion and amazing work of campus on October 15, Student Manager Assistant Student Manager Student Manager our students. Conference and with over a dozen manager Sophia Hall panelists and speakers, we packed the Bauer Forum. The day ’10 and assistant manager Emily McNab ’11 planned out consisted of four panels and a lunch keynote, each taking up each detail so meticulously that in the days leading up to a different aspect of the next redistricting: California’s new the event, the senior staff were surprised that they had so rules for redistricting, what to expect in the 2011 redistrict- little to do. Each student stepped up, too: some willing to ing cycle, the 2010 Census Count, the financial opportunities wake up at 7:30am to set up the registration table and oth- of the 2010 Census, and the California Voting Rights Act. ers willing to drive speakers back to the airport at 9pm at The event gave us the opportunity to showcase our own ex- night. This was group effort and, now we think we can say, pertise while bringing together other experts in the field. a group success. We began the day with a preview of our new study, “The Cen- The conference could have easily subsumed the all of the sus 2010: Congressional Reapportionment,” which exam- Institute’s resources, but it is a testament to our staff that ined the most recent population estimates and demographic we did not shrink from our commitment to fiscal, survey, changes in California and their impact on Congressional and legal analysis. In fact this semester, we have expanded redistricting in 2011 (see more on page 6). Produced by a it, with new, challenging projects across the spectrum. research team that was led by Consultant Doug Johnson and www.rosereport.org Page 3 Alongside Dr. Steve Frates, Ilan Wurman ’10 led a team of With the publication of Dr. Miller’s new book, Direct De- researchers examining Riverside County. The final prod- mocracy and the Courts, the Miller-Rose Institute Initia- uct was over 300 pages, and included over 150 charts and tive Database has gained traction in academic circles, and graphs. The report was so big that the team was embarrassed Jacinth Sohi ’11 is working with a group of researchers on to admit that it took them over 2 hours to successfully bind ways to expand the database and leverage it for new analy- it. We’re told by Dr. Frates and Mr. Dave Huntoon, however, sis and papers. Already it has assisted Dr. Miller in his aca- the depth and breadth of the analysis impressed the clients. demic writing and a few students in their classes, and we’re expecting its value to only grow.