Lanhee Chen

David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution, director of Domestic Policy Studies in Stanford’s Public Policy Program, and former 2022 California State Controller candidate focused on public policy, health care policy, fiscal issues, and elections.

California’s Initiative System Has Become a Tool for Organized Interests

Lanhee Chen argues that California’s initiative system still serves as an escape valve when Sacramento will not act, but has become increasingly dominated by the moneyed interests, consultants and procedural insiders it was designed to bypass. In a Hoover Institution discussion with Bill Whalen, Chen uses the state’s crowded November ballot to show how direct democracy now functions not only as a vehicle for voter policy choices, but as leverage in negotiations, a turnout tool and a way for entrenched actors to preserve power.

Hoover InstitutionJul 7, 202621 min read