How California discourages new candidates for office

If you care about the First Amendment, keep an eye on a review of enforcement practices at an agency in Sacramento that you may never have heard of: the Fair Political Practices Commission.
The FPPC makes and enforces regulations to implement the Political Reform Act, a campaign finance reform law first enacted by state voters in 1974, back in the Watergate era. The plan then was to limit the influence and control of powerful special interests.
It was a road paved with good intentions, and like