Splitting California in Two

For years there have been various movements to split California. Most of the time that involved separating Northern from Southern, but a former State legislator wants to split coastal from everything else:

When his final term as a California assemblyman came to an end at the start of the year, Bill Maze could have quietly headed off to do other things.

But in the past couple of days at the World Ag Expo, Maze, of Visalia, has been busy shaking hands, talking to people and passing out pamphlets, much like a politician seeking votes.

This time he's not seeking them for himself but for a cause: Splitting 13 counties along the California coast into a separate state.

They are: Marin, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angles counties.

"We need to talk to people up and down California," Maze said, trying to drum up support for a group called Citizens for Saving California Farming Industries.

He formed the nonprofit with three men who approached him in mid-January with the idea of splitting the state.

They were Don Curlee, an agricultural journalist who writes a weekly column for the Times-Delta; Joe L. Neyer III, publisher of California Farm Equipment magazine; and Virgil Rogers, a retired farmer operating a small cattle ranch in Springville.

They have an ambitious goal, but one Maze insists can be done: Put an initiative on the state ballot to split off a 51st state.

That new state — "Coastal California" or "Western California" are a couple of names Maze suggested — would include three of California's four most populous cities: Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco.

San Diego, the second most populous city, would remain part of the 45-county California, which Maze believes should retain its name.

Can we split Orange County south of Santa Ana and have it go with San Diego County and the rest of "red" California? I don't want to get stuck with all the illegals and lefties in L.A. and San Francisco.