Humane Society

Watch Out, Arizona. Here Comes the Humane Society

Joe Mathews — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:38:00 -0400

The Humane Society doesn't just protect animals. They're the leading defender of the initiative process. And as the blog Animals & Politics, by Humane Society Legislative Fund president Michael Markarian (above) makes clear, Arizona is about to feel the full weight of the society. Specifically, the Humane Society is exercised about Prop 105, the newest in a series of super-majority requirement for ballot initiatives that is sweeping the nation. Florida implemented a requirement that 60 percent of voters approve a ballot initiative. And Utah, trying to fight off the Humane Society, implemented one that only covers measures on wildlife protection.

But the Arizona ballot initiative goes further, by requiring that a majority of ALL REGISTERED VOTERS approve an initiative before it takes effect. Just winning among people who show up would not be enough.

Here's a New One: Prop 2 Supporters Sue Themselves!

Joe Mathews — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:36:00 -0400

In California, supporters of Prop 2, a Humane Society-backed ballot initiative to regulate how farm animals are confined, appear to have made a little bit of legal history. Earlier this month, they essentially sued themselves in an attempt to change their own ballot argument in favor of the measure.

The lawsuit, which is attached below, makes for odd reading. The language of the lawsuit sounds almost apologetic, asking for a "very minor change" (italics not mine) in both the ballot argument and the rebuttal to the "no" side's argument. Technically, the supporters are suing the Secretary of State, but they're suing the Secretary of State to change something they themselves wrote. The reason for the filing? To avoid voter confusion, the lawsuit says.

It appears that Humane Society folks thought they had lined up support for Prop 2 from some leading Catholics, but got pushback from church officials when the ballot argument said that Catholic leaders had endorsed the measure. The church itself has not. One Catholic group that endorsed the measure, the California Veterinary Medicine Association, also seems to be unhappy with one part of the ballot argument.

The Humane Society of the United States has a stronger record of success in ballot measures than any other interest group in the country. But this suggests that their California campaign is having some hiccups.

Egg Wars

Joe Mathews — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:57:00 -0400

Today's Sacramento Bee has an interesting overview of Prop 2, the California ballot initiative limiting how farm animals may be confined. If enacted, California farms effectively would be prohibited from raising hens in cages.

NYT Columnist Hearts Prop 2

Joe Mathews — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:08:00 -0400

Former farm boy and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof backs Prop 2, the California initiative to create a little more space for farm animals. He also writes about killing geese. Referring to the November vote on the measure, Kristof calls it "the most importnat election this November you've never heard of."

The Chicken And The Internet

Joe Mathews — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:04:00 -0400

Capitol Weekly examines how the use of the Internet by the proponents of Prop 2, the Humane Society's California ballot initiative to change the rules of farm animal confinement, show the way to the future of initiative politics. Joe Trippi is in the middle of this campaign.

Could They All Go Down Together?

Joe Mathews — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:55:00 -0400

Also posted at Fox and Hounds Daily.

The Field Poll has recently conducted surveys on 5 of the 11 initiatives -- plus one bond measure -- scheduled to appear on California's November ballot. The numbers are all over the place, but there's reason to believe that all six measures polled could be headed to defeat in November.

How's that?

Well, the lack of initial support for a ballot initiative is almost always an indication that it won't pass. Such measures are hard to sell even when they, at first blush, have appeal. To start out with less than 50 percent support and win requires a Herculean effort (and usually, very weak or non-existent opposition). On that basis alone, we can count out Prop 11, the redistricting measure, which shows only 42 percent in the poll, and Prop 4, parental notification, which has 48 percent. The same is also probably true of Prop 8, the ban on same-sex marriage, which also has only 42 percent in a recent Field Poll. One caution: the politics of gay marriage, which are really the politics of marriage, are complicated and relatively new, and other polling has shown this to be a tighter race than that. This is likely to be a 51-49 kind of campaign. The question is who wins.

The rest of the measures have majority support in the Field Poll. But the numbers may not tell much because so few people are aware of the measures. In fact, no more than 23 percent of voters were aware of any measures--with the exceptional of parental notification, a Groundhog Day measure which the voters have confronted in the past two election cycles. Support is more likely to fall than rise as voters learn more.

Prop 1, the oft-delayed high speed rail bond, has a decent chance, showing 56 percent support and 30 percent in opposition in the Field Poll. But supporters should not be comfortable. While the idea of rail is attractive, voters may end up focusing on the billions of borrowing required. Taking on new debt in a cash-strapped state at a time of credit crisis does not sound wise. And if the legislature and governor add budget-related measures to the ballot as a result of a budget compromise this summer, there will be considerable public debate in California about debt. In such an environment, Prop 1 is in deep trouble.

Prop 7, the renewable energy measure, shows even stronger support, at 63 percent in the Field Poll. But the measure has big political problems. Both state parties oppose it, as do local governments and environmentalists. If the environmental community can communicate its displeasure, the measure surely can be defeated. The presence of Prop 10, Boone Pickens' $5 billion bond to help the natural gas business, also could drag down Prop 7 if the two measures become connected in people's minds. (Memo to consultants: this may not be the time for a California campaign fronted by an out-of-state oilman).

Finally, we come to Prop 2, the Humane Society's measure to give farm animals a little more freedom to move around. It has 63 percent support, but it also faces a well-funded and fierce no campaign from agricultural interests. No campaigns usually drag a measure down, but the Humane Society has one of the most sophisticated political operations of any interest group. And the society has the best record in the country of winning ballot measure campaigns -- they win 4 times out of every 5.

This race will get closer, but in the end, the chickens win.

Everybody else loses.

Weekend Round Up: Ohio Sick Leave, California Parcels

Joe Mathews — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:46:00 -0400

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO RUN A BALLOT MEASURE CAMPAIGN.... Read this post from Wayne Pacelle, of the Humane Society of the United States, at California Majority Report.

ANOTHER CALIFORNIA PARCEL TAX: One of the handful of taxes California cities can raise is the parcel tax. With the state budget in crisis, more and more city governments are asking the voters to endorse parcel tax hikes to pay for police officers. The latest city to make the ask is Oakland.

SICK IN OHIO? An Ohio ballot initiative, currently on the street, would require companies to provide seven days of paid sick leave. But Gov. Ted Strickland may be trying to forge a compromise before the initiative reaches the ballot, according to a leading legislator.

THE DOGS HAVE IT: A measure to ban greyhound racing in Massachusetts appears to have enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

MORE DEVELOPMENT ISSUES ON LOCAL BALLOT: A ballot measure in Pleasanton, Calif., would limit hillside and housing developments. Competing measures on growth -- a citizen's initiative and a measure referred by the city council -- will go before voters in your blogger's former town, Redondo Beach. Ballot box planning shows no sign of abating.

Animal Confinement Initiative Makes the Ballot

Joe Mathews — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:04:00 -0400

This is according to the Sacramento Bee. Consultants are saying this could be a blockbuster.

Round Up: Crackdown on Signature Gatherers?

Joe Mathews — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:54:00 -0400

CRACKDOWN ON SIGNATURE GATHERERS? The Contra Costa Times has this item in praise of a bill that will attempt to hold initiative sponsors liable for misstatements and misrepresentations made by signature gatherers. One wonders if the sponsor has met any signature gatherers, who tend to be, shall we say, independent-minded. They often are folks who, because of their life choices, like to be paid in cash. How does one police these misrepresentations? Who decides? This bill may pass, but it seems like an outrageous criminalization of political speech that will produce nothing more than litigation.

NO EMERGING NATIONAL TREND: Those Nevada ballot initiatives -- one putting more scrutiny on government contracting, the other banning taxpayer funds from being used for lobbying -- have been withdrawn by their conservative backers. Those backers blame legal challenges by labor for slowing down qualification of the measures.

SARASOTA COUNTY: Florida is billed as a model for how to use ballot initiatives to control growth.

TWO NEW FLORIDA MEASURES: A Florida commission has added two measures to the November ballot: a tax break for businesses that operate on the water, and a measure that could ease the way for a school voucher program that included parochial schools and that had been blocked by the courts.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION UPDATE: The Washington Post takes a look at the anti-affirmative action measures headed to the ballot in five states this fall.

FIGHTING OFF HUMANE SOCIETY: A state legislator in Colorado explains his strategy for keeping a Humane Society measure off the ballot there. (The explanation starts with the eighth paragraph of this piece).

The True Champion of Direct Democracy

Joe Mathews — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:12:00 -0400

In Colorado, state legislators are trying to head off a possible Humane Society ballot initiative that would require veal calves and pregnant pigs to be kept in housing that allows them to stand up and turn around.

Why the desperation to stop the Humane Society? Because when the society goes to the ballot, it usually wins.

No organization has a better record at the ballot than the Humane Society of the United States, the true champion of direct democracy. Between 1990 and 2006, HSUS won more than two-thirds of its ballot measure campaigns. (26 out of 38). In most of those efforts, the Humane Society has been on the "yes" side, and "yes" campaigns are far harder to win than "no" campaigns. (About two-thirds of ballot initiatives lose). At the ballot, the Humane Society successfully has sought to ban dove hunting, horse slaughter, cockfighting, and confinement of animals.

The society likes direct democracy so much that it has become one of the leading advocates for protecting the right of the people to make laws directly. It opposes efforts to make it harder to qualify measures, and led the challenge to Florida's Amendment 3, which required a super-majority of 60 percent to pass constitutional amendments there.