St. Patrick's Day Round Up

Joe Mathews — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:09:00 -0400

Lots of items this morning

INITIATIVE SPONSOR TO GAYS: 'JUST SHUT UP': One of the two Oregon legislators sponsoring a ballot initiative that would allows employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation shares "my advice to the gay community". That advice? "Shut up, just don't talk about it." He nows says that he was sharing advice he used at his own business, which produces hazelnuts.

RIGHT TO WORK EQUALS NIXON: An interesting Huffington Post item recalls then Vice President Nixon's backing of ballot initiatives to establish "right to work" laws, overturning "closed shop" rules that required workers to join unions as a condition of employment. A battle is brewing now in Colorado over a similar measure. (Click read more to see more items)

BUT YOU CAN STILL GET A GOOD STEAK THERE: Kansas City votes April 8 on a local ballot initiative that will strengthen its relatively weak anti-smoking law. The city council there is trying to beat the initiative by adding its own tweaks to the law.

MORE BLOOD: Dan Weintraub takes a look at the possibilty of California adding a severance tax. Republicans have blocked it in the Assembly, but I suspect this is an idea that may reach the ballot in California before too long. It's already headed to the ballot in Arkansas.

TAXACHUSETTS: A ballot initiative is launched to end the income tax in Massachusetts.

RESURFACING: A veteran of ballot fights surfaces in Utah after a Mormon mission -- and already she's putting together a ballot measure. Elaine Bonavita was a key player in a 1980 tax ballot measure fight in Massachusetts and in an anti-abortion measure in Iowa. Now she's putting together a referendum to block a new coal plant in the town of Salina, where she settled six months ago.

CALIFORNIA LOCAL DEVELOPMENT MEASURES: The onslaught of such initiatives continues. Here's a report on an attempt to limit heights of buildings in Chula Vista (That's near San Diego). And here's more on the anti-growth initiative in Redwood City (northern California, just south of San Francisco).

Smoking Laws

St. Patrick's Day Round Up