Weekend Round Up: Maryland, My Maryland

Joe Mathews — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:27:00 -0400

A busy, busy day for blockbuster democracy... 10 items follow.

ARKANSAS RE-FILING: After the attorney general rejected the first version, an initiative to require proof of citizenship or legal status to receive public benefits has been refiled by its supporters. This measure appears headed for the November ballot. It creats a political dilemma in particular for Democrats, who continue to have a hold on Arkansas politics that they've lost in other Southern states. It also could complicate the efforts of Democratic presidential candidates, who would be almost certain to oppose it, to win a state that may well be in play in a Democratic year.

COLORADO HISTORY LESSON: The writer David Sirota goes deep -- very deep -- in explaining the history behind the current labor-business imbroglio that appears headed to the ballot.in Colorado. All the way to the Ludlow Massacre (he name-checks my Los Angeles Times colleague Scott Martelle's, whose book about that slaughter, Blood Passion, is an instant classic of Western history). Sirota sees Gov. Bill Ritter's efforts to find a compromise and head off ballot measures in a very dark, anti-union way. That may not be fair, but the piece is worth reading.

GATHERING YOUR SIGS BEFORE THEY'RE...News from the teachers' union vs. casino battles in Nevada: the Las Vegas Sands and its chairman Sheldon Adelson are employing petition circulators to gather signatures on three initiatives before they're cleared the courts, according to the Las Vegas Sun. This shows that Adelson, who is the third richest man in America according to some reports, has money to burn because if a court were to change the measure in the slightest, any signatures gathered would be worthless and the Sands would have to start over. The Sands initiatives appear designed to counter a teachers' union initiative that would raise the state gaming tax to generate more funds for education.

FROM THE RIGHT, A LOOK AT ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION MEASURES: City Journal takes a look at the four Ward Connerly-backed measures on state ballots this fall.

ATTEMPT TO BLOCK TRANSGENDERED REFERENDUM: Friend of the blog Ann Marimow reports in the Washington Post on legal manuevering to stop a referendum of a law establishing more rights for the transgendered in Montgomery County, Maryland.

MORE FREE STATE NASTINESS. The campaing for slots referendum in Maryland -- its governor and legislature put the measure on the ballot to produce new revenues to balance the budget -- is underway, and Gov. Martin O'Malley is already taking swipes at his opponents.

PRAISE FOR POLICY OF DELAY BEFORE ENDORSING INITIAITIVES. The city council in Yakima, Wash., sees so many local ballot measures being filed that it has adopted a policy of not making endorsements until they qualify for the ballot. That's a good policy anywhere, given the number of measures that are filed merely to make a point, provide the basis of a mailer, or achieve some kind of leverage in a dispute.

HOUSTON COMPANY TRIES TO STOP OREGON REFERENDUM: The plot gets thicker in the ballot battle over a new Liquefied Natural Gas terminal on the Columbia River. The Houston natural gas company has gone to court in an attempt to head off the referendum. This has the potential to be one of the most closely watched local ballot measure fights in the country.

THE PLEASANT HILLS OF PLEASANTON: Residents there have submitted signatures on a local initiative to limit development in hillside areas of that California city. It's yet another effort to decide land use and development questions at the ballot.

OAKLAND COUNCIL DOESN'T CARE FOR NEW YOUTH BALLOT INITIATIVE: The council extended funding for youth programs but doesn't like "government by initiative" and opposes new initiative.

Roll on, Columbia, Roll On

Joe Mathews — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:01:00 -0400

Oregonians who want to block a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Columbia River filed papers Friday for a referendum. With the LNG industry focused on expansion in the U.S., expect to see more measures like this in the West.

LNG Referendum in Oregon

Joe Mathews — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:15:00 -0400

An Oregon county approves an liquefied natural gas terminal on the Columbia River. Citizens there are preparing a referendum to reverse that decision. LNG promoters have been trying to establish such terminals on waterways and off-shore all over the country. Expect to see more disputes over such terminals end up on the ballot.