Ballot Initiatives

Here's a San Jose Mercury News look at the two measures. One thing that distinguishes Prop 98 from 99 is the former's elimination of rent control, which is why it's backed by owners of apartment buildings and trailer parks, including Tribune Company chairman Sam Zell.

Get used to it. Most of the country's blockbuster democracy news is coming from the Centennial State. A bit of news from California and elsewhere appears at the bottom of this post.

 COLORADO PEACE: It appears that there's been a cooling on one front of the all-out initiative war in Colorado. The trial lawyers and the sponsor of an initiative to limit contigency fees are putting their swords away. The contigency fee initiative -- and 9 counter initiatives filed by the lawyers -- have been dropped. Hat tip: Point of Law.  according to the Point of Law legal blog.

DENVER ET COMMISSION GETS A HEARING: Its sponsor says there's evidence that aliens -- and he doesn't mean Mexicans, Mr. Tancredo -- are already among us. At the hearing, concern is expressed about the commission's cost -- $75,000 -- and how easy it is to qualify the measure (only 3,900 signatures) and of course, about what late night comics might say. Learn more about the Extra campaign as its new web site.

At the California Progress Report, Stern offers a brief description of some of his recommendations for the initiative process. This is well researched, and well thought out report. Of these recommendations, all of these make sense, and the idea of expanding the time limit to qualify a measure from 150 days to 365 days is a great idea that would allow more grass roots participaton in signature gathering. The only idea that doesn't make sense is the idea of a $100,000 contribution limit, which is almost certainly unconstitutional.

The Secretary of State has certified an initiative to borrow $980 million for children's hospitals for the November ballot in California. It's the third initiative to be certified as having enough signatures to make the ballot. But it won't be the last. Signature verification has begun on other measures, including an anti-gang initiative, a redistricting initiative and an anti-gay marriage initiative.

STRIKE TWO: Arkansas's attorney general, for the second time, has rejected the language of a ballot initiative filed to deny public benefits to unauthorized immigrants. The a.g. has said the language is ambiguous and that initiative sponsors need to hire an attorney; he suggested that he could substitute language himself, but after being criticized for his first rejection of the measure, he decided not to.

THESE COPS ARE MAD: Police officers in Monrovia, Calif are locked in a contract fight, and they've decided to use the ballot initiative process to help. They're circulating petitions on two local initiatives: one that would mandate they are paid at least the average salary of other local police departments, and another to prevent other city officials from making more than their counterparts in nearby municipalities. Also, they have posted billboards around town that read: "You're Approaching Monrovia. Higher Violent Crime. Fewer Officers Patrolling. Thank the City Manager and City Council." 

In a radio interview with my former colleague from the LA Times, Patt Morrison, Gov. Schwarzenegger, who has used direct democracy more than any politician in American history, says the initiative process is being abused and it's time for both parties to look at how it should be changed. The quote is below, and full transcript is here.

Take a look at ElectionTrack, which provides daily updates on donations to major California campaigns, including ballot measure ones. For example, here are reports on the two competing eminent domain initiative campaigns for the June ballot: No on 98/Yes on 99 and Yes on 98

A Colorado constitutional amendment to make it harder amend the constitution is advancing through the legislature there. It would have to be approved by voters as well. Colorado, unlike many direct democracy states, makes it no harder to qualify a constitutional amendment for the ballot than it is to qualify an initiative statute. The amendment would change that, and also add a distribution requirement, requiring at least 5 percent of the required signatures to come from each of the state's Congressional district.

One caution: Colorado politicians, deluged by ballot measures this year, have expressed unhappiness about the growth of the industry. This measure, by adding requirements, will make that industry stronger. When you have to gather more signatures in more places, those who want to qualify measures will have to rely more on consultants and paid signature gatherers. If you don't like the industry and paid gatherers, you'd be better off drastically reducing the number of signatures required to qualify a measure.

The LA Times has a pretty good overview of local measures scheduled to be on Southern California ballots in June.

For the weekend, here's a little bit of blockbuster democracy history, and a lesson about dual measures.

What do I mean by dual measures? It's a proven tactic in the ballot initiative game. If you oppose an initiative that's headed for the ballot, it may not be enough simply to fight the initiative directly. You may want to qualify your own initiative -- ideally, something that sounds similar and covers the same topic, but does something different than the initiative you oppose. Why bother with a counter initiative? Voters, faced with two like-sounding measures -- usually vote "no" on both. And so the initiative you opposed is defeated. The drug industry did this expertly in 2005 in California by qualifying its own, faux-drug discount measure to defeat a drug discount measure. For this June's ballot, cities and counties qualified a counter measure on eminent domain to counter a more aggressive initiative, qualified by property owners, that would restrict the ability of governments to take property for any sort of private use. (The LA Times sorts this out today).