Colorado

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.

National unions have put more than $1 million into Colorado, mostly to fight the right-to-work initiative that recently qualified for the ballot. SEIU, the nation's largest union, has donated more than $600, and things are just getting started. This Denver Post story predicts that the right-to-work initiative will cost more than $25 million, and the ballot will have more than a half-dozen measures. Look for Colorado, not Ohio, to be the biggest swing state this fall, as presidential contenders battle over it, and the forces of business and labor from across the country attempt to bloody each other with initiatives here.

OREGON GAMING MEASURE DROPPED: Backers of an initiative to establish Oregon's first non-tribal private casino say they've decided not to go forward. They could revive the proposals, but want to see how proposals for two tribal casinos fare first.

IMMIGRATION COPS: The Arizona legislator who wants to allow police officers to enforce immigration laws is pursuing dual tracks -- a ballot initiative and legislation at the same time. The initiative is back-up, he explains.

COLORADO GOV RAIN ON SPEAKER's INITIATIVE: Gov. Bill RItter, a Democrat, questions the political strategy behind an effort by the Democratic House speaker in his state to qualify a measure lifting some of the state's spending limits. Ritter has been trying to reduce the number of measures on the November ballot.

ONE CENT SALES TAX TO FUND TRANSPORTATION: Arizonans, including Gov. Janet Napolitano, have launched an initiative to pay for $42 billion in transporation spending with a one-cent sales tax. The full plan for how they would spend the money is due next month.

As their session came to a close Tuesday, Colorado state lawmakers passed a sensible reform to the initiative process. They raised the standards to qualify an initiative that would change the state constitution, but lowered the standard to qualify an initiative that changes a mere statute. There had been no separate standard before, and that meant that the Colorado constitution had a lot of new amendments. Why bother with changing the law when, for the same money and effort, you can change the state constitution?

This legislation is important because it recognizes the value of lowering signature standards. In most cases, reform consists of raising signature standards -- which merely adds cost and limits the process to rich individuals and interest groups.

The "right-to-work" ballot initiative in Colorado has qualified for the ballot.

George Will has a pretty good column this week on how campaign finance laws have ensnared a half-dozen people attempting to fight a local ballot measure on annexation in Colorado.

REPUBLICANS GO AFTER GOVERNOR: This story from the Redding paper is worth a read for those who follow California politics. Republican politicians in the far north of the state sharply criticized Schwarzenegger's handling of the budget, during a public meeting late last week and: Sam Aanestad, a state senator, sounds particularly angry. He says that Schwarzenegger is sending mixed signals (though that's hardly a new charge, and accurate given the incredible diversity of his administration and his management methods, which encourage internal arguments). But he goes even further by saying that Schwarzenegger does not have the state's best interests at heart. "He's much more interested in the governor's future than in Californians'. He's got two more years. He can slide through and become a senator," Aanestad said.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: My post Friday on Gov. Schwarzenegger's personal spending on initiatives should have said that his latest donations to the redistricting initiative come from his political committee, not his own pocket. As the Sacramento Bee correctly points out today.

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.

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL: Here's an important and under-reported story: Nevada's schools will be closed on Election Day in November. That should boost turnout in a swing presidential state. And it also could give a boost to the Nevada teachers' unions, who are attempting to raise gaming taxes to boost education funds. Not having to teach that day will boost turnout. Also, about 800 of the poll workers could be students, says the state's registrar of voters. In related news, a Nevada judge rules that two measures to tax gaming to provide funds for education can remain on the ballot. The judge thinks they make little sense, but says that the voters have the right to decide that for themselves.

AG'S DOMAIN: Some agriculture interests are getting aggressive in opposing Prop 98, one of the two measures on June's California ballot that would put restrictions on eminent domain. The Sacramento Bee says that this represents a divide in the agriculture community, since the California Farm Bureau is one of the initiative's backers. (Prop 98's restrictions include tigher limitations on using condemnation for private purposes and on retn control than its competitor, Prop 99).

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.