Slot Machines

MASSACHUSETTS DOGS: Massachusetts gives the legislature the chance to act on initiative proposals before they head to the ballot. A measure to ban dog racing in the state, which would close two tracks (including, I believe, the one you see Minnie Driver and Matt Damon visit during a date in Good Will Hunting), did not get the approval of a state panel, so it appears headed for the November ballot.

COLORADO SPEAKER TAKING IT TO THE PEOPLE: The Democratic speaker of Colorado's House says his proposal to alter the state's constitution rules on budgeting has no chance of passing the legislature, so he's going to qualify an initiative for the ballot. The proposal would undo parts of the state's voter-approved Taxpayer Bill of Rights, allowing the state to keep revenue above previous limits.

ANTI MARIJUANA INITIATIVE DROPPED: Organizers of an initiative to reverse Oregon's medical marijuana law have dropped the effort. Not enough time and money to get the signatures, the main sponsor tells Williamette Week.

MARYLAND SLOTS CONSENSUS: Labor and business groups are lining up behind a measure to legalize slot machines in Maryland to balance the budget.

AN EMERGING NATIONAL STRATEGY? The conservative movement has been hurt by an unpopular war, and the appearance of corruption and incompetence in the national administration. Is taking on corruption in the states a way to rebuild the movement?

There are signs emerging of just such a movement among some conservatives, and they're turning to the ballot to do it. There's already a South Dakota measure to ban the use of taxpayer funds for lobbying. Now a similar ballot initiative is emerging in Nevada. It has a companion measure that would try to shine more light on government contracting. The Las Vegas Review Journal has a report.

CATHOLIC BISHOPS in Montana have declined to endorse the personhood initiative in that state. This is a new class of initiatives that installs in state constitutions a broad definition of human being as anything from a fertilized egg on up. Montana's Catholic conference decided not to endorse the measure because it prefers other strategies -- parental notification, making adoption easier -- for fighting abortion.

QUESTION TIME: Last year, San Francisco voted down a ballot initiative that would have required the mayor to submit to "question time" from the board of supervisors, in the same manner that British prime ministers must take questions in the House of Commons. But the board of supes hasn't given up, inviting Mayor Gavin Newsom to show up and take questions. He is declining these invitations. Newsom, who remains popular despite a public confession of adultery with a top aide's wife, has been deflecting requests for information of all kinds as he explores a race for governor in 2010. (Arnold is termed out, so the seat is open).