Transgendered

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.

Oh, the outrage! Opponents of ballot initiatives love to complain about underhanded tactis in the collection of the signatures. Credulous newspaper reporters (I once was one) often fall for it. The outrages seem so immense: The petitions have duplicate signatures! There are signatures from people who aren't registered to vote! In the youtube era, the newest thing is to post video of signature gatherers, in some dismal supermarket parking lot, misrepresenting -- or, gasp, lying about -- the initiative's intent as they attempt to get signatures. Unbelievable!

Better to take a deep breath and challenge the lousy initiative on the merits. Every petition ever collected has signatures with problems. That's why proponents typically secure about 50 percent more signatures than is legally necessary. If 70 percent of the signatures collected on an initiative or referendum petition turn out to be valid, that's an excellent, honest petition.