The American Spectator : Voter Initiatives: The Cursed Blessing

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Voter Initiatives: The Cursed Blessing

By Peter Hannaford on 9.27.10 @ 6:07AM

In California, public employees are counting on one to save them.

For 99 years California has been blessed and cursed with the initiative process. It is an exercise in direct democracy by which the voters may pass laws and even state constitutional amendments.

From 1912-20, the first decade when the process was available, Californians voted on 40 of them. The number dropped steadily from there to a low of nine from 1961-70. After that, initiatives, fueled by professional signature gatherers, exploded in the eighties to 56; 54 from 1991-2000; and then doubling from 2001-09 to 105. In all, Californians have voted on initiatives 377 times.

All it takes to get an initiative on the ballot is a draft (accepted and titled by the Secretary of State), the gathering of several hundred thousand signatures (the number varies from election to election), and certification of the required number by the Secretary of State. Signature gathering, alone, may cost upward of $2 million. Once the proposition is on the ballot, a campaign costing several more million dollars will be needed to get it passed by the voters.

Nowadays, initiatives are the brainchildren of special interests or very rich individuals riding hobbyhorses -- and funded by them. Proponents try to characterize and title them as “good government” measures as American as apple pie. More than a few of these become a curse on the electorate because they dramatically increase the state's bonded indebtedness or tinker permanently with the state's budget.

A decade ago, for example, voters passed an initiative to mandate that approximately 40 percent of the state's annual budget must be devoted to education. Everyone wants a good education for all children, so why not make sure there was enough money to pay for one? The upshot is that the state legislature's ability to adopt an annual budget is greatly restricted. Ironically, California is now in the top flight of states for teacher pay and the bottom flight for student test scores. The voters clearly didn't get their money's worth.

In 2008, voters finally passed a measure to take redistricting out of the hands of the legislature (which, not surprisingly, gerrymandered districts every 10 years to protect incumbents) and created a citizens' commission to do the job. Approximately 30,000 Californians applied for a seat on the 14-member commission. There has been a thorough winnowing process and the final names are expected to be announced shortly. This commission will reapportion the legislature based on the 2010 census.

Alas, the blessing-curse element is at work on the November 2 ballot. On the blessing side is Proposition 20 which, if passed, will take redistricting of the state's Congressional seats from the legislature and give it to the Citizens' Redistricting Commission. On the curse side, however, Proposition 27, if passed, would eliminate the new commission entirely and give the process back to the legislature. Behind this retrogressive proposition is the state's most powerful special interest, the public employee unions. The cushy pensions and high salaries of public employees are a major contributor to the state's on-going financial woes. For this special interest, the legislature dominated by Democrats beholden to them for political contributions is the goose that lays golden eggs. They do not want an infertile goose.

About the Author

Peter Hannaford was closely associated with the late President Ronald Reagan for a number of years. His latest book is Reagan's Roots: The People and Places That Shaped His Character.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (7) | Leave a comment

Petronius| 9.27.10 @ 8:10AM

You left out the bit about the Federal Judges being close by to nullify all the initiative elections conservatives win.

Big Tony| 9.27.10 @ 8:47AM

It's high time for the States to turn the tables and start nullifing the unconstitutional laws and bureaucratic rules passed by the US congress, the president and unconstitutional bureaus such as the EPA and others.
It only took 13 years for the US population to realize the prohibition of alcohol didn't work and made crime worse and repeal the amendment that insituted prohibition. After 7o years of marijuana prohibition more people that ever use the stuff, how many more decades will it take for the American people to wake up and realize that 1. the Drug Prohibitions are unconstitutional 2. the Drug War is being lost and will continue to be lost and 3 that Drug Prohibition is making crime worse. I applaud the efforts of Californians to throw off the unconstitutional cannabis laws forced down out throats by an overbearing federal goverment.

Pat| 9.27.10 @ 12:27PM

Looking at Californians and our voter initiative process, sharp, no-nonsense Texans usually snort with derision and those solid Midwesterners just shake their heads in silent laughter. But take it from a real Californian, there is a method to our madness. For example, a few years back, Californians voted YES on a Proposition which would give certain folks within our state $3 billion dollars to discover cures for all kinds of diseases using embryonic stem cells. As a state, we didn’t actually have $3 billion at the time, so we borrowed it from Wall St. and over 10 years it will only cost us an additional $3 billion in interest and fees to pay off our loan.

Prior to the election which included this Stem Cell funding, two of California’s leading research scientists were on the airways constantly describing the imminent cures which would result from stem cell research and advising us voters to pass the Stem Cell Proposition – and, rest assured, Michael J. Fox and Nancy Reagan would never lie to us. A lot of the $3 billion subsequently went to California’s State University System and now the labs at Berkeley and UCLA are humming along 24/7 developing cures – if we hadn’t given them the money there was some ugly talk the professors might quit their 10 hour a week jobs and go to work in private industry. But, we also gave very large grants to private bio-tech firms based on the Commission’s decision – yes, we have a Commission, you see, to dole out the money to various deserving parties and, coincidentally, many of these Stem Cell Commissioners were folks from our state’s University System as well as knowledgeable businessmen from private industry - but that’s good, you understand, because these are the folks who know who should receive the money in order to continue this important research work.

It’s been several years now and about half the money has been spent but, still, there’s no word on when all these cures will be available to our family doctors – although the Stem Cell Commissioners assure us voters we’re on the brink of a major breakthrough and with only another $3 billion we can be certain the final breakthrough will occur. So, ha-ha on you non-Californians who don’t have a Voter Initiative process, we’ll be benefiting from our stem cell cures any day now and you won’t - - - any day now.

Muddy Waters| 9.27.10 @ 12:56PM

Yeah, in Maryland we call it "Saving the Bay". Forty years of research and all we have to show for it are Tee-shirts and reams of data.

Albert| 9.27.10 @ 1:42PM

It is a curiosity that the voter initiatives frequently run counter to the wishes of the Legislature, indeed many initiatives are put up by voters tired of a a Legislature that either refuses to act where needed, or acts in defiance of the will of the People. So, the People take over and force the issue. Why this is a curiosity is that the very same voters who pass or fail various initiatives also vote for the Assemblymen and State Senators whose frequent failures inspire initiatives. If the Legislature is so bad (and it is!) why vote for the same people over and over? If a relatively conservative measure like Proposition 8 can pass by the voters, why do the same voters elect a Legislature that would rather legalize Gay Marriage? If Props 187 and 209 can pass, why do elected legislators oppose them so vehemently? California elections are nothing if not schizophrenic.

Irish22| 9.27.10 @ 2:06PM

Apparently prospective legislators believe that what will get them elected, and what the majority of people want, are two different things . . . Or is it what the special interests want that will get them elected?