Voters should get another shot at showing initiative

Alicia Robinson

Next year’s elections won’t have as lengthy a list of initiatives as

the Nov. 2 ballot, but voters may decide hot-button issues that

affect the makeup of the legislature and how it spends money.

Some voters were overwhelmed by the 16 statewide initiatives in

last month’s election, but they seem to support the concept of voting

on issues directly -- even though it requires some research.

“I personally read [about ballot issues] because I’m interested,”

said Helen McLaughlin of Newport Beach. “I was kind of surprised

myself that people were not flummoxed by the whole thing.”

Perhaps a few of them were. Records from the Orange County

Registrar of Voters show more people who voted on Nov. 2 chose a

presidential candidate than cast ballots on any of the ballot issues.

Of the nearly 1.1 million Orange County residents who voted, 98% of

them voted in the presidential race. Somewhere between 85% and 94% of

them voted on each ballot issue.

California voters may get more choices soon. Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger is reportedly considering a special election next year

to decide how congressional and legislative districts are drawn,

among other issues.

Some politicos point to the heavy use of ballot initiatives as

evidence that they no longer reflect grass-roots concerns because

they can be put forward by anyone with the money to pay signature

gatherers.

“The initiative is a way for the public to impose a check on the

legislature,” UC Irvine political scientist Mark Petracca said. “It’s

not the public which is using it anymore.”

There’s also the risk that voters won’t understand what they’re

choosing, said former Assemblyman Gil Ferguson, who represented

Newport Beach from 1984 to 1994.

“When you have a huge turnout, you get people who haven’t a clue

about the issues,” he said. “People who vote yes on those bond issues

haven’t a clue that that must either raise taxes or cut services

because you have to pay all those bonds back double.”

But to some, the ballot initiative is a safety valve for passing

political reforms that have been held up in a gridlocked legislature.

John Campbell, who was sworn in this week as a state senator

representing Newport-Mesa, takes that view.

“I think you’re seeing more initiatives because the legislature is

just not accountable to the people,” he said.

An initiative Campbell co-wrote that would constitutionally limit

state spending may hit the streets for signatures later this month.

The “Deficit Prevention Act” would prohibit the growth in spending

from exceeding the combined growth of economic inflation and the

state’s population.

Campbell tried to get a bill through the usual channels, but it

never flew.

“I’ve introduced a constitutional amendment every one of the last

three years, and they never get past the first committee,” he said.

One initiative has qualified for the primary and one for the

general election in 2006, and 10 more are in the signature-gathering

stage. They include such weighty topics as how districts are drawn

for state and federal offices, driver’s licenses and other public

benefits for illegal immigrants and sex education for kindergarten

through 12th-grade students.

But the overload of ballot issues last time around hasn’t soured

voters like Jessie Womble on the process.

The Newport Harbor High School senior turned 18 just days before

the election, and she spent those days reading news articles about

what she would see in the voting booth.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, because it does give

the people a direct, direct, direct influence on government,” she

said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.