Citizens in Charge

While the Monterey Herald’s clam in an editorial Thursday that companies have hijacked California’s ballot initiative process might make for a catchy headline, the  facts just don’t back it up. According to the Herald, if two upcoming measures on the June 8th ballot succeed, it is proof that “we need to find a way to restore the original intent of the initiative process.” While the paper is silent on how exactly that intent would be restored, we assume they mean passing restrictions on who can use the process and how.

Railing against Propositions 16 and 17, which are both backed heavily by large California corporations, they point toward the history of the initiative process as a check on the influence of moneyed interests. The Herald goes on to say that “[ballot initiatives] are, however, being used more and more to serve whoever has the money to pay for signature gathering and considerable advertising.”

This claim, that money dominates that ballot initiative process, is one that is often repeated by those who would rather the people had less of a say in government. Fortunately for free speech and voting rights champions, this just isn’t true. As the Initiative & Referendum Institute points out,

“expensive, high profile campaigns have led many observers to conclude that by spending vast sums, narrow, wealthy economic interest groups are able to use the initiative process to pass laws at the expense of broader citizen interests. But can this point be proven? In short, no.”

The fact of the matter is that, while it certainly takes money to access California - or any other initiative state’s ballot - money doesn’t guarantee success:

“Political scientists Todd Donovan, Shaun Bowler, David McCuan, and Ken Fernandez (in a chapter in Citizens as Legislators(Ohio State University Press, 1998)) found that while 40% of ALL initiatives on the Californian ballot from 1986-1996 passed, only 14% of initiatives pushed by special interests passed. They concluded, “[o]ur data reveals that these are indeed the hardest initiatives to market in California, and that money spent by proponents in this arena is largely wasted.”

It seems as though the editorial board of the Herald may just not trust California voters to make good decisions when it comes to initiatives. I will remind them of the words of Thomas Jefferson:

“The will of the majority, the natural law of every society, is the only sure guardian of the rights of man. Perhaps even this may sometimes err; but its errors are honest, solitary and short-lived.”