Readers React: Californians deserved a vote on Citizens United

To the editor: Readers should know that state Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye objected to striking Proposition 49 — an advisory initiative on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision — from the ballot. (“Fighting ballot bloat in California: The Prop. 49 ruling,” Editorial, Aug. 12)

She said:

“I do not see such a clear showing that the Legislature lacks authority to place the measure before the voters, warranting this court taking the extraordinary step of removing the measure from the ballot, thereby disenfranchising the voters. The stay also deprives the voters of the ability to express their views on the subject at the time when the issue is being hotly debated, as opposed to two years from now, on the ballot of 2016.”

This summer, Californians marched from Los Angeles to Sacramento for 37 days. On the last day of our occupation, the Legislature passed the bill that put Proposition 49 on the ballot. In celebration, the author, state Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), stood on the Senate floor and held his first finger high in the air, adopting our gesture for “one person, one vote.”

Proposition 49 lets the voice of every voter be heard.

Erika Sukstorf, Pasadena

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To the editor: Again, the people are thwarted.

The Legislature passed a voter initiative for the November ballot asking the citizenry to tell their representatives that they want the Citizens United decision, which has given billionaires the right to buy our democracy, repealed.

However, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., which supports Proposition 13 and the de-funding of our schools, brought its opposition to the California Supreme Court and won.

So money triumphs again. How do we get our voices heard, if not on the ballot?

Phyllis Golden Gottlieb and Ricki Franklin, Los Angeles