Ballot Measures Worth Plenty to Firms : Propositions May Not Be Spicy, But Can Carry Big Price Tags

“I never knew a proposition that had a booze problem, chased dames or had a wife that wanted to run the campaign,” the political consultant said in explaining why his company only handles ballot measures, not candidates.

The consultant, who declined to be identified, was only half serious. The reality of today’s complicated political campaigns is that specialization means efficiency and enhanced profits. A political candidate could hire a specialist to write poll questions, another to conduct it and still another to analyze the results.

California, where ballot measures abound every election year, is fertile ground for ballot measure specialists. But more than two dozen firms across the nation specialize in ballot measures, a lucrative field because corporations often have an interest in the outcome of ballot measures and provide a lot of the financial support. The insurance industry, for example, is expected to spend about $18 million promoting the no-fault insurance initiative expected to be on the ballot in California this fall.

There may be five initiatives on the California ballot in November related to insurance alone. During the 1983-84 political season, $45.6 million was spent on ballot measures in 12 states, according to a survey by the Citizens Research Foundation at USC. More than $32 million of that was spent on six ballot initiative campaigns in California. Nationwide, the 1988 total is expected to reach $100 million, if all of the proposed California initiatives make the ballot.

Woodward & McDowell, a Burlingame-based political consulting firm, has managed ballot propositions only in recent years, said partner Jack McDowell. He said most have been voter initiatives but added that “that doesn’t mean that we would look askance at a ballot proposition put forth by legislative action.” The specialty in ballot measures wasn’t by design, McDowell said. “We got into some that we had a large degree of success with, and our reputation grew.”

Kimball Petition Management Inc. of Northridge specializes in writing ballot measures, organizing volunteers and gathering signatures to qualify for inclusion on the ballot, company President Kelly Kimball said. In 1988, the company expects revenue of $3 million to $3.5 million, he said. The company has handled ballot measures since 1973, gathering an average of 5 million signatures a year. The initiative to restore the state employee safety agency known as Cal/OSHA is one of several for which the company gathered signatures this year, he said.

Ballot measure specialists aren’t as partisan as firms that work intimately with candidates. “We will accept any petition that is within the political mainstream,” Kimball said, explaining that the firm has declined to aid initiatives by the Ku Klux Klan, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt and representatives of presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche.