A Flurry of Fall Ballot Initiatives Raises Hackles of Politicians

State Sen. Bill Craven (R-Oceanside) cautioned fellow legislators Thursday to use “a deft and delicate touch” in opposing citizen initiatives that have burdened the November ballot with 29 state propositions and threaten to add even more measures locally.

Craven voiced concern that local and state governments are being usurped by special-interest groups using the initiative petition route to “maneuver” government, circumventing normal legislative paths, bypassing elected governmental policy-makers and producing unworkable laws.

“It has been my experience that initiatives are composed in equal parts--50% emotion and 50% bad writing,” Craven quipped.

‘Almost Anarchic’

Most initiative measures are placing legitimate government agencies in an untenable position that “is almost anarchic” because the legislative process is taken out of the hands of elected officials, he said.

“If we don’t watch our respective tails, the people are going to be running the government,” Craven said.

The veteran legislator suggested an approach used by the League of Women Voters in which the initiative measure is submitted first to the local or state governmental body for study and possible change and adoption, rather than submitted directly to the electorate.

Legislators “don’t have the first right of refusal, but they do have a chance to reach a compromise with the interests promoting the legislation,” Craven said. Bypassing elected government officials on issues can result in chaos and a ballot that contains so many propositions that no voter can select intelligently between the good and the bad, he said.

Alternatives Urged

He urged the chamber of commerce members to encourage their friends and neighbors to take direct action against legislators who do not follow the will of the people by launching recall movements or by not voting for the unresponsive ones, instead of circumventing governmental bodies through the initiative process.

Although Craven counseled compromise, other North County politicians proposed more direct attacks on the voter-initiated attempts to enact laws at the ballot box.

At a legislative review session held by North County chambers of commerce in the new Escondido City Hall Thursday, county Supervisor John MacDonald, state Assemblyman Robert Frazee (R-Carlsbad) and Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) also voiced their concerns that the legitimate duties of elected officials are being taken away by well-organized special-interest groups.

Growth Control Cited

MacDonald cited growth control as the local issue causing a citizen uprising and spawning initiative measures designed to slow or even halt the rate of population increase in the county.

The county Board of Supervisors has lagged in its efforts to provide leadership in controlling growth, MacDonald conceded. This hesitation has led to two or three initiative efforts aimed at the November ballot.

The county supervisor said that the answer to growth control in fast-growing San Diego County is a single regional formula that would be imposed impartially on the entire county. However, he said, city officials required to conform to a regionwide growth plan would protest loss of local control, making the solution politically unrealistic.

The citizen initiative process was meant as a “last resort” for the public to accomplish a goal elected representatives refuse to address, MacDonald said, and is being abused by special interest groups.

Refusals Advocated

MacDonald suggested that San Diegans follow his example in an attempt to bring the initiative process under control by refusing to accept all mail solicitations for petition signatures and donations, writing “Return to Sender” on the envelopes, thereby requiring the initiative group to pay “millions of dollars” in return postage.

Frazee agreed that one way to reform what he termed out-of-control initiative petition circulators is to “take the money out of circulating petitions.”