Prop. 208

As the newly appointed chair of the state Senate Committee on Elections and Reapportionment, I found myself in general agreement with your Feb. 10 editorial regarding the current state of Prop. 208--expeditious resolution of the legal uncertainties will indeed keep chaos at a minimum for all ongoing and future election campaigns. However, I was somewhat bemused at one of your more optimistic comments.

In reference to the legal challenges currently surrounding Prop. 208, you stated that “it will take months to settle these and any other legal issues that may arise.” We should be so lucky.

If recent history is an accurate barometer, we are in for a much longer wait. The lawsuits pertaining to the last successful campaign finance reform initiatives, Props. 68 and 73, took more than seven years to finish winding their way through our judicial system. Props. 68 and 73 were both approved by the voters in 1988. The final ruling on the last remaining legal question wasn’t issued until 1995.

I hope The Times is proved correct and the legal system doesn’t grace us with an encore performance.

BETTY KARNETTE, State Senate, D-Long Beach