Voters Confront Assisted Suicide, Gun Licensing

A landmark initiative on doctor-assisted suicide in Oregon and a tough handgun licensing law in Washington state went before the voters Tuesday, a pair of ballot measures that could forge new ground on two of the nation’s more difficult social debates.

On the equally divisive issue of affirmative action, Houston voters were deciding the fate of a ban on city contract preferences for minority- and female-owned firms. The ballot measure is based on California’s Proposition 209, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court this week.

The three measures were the most widely watched among the many state ballot initiatives that highlighted election campaigns in an otherwise lackluster season; Washington voters also were deciding a measure to authorize medical use of marijuana and other drugs, including heroin and LSD; and in Maine, voters were deciding on limits to clear-cutting of forest land.

Oregon’s was the only heavily watched race conducted by mail, and as voters dropped off their ballots before the 8 p.m. deadline, state officials said that the turnout as of Monday already had reached 48.1%.

Oregon, considering the proposed repeal of a statute originally passed in 1994, would become the first state to legally permit terminally ill patients to obtain a doctor’s prescription for a fatal dose of barbiturates.

The repeal effort, backed by the Catholic Church and the National Right to Life Committee, marshaled one of the biggest grass-roots campaigns in Oregon’s history and closed Tuesday with the son of Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s first suicide patient publicly appealing for repeal.

“As a son, this has an impact on my life, my kids’ life,” said Neil Adkins, whose 54-year-old mother, Janet Adkins, traveled to Michigan in 1990 to gain Kevorkian’s help in ending her life when she was diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s disease.

“I will probably die with this inside me, with this question: Could I have prevented this from happening?” said Neil Adkins, who appeared at a press conference in Portland on behalf of the Yes on 51 campaign.

Advocates of assisted suicide in Oregon have avoided any connection with Kevorkian, and noted that Janet Adkins likely would not have qualified under the Oregon statute because it applies only to those diagnosed by two doctors as having less than six months to live. It provides for a 15-day waiting period and prohibits lethal injection, the method used by Kevorkian in Michigan.

Although polls have shown the repeal attempt narrowly behind, opponents appear poised to challenge the law again in the courts if repeal fails at the polls. “We will certainly consider all available legal options,” said James Bopp Jr., attorney for the National Right to Life Committee.

In Washington state, voters were considering an initiative to require statewide licensing and trigger-lock safety devices on handguns. Although a growing number of states is beginning to look at the issue of handgun licensing--13 have some procedure in place--the Washington measure takes the unprecedented step of requiring licensing and safety training to more than 600,000 citizens who already own handguns.

The measure is supported by Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and his family, but its small group of backers has run up against a massive attack by the National Rifle Assn., which has poured $2.1 million into defeating the measure.

“Initiative 676 means no safety, no self-defense and no right of privacy for Washingtonians,” NRA lobbyist Tanya K. Metaksa said during a tour of the state in October. Actor and NRA officer Charlton Heston also made an appearance against the measure, but analysts said it was the widespread opposition of law enforcement--with the exception of several big-city police chiefs--that was likely to prove more persuasive in defeating the initiative.

Law enforcement officials complained it would be difficult to monitor handguns already in the home, and even more difficult to confiscate guns from unlicensed owners. Proponents said a gun safety course and trigger locks on all handguns would make ownership safer and prevent needless deaths of children injured by unlocked guns in the home.

“We see licensing as being the significant area on the national level of where the debate on gun control is moving, and Washington state is really leading the charge with a local group taking on the NRA,” said Luis Tolley of the Los Angeles-based Handgun Control, which supports the Washington initiative.

He said handgun licensing might find easier passage in California because proponents there have the backing of state police chiefs and two prospective gubernatorial candidates. Most California proposals do not include a retroactive licensing requirement for existing handgun owners.

In Houston, polls indicated that the vote to ban contract preferences would be close, despite the strong campaign in favor of retaining the practice by outgoing Mayor Bob Lanier, one of the city’s most popular politicians.

Houston’s voluntary affirmative action program, adopted in 1985 and strengthened under Lanier in 1995, helps female- and minority-owned businesses win city contracts. Last year, about 20% of $1 billion in city business went to women and minorities, compared to just 5% before the plan was enacted.

The 72-year-old Lanier, a white millionaire businessman, warned that returning to the days “when guys like me got all the business” will hurt the economy of an increasingly diverse city striving to become an international hub.

The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, the League of United American Citizens and the Chamber of Commerce were among the groups that have come out against the initiative.

Municipal bond salesman Ed Blum, with financial backing from Prop. 209 organizers, led the crusade against affirmative action in Houston. He argued that city contracts should be awarded solely on merit and that political considerations and cronyism have blunted the intended effects of the local plan. Blum, 45, had the backing of the Houston Contractors Assn., which helped Lanier shape the city’s 1995 affirmative action plan.

Times researcher Lianne Hart in Houston contributed to this story.

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