OLYMPIA – Three weeks of debate over suspending Initiative 960, can be boiled down to this: If you change an initiative, you are crushing the will of the people. Not if it’s something that really needs doing, in which case you are exercising the leadership the people elected you to show.
No it’s not. Yes it is. No. Enough already, let’s vote because we all know this sucker’s going to pass, and the people can express their will in the fall elections. Yeah, just you wait. No you wait.
In the wake of all the “will of the people” talk, the Secretary of State’s office last week released a list of initiatives passed since 1952, when the current rules for amending initiatives were reset by constitutional amendment. It suggests the will of the people, as expressed at the ballot box on initiatives, is not so sacrosanct that one should never, ever change it.
Of the 45 that have passed in those 57 years, at least 29 have been changed, many more than once. And that was before the recent tweaking or evisceration of I-960.
To continue reading this post, go inside the blog…
Initiative 276, which set up campaign disclosure and lobbying rules in
1972, apparently holds the record, having been amended more than 22
times, when the Legislature and Governor’s mansion was controlled by
Republicans as well as Democrats. The people’s will was pretty strong on
that measure, with 72 percent voting yes; by comparison, the people’s
will on I-960 was a somewhat wishy-washy 51.2 percent.
The list doesn’t count the times a legislator proposed a bill that
would have surgically snipped or completely obliterated an initiative,
but that likely happens every year without serious regard to “the will
of the people.” Those who propose bills to limit abortion, for example,
probably don’t care that the “the people” expressed their “will” by
passing I-120 in 1991 and said the state law is essentially the standard
set up in Roe v. Wade. They would likely argue the people were simply
wrong on that topic and moral issues should not be governed by
plebiscite.
Several legislators cited the vote totals on I-960 in their districts as
a reason to vote for or against the suspension. That’s an interesting,
albeit somewhat parochial, view of democracy, considering it’s a
statewide initiative. And they don’t operate in a democracy, they’re
part of a republican (note: small “r”) form of government.
There’s also a suggestion that when the people express their will,
that’s it. No sense arguing, it’s time to get with the program and man
the ramparts against any challenge to the collective will. So how do
some populists explain that after the people reject an initiative one
year, they come back with almost the same idea the next?
That happened on term limits, creating a somewhat ambiguous will. Voters
said no in 1991, but yes in 1992. The state Supreme Court tossed them
out in 1998 because a constitutional amendment was needed to impose the
people’s will on that particular topic. Several incensed legislators
promised to push through a constitutional amendment to satisfy the will.
Never happened, and maybe the will morphed into the won’t.
Maybe people’s will on term limits, like several other initiatives
declared unconstitutional by the court, have to take a back seat under
the theory the current collective will should not infringe on much more
sagacious collective will of the founding fathers.
At least a couple of legislators thundering loudest about “the will of
the people” on I-960 should hope so, because they’ve been in office WAY
longer than the time voters willed legislators to serve back in 1992
Spokane7
61°
Jim Camden is a veteran political reporter for The Spokesman-Review.
Jonathan Brunt covers Spokane City Hall for The Spokesman-Review.
Hank_Tingler on February 27 at 11:54 p.m.
Ironically its the legislators who got us into the deficit with their wild spending sprees and now its the legislators that want US to bail them out.
Seems to me that the legislators and the state bureaucrats that got us into this mess should take the first big pay reduction.
If it takes a vote of the citizenry to put an initiative into law, should it not take a vote of the citizenry to change any part of it?
RickS on February 28 at 4:51 a.m.
The major problem the Dems have caused for themselves in this instance is their complete failure to even make an effort at solving the structural deficit of the state prior to undermining limits on the growth of taxation. Given two sessions to resolve this issue for long-term stability on the expenditure side of the budget (both last year and this), on both occasions the party that created the fiscal instability by dramatic spending increases that tapped out the “Emergency Reserve Fund”, before the recession hit. It is this absolute failure of responsible planning that has exacerbated the inherent insult when a legislature uses the first available opportunity to overturn a highly-popular initiative.
Whenever flouting the public’s enacted laws becomes the first reaction, rather than a reluctant final option, the party in power pays a heavy price.
jvaughn50 on February 28 at 4:07 p.m.
RECALL PETITION IS IN THE JUDGE’S DESK FOR WASTINGTON GOVERNOR GREGOIREPosted by anaJA on February 28, 2010 at 5:18pm in Washington State Patriots
Back to Washington State Patriots Discussions
There is a recall petition for the governor.
There is an ill wind blowing in the heart of the liberal West. A tax revolt has started in Washington State. Not just any old tax revolt but there is a recall petition that is right now sitting before a judge. A recall petition aimed at Governor Gregoire.
We need to get behind this recall petition, which was started by a fellow Washington State Patriot, Jim Vaughn. Jim might not only need our shoulders to lean on as surely he will be attacked by the liberal left. The recall campaign will need our support as well.
We need to pay attention to the media and watch what happens now as our tax revolt could send shock waves through the Olympia elite and repercussions are coming. I just don???t know what they might look like yet.
It’s in the first steps of the process, but we can sure help when the petitions are out. Perhaps east side Washington could be the rock that pushes her over the cliff.
Link to interview with Dino Rossi and Jim Vaughn
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=157&p=6
Friday, February 26, 2010
12:00 pm-1:00 pm
Dino Rossi talks LIVE with Dori about the state of Olympia politics and whether or not he’ll run against Sen. Patty Murray. Also, Orting, WA resident filed a recall petition against Gov. Gregoire. Jim Vaughn talks LIVE with Dori.
Listen | Download
http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=91
Friday, February 26, 2010 @ 2:24am
Monson Show Exclusive: Citizen launches “Recall Gregoire” effort
Our state constitution says “every elected public officer… is subject to recall.”
Here is what must be proved to recall a public official:
Any legal voter of the jurisdiction, either individually or on behalf of an organization, desiring to demand the recall and discharge of any elective public officer, is to prepare a typewritten charge, naming the officer and his or her title, and charging that he or she has committed an act or acts of malfeasance or misfeasance while in office or has violated his or her oath of office, or has been found guilty of two or more of the acts specified in the State Constitution as grounds for recall. The terms are defined as follows:
“Misfeasance” or malfeasance” in office means any wrongful conduct that affects, interrupts, or interferes with the performance of official duty;
Additionally, “misfeasance” in office means the performance of a duty in an improper manner; and
Additionally, “malfeasance” in office means the commission of an unlawful act;
“Violation of the oath of office” means the willful neglect or failure by an elective public officer to perform faithfully a duty imposed by law.
I’ve said often that I believe Christine Gregoire lied about not raising taxes in a bad economy. She was playing word games 15 months ago when she claimed there was no deficit. But does any of this rise to the level of “malfeasance”? ….
Is the effort to recall Gregoire an exercise in futility? Quite likely. But every poll shows that the public in this state is very angry about the suspension of I-960. Will people want to vent their anger in such an extreme manner? On Friday’s show, I’ll introduce you to the guy behind this recall-Gregoire petition and detail the charges he leveling against the guv.
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