Lowry Seizes The Initiative Claims Special Interests Can Push Initiatives Straight To Legislature
Initiatives to the Legislature have become a tool of special interests, Gov. Mike Lowry said Wednesday.
State law allows anyone who can afford it to hire workers to gather the signatures needed to certify initiatives for consideration by the people or the Legislature.
That opens the door to undue influence by special interests, Lowry said, especially when the initiative is to the Legislature.
Such initiatives can’t be amended, don’t go before the governor for consideration, and if passed by the Legislature, don’t even go on the ballot.
“It’s the opposite of what the initiative process is supposed to be,” Lowry said during a breakfast meeting with reporters.
“If you have enough money to hire enough people to go to enough shopping centers you get 181,000 signatures, then it goes through (the Legislature) and the public is denied an opportunity to participate,” he said.
Two initiatives now before the Legislature relied at least in part on paid signature gatherers and special interest money.
Initiative 159, the Hard Time for Armed Crime initiative that stiffens penalties for armed criminals, was funded in part by $15,000 in contributions from gun rights groups.
Most of its signatures were gathered by volunteers, said David LaCourse, a coordinator of the campaign.
But the campaign for Initiative 164, a property rights measure, was floundering until real estate, home building, and timber interests began donating.
“We couldn’t have made it without them,” said Dan Wood, coordinator of the campaign.
The measure would require taxpayers to compensate property owners for regulations that restrict use of their property for public benefit.
Backers of both initiatives say they don’t want the measures to go to a public vote.
“I don’t think we should have to endure a campaign. I don’t want to deal with the hassle of it,” Wood said.
Initiative backers may get their wish: With the legislative session not even one month old, both initiatives already have cleared committees in the House.
Lawmakers have three choices in dealing with an initiative to the Legislature:
They can pass it as is, and it becomes law, without going to the governor for review.
They can pass it along with an alternative, and both go on the ballot.
They can do nothing, and the initiative goes before the voters.
Sending the initiative to the voters allows lawmakers to duck their responsibility to decide the issue, Wood said.
“I mean it’s the fifth year in a row we have had similar legislation before them. They should do their job and pass it,” he said.
After all, such serious issues as health care reform and a $1.2 billion tax increase in 1993 weren’t put to a popular vote, Wood said.
Putting the Hard Time for Armed Crime initiative to a popular vote would be “redundant,” LaCourse said.
“If anything I wish we had more special interest money. Then we could afford a full blown campaign,” said LaCourse, who loaned the campaign more than $30,000, including $10,000 he put on his credit card.
The National Rifle Association kicked in $10,000, and the Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Bellevue put in $5,000.
The initiative has been so popular in Olympia that lawmakers have barely questioned the cost of locking up more criminals longer.
As for Lowry, “I think he’s more concerned he might not agree with it and he might not like that it can pass without the governor being able to veto it,” said Rep. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley.
But Lowry said he’s worried voters are getting left out of the process.
“The Legislature ought to not deny the public the right to vote on this,” he said.