Send Republicans Restraining Message

Almost four years ago, the Republican Idaho Legislature effectively locked Idahoans out of the grass roots, lawmaking process by changing the rules for citizen initiatives.

At the time, ringleaders of the anti-initiative crusade were smarting from passage of a 1996 term limits initiative almost singlehandedly backed by Hayden Lake’s Donna Weaver. Also, they were upset that animal activists could place an unsuccessful anti-bear-baiting initiative on the ballot and at tax activist Ron Rankin’s ongoing attempts to pass an initiative limiting property taxes.

Recently, Rankin, now a Kootenai County commissioner, fought back by filing a lawsuit to overturn those changes in U.S. District Court in Boise. We wish him well. In a state where all branches of government and almost all political machinery are controlled by Republicans, it’s important that average citizens be able to circumvent the Legislature to pass popular law.

By initiative, Idahoans created the 50-50 homeowners exemption, an independent Fish & Game Commission, the state lottery, campaign finance disclosure and term limits. In fact, Idahoans supported term limits in three 1990s elections, only to see them overturned or scaled back by the courts and the Legislature.

Rather than risk citizen outrage by banning initiatives outright, Republican lawmakers, with gale-force support from business groups such as the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, tinkered with the small print. No change was more devastating than the new requirement that activists collect signatures of 6 percent of the registered voters in half of Idaho’s 44 counties.

Previously, signature gatherers were required to collect John Hancocks from 10 percent of the Idaho residents who voted in the previous gubernatorial election. Veteran initiative pushers, such as Rankin, could meet that high hurdle only by camping out at post offices, at the state’s three major fairs, including the North Idaho Fair, and at tax time, at courthouses in large counties.

The 1997 move to muzzle the people’s voice passed 26-9 in the Senate and 48-18 in the House. Impressively, North Idaho’s four state senators voted against the legislation. In the House, state Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Hayden Lake, was one of the few who opposed the bill. He and state Rep. Ken Robison, D-Boise, saw the power grab for what it was. “It ensures there never will be another initiative done by volunteers,” Robison said at the time. “This bill absolutely means the death of citizen volunteer initiatives.”

Robison’s use of the word, “absolutely,” brings to mind Lord Acton’s famous statement: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”