Editorial: Envision bill still lacks clarity, even with changes

If it at first you don’t succeed, lower your ambitions and try again.

That’s the plan with Envision Spokane, a scaled-back voter initiative that seeks to establish a bill of rights for Spokane.

You can’t blame the backers for dialing back the proposal since it lured only 1 of every 4 votes in 2009. So, this time, there is no right to a “livable wage,” health care coverage, housing and other benefits that were to materialize – and be paid for in unspecified ways.

But while proponents have pruned some of the limbs, they fail to recognize that the trunk could never take root in the real world.

That’s why the initiative has failed to capture the backing of a single elected official. Whether conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, officeholders know the difference between wishful thinking and practical implementation.

Proposition 1 has fewer concepts to consider this time, but they’re just as fuzzy.

For one thing, it would challenge the rights of corporations in the hopes of limiting them. Like it or not, those rights have been determined through a variety of legal precedents. Voters in a lone city cannot overturn the U.S. Supreme Court. Proponents may not like the recent ruling that treats corporations as “persons” and gives them First Amendment rights, but trying to reverse that with a local vote is destructive hand-waving.

Conversely, the initiative would give the Spokane River citizenlike rights so that it can “exist and flourish.” The idea is that such rights would make it easier to win lawsuits.

Supporters are dedicated to the proposition that courts should view rivers as more peoplelike and corporations less so.

Proposition 1 is replete with examples of shallow favoritism: Unions are more equal than employers; neighborhoods more equal than developers. The misguided conceit is that these are not merely subjective choices, but that they objectively further some loftier aims.

Furthermore, proponents believe these “rights” should supersede the laws that have been adopted by elected representatives on the local, state and federal level. Or, at the very least, they should tip the scales when it comes to interpreting these laws. If Proposition 1 were to pass, you can bet that businesses would take a pass on Spokane in favor of reality-based communities.

Proposition 1 proponents take it as an article of faith that the current game is rigged. Their solution is to rig it in their favor while pretending to stand up for “fairness.”

What they ought to do is run for office, get elected and engage in the hard work of legislating instead of envisioning fanciful shortcuts.

( Editor’s note: The Cowles Co., which owns The Spokesman-Review, contributed $2,500 to the opposition campaign.)