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2000 League of Women Voters position on Charter Commission
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2000 League of Women Voters position on Charter Commission
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The state of Washington is reeling financially as a <br />result. Monies must be taken from education and other high <br />state priorities to fund roadbuilding, public transportation and to <br />subsidize the health needs of the poorer counties. At the time of <br />the November referendum, voters assumed that the legislature <br />could fix any spending shortfalls, that there was plenty of <br />money. Now voters are saying "We didn't know!" Apparently, <br />no one told voters about the public health consequences al- <br />though the proposition did receive widespread publicity in the <br />media. Voters dust grabbed at a good soounding proposal with- <br />out doing their homework. <br />To complicate matters further, in 1993 voters placed <br />a spending cap on the legislature in Washington State. No new <br />funding can be enacted without approval from a majority of vot- <br />ers and a 2/3 vote of each house of the legislature. The irony is <br />that there are huge surpluses in Washington, which cannot be <br />spent. <br />Cautionary tales like this can be told about other states, which have initiative <br />and referendum on the books. While some may think citizen initiated laws <br />are"democratic," the reality of multiple ballot initiatives is troubling. <br />The League does not think our present system has failed and that the public <br />policy process needs this kind of "fix." <br />Mr. Sands has expressed concern that the cost of election campaigns has pre- <br />vented people from running. Time is surely a factor, but money is not a real im- <br />pediment. Asuccessful candidate will organize people to raise the necessary <br />money --it does mean you can't decide at the last minute but must plan ahead. I <br />think you should also be concerned about the costs of referendum. <br />WWTD? You must be careful not to judge only by yourselves and the way <br />you would do things. When making basic changes in law, you must consider all <br />the possibilities. If you look at examples across the country, the whole process <br />has been subverted by special interest groups with money. The Economist says <br />they have become "slick expensive affairs." Anyone who observes campaign ads <br />knows there are ways to influence people easily if they have no real stake. If the <br />CUB -HarMar project had been voted on, are you sure that the Council's support <br />of the neighbors would have been sustained if the companies had run an expen- <br />sive campaign pointing out the benefits to Roseville? What does local control <br />mean? <br />There is good reason to think elected representatives are in a better position to <br />make decisions. "There is evidence that voters are sometimes overwhelmed by <br />the volume of information coming their way and cast their vote in ignorance as <br />critics contend." Californians now get up to 200 pages of ballot material on state <br />referendums. <br />If voters have difficulty figuring out where they are supposed to vote, how <br />many will study the pros and cons of a variety of proposals? If you don't like the <br />decisions, organize to elect better representatives. <br />
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