2000 League of Women Voters position on Charter Commission

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