RE: Initiative Process

[Reed Davis <rd100@delphi.com>]

> I agree that initiative has occasionally done great good in
> areas I care deeply about and where it was obvious that change
> would have come no other way. I would be interested in knowing
> how it could be reformed to avoid the types of chaos it has
> caused in California - particularly now that the destructive
> (in my opinion), big monied, special interests have learned
> to utilize the initiative process against the very people
> initiative was put in place to protect - and they have the
> money and expertise to do it better?
>
The simplest reform would be to limit propositions to a length
that can fit on the ballot or, at most, two to three hundred
words.  Big monied, special interests have learned that they
can come up with an appealing slogan for a proposition and hide
their own agenda in the long, complex implementation text.  They
know that few, if any, voters will ever read it.

There are likely other important reforms but limiting the length
of propositions would be among the easiest and would provide
some simplification and transparency to the process.

Reed Davis