Pubdate: Wed, 31 Jul 2002
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 1A
Copyright: 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Jill Lawrence

THE LEFT TAKES OVER BALLOT INITIATIVES

Schools, Tobacco Taxes, Marijuana Among Issues

LOS ANGELES -- Liberals have overtaken conservatives on a political 
battleground they once ceded to the other side. Liberal ideas will 
outnumber conservative initiatives on ballots this fall.

"Progressives have accepted that this process is not going to go away," 
says Kristina Wilfore of the liberal-backed Ballot Initiative Strategy 
Center. "So we should get our act together to be as effective as the other 
side has been."

Conservatives turned to initiatives when they did not control many 
legislatures or governors' offices, political scientist John Fortier says.

The 1990s brought a wave of GOP governors and legislatures and tax cuts. 
Since 1994, Fortier says, "Conservatives are getting more through the 
traditional legislative process."

Law can be made by citizen-driven initiatives in 24 states and the District 
of Columbia. Sponsors must collect a required number of signatures and meet 
other conditions.

Conservatives began using initiatives to set the national agenda in 1978, 
when Californians passed Proposition 13 to cut property taxes nearly 60%.

Since then, voters in various states have been asked to limit abortion, 
curtail union political activity and give parents tuition vouchers for 
private school. Key conservative victories include California initiatives 
to end affirmative action and bilingual education.

The first major initiative passed by liberals was Oregon's 1994 law to let 
doctors help terminally ill patients die.

This year, Wilfore says, ballots are likely to carry nearly twice as many 
liberal as conservative ideas. Among them:

* Smaller classes, preschool for all and an indoor smoking ban in Florida.

* Decriminalizing marijuana in Nevada and allowing medicinal marijuana use 
in Arizona and South Dakota.

* Raising tobacco taxes to pay for health care in Missouri and Arizona, and 
health coverage for all in Oregon.

* Election Day voter registration in California and Colorado.

* Money for after-school programs in California, sponsored by actor Arnold 
Schwarzenegger, a Republican.

On the conservative side, voters in Massachusetts and probably Colorado 
will decide whether to abolish bilingual education. Nevadans will consider 
a ban on same-sex marriages.
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MAP posted-by: Beth