Pubdate: Fri, 21 May 1999 Date: 05/21/1999 Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK) Author: Dave Rudisill Let me see if I understand this. Alaskans qualified an initiative to reform campaign financing. The Legislature, to prevent it from becoming law, passed substantially similar legislation. Then the Legislature rewrites the law, gutting it. Alaskans passed an initiative to allow medical use of marijuana. Then the Legislature writes new law, gutting it. Alaskans voted on an initiative to ban wolf snaring, passed an initiative to ban billboards and is generally threatening to pass the laws it wants over the heads of the Legislature. So the Legislature writes two laws making it harder to qualify initiatives and to pass them into law. We have a $1 billion budget deficit. The Legislature responds by spending all but the last few days of the session cutting $40 million from the budget (leaving only a $960 million deficit). Clearly, the Legislature holds us in contempt. I suppose lawmakers are aware that the feeling is mutual. Dave Rudisill, Anchorage