SACRAMENTO — More than any modern elected official in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger owes his political career to direct democracy, the system of initiatives and recalls spawned a century ago to rein in influential interests.
But last week, in canceling an initiative he had hoped would allow him to overhaul the public pension system, Schwarzenegger learned a key lesson about government by ballot measure: It can be a political Pandora's box.
Fewer than a fourth of the initiatives proposed ever make it to the ballot in California, and nearly two-thirds of those that go to a state vote fail. There are many reasons why.
Initiative promoters make mistakes when they write them. Backers miscalculate their support; foes outflank and outspend them. Initiative promoters can't control their ideas once they become public. And for the most part, voters are skeptics.
"Those proposing change have the burden of proof," said Elizabeth Garrett, a USC law professor and director of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics. "That is not easy, particularly in the face of well-funded opposition."
Schwarzenegger had proposed cutting the cost of public employees' pensions by instituting 401(k)-style accounts. He vowed to bypass legislators if they balked at the plan and take his case directly to the people.
But in a rush to qualify the pension concept for a special election he is contemplating for November, the governor's political advisors apparently did not fully appreciate the depth of the opposition that would develop.
The attorney general's office, which writes the legal title and summary of all potential initiatives before signatures can be gathered to qualify them for the ballot, gave the measure's foes the ammunition they needed. The office concluded that it would end the death and disability payments that the current system provides.
The oversight placed the governor in the uncomfortable position of facing angry spouses and children of police officers and firefighters maimed and killed in the line of duty, who were charging that families of future employees could be deprived of a financial lifeline.
"You need to properly vet [initiatives] before you start gathering signatures," said Republican campaign and initiative consultant Dave Gilliard. "That didn't happen with this one."
