Initiatives

It was a town hall, certainly, but without the sense of chaos, the hint of danger, that we've come to associate with the words "town hall" in recent weeks. No gun-toting patriots, no dark portents of tyranny. No energy, in fact, at least not at the start of things. It was a blazing July morning, a Saturday, and several hundred people were clustered around tables in a subterranean conference room at USC. They were talking about overthrowing the government, and trying to stay awake. It was taking awhile for the coffee to kick in. But then everyone forgot about the coffee.

In a recent speech to the Academy of Arts and Sciences, California Chief Justice Ronald M. George became the latest sharp critic of the state's system of direct democracy. "Frequent amendments -- coupled with the implicit threat of more in the future -- have rendered our state government dysfunctional," he said. The chief justice isn't the first state leader to take aim at the way ballot measures are enacted in California, and he won't be the last. California's system is deeply flawed.

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he would not run for Tennessee governor in 2010 and emphasized that he was not sitting out the governor's race with an eye toward a potential run for president. The Nashville Republican said he would instead focus on global health initiatives, teaching at Vanderbilt University, and his private investment work. Frist also said he would launch an initiative to improve K-12 education. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen can't run again because of term limits.

Ballot measures: In Monday's Section A, an article about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaigning for six ballot measures incorrectly called them initiatives. The governor and legislators -- not voter initiatives -- put them on the May 19 ballot.

A November ballot initiative approved by the City Council last week will ask residents if they want to dump businesses from trash collection routes. The initiative also specifies that the free service be provided only to residential areas within city boundaries as of 1959, when the city began curbside trash collection. The result of that provision is that future residential areas acquired by the city will have to pay for their own trash pickup.

A deadlocked Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided by default this week not to place a series of measures on the November ballot that would allow residents of the county's unincorporated areas to vote on recent tax increases. With board members Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana in favor and Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina abstaining, the board declined to place increases in taxes on utility bills, hotel rooms, amusement park tickets, landfills and waste disposal before the voters.

Joel Fox may be a staunch tax foe, but when Los Angeles community college trustees foisted a new assessment on the owners of 1 million county properties last week without first seeking their approval, even he saw a silver lining. That's because Fox and other activists now plan to showcase the college district controversy as a prime example of government taxing run amok.

Backers of a March ballot initiative to limit lawyers' fees went far to find someone with consumer credentials to tout their measure--1,500 miles, in fact, to Spencer, Iowa, and the home of Garry DeLoss. In California's official voter pamphlet, DeLoss signed the ballot argument endorsing Proposition 202, one of three anti-lawyer initiatives headed for a vote March 26. He is identified as "Former Executive Director, California Consumer Organization." In fact, no group with that name exists.

The city waded into the debate over three measures on the March 26 ballot, endorsing two of them and taking no position on the third. The Laguna Beach City Council voted 4 to 0 Tuesday night to support Measures S, which opposes converting the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a civilian airport. "Clearly, this is an issue that the City Council needs to take a very strong stand on," said Councilwoman Kathleen Blackburn.

Though City Council members voted unanimously Monday night to put a term-limit measure on the November ballot, some of them said they will campaign against the initiative. In a 1994 advisory measure, 85% of the city's voters endorsed term limits, even though state law at the time did not allow such a policy for so-called general law cities such as Buena Park.