Forrest Hill: Shatter Barriers and Give Power To Citizens

Diversifying Government

The campaign has been busy and all the work our volunteers have been putting in over the past year has begun to pay off. The good news is we just hosted a successful fundraiser in San Francisco sponsored by several leaders in the Gay Community, and several more are planned.

Below are several articles in the Gay Press on our campaign, including the Bay Area Reporter, the largest LGBT publication in San Francisco:

Bay Area Reporter
http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1165
News Blaze
http://newsblaze.com/story/20060919234616nnnn.nb/newsblaze/POLITICS/Politics.html
Out in San Francisco
http://www.outinsanfrancisco.com/home/news.asp?articleid=29979

Given the radical right's current use of the ballot initiative process to promote narrow and discriminatory agendas, it is especially important to have a Secretary of State who has the power, the expertise and the motivation to protect the rights of all citizens, including those in the LGBT community.

Today there are only three openly gay members of Congress. Electing an openly gay man as Secretary of State will help shatter the litmus test of heterosexuality that has prevented highly qualified citizens from attaining the highest state-level political offices.

Forrest Hill:

"Lets work together to assert the democratic rights of all people in this society to be represented government, and to build a government that is by and for the people, not just wealthy special interests."

Putting the Power of the Initiative Back in the Hands of Citizens
by Forrest Hill

Secretary of State candidate Debra Bowen (D) has recently authored a bill on initiative reform requiring signature gatherers to disclose whether they're paid or are volunteers. While this is a good first step forward, I do not believe this measure will reduce the advantage enjoyed by well-heeled special interests in qualifying ballot initiatives.

Sadly, however, the termed-out senator also wants to "increase the cost of qualifying" initiatives by supporting legislation that only allows signature gatherers to be paid by the hour. This will only help to further disenfranchise average citizens by putting the power of the initiative exclusively in the hands of wealthy special interests.

Since circulators are usually paid based on the number of "valid" signatures they collect, requiring hourly payment for petition circulators will not only increase the cost of qualifying an initiative, but also lead to increase fraud.

What we need to do is limit the control of big money on initiatives, not embolden them even more by making the process even more expensive.

When the initiative process envisioned by Governor Hiram Johnson was adopted in 1911, it was intended as a powerful tool that would allow "ordinary" citizens to counteract the controlling influence of corporations and wealthy individuals over the state Legislature.

Unfortunately, what has happened over the past 25 years is that the very special interests that initiatives were designed to protect against now manipulate the process for their own gain.

In California, wealthy interests can hide the sources of their ballot initiative funding and spend whatever it takes to communicate deceitful messages to voters about the merits of a ballot measure without disclosing who is funding the initiative.

If an interest group can raise a couple millions of dollar to pay signatures gathers they can easily manipulate the electorate through anonymous and deceitful television advertisements about the merits of a ballot measure.

The initiative process is now the favorite legislative tool of big-money special interests like pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, wealthy individuals, elected officials, or well-financed special interest groups.

Minority organizations and citizen groups, on the other hand, rarely, if ever, place an initiative on the ballot.

To give the power of the initiative back to the citizens of California and to stop moneyed interest from by-passing the legislative process for their pet projects, the state of California should enact the following reforms:

* Set spending limits for gathering signatures, and require an initiative to pass with 60% of the vote if signature gathering expenses exceed voluntary spending limits.

* Set lower signature requirements for grassroots organization that do not use paid signature gatherers.

* Require signature gathers to show which special interests are bankrolling an initiative.

* Hold ballot measure committees accountable by requiring full disclosure in a timely manner, so that voters know who is spending the money to support an initiative and how much money they're spending.

* Create an independent commission to review initiatives to ensure that the official language on the ballot accurately describes the question to voters, as is currently done in Colorado.