INITIATING DISCUSSION

Forum Will Link Initiatives' Pros And Cons

Washington voters seem to be getting more lovey-dovey about initiatives.

Many see them as a quicker fix to the slow pace of the Legislature,
especially a Legislature in which one house is split in a 49-49 party tie.
Given the Legislature's inability this session to enact a charter school
bill that had the support of Gov. Gary Locke, handfuls of lawmakers,
Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson and even the Washington
Education Association, the argument for quicker law via initiative or
referendum seems tasty. Initiative 729, to allow charter schools, is on the
way.

Others like initiatives but fear a lot of money is wasted when civilian law
writers miss a detail or two. Case in point: Initiative 695, which expressed
the people's desire but failed to pass the legal criteria to become law.

Still other voters fear the initiative process is being hijacked by powerful
interests. For example, in 1998, three rich men got together and placed a
medical marijuana initiative in five Western states, including ours.
Certainly these men are not what anyone had in mind when creating a tool for
the state's people to use when it felt its governing body had turned off its
ear phones. And yet voters passed this foreign initiative into law.

So what is the role of initiatives and referendums? How are these tools best
used in the 2000s? How can states keep them from becoming another tool for
the wealthy and well-oiled? Do these measures displace representative
government? Should they?

InterAct of Clark County wants to discuss such things at 7 p.m. this
Thursday in the Student Services Building at Washington State University
Vancouver. Organizers call it an educational event. A judge, a lawmaker, two
professors and a citizen activist will help the discussion along. Admission
is free and all are welcome, initiative lovers and initiative skeptics
alike.