VOTERS JETTISON IDEALS IN WACKY ELECTION

Tuesday's election mercifully concludes one of the most confusing
Arizona elections in memory.

By now, voters need a program to keep the players straight. With
parties taking a back seat to personal agendas, Democrats are voting
Republican, and vice versa. And, on some of the - count 'em - 14
ballot propositions, no means yes, and yes means no.

Propositions 300 and 301 would validate legislative tinkering with
Proposition 200, the "medical marijuana" initiative passed by voters
in 1996. The initiative allowed doctors to prescribe illegal drugs to
alleviate patient suffering. Voters who want to invalidate legislative
changes and reaffirm their earlier vote should vote "no" on
Propositions 300 and 301. That is, no means yes to the use of medical
marijuana.

And don't lose count of the propositions. There are 15 in the
Secretary of State Office's voter handbook, but only 14 on the ballot.
Proposition 106, which would have allowed voters to choose between
Democrats and Republicans in primaries, was cut because of invalid
petition signatures. Surviving was the politico-backed Proposition
103, an "open primary lite" that would open primaries only to
independents.

Even an initiative's name can be misleading. Proposition 303, the
Growing Smarter initiative, has been marketed as preserving the
state's open space. It would appropriate $20 million of the state's
general revenue each year for 11 years to purchase or lease land that
the state already owns in trust, to preserve it from
development.

Yet, opponents of 303 include the Sierra Club and the Arizona League
of Conservation Voters, both of which support land preservation.
Terming the initiative a sneaky welfare program for developers,
environmentalists are worried that, if it passes, the state won't be
able to slap developers with impact fees from local growth management
plans or be able to force localities to adopt growth
restrictions.

If the propositions produce voter confusion, the candidate races have
produced voter contortions - those personal concessions and moral
adjustments that voters make to support or oppose a candidate, even if
it conflicts with what those voters claim to stand for.

In District 23, where Democratic Rep. Linda Aguirre seeks to become
the first Latina elected to the Arizona Senate, some color-conscious
Black voters, though loyal Democrats, intend to vote for Republican
Maurice Ward, an African-American. In a district where Hispanics
outnumber Blacks, defectors have strayed from the historical
African-American view that elected bodies reflect the community served.

Some female Democrats are just as flexible if it means keeping
Republican Jane Hull as one of only three female governors in the
country. Those female voters, many of whom are pro-choice, are not
about to let a little thing like philosophical opposition to Hull's
strong pro-life record in the Legislature get in the way of sisterhood.

Ditto for a crop of Hispanic power brokers who won't let the civil
rights concerns of their brethren interfere with increasing access to
the incumbent secretary of state, Republican Betsey Bayless. Many of
the same people behind a $100 Bayless fund-raiser Thursday have
condemned assaults on Hispanics like the Chandler roundup. They are
not as troubled, apparently, by a "voter fraud prevention form"
created by Bayless' office and criticized by some Hispanic leaders as
targeting their community.

And speaking of the roundup and civil rights and contortions, many
Hispanics are supporting master politician Janet Napolitano, a
Democrat, for attorney general. Willing to excuse Napolitano's
performance as U.S. attorney after the roundup and her silence on the
issue for - count 'em - 15 months since then, some Hispanics,
including attorneys who know better, are staying on the hacienda and
voting Democratic. In doing so, they prove that there's an enormous
difference between the leadership for which Hispanics say they hunger
and the morsels for which they will settle.

On second thought, some of the more compromised voters in this
election don't need a program. They need a bath.

Ruben Navarrette Jr. can be reached at 444-4977 or at
ruben.navarrette@pni.com.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry