Initiative lesson: Keep it simple

by Kery Murakami
Seattle Times Olympia bureau

Even watching five initiatives go down in flames Tuesday isn't deterring a
number of groups from considering their own initiatives next year.

Two out of three voters said no this week to trigger locks, medical
marijuana and the antidiscrimination initiative for gays and lesbians. But
groups like the Washington State Labor Council say voters may support
raising the minimum wage, reforming campaignfinance laws and expanding
healthcare coverage to low and middleincome people.

Maybe so, say political strategists. But they also say the road to next
year's elections is fraught with warning signs and any initiative campaign
is doomed unless it learns this lesson from Tuesday: Keep it simple.

The biggest mistake the initiative campaigns made this year was trying to
cram too much into their proposals, political analysts say.

"Initiative 685 combined medical marijuana with sentencing revisions
involving dangerous narcotics, with a drug commission," said John Carlson,
the conservative KVI radio talkshow host who sponsored the successful
"Three Strikes" initiative in 1992.

This year he is chairman of Initiative 200, a proposal to the state
Legislature to ban affirmative action in government, colleges and
universities. If initiative supporters succeed, the Legislature could
approve it or place it on next November's ballot.

"I think Tuesday will cause people to think hard about how does one get to
a yes vote," said Teresa Purcell, executive director of The Washington
Council for Fair Elections, a group planning to run a
campaignfinancereform initiative next year. "You have to have something
that is good policy, but is also very clear. You shouldn't try to put a lot
of things in, because it can get confusing to voters."

In a number of polls, voters said they were confused about many of this
year's initiatives, which some analysts attributed also to voter overload.
"Unless this was something that really caught people's attention or
something people said we absolutely have to have, people vote no," said
Michael Grossman, who runs FiftyPlusOne, a consulting firm that helped
the I673 healthinsurance initiative gather enough signatures to get on
the ballot.

For voters, there will be even more choices to make next year. Alongside
initiatives on next year's ballot will be one U.S. Senate race and nine
congressional races. The entire state House of Representatives and half the
state Senate also will be up for election.

That won't be a problem, said Rick Bender, executive director of the
Washington State Labor Council, which is considering an initiative to raise
the minimum wage next year. The details haven't yet been worked out, but
"it's a pretty clear idea," Bender said. "You either want to raise it or
you don't. It's a real breadandbutter issue."

John Burbank, a healthpolicy analyst for the Fremont Public Association,
says much the same about another initiative the socialservices
organization is thinking about pushing. Their initiative would increase the
number of people able to get health insurance through the statesubsidized
Basic Health Plan. Though the details about financing haven't been worked
out, Burbank said the ability to have health insurance is something many
voters will be able to relate to.

Secretary of State Ralph Munro doesn't dispute that. But he's one who's
hoping Tuesday's losses will discourage interest groups from running narrow
initiatives.

He noted that the only reason all five measures went before voters was
because they used paid signaturegatherers to get on the ballot.

To Munro, that signaled the initiative never had broad grassroots support
and would have a hard time passing.

"Maybe now, people who thought this was going to be easy, that they could
buy their way on the ballot, are finding out the public is a hell of a lot
smarter than that," Munro said.

Kery Murakami's phone message number is 2064642775. His email address
is: kmurnew@seatimes.com

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