BONO CRITICIZES EASY CHALLENGES TO VOTERAPPROVED INITIATIVES by Dave Downey, The PressEnterprise
Copyright (c) 1997, The Press Enterprise Co.

BANNING

U.S. Rep. Sonny Bono, RPalm Springs, told a friendly
Banning audience Thursday that he intends to continue
working to make it difficult for groups to derail
voterpassed initiatives. "When the people speak, that
should be the final say," Bono told the nearly 100 women
and men who turned out for a San Gorgonio Pass Republican
Women Federated luncheon.

"Amen," rumbled dozens of listeners.

Bono was critical of constitutional court challenges
that immediately blocked enforcement of Props. 187 and 209.
Passed by substantial majorities in 1994 and 1996, those
initiatives would have prevented undocumented immigrants
from going to school and receiving government medical
assistance, and ended state affirmative action programs.

Bono said after the address that even the controversial
medical marijuana initiative, Prop. 215, should have been
left alone and allowed to become law after California
voters approved it last November. In December, federal
officials announced they would prosecute doctors who
prescribed marijuana for patients.

Bono said in 1996 he introduced a bill requiring that
constitutional challenges to initiatives be decided by a
panel of three judges, eliminating the current practice of
opposition groups "shopping for a judge sympathetic to
their viewpoint. "

The bill passed the House of Representatives, but died
in the Senate. Bono said he hopes a similar bill he is
working on with Rep. Henry Hyde, RIll., will be signed by
the president this year.

Diana Norris of Banning's Sun Lakes community, who asked
a question of Bono about the legislation, said she believes
many California voters are becoming apathetic because of
the court challenges. People are starting to figure that
their vote, as it pertains to statewide initiatives, does
not matter, Norris said.

"Every time we vote for something the judges, the
specialinterest groups and the ACLU turn around and
contest it, and it sits in a court for 10 years," Norris
said. "That is creating apathy. "

Another woman in the audience wanted to know whether
Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was hiding, because of
his recent low profile. Bono answered the question by
referring to his earlier days as a pop music star. "When
Sonny and Cher were down, I didn't know who I was for a few
years," Bono said. "I started asking, 'Who am I? ' and
'Where am I going? ' You doubt yourself completely and you
start becoming the person that the people who criticize you
want you to be. "

Bono said Gingrich is taking a low profile because of
the criticism he received for his past outspokenness.
"That new style gives the appearance he is hiding," Bono
said.

Bono started the hourlong address by expressing his
grief, with tears and a breaking voice, for the two
Riverside County sheriff's deputies slain three months ago
in the Whitewater area. He said spending a day with the
families of the late Michael Haugen and his partner, James
W. Lehmann, gave him new appreciation for the dangers law
enforcement officers face.

"After seeing what they have to go through to take care
of us, we should all be proud of them," Bono said.