Jonathan Hoffman: Why I changed my mind on ballot initiatives

Arizona has two forms of ballot prop, the initiative and the referendum. An initiative is a ballot prop that is the result of a citizens petition to the secretary of state with a minimum of 10 percent of the voters signing for revised statutes and 15 percent of the voters signing for constitutional amendments. In both cases, a simple majority is needed for passage. A referendum is a ballot prop that is referred by the state Legislature, also requiring a simple majority for passage.

I used to view ballot props as tool to check the Legislature. When frustrated, the citizenry could take matters into its own hands. I recall when an older ballot prop in Arizona that had to do with marijuana passed, but then the Legislature modified it out of existence. It was not long after that fiasco that the Arizona Constitution was changed to deny the Legislature the ability to modify ballot props “unless the amending legislation furthers the purposes of such measure....”

Now the only way to change or remove a statute resulting from a ballot prop was to run another ballot prop. As the late Emil Franzi pointed out, this made every ballot prop effectively a constitutional amendment.

The initiatives have always been an intrusion upon what would otherwise be the authority of the Legislature. Now, with the statutes resulting from initiatives untouchable by the Legislature, the Legislature’s ability to govern is reduced yet again.

But wait! There’s more! On Aug. 8 an organization called Save Our Schools Arizona delivered a petition with signatures to the secretary of state that would force an expansion of Arizona’s school voucher program to become a referendum in an election.

I think it is fair to say that the Legislature is dominated by Republicans who were elected by their constituents to represent them. Save Our Schools Arizona is, according to its website, supported by the Arizona Democratic Party, the Maricopa Democratic Party, the Arizona Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the UFCW Local 99 and others.

I think it is fair to say that, among others, it represents the Democratic Party and labor unions. So, it would appear that the Democratic activists and politicians, who have trouble winning seats in the Legislature, have found a workaround, a way to control the legislative process from the outside.

The question now before us is not whether or not we want the Democrats or Republicans to prevail, but whether or not we want our system of elected representatives to prevail.

What used to be a tool to check the Legislature has become a weapon that could destroy it and fundamentally change our form of government from a representative republic to a direct democracy.

First the initiative was elevated beyond the reach of Legislature, and now that new power is employed to cast aside the work of our elected representatives. The effects of these two turning points have changed my mind regarding the initiative process. The increased authority of the initiative process must be reversed, and the authority of the Legislature restored.

Direct democracy is not exactly mob rule, but it is a big step in that direction.