Posted on 04/01/2004 11:20:17 AM PST by Impeach98
New 'Prop. 187' falling short of signatures needed to appear on ballot
By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer
With less than a month to go, supporters of a controversial ballot initiative that would amend California's Constitution to deny most public benefits to illegal immigrants say they are nearly 200,000 signatures short of their goal.
The so-called Save Our State initiative needs 598,105 valid signatures by April 29 in order to be put on the November ballot. Because many signatures are usually invalidated, supporters must collect many more than are needed. Backers said they had about 405,000 signatures as of Saturday.
"No one is ever comfortable," said Ron Prince, a Tustin accountant who is leading the effort to qualify the measure. "Of course, if I don't have enough signatures, I'm concerned."
Supporters began their signature-gathering campaign in December. Prince said he had hoped to capture some of the momentum that began with the recall effort of former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis last year. But the initiative drive has relied largely on volunteers and on the Internet to collect the signatures.
"There was an appearance that people would get out in support and collect signatures," he said.
The proposed constitutional amendment would eliminate most public benefits for illegal immigrants, including health care for pregnant women, but the measure would exempt emergency medical care and primary education for children. It would also require state officials to report illegal immigrants to immigration authorities.
Unlike a similar initiative in 1994, called Proposition 187 which Prince helped author, the current campaign has received little public support from the Republican Party establishment. Then-Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican, became closely associated with the anti-illegal immigrant proposition.
Earlier this week, Howard Kaloogian, a former Republican Assemblyman who lives in San Marcos, sent out an e-mail urging supporters of the current initiative to download petitions from the Internet and sign them.
"Please take a few moments this weekend and next week to help us collect the final signatures to qualify the 'Save 187' initiative," the e-mail read. "We have no major backing from big-money donors or the political establishment."
Kaloogian said he did not discount that the goal could be reached in the final days of the campaign. He said they have set April 15, which is also the deadline to file income tax forms, as a reminder to turn the final signatures in.
"It's typical that most of the signatures are collected during the last days," he said.
However, Gary Jacobson, a political science professor at UC San Diego, said collecting that many signatures with less than a month to go and no money could spell deep trouble. Moreover, signature gathering campaigns must collect at least 20 percent (or 120,000) more signatures than required in order to account for those that are likely to be invalidated, he said. State law requires ballot initiatives to garner valid signatures equal to 8 percent of the vote in the latest statewide election.
"If they are that far short, this late, with no funding, then it's urgent," Jacobson said. "It's harder to get publicity when you don't have big names. Howard Kaloogian doesn't get as many TV cameras pointed at him as Arnold Schwarzenegger would."
A similar effort was launched in 2000 but was unable to qualify for the ballot.
The Save Our State initiative is the latest version of Prop. 187, which passed in 1994 by garnering nearly 60 percent of the vote, but was ruled largely illegal by federal courts. Analysts say Wilson used popular anti-immigrant sentiment in his re-election campaign and alienated many Latino voters.
Federal welfare reform laws in 1996 eliminated federal benefits for illegal immigrants and prohibited states and local governments from providing public benefits, unless they enacted legislation to authorize it. California passed laws to provide prenatal care for pregnant illegal immigrant women and other health benefits under the state's Medi-Cal program.
Prince said he wants state welfare laws to be aligned with federal laws.
Under the proposed constitutional amendment, illegal immigrants would also be denied driver's licenses or state identification cards. And state officials would be required to verify the legal status of anyone applying for public contracts, food assistance, college education, unemployment, welfare, housing and other benefits. Anyone who fails to comply would be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Nativo Lopez, president of Hermandad Mexicana, a Latino rights organization that has opposed the initiative, said it was too early to cry victory. But he acknowledged that the Republican Party may be changing given the increasing Latino participation in the state's electorate.
"The Republican Party probably knows the electorate better than anybody," Lopez said. "They are not stupid. And they understand that to rise above being the minority party in the state means browning up the elephant."
Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-5426 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.
I read in the article above that we must "brown up the elephant" - and it struck me how successful the Left is in this state.
We're told we'll suffer political obscurity if we stand up for enforcement of our immigration laws. That it is apparently RACIST to deny lawbreakers your tax dollars.
Are you going to stand for that? Are we going to let the elitist of the political establishment in the state - that marriage of Democrats and RINOS - control our political destiny and bankrupt our state financially and morally for our children?
Let's get to it and GET THOSE SIGNATURES!!!
And yes, I wish they had raised funds for paid signature gatherers. Apparently they either couldn't (since the State and National GOP have told their donors not to support this effort) or chose not to try to raise money.
I'll presume it was the former, but I can't speak with any authority on it. I just know Kaloogian was motivated by the fact that this effort was being ignored by the GOP and felt that the conservative base needed to rally behind it.
I think we're more likely to "elephant up the browns" - bad news for racist Latino activists who want to keep their people locked on the Democrat slave-labor strawberry farm.
Are you? (Not you, Impeach98, I know you're good.. I mean everyone else reading this)
(Also circulating petitions for Ted Costa's new initiative to overhaul redistricting)
Thanks Kingu... I've been looking for that piece of info.
impeach98... I think I've got what I need, so ignore that last post (unless, of course, you have something to add). :-)
All... FYI, I posted the following last week... (pretty comprehensive Save187 info)
CA: Save our State - Drivers Licenses, Public Benefits and Heading off Amnesties
.
How is that going? Are those also due soon? I fell asleep last night trying to listen to Ted on radio (at midnight). I didn't catch the important part (although I did jot down the websites)
TedCosta.com
FairDistricts.com
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