Posted on 12/25/2004 8:28:59 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO — Exploiting a political tool that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has used with relish, liberal groups and Democratic lawmakers are planning to place on the ballot some long-favored policies and programs that the governor has so far blocked.
Advocates hope the tactic could provide leverage for a series of labor and consumer causes defeated through vetoes and ballot measures this year.
But the approach could also increase the Capitol's partisan rancor, and even Democratic leaders say it could provide voters with a fresh signal that the Legislature is becoming irrelevant.
Possible ballot initiatives under discussion by an assortment of liberal groups and Democrats would seek to increase California's minimum wage, make it easier to buy prescription drugs from Canada and arrange for bulk purchases of prescription drugs at lower prices. All those measures passed the Democratic-led Legislature this year but were vetoed by Schwarzenegger.
Various advocacy groups are also talking about using the ballot to win financing for more affordable housing and children's health programs — ideas that do well in polls but may be difficult for legislators to incorporate into next year's state budget given California's steep fiscal problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Of course all of these feel-good proposals poll well... but how exactly do they plan to pay for them?
"Of course all of these feel-good proposals poll well... but how exactly do they plan to pay for them?"
They don't, we have now gone the way of Rome, there are more takers voting for more largess than there are providers!
Eventually the whole thing colapses and nobody has anything including what used to be the providers.
A constitution is supposed to be a framework of government. Look at Californias. The initiative (democratic) process has made it a hodge podge. The Constitution of the United States Article 4, Section 4 guarantees to every state in the Union a republican form of government - not a democratic one.
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