PLS 103 Lecture 8 1. Today we re gonna talk about the initiative and referendum process in Missouri. We

Transcription

1 PLS 103 Lecture 8 1 Today we re gonna talk about the initiative and referendum process in Missouri. We introduced the initiative and referendum process when we talked about the Constitution. We talked about the initiative and referendum process as a mechanism of conflict management, the initiative and referendum process being a steam valve, so to speak. We re gonna spend time today basically talking about the pros and the cons of the initiative and referendum process. The average citizen of Missouri has a tremendous amount of power with the initiative and referendum process. You take your clipboard to Wal-Mart and you put something on the ballot, vote on it, it goes in the Constitution. That is a power that s not available in every state. So we re gonna talk about the pros and the cons. Basically I want to identify two themes to start with, two themes to start with, and they re both taken from the text. And there s how much reading? A page and a half, maybe not even a whole page altogether. The first theme is the ease of amending the Missouri Constitution. Relatively speaking, by comparison to other states, the initiative and referendum process makes it easy to amend the Constitution. And the author explains why the Missouri Constitution is so thick because of that. There s two reasons. The first we ve already talked about. The specification for the Executive departments, the powers and the duties of Executive Branch officeholders is specified in detail. That explains in part the thickness of the Constitution. The other part is the fact that it has been amended so many times since So the ease of Constitutional amendment is a theme that underscores what we re talking about here today. Now, it has not just been through initiatives and referendums, but that s a very big part of it which I ll

2 PLS 103 Lecture 8 2 tell you in just a second. The other aspect of initiative and referendums and the Constitutional Amendments, it is based on the procedure for amending the Constitution. The process that we call initiatives and referendums is based on, rooted in, an informed citizenry. If we re talking about the public affairs mission of the university, then this is very nice. The whole process of initiative and referendums is based on the fact that each and every citizen takes an active part in their government. And so when we talk about pros and cons, this is going to be one of the keys. How well do Missouri citizens define themselves in this regard? Are most Missouri citizens who participate in elections, who vote, what we would consider informed citizens? So these ll be the two themes that underscore what we have today. Let s do a little bit of history, a little bit of explanation, and I ll just erase this just a teeny bit. Little bit of history, a little bit of process. Let s start with the process. There are three ways in which the Missouri State Constitution can be amended. Three ways in which the Missouri State Constitution can be amended. Constitutional amendments can come from the state legislature. Constitutional amendments can come from Constitutional Conventions. And lastly, Constitutional amendments can come through initiative petitions from the citizens of the state. Three ways in which a Constitutional Amendment can go on the ballot. Now, the most important thing to remember about all three, no matter how it originates, whether it comes from the state legislature, whether it comes from a Constitutional Convention, or whether it comes from initiative petition, all Constitutional Amendments have to be voted on by the

3 PLS 103 Lecture 8 3 people of Missouri. That s what we call the referendum. All Constitutional Amendments have to be ratified by the people in a popular election. Now, let s talk about number two. Constitutional Convention. The last Constitutional Convention, the Constitution we re operating under right now, was In 1962, in 1982, and in the year 2002 the citizens of Missouri were given a choice. According to the 1945 Constitution and we talked about this early on the citizens of Missouri have to vote every 20 years, Should we have a new Constitutional Convention to revise or throw out the current State Constitution? Since 1945 the voters of Missouri have been asked that question three times , 1982, and the year 2002 and each time the voters in Missouri have said, No, we are not going to call a new Constitutional Convention. So in terms of where have the amendments come from, that leaves the state legislature and the initiative process. With me so far? There s a little nod but I ll take it. So Constitutional Convention is not the source. Let me give you an odd bit of data. In the 1970s this ll be my history part. In the 1970s, meaning the decade of the 70s, voters were asked to decide issues, initiatives, at each general election I have to hold up fingers 1970, 1972, 74, 76, and and at four out of five primary elections. All right. How many fingers? Nine fingers. In the 1970s voters were asked nine times to vote on initiatives in a referendum excuse me to vote on initiatives in the 1970s. In November of 1982 in November of 1982 there were 13 statewide issues on the ballot. In November one day, one election there were more issues to be decided than the entire previous decade. What that shows is the growing importance of the initiative process. So it can get on the ballot from the state legislature, Constitutional Convention, or the

4 PLS 103 Lecture 8 4 initiative process. But what we have seen in the last 30 years is the growth of the initiative process where you take your clipboard to Wal-Mart and get something on the ballot. So because this has become so important, we need to spend some time talking about whether it s a good idea or a bad idea. So I m gonna use this board over here to outline the pros and the con of the initiative and referendum process. Now, it works nicely in the sense of balance that there are essentially I can sum it up into five reasons why the initiative and referendum process is good -- although I might run out of room for my examples -- and there are five reasons why some people are skeptical about the initiative and referendum process. Four reasons excuse me five reasons the initiative and referendum process is good, five reasons why maybe it s not so good. The first reason that the initiative and referendum process is good. The initiative and referendum process encourages citizens to be more politically active. Number one, encourages citizens to be more politically active. In other states you get to vote. Here you get a chance to write legislation, here you get a chance to amend your Constitution. You have an opportunity that it is not given to citizens in all the other states. The idea is it gives you an extra incentive to participate. You don t just vote. You make the policy yourself. And so the initiative and referendum process is a good thing because not only does it allow you to be more politically active, it encourages you to be more politically active. You get a chance Oh, that s the law that they passed. In Missouri this is the law that you passed. So the first reason, encouraging political activity. Second, the initiative and referendum process helps to maintain the legitimacy, helps to maintain the legitimacy of state government. The best way to talk about this is to talk about

5 PLS 103 Lecture 8 5 the concept of political efficacy. Political efficacy means I believe that my voice makes a difference. And what we see nationwide is political efficacy on the decline. You don t think your voice makes a difference. This was especially true in What happens in 1972, 73, 74? What are we all concerned about? Nationally. What s the big issue? Big issue no comments from the peanut gallery. What s our big issue in the early 70s? Vietnam is one. Bigger than that. Nationally. What s the biggest issue that happens in the early 70s? Watergate. Whitewater is later. Same word, different president. Watergate. President Nixon, the break into the National Democratic Headquarters, the Watergate hearings, it s everywhere. Watergate is a national embarrassment. Your political efficacy goes down. Oh, man. I just throw up my hands about national government.. That really depresses an awful lot of people. What can you do about that? What can you do about Washington here in Missouri? The answer was nothing. But in the citizens of Missouri passed campaign finance reform. Will this make me feel better about national government? Probably not, but at least I can do something about government here in Missouri. The argument being that the absence of campaign finance reform is in part responsible for Watergate and what happened there. In Missouri the citizens passed campaign finance reform to take care of similar problems perceived or potential here in Missouri. And so when you pass campaign finance reform you feel a little bit better about state government. You may not feel any different about the national government and its legitimacy, but the government in Jeff City is a little bit more legitimate because you have imposed these campaign finance reforms through the referendum process. So that s a positive thing.

6 PLS 103 Lecture 8 6 Number three. The public may be more willing than the legislature I knew I was gonna run out of room. The general public, the citizens of Missouri, may be more willing than the legislature to adopt new proposals. The best example of that What happened in 1940 in Missouri? On the last test. Missouri Court Plan was adopted in The Missouri Plan, 1940, was adopted by the citizens of Missouri over the objections of the state legislature Missouri Plan was adopted over the objections of the state legislature. Now, tell me about the Missouri Plan. What was it supposed to do? Help me out. What re we taking out of the process and replacing it with something else? We re taking politics out and replacing it with merit. The idea behind the Missouri Plan was to increase the amount of merit. Judges appointed because of their ability, not because of their partisan affiliation. It s what you know, not who you know. Well, in 1940, to adopt a plan based on merit means you re gonna take away power from the legislature. You re gonna take away power from political parties. The legislature in 1940 rejected the Missouri Plan. The Missouri Plan was adopted over the objections of the legislature in the referendum process. More importantly, the legislature then sued, arguing that the Missouri Plan was unconstitutional, but the Missouri State Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the process and the plan itself. And so what the initiative and referendum process does is allow you to go around the legislature. If you insist that your representatives do something and they refuse to do so, the initiative and referendum process allows you to go around them. And this is a very as I was coming in to do this lecture and one of my colleagues asked what I was lecturing on, I said we re gonna do the pros and the cons of initiative referendum process. And the response

7 PLS 103 Lecture 8 7 was, Are there any pros? And so I think there are real pros. And certainly these two 1974 and 1940 are good examples of that. Number four. Number four. It s related to number two but it s a little bit different. The initiative and referendum process the initiative and referendum process makes the government of Missouri more responsive to its citizens. Makes the government of Missouri more responsive to its citizens. And the best example of this And these examples at 1940 we re going back in history. The examples are a little bit dated, but they re still the best examples for these topics. 1970, the legislature passes a tax reform bill. 1970, the legislature passed a tax reform. In that same year, 1970, the voters of Missouri through a referendum rejected that tax reform. In 1970 the legislature passes a tax reform and in 1970 the citizens of Missouri reject tax reform. And what does the legislature do? What do you think? What s the legislature gonna do? They pass a bill, you reject it. What do they do next? They could take it to court. That would be a good example for number three. What would be a good example of making them responsive? They changed it. The legislature rewrote the tax bill and made it acceptable to the citizens of Missouri. So they passed tax reform, the citizens reject tax reform, and the legislature started again and wrote a tax reform bill that was acceptable to the citizens of the state. So that s a nice example of the government being made more responsive through the initiative and referendum process. I have to erase in order to get number five. Number five is one of those things that depends on how you look at it questions. Number five would say that initiatives and referendum allow you to bypass the special

8 PLS 103 Lecture 8 8 interests. The argument is that special interests interest groups, lobbyists, people with a more narrow focus with respect to public policy of Missouri dominate the legislature. Now, there s an explanation for that. Missouri s legislature is part-time, what we called earlier in the semester non-professional legislature. There is a question of how much influence do interest groups have in Jefferson City. Well, if you believe that interest groups have too much influence, that they have too much influence in public policy, they have too much influence in the way your representatives vote, then the initiative and referendum process is a way that you can bypass the control of special interests. Now, this number five matches exactly with that number five, and we ll get there in just a second. If you accept that interest groups dominate the process, then the initiative and referendum process is a way to get around that. If you say interest groups don t dominate the process, then number five doesn t exist at all. But we need to put it up here because it s on the other side and we ll talk about the examples then. So let s move over to the con side. Let s move over to the con side. The first argument is sort of deep and theoretical and we ll stand this way in that the initiative and referendum process weakens representative government. Weakens representative government. What do you elect your representatives to do? To represent you, to make decisions for you. So through the initiative and referendum process what re you doing? Well, you re making you re right. You re going around them, but you re making decisions for themselves. You elect them to make decisions for you and then you make decisions for themselves make decisions for yourselves. Let s talk about a specific example. Concealed weapons. We voted on concealed

9 PLS 103 Lecture 8 9 weapons a few years back. We voted on concealed weapons in initiative a few years ago. Now, there are lots of different ways for the legislature to tackle this issue. They could have written it simply as legislation. The strategy going back to over here, the state legislature proposed a Constitutional Amendment which meant the Constitutional Amendment had to be ratified by the citizens. Now, we re going to vote on concealed weapons. The legislature votes to put the issue on the ballot rather than to vote in the legislature as to whether we should or should not do it. So let s talk about this. I know, let s let the voters decide. So what don t you have on record? Anywhere. Think about it for just a second. [Inaudible student response] You don t have the legislators themselves voting on it. So it is a democratic process in that it allows you, the citizen of Missouri, to decide. But, at the same time, it allows legislature not to vote on it. So the argument is that that weakens representative government. Rather than taking a stand, yay or nay I m for concealed weapons, I m opposed to concealed weapons and then letting your constituents vote you in or out of office because of that, the concealed weapons the way we did it the last time was to bypass that step and let the voters decide. Now, it s not wrong to let the voters decide. The argument is that type of procedure allows the legislature to avoid the responsibility. So in that sense it weakens representative government. Now, that s how it happened last time. If predictions are true, the legislature is gonna tackle the same issue again and do it through legislation so that each individual representative and senator will vote yay or nay on this issue. As of now, the concealed

10 PLS 103 Lecture 8 10 weapons is my best example for weakening representative government. I may have to change this next time we do these tapes. Does that make sense? It s a little deep, just a little bit deep. We don t like to do that too much. Number two. The premise of the initiative and referendum process is that we have an informed citizenry. Number two, for arguments against, would be citizens do not have sufficient information nor are they willing to take the time to gather sufficient information to make educated, competent decisions. Not sure how the best way to write that. Citizens do not have sufficient information and are not likely to take the time to gather sufficient information. Let s go with sufficient information. There are there have been some very complex issues on the ballot. Going back 10, 11, maybe 12 years now, the Natural Streams Act. Whether St. Louis should have an increase in its home rule authority. Whether firefighters in Springfield should be able to bargain collectively. Many of these issues, especially the ballot language, are technical and complex. If you look at your local paper, whether it s the Kansas City Star or the Post-Dispatch, when they print what the Constitutional Amendment says, some of them will take up an entire page. There is an awful lot of material. And the question for the people on the con side is whether the average voter is going to have enough information, whether the average voter is going to take the time to gather enough information, to make an educated vote. Again, the premise is we need an informed citizenry to make this work. The argument here is that most voters in Missouri are not going to have sufficient information. Most voters in Missouri are not going to take the time to gather sufficient information. And so in terms of

11 PLS 103 Lecture 8 11 the arguments against, that for some is the most important one. The system is based on an informed citizenry. The argument is for most initiative and referendums we don t have an informed citizenry. So that s a crucial one for the arguments against. The third one has to do with the process itself. The third one has to do with the process itself. It is argued that the process is not open to adjustment. Not open to adjustment. The best way to explain this is to talk about a couple of examples. The process is not open to adjustment. The best example would be 1982, sales tax increase. I have a more contemporary one, but 1982, sales tax increase. In 1982 there was a referendum on the ballot on a proposed increase in the state sales tax. And as many other sales tax increases, all that money was gonna go to? Where was it gonna go? Just like the lottery. All that money was gonna go to education. The 1982 sales tax was going to be increased and all that money was gonna go to education. After you took your clipboard to Wal-Mart, after you got the requisite number of signatures, after the ballot language had been approved by the Secretary of State s office, they realized that the sales tax increase was not enough to cover what they said was going to go to education. The ballot language was written in such a way the amendment was written in such a way that the sales tax increase wouldn t cover the amount that they were supposed to give to education. And when you realize that, what do you want to do? Before the vote, what do you want to do? You want to fix it. Oh, wait. Wait. That s not what we meant. But it s too late. The process isn t open to adjustment. Of course that s just a good reason to make it that be that much more careful on how you word the amendment. But in 1982 the sales tax allocated

12 PLS 103 Lecture 8 12 more money than would be raised by the sales tax. Oh, wait. Let s fix that. No, too late. So people who were advocating increasing the sales tax for education had to what did they have to do? They had to vote against it. They actually had to campaign and tell people not to vote for it, even though they were in favor of it originally. But the ballot language was such that they wanted to vote against it. Now what happened? What makes the story even funnier? It passed. The 1982 sales tax increase passed. And so they had to take money out of the general fund in order to pay for the increase. Now, that is a good example of the process being inflexible, not open to adjustment or compromise. A more recent example, one of my own personal favorites you don t get to say cockfighting too often in class, but in Missouri we voted to ban cockfighting. Now, there were those people who were in favor of cockfighting and were opposed to this amendment. But if you were here during that debate, if you read editorials pro and con on the cockfighting amendment, it had to do with everything except cockfighting. The wording of the amendment was somewhat broad. Did it include non-sanctioned high school rodeos? Well, the wording suggested that it might. What about what s your favorite thing to do at the State Fair? I know my favorite thing. I go to the State Fair only for one reason only. What is that? You re not from Missouri, you probably don t know. That s the reason you re here. The only reason you want to go to the State Fair is to wrestle a bear. I mean, I go to the State Fair to wrestle a bear. Would the ballot language in the cockfighting amendment prohibit me from wrestling the bear? I m not sure because it didn t specify. What about gar fishing, shooting fish with an arrow? Is that banned by we argued in the editorial pages and the letters to the editor whether this amendment was going to be

13 PLS 103 Lecture 8 13 interpreted narrowly or broadly. In the end, we could ve said, No, it has to do with cockfighting, but the process doesn t allow that. The ballot language was just broad enough to allow people to debate other issues that weren t necessarily covered by the amendment at all. Now in this case we did ban cockfighting, which was really a shame because I had this one rooster in training and all that time investment just gone right out the window. So I had to take my rooster out-of-state. Number four. Number four. A scholar a scholar by the name of David Valentine well, let s do it this way. Public opinion in Missouri can be downright scary. The data let me erase over here so I can give you some math. It s related to number two -- the average Missouri voter is not gonna take the time to gather sufficient information. Taking that a step further, Dave Valentine, who s a political scientist in Columbia or excuse me in Jefferson City argued, at least with the data, that public opinion in Missouri can be downright scary. Let me give you the example that most people point to. Let s see how good your American Government teachers were. I say 1954, what do you say? One thing should jump into your head. 1954, Supreme Court ruling in? All right. I need a list of all your American Government teachers. 1954, Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. 1954, Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education. All right. We ll take the next step. What did Brown v. Board of Education do? [Inaudible student response] Yes, that s exactly right. Eliminated segregated schools. Brown v. Board of Education said that separate is inherently unequal. Banned or said segregated schools

14 PLS 103 Lecture 8 14 were unconstitutional. Well, as you notice in the text as you notice in the text, the Constitution of Missouri, what does it mandate? The Constitution of Missouri specifies that we must have you can see where this is going what must we have in Missouri according to the Constitution? Segregated schools. The Missouri Constitution mandated segregated schools. 1954, Supreme Court ruling eliminating well, saying that segregated schools were unconstitutional. They weren t going to eliminate. They haven t been eliminated, but segregated schools are unconstitutional. The Missouri State Constitution mandates, specifies that we will have segregated schools. I mean, if you know anything about the history of Missouri, go over to OTC, the black high school in Springfield, Lincoln High, is where the library of the Ozark Technical College is currently. So in 1976 in 1976 an amendment is proposed to delete segregation from the Missouri Constitution. In 1976 an amendment is proposed to delete segregated schools from the Constitution. Okay. Let s do the math. What do you get? Six minus four is? Thank you. All right. Twenty-two years after the Supreme Court said segregated schools are unconstitutional, the citizens of Missouri are asked to delete the mandate for segregated schools from the Constitution. Now, we ve already talked about the Doran v. Missouri case, women exempt from jury duty. The court says that s unconstitutional but it s still in the Constitution. So it can be there and still not be and still be null and void. Just because it s there doesn t mean anything. So in many ways it s a symbolic gesture. Let s take it out of the Constitution. It doesn t belong there. Twenty-two years after the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional, let s go ahead

15 PLS 103 Lecture 8 15 and take it out. All right. We ll come over here with my math lesson. Okay. What would be really scary? If it lost. That would be really scary. It s not that scary. The amendment taking segregated schools out did pass. All right. So it s not that scary. But what would be scary? Barely passed is a nice way to put it. There were over a million votes, over a million votes. Over a million votes. It passed by about 150,000. It passed by about 150,000. Now, we could do the math. But in big terms, barely passed is the best way to put it. Which means an awful lot of people voted to keep segregated schools in the Constitution. Now, next question. There s 115 counties counties in Missouri. If you broke down the vote totals by county, then I can tell you how many counties voted for and how many counties voted against. What would be scary? All right. I ll just fill it in. Fifty-four out of 115 counties in Missouri voted to keep segregated schools. Fifty-four out of 115 counties. That s about it s about half. About half of the counties in Missouri voted to keep segregated schools. Which leads some people to suggest going back over here to number four that public opinion in Missouri can be downright scary. And it s this kind of vote that makes you wonder these people wonder whether giving the citizens of Missouri the power to amend their Constitution in this fashion is really such a good idea. Okay. And we still haven t gotten to number five yet. Number five parallels nicely with the other number five. Number five in arguments four is that the initiative and referendum process allows you to bypass special interests. Argument number five against the initiative and referendum process says that interest groups dominate the initiative and referendum process. Interest groups, it is argued,

16 PLS 103 Lecture 8 16 dominate the initiative and referendum process. When we voted on boats in a moat, whether we should have casinos in lakes it s a long story there were people taking? What is this, always in this class? What am I taking with my initiative and referendum? I m taking my clipboard. I m taking my clipboard and I m going to Wal-Mart. In this particular case, a young man came up to me in the parking lot of the university and asked me if I would sign the petition to put boats in a moat on the ballot. I laughed. I know a little bit more about the initiative and referendum process than the average Missouri voter. He thought I was opposed to boats in a moat. He said, No, no, sir. It s not whether you re for or against gambling or boats, or anything. It s to put it on the ballot to let the citizens of Missouri decide. I said, Ohhh. And then I asked him how much he was getting paid per signature. Umm, umm, I m not supposed to say. The upshot of the story is that was not some guy who wanted boats on a moat or was opposed to boats on a moat. That was a guy being paid by an interest group to get signatures on that petition. The argument there on number five is that it is no longer you, the average citizen, taking your clipboard to Wal-Mart. It is a you being paid by someone. Now, if we go back go back in history to the 70s we ll draw a map here, one of my more famous drawings for this class. That s our good friend, Missouri. Okay. Not really. Go back the first big one truck width and length. How wide trucks can be, how long trucks can be. To the more contemporary, concealed weapons and [inaudible]. Once upon a time, when the Constitution was written, when we first began using initiatives and referendum and this goes back to the progressive movement in When we go back that far, it was you, the citizen of Missouri, taking your clipboard to

17 PLS 103 Lecture 8 17 Wal-Mart. You, the citizen of Missouri, affecting legislation, affecting the Constitution, affecting public policy. Since the 60s and 70s, the biggest early example I have is the one over truck width and truck length. But from this point to the casino, to the more recent concealed weapons vote, the argument for the people on the con side is that interest groups dominate this process. The most important figure that you probably want to think about is how much money through interest groups comes into this process from out-of-state. It s not a local interest group necessarily. It s an interest group with people in control outside of the State of Missouri. The argument on number five is the initiative and referendum process has actually allowed people from outside of the state to control or at least get involved in the initiative and referendum process. Which means they re involved in public policy in Missouri. And I don t mean pro or con. I mean both. If I m in favor of lengthening truck widths and lengths, money coming from the outside. If I m opposed to increasing, money coming from outside the state. I m in favor of casinos, money from outside the state supporting my cause. I m opposed, money from outside of the state supporting my cause. The same thing with concealed weapons. The argument for number five is the initiative and referendum process has been taken over by interest groups, and the really bad thing about that is interest groups outside of the State of Missouri. Now, I can be just as enthusiastic on the pro and the con side because it is both. Initiative and referendum process is a good thing for the citizens of Missouri. But let s go back to the very beginning. To make it a good thing, it is dependent on what s no longer up

18 PLS 103 Lecture 8 18 here on the board? It s dependent on you being informed citizens. The initiative and referendum process is a democratic tool that is available to you, that is not available to other people. But it is a tool that you have to be able to use and the only way you can use it is to be an informed citizen. If you re not an informed citizen, then we go back over here to number five. If you re not an informed citizen, then you don t take the time to gather the information. If you re not an informed citizen, you can allow interest groups to take over the process. If you re not an informed citizen, you ll let your representative get away with not casting a vote on something that s important. So again, the crucial point is not whether it s good or bad. It is good and there have been examples where it is bad. The thing that keeps it in the good column is your role. And so you have to take a more active part in Missouri politics in order to make it work. Again, it s a tool that you have. It makes Missouri democratic. Unlike the federal government which is republican, unlike the other states where they don t have this procedure. And again, states that do have this procedure, the key is, as it is in Missouri, for you to be informed citizens. If you live here long enough, stay around just a little bit longer, you will be voting on more and more referenda issues. Whether they come from the state legislature or whether they come from the initiative process, the number of these is just increasing exponentially. And this is only talking about the statewide issues. Think about the local issues that the Hancock Amendment stipulates: No tax, license or fee shall be raised without voter approval. You have to stay informed in order to make this process work.