California’s freedom-loving system of Voter initiative, Recall and Referendum celebrates its 100-year birthday this week. A bid to stifle it with new Government controls was shot down in flames when Jerry Brown vetoed AB 651 with a succinct message shown above. The Veto was a setback for the San Diego -Imperial Counties Labor Council which backed AB 651, per the official State Senate analysis. Ouch ! … Credit to SD lawmakers who voted NO on the bill: Joel Anderson & Mark Wyland in the Senate, and Brian Jones, Nathan Fletcher & Martin Garrick in the Assembly.
Plenty of irony here… GOP Reform governor Hiram Johnson led the 1911 State drive which added Recall, Initiative and Referendum to the State Constitution… a Century later a Democratic Governor joined with ALL Republican state legislators to block a bill limiting the free-wheeling process of democracy. Further irony: main support for this bad bill came from prominent Democrat legislators and organized labor leaders.
Are they really that oblivious to these historic ironies?
Major opponents included the conservative Capitol Resource Institute and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. The famous Jarvis-Gann Prop. 13 tax cut reached the 1978 ballot by an initiative petition … to the lasting regret of Big Government forces.
…. WHY DID JERRY BROWN VETO THE BILL?
Jerry Brown served as California Secretary of State from 1971-75. He dealt with all manner of petitions back then and understands how California’s direct Democracy system really works. He does not fear it. And fear – of California’s voters – is a powerful motivator in some sectors.