Larry Russell Johnson
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
I read the Aug. 11, 2018, letters to the editor from Steven Brown in the News Tribune, “Initiative petition process:” “The initiative petition is democracy, which is the same as three wolves and one sheep deciding on what’s for dinner, mob rule. It’s bad law and should be struck from the Missouri Constitution.”
I disagree with Mr. Brown comparing the initiative petition and democracy with three wolves and one sheep deciding on what’s for dinner, rather Democracy is two wolves and one sheep voting on what to have for lunch, and liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the outcome of the vote. I also agree with Mr. Brown that it is a bad law and should be struck from the Missouri Constitution.
Initiative petition enables anyone to draw up a proposed law. If a specified number of voters sign a petition favoring it, the proposed law goes to the lawmaking body, which must vote on it. The initiative is useful in cases where lawmakers refuse to enact, or even to consider, a law the people want. But it has been criticized as a means of allowing a minority group to promote its special interest or submit bills that do not interest most voters. But these processes are too costly and clumsy to take the place of a lawmaking body. The initiative works in much the same way in a city as it does in a state. The governor cannot veto a bill passed in this way. Some states submit the proposed law directly to the people without bringing it before the legislature at all.
“In the waning days of the 2018 legislative session, Republicans counted by moving the referendum from the November ballot to Tuesday’s Primary. Though they said the maneuver was aimed at resolving the debate more quickly, Democrats said the GOP was trying to manipulate the outcome with a typically lower primary voter turnout.” — By Kurt Erickson and Jack Suntrup, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Aug. 8, 2018.
In June 2001, Gov. Bob Holden, a Democrat, signed a controversial executive order extending collective bargaining rights to many state workers. That order authorized unions to see the so-called “fair-share fees” at issue in the lawsuit.
Despite the vote, Republicans who control the House and Senate could return for their session and vote again to make Missouri right to work, potentially triggering a repeat referendum process.