Such "ballot-box planning" has become the rage in the West because citizens are tired of endless growth, and distrustful of elected officials. At a recent conference sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute in Denver, I discovered that between 1994 and 2002, in Colorado alone, communities have voted on hundreds of citizen-initiated measures, seeking to restrict annexations, impose "growth caps" and development moratoriums, and challenge specific developments. Developers have countered with their own political strategies. At the conference, I heard from a small army of lawyers and lobbyists, who make a nice living helping developers push projects through resistant town councils while avoiding the ballot box. They advised developers: "If a project appears to be potentially contr...
INDIANAPOLIS - Township trustees don't want the future of their offices determined by state government, but they're much more comfortable seeing their fate decided at the ballot box. I think it's fair any time you let people vote," said Perry Township Trustee David Mosby, a Democrat.
Courts have disagreed about the extent to which public officials forfeit constitutional rights upon taking office. [...] as state legislatures redraft or amend existing open meetings laws, these bodies have an obligation to consider and balance the competing interests of public officials' free speech rights against the public's interest in transparent government.
It's called pulling a fast one, and the Maine Legislature just did it right before our eyes. Wednesday evening, after a long, sometimes passionate debate, the Republican-controlled Senate fell into place behind the Republican- controlled House and, by an oh-so-close 18-17 vote, nixed a 38-year- old law allowing Mainers to register to vote on Election Day.
Democrats, he adds, should let [Jim Douglas] be only die diird governor to run for a fifth term in Vermont history. "Let the Douglas era be the Douglas era," [Garrison Nelson] said, "because there is no one to succeed him. If you look at the history of Vermont since 1962," [Eric Davis] said, "every time there is a change in the governor's office, the other party will take over. He'll be succeeded by a Democratic governor." King of those talkers is Rush Limbaugh and, as of November 17, he'll have a new home in Vermont. Limbaugh's show is leaving 960 AM for WVMT (620 AM), home to Dennis Miller, Howie Carr, Laura Ingraham and Bill O'Reilly and the popular "Charlie & Ernie Show." O'Reilly's show will be bumped to 6 p.m., and one hour apiece will be dropped from Carr and Miller to make...
Considering that it's an off-year, off-month, California-only election, this coming Tuesday's statewide balloting is, or so the common wisdom goes, likely to be low in voter turnout. Not only that - at least the first five of the propositions 1A through 1F we're being asked for our strong opinions on are so fiscally arcane that very few Californians understand them very well.
[Tony Ceoffe] denies any intimidation took place. The [Patrick Dowd] camp's poll watchers "were completely in the way, and all I said was, 'Let the ladies get the stuff set up first,'" Ceoffe says. "The next thing I know, [Isobel Storch] is running around, making noise and calling the sheriff." Ceoffe also says Dowd's poll watchers got in the way at the table where election officials sit. Noting "multiple complaints" about actions at the polling place, Judge Kathleen Durkin issued a hand-written court order requiring that election officials "not allow any person other than elections officials and watchers and persons who are actually voting or waiting to vote to be within the polling place." In addition, Durkin ordered that "no election official or watcher or other person shall election...
WE love our libraries. The city of Los Angeles has a phenomenal library system, with beautifully built and rebuilt branches, excellent public service programs and an efficient book transfer system that puts a wealth of information at your fingertips in a matter of days. That's why it's so hard to say no to Measure L - the measure on the March 8 ballot that would increase funding for the city's public library. The measure would reverse the budget cuts that have slashed the book-buying fund, cut 300 librarians and clerks and closed most branches two days a week. But here's the problem: Measure L is not an answer to the city's budget crisis. In fact, it's the type of ballot box budgeting that ultimately makes it more difficult for city leaders to make wise financial decisions. That's why t...
There is no question that Republicans and Gov. John Kasich can get their way. Passage this week of the fiercely debated legislation that seriously limits the collective bargaining rights of public employees and makes it harder for their unions to raise money is not just a response to the state's and local governments' money problems. It is a statement that there's a new regime in charge, and it's not afraid of making waves.
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