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Opinion Columnist Eddie Lard

Can I&R be magic wand to fix state government?

Sunday, October 03, 2004

If I had a magic wand, I'd fix state government in Alabama.

One wave of the wand and the money bags and lobbyists who crowd the hallways in the State House would disappear.

Another wave of the wand and, voila!, pork money tucked in state budgets would be gone.

Taxes would be fair, schools adequately funded, and a new constitution would be only a twist of the wrist away.

Unfortunately, there is no magic wand to fix what ails government in Alabama. Or is there?

California's amazing recall of Gov. Gray Davis has some people here looking to the Golden Gate state in envy. The fact that dissatisfied citizens could fire the state's chief executive with three years still left on his term amazed people everywhere.

But it's not California's ability to recall and replace public officials that has some people seeing green. It's that state electorate's ability to bypass its legislature to enact laws the lawmakers won't.

It's called initiative and referendum, and it's something Californians were famous for long before Arnold Schwarzenegger even dreamed of becoming the governator.

Here's how it works:

Say, there's an issue popular among residents that lawmakers won't touch for selfish or other reasons, such as term limits. I&R gives citizens an opportunity to adopt term limits even if lawmakers refuse to pass legislation to do so.

Citizens would do that by writing a proposed law and gathering signatures on a petition. If the petition drive gets enough signatures, the initiative is put on the ballot, and voters statewide vote it up or down.

Twenty-four states have some form of initiative and referendum, but it's still only a dream in Alabama. Each year, though, a lawmaker or two inevitably sponsor bills to bring I&R here.

One of those lawmakers is Rep. Blaine Galliher, R-Gadsden, who introduced one of two I and R bills this past legislative session and has done so for the past several years. Galliher managed to get a public hearing on his bill in a House committee, but the bill died there.

He's driven by frustration. "Right now, committees are very partisan and controlled by the chairmen. The chairman has absolute control," he says. "If you have a liberal chairman, conservative bills have a hard time getting up.

"I think this will allow a direct way for the majority to be heard."

That's also the sentiment of a regular letter writer to The News and other newspapers in the state. Don Seibold, an Air Force retiree living in Wetumpka, has made educating the public about I&R his passion, even setting up a Web site on the topic, www.doctoriq.com.

"People of this state are apathetic," he says. "They don't care anything about politics or government until they think the government is going to reach into their pockets."

Seibold also criticizes the media for not awakening the public to the need for I&R. "If the media won't do it, some individual, someone who has statewide name recognition, has to take over and lead this thing." He thinks Alabamians would back Gov. Bob Riley if the governor took the lead.

Seibold is being overly optimistic. Even if voters would, indeed, back Riley's efforts, there's no reason to believe the Legislature would follow. Lawmakers wouldn't even pass the governor's common-sense accountability measures earlier this year. Why would they share the power of lawmaking with the people of Alabama?

Call it a Catch-22. I&R would allow citizens to bypass the Legislature when the Legislature refuses to enact popular measures. But the only way to get I&R is for the Legislature to pass it.

Seibold is counting on lawmakers' fear of not being re-elected to ultimately convince them to share lawmaking authority. "The only way to get them to give it up is for them to be scared not to," he says.

But only a tiny percentage of lawmakers are even seriously challenged for re-election. Blame voters for that. While they may dislike the Legislature, they like their individual legislators who bring home the pork. That bunch in Montgomery is bad; old Joe, though, he's OK.

But don't expect Joe Lawmaker to dare give Jane Citizen the power to make laws. At least, not without a magic wand.

Eddie Lard is an editorial writer for The News. His e-mail address is elard@bhamnews.com.

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