AG John Suthers sat in front of the Joint Budget Committee yesterday to discuss the Lobato case and its potential time frame. He indicated that he believed it could be a full year before we’ve reached any resolution. That seems hardly adequate considering we’re dealing with a large chunk of the state’s budget. How can we plan for the future when Lobato threatens to eat away a majority of our general fund?

Last month, the California state Senate passed a bill requiring those collecting signatures to wear large badges indicating whether they are volunteers or paid workers, whether they are registered to vote, and if so, where. A second bill has passed the Senate that would ban paying workers per signature, forcing them to be paid by the hour instead.

Again I ask: sound familiar? It should, we’ve endured some of the same treatment here. In fact, we had to sue in order to get an injunction against the whole anti-pay-per-signature thing. John then sums it all up in the following sentence,

But in no state has the assault on the initiative process been more relentless and sustained than in Colorado.

Damn right. He goes on to mention that both Linda Gorman and I were very close to facing bankruptcy because of state laws that allow private parties to financially go after petition sponsors. Being the reckless, “let Colorado citizens vote on stuff” kinda guy, I was a target. Thankfully our names were removed from the case and we no longer face financial ruin… for wanting citizens to vote on ballot measures!

If you’re like me and you can’t get quite enough of John Fund, check him out on this past week’s Devils Advocate show. We don’t talk about the initiative process but we do talk about the upcoming presidential election in 2012. John gracefully opens up his box of inside info and shares who he believes will run, won’t run, has no chance, has some chance, and might just beat Obama next year.

For those of you unable to make it, we’ve compiled the presentations by each speaker in individual podcasts here. Feel free to download these podcasts and share them with others who might be interested.

Our initiative process has had more attempts on its life than all the mafia dons in the Godfather series combined. Yet this new stunt attempts to undercut not just future attempts at petitioning our government, like the recent SCR-001 and HB 1072 does, it attempts to rescind all previously passed constitutional amendments as well! Because what this lawsuit is trying to prove is that having a petition process where citizens can gather signatures to put initiatives on the ballot is “direct democracy” and not “representative democracy.” In other words, our state constitution is unconstitutional.

I’m not sure the lawsuit’s proponents really understand the far reaching effect that this lawsuit could have. No TABOR. No term limits. No automatic increases in K-12 funding. No campaign finance reform. No ethics in government. No merit selection of judges. No sunshine law in government.

And those are just some of our state constitutional amendments. What about our local, municipal government amendments? Better still, if successful, this suit would invalidate all initiatives in all states. Um. Good luck guys.

Look for II to assist the State in defending TABOR and the initiative.

Notice in the Durango Herald article this quote,

Supporters might try to put it on the ballot through a citizens’ campaign, said Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, a co-sponsor of the measure.

Oh really? Because the resolution died this legislative session, you’d like to put in on this November’s ballot where it could pass with just a simple 50% + 1 majority? Back in my English literature class, we learned that’s called irony.

APRIL FOOLS!

In the second podcast, Professor Natelson discusses the history of conventions, which he reminds us are just another way of saying “meetings.” How many conventions have we had? Was the only convention the most famous one in 1787 in Philadelphia? It turns out that we’ve had many conventions (meetings). Rob also gets into the details of what protects the American people from a possible “runaway” convention. What would stop a convention from convening and instead of addressing the issues it was meant to address, it ended up rewriting the entire constitution? There are safeguards that prevent that from happening. Listen here as Rob goes into the history and nuances of the convention process.

Finally in podcast three, Rob and host Justin Longo put down all the history and theory to get to the nitty gritty details of what a convention would look like today in modern America. What needs to happen first for the States to trigger the convention process? How many delegates would represent each state? How would they be chosen? What role would state governors and the President play? What prevents the States from tackling issues outside the scope of the convention? All of these questions are answered in light of contemporary politics and the Article V process laid out in our constitution. But don’t take my word for it, listen to Rob yourself here.