Initiative litigation proliferating
Billings Gazette Opinion
October 11, 2006
An eye for an eye, a lawsuit for a lawsuit.
That's how this year's statewide initiative arguments are
going.
Three weeks after opponents of CI-97 (state
spending limit), CI-98 (recall judges) and I-154 (eminent
domain and land-use rules) successfully challenged the legality
of the signature-gathering process in Great Falls District
Court, a previously unknown group calling itself Montanans
for Equal Application of Initiative Laws filed suit in Great
Falls seeking to disqualify signatures for I-151 (minimum-wage
increase) and 1-153 (barring former public officials from
becoming private lobbyists for 24 months after leaving office).
Also last week, Montanans for Equal Application
of Initiative Laws sued in Helena District Court claiming
that CA-43 should be invalidated because it would change more
than one part of the Montana Constitution. CA-43 is a relatively
trivial measure the Montana Legislature put on the ballot
to change the title of state auditor to insurance commissioner.
Two weeks earlier, a Helena district judge
had agreed with CI-97 proponents that the spending limit initiative
made more than one change in the Constitution and was, therefore,
invalid. The CI-97 case and the one involving the three initiatives
have been appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.
Regardless of any possible merits of these
last-minute lawsuits, it sure looks like they are retaliation
for the lawsuits that invalidated the other initiatives. People
involved in the new lawsuits are also defenders of the invalidated
measures.
The people's right to initiative and referendum
was never intended to be a vehicle for revenge, nor a source
of litigation.
The Supreme Court should expedite its ruling
on the initiative appeals. There doesn't seem to be any
way that the two newest lawsuits, filed barely five weeks
before election day, can be resolved before then.
Once again, Montanans are encouraged to vote
on all issues. We will find out later which ones stayed on
the ballot.
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