Effective control of government is good. Allowing a disgruntled few to bring government to a halt on a whim and waste thousands of taxpayer dollars is bad. Amendment 38 is not about “strengthening citizen control of government”. Amendment 38 is a Trojan horse designed to allow those disgruntled few who hate all forms of government to spend your money to fight virtually every action taken at every level of government for no reason. Before you open your checkbook for the rest of your life, consider these facts:
- For a local government with 2,500 eligible electors, and a 10% voter turnout (typical for many local governments), only 13 people would be necessary to force an election on any resolution by the local government’s governing body. So, say a Park and Recreation District’s Board adopts a resolution accepting the donation of 100 acres of land on condition that the area contains a modest sign stating it was donated by Tom Smith. 13 individuals, who hate Tom Smith and oppose the sign, could force you and the other District taxpayers pay thousands of dollars for the District to conduct an election on whether the Resolution should be rendered void. That is not effective government control, that is insanity.
- Assume the same local government’s citizens overwhelmingly vote to issue $3 million in bonds to build a new fire station and buy a new fire truck. As part of the bond issuance process, the Board must adopt a resolution authorizing the bond issuance, and assuming certain obligations to the underwriter and the bond purchasers. Even though the citizens have already overwhelmingly voted to issue the bonds to support these life-saving emergency services, just 13 people could force yet another election on the Board’s Resolution. Those 13 people could easily delay building the fire station and buying the fire truck by at least a year and perhaps longer, and make you and the other taxpayers pay thousands of dollars for another election. That is not effective control of government – that is giving a disgruntled few the power to hold government and its taxpayers hostage.
