When the People Surprised the Politicians

On March 3 voters in 52 Vermont towns will address a warning item that asks

"shall the voters request that the legislators representing this town support legislation to create a citizens initiative process..?"

Under the proposed Citizen Initiative, a petition signed by 13,000 qualified voters would put a question on a general election ballot. If approved by the voters, the legislators elected at that same election would have to vote up or down on the question early in the ensuing legislative session.

The push for the Citizen Initiative is based on the ideas that (1) too often the politicians duck voting on issues that are popular with the voters, but dangerous for politicians; and (2) too often politicians vote to appease some well organized pressure group in Montpelier while ignoring voter sentiment back home. The Citizen Initiative would not bypass legislators, but it would give the people a way to force the legislature to respond to their concerns. It could be used proactively, to push the legislature to address an issue (decriminalize marijuana, restore capital punishment), or reactively, to undo unpopular legislative acts (repeal Act 60 and Act 15.) It is neither liberal nor conservative, but a populist measure, intended to give the people a greater voice in shaping the laws under which they live.

Twice in recent years the voters were called upon to pass judgment on what proved to be very controversial legislative work: the four-year term amendment (1974), and the so-called "equal rights amendment (ERA)" (1986).

In the first instance, the legislature, under enormous pressure from the League of Women Voters and all of Vermont's living ex-Governors, voted to amend the constitution to give four year terms to the governor and other constitutional officers. There was overwhelming editorial support for the idea. The votes to approve in the House were 130-6 and 120-22; in the Senate the votes were 28-0 and 25-3. Despite this strong legislative support, the voters rejected the four year term by a margin of 53-47.

In the case of the ERA, the disparity between politicians and people was even greater. The feminist movement, stung by the 1982 failure of the national ERA and the rejection of state ERAs even in states like New York and New Jersey, poured money and celebrities into Vermont to urge approval of the ERA, and thereby jump start their defunct national ERA campaign. The taxpayer-supported Governor's Commission on the Status of Women lobbied the ERA through the legislature. Feminist Gov. Madeleine Kunin ardently backed it.

No politician of any stature dared to stand before the ERA steamroller. The ERA swept through the House by votes of 134-11 and 124-24, and the Senate by votes of 27-2 and 25-5. But when the voters got a shot at it, they sent it down to defeat by a 52-48 margin.

In both cases the legislators produced huge majorities - 88% and 90% - for controversial measures, only to have the voters knock them flat at the polls. Somebody was clearly out of touch with the people back home.

The response of voters to the Citizen Initiative in 52 towns on Town Meeting Day may send a useful message to legislators: listen to the people who vote for you and pay your bills, not the lobbyists, pressure groups, celebrities, and party caucuses whose bright ideas won't fly in Bradford, Stamford, Richford and Hartford.

Speaking of Hartford, its town meeting vote will be of special interest. On February 17 the two Hartford Representatives, Lynn Bohi (D) and Ralph Lehman (D), voted against the Citizen Initiative in the House Local Government Committee, producing a 4-4 tie that defeated a motion to report the bill to the House floor. If the citizens of Hartford follow the lead of their selectboard, which voted 4-0 to put the question to the town's voters, their two Representatives may start to see things differently in Montpelier.

As Karen B. Horn of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns wrote in a recent commentary,

"To disallow such a basic form of democracy as initiative at the state level is to the severe long term detriment of Vermont governance... The legislature could make a significant change in the respect it accords the voice of the citizenry by passing a citizen initiative bill."

February 1998