Off The Ballot, Then Back Again

You may have heard that some court threw out the electricity regulation initiative that some "consumer groups" had placed on the ballot for the special election in November. What was that one, Prop. 80? Looks like a higher court put it back on the ballot saying we could always decide the constitutionality of the issue after the election, assuming it gets passed. Kinda makes sense to me. Then again, kinda silly to go through all the expense of placing the issue on the ballot and all the campaigning only to have it declared unconstitutional should the issue pass.

That's the nature of the beast, though. Assuming you're going to have an initiative or referendum process (and let's remember that both good and bad things have passed via the initiative system), it should always be subject to judicial scrutiny. Of course, just because a court rules one way or another on something doesn't necessarily make it right, either. It just makes it the law of the land. Real can of worms, isn't it?

Stay tuned for the debut of Fred's 2005 Elections Recommendations Page. I actually have it started and have made a few comments but haven't put it online yet. Waiting to see if they end up holding the special election, after all, as there's been some talk in the Governor's office of possibly cancelling it. Nothing solid yet, though. As for this electricity regulation initiative? I haven't much info on it yet, but I suspect I'll recommend a NO vote or no vote at all.