cannabisnews.com: Clearing The Air On Initiatives Clearing The Air On Initiatives Posted by CN Staff on October 27, 2003 at 14:15:05 PT By Loren Leman Source: Frontiersman The citizen initiative is an important part of Alaska's political system. It allows people to write and approve certain laws without going through the Legislature. As lieutenant governor, it is my responsibility to oversee the processing of initiatives from the time applications are filed until they appear, if qualified, on the ballot. I believe it is very important that Alaskans understand the process, especially because of charges that have recently been made. I forward initiative applications to the Department of Law for a legal review of their form and subject. An application in "proper form" is one that meets the requirements of the law. If the subject is consistent with our constitution, the Department of Law will recommend that I approve the application. The legal analysis of the proposed law may be fairly simple or lengthy and complex, depending on the subject. On Sept. 23, Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Suddock released his decision in Hinterberger v. State of Alaska, and soon headlines like "Pot Prop may appear on '04 ballot" were on the front page of many newspapers. Judge Suddock ruled that my denial of some signatures in support of the petition to legalize marijuana based on "reporting glitches" was in error and ordered the Division of Elections to count many of the disqualified signatures.I based my decision on Alaska statutes and regulations, as recommended by the Department of Law. I do not have the luxury of being able to decide which laws are important and which ones are not. Reasonable people can disagree on the facts, but Judge Suddock's comment about the actions of the Division in not pointing out earlier errors that petition circulators were making should be put in context. The last signatures for this initiative were submitted on November 14, 2002. I took office on Dec. 2, after which I named a new Director of the Division of Elections, Laura Glaiser. She is carrying out my vision for elections: impartial, secure, efficient and accurate. In another development, on Oct. 2 Rep. Harry Crawford's piece appeared with the headline "Voters should fill vacant Senate seats." He and Reps. Eric Croft and David Guttenberg filed their second application on that subject Sept. 4. He stated that the application has been referred to Attorney General Gregg Renkes' office, "where it now lies in peril of being delayed to death." He did not mention that he and the other representatives filed an earlier application on Aug. 6 for a similar initiative petition. Then, as now, he and his supporters were calling on me publicly to approve their application quickly, because "the initiative is simple and obviously legal."The attorney general's review found that their initiative did not include a vital ingredient -- it did not repeal existing law that provides for appointment of a Senate replacement by the governor. A shallow, rushed review and approval of the initiative application might have let a flawed proposal appear on the ballot. I advised the sponsors of this, they withdrew their application and resubmitted a corrected version.On Sunday, Oct. 5 another widely distributed editorial contributed to the confusion with the opinion that initiative review under this administration has a "case of the slows." One of the examples cited is that an initiative on protecting your Permanent Fund dividend took 137 days for legal review. The fact is, this application was submitted to former Attorney General Bruce Bothelo on Sept. 12, 2002. He held it for 81 days and left it for the new administration to make a decision. Other reviews under his tenure as attorney general took 91 days (marijuana legalization, 2001), 105 days (family land entitlement, 1999) and 108 days (election of governor by majority, 2000).The citizen initiative is your tool to use. I have acted promptly on all of the initiative applications I have received since becoming lieutenant governor. I promise to continue to do so, with wise counsel from the Division of Elections and Department of Law.Loren Leman is the lieutenant governor of Alaska, and oversees the state's Division of Elections. Source: Frontiersman, The (AK)Author: Loren LemanPublished: Monday, October 27, 2003Copyright: 2003 The FrontiersmanContact: editor frontiersman.comWebsite: http://www.frontiersman.com/Related Articles:State Won't Appeal Pot Initiative Rulinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17629.shtmlMarijuana Once Again Taking High Profile http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17539.shtmlPot Prop May Go On '04 Ballot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17408.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Post Comment