A way to launch citizen initiatives without big money?
Agrowing grumble about citizen initiatives is the sheer amount of money it takes to get enough signatures to qualify them on the Arizona ballot. Could the solution lie in a littleknown program that's designed to help state lawmakers and their wouldbe challengers? First, the problem. Under the state Constitution, Arizonans can propose new laws or amend state statutes by petitioning a vote. To qualify for the ballot, the proposed measure needs 10 percent of all votes cast for governor in the most recent election; for 2016, that's a little more than 150,000 signatures.
In a perfect world, supporters of a proposal would use volunteers (good luck with that) or hire an outfit to circulate petitions and gather the required John Hancocks. Money and shenanigans have increasingly gummed up that process.
Opponents of a measure would try to sabotage it by putting on a competing initiative. Witness the rooftop-solar-versus-demand-charge duel before a truce was reached.
Or the opponents would secure the services of one or more of the few petition-circulating businesses around town, effectively choking off a key lifeline of the other side. Julie Erfle, the campaign spokeswoman for Clean and Accountable Elections Act, raises the specter after a petition-circulation company the campaign lined up abruptly canceled just days before it was to sign a contract, no reasons given.
The costs of collecting enough signatures have gone up, too, and not just because of opposing forces. Republic reporter Mary Jo Pitzl wrote as early as two years ago about the effects that a 10fold increase on Arizona's campaigncontribution limits had on competition and cost of gathering petitions for political candidates.
Petition drives that once costs $1 to $2 per signature can now easily cost double or triple that. In the now-abandoned drive to protect rooftop solar from demand rates imposed by utilities, an outof-state rooftop-solar company alone contributed $3 million to the cause. Nor is it easy getting people to sign. Ask Matthew Ruland of Peoria, who said he was "appalled" by how many vot-
See INITIATIVE, Page 15A