Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411090097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Term limits, which were on ballots in eight states and Washington, D.C., were winning by nearly 2-1 margins in the District, Maine and Nebraska, and leading by comfortable margins in Colorado and Massachusetts.
In Florida, it was the third time in 15 years that voters have been asked to legalize gambling, which is permitted on Indian reservations and a limited number of riverboats. Concern about crime and lifestyle changes played heavily in the campaign, but so did industry spending, which outpaced opponents' 10-1.
The measure was trailing 65 percent to 35 percent.
Another gambling measure in Rhode Island also was headed for defeat. It would have permitted casinos in five cities, including the state capital, Providence
In one of a handful of anti-crime measures on the ballot, voters in Georgia were headed toward approving a ``two strikes, you're out'' law that would impose a sentence of life without parole for criminals convicted of a second violent crime. It was being favored 3-1.
There were more than 70 citizen-sponsored initiatives on ballots this year, more than in any year in six decades.
They included the incendiary Proposition 187 in California, which would deny most social services to illegal immigrants, and a first-of-its-kind measure in Oregon to allow doctors to assist in suicides. Most of the anti-crime measures would give victims a say in the sentencing process.
Two states, Idaho and Oregon, voted on anti-gay measures. Wyoming voters were deciding whether to subject doctors who perform abortions to felony charges in certain situations.
Voters in as many as a dozen states were poised to impose new limits on the power of elected officials through ballot initiatives.
Measures to limit the terms of federal officials also were favored to pass in Alaska, Idaho, Nevada and Utah. In most of these states, there was little or no organized opposition, and, in six, the campaigns were funded largely by U.S. Term Limits, a Washington-based organization.
In six states - Colorado, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Oregon - voters considered imposing limits on how political campaigns are financed. It is uncertain whether this issue will become the second wave, following term limits, of a general voter revolt against politics.
Initiatives in three states - Missouri, Montana and Oregon - would restrict elected officials from imposing some new taxes without prior voter approval. These measures have proved popular in other states in the past. Initiatives in Montana and Nevada would require super-majorities in state legislatures to approve new taxes.
Twenty-four states allow citizens to circumvent Congress and state legislatures and to place initiatives on the ballot.
As usual, California outpaced most other states on ballot initiatives and referenda-measures that are referred to voters by the legislature. California voters decided on 10 major propositions, upholding what critics of the escalating number of initiatives there have branded as a system of ``super-majority anarchy,'' which they say has helped bring the state to the edge of fiscal collapse through anti-tax and other measures.
As happened in the mid-1960s with the state's controversial open-housing law and again in 1978 when voters waged a property tax revolt around Proposition 13, this year's statewide election in California was overshadowed by how candidates campaigned on one highly emotional ballot initiative - Proposition 187.
Dubbed by its sponsors as the ``Save Our State'' initiative, Proposition 187 was aimed at cutting off benefits such as education, non-emergency health services and welfare to illegal immigrants. The measure also would require doctors, teachers and police to report those they suspect of being in the country illegally.
Another conservative-inspired ballot initiative that appeared headed for adoption was Proposition 184, a ``three strikes, you're out'' measure aimed at lengthening prison sentences for habitual offenders but which is virtually identical to a habitual offender law passed by the legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Pete Wilson in March.
by CNB