Pubdate: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 Source: New York Times (NY) Section: New York Region Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: Richard Perez-Pena STATE SENATE VOTES TO ADOPT VOTER-SPONSORED INITIATIVES ALBANY - Under heavy pressure from the Independence Party, the State Senate voted today to adopt a system of voter-sponsored ballot initiatives - the first time either house of the Legislature has taken such a step. The 57-to-3 vote represented a rather abrupt about-face for the Republican majority in the Senate, which had opposed the measure. And even today, Republican senators were blunt about their misgivings and the political considerations behind the vote. They also stressed that there was little chance that the constitutional amendment they endorsed today would come to pass, because it is opposed by the Democratic majority in the Assembly. Independence Party leaders have called an initiative system their top priority, and the Conservative Party has lobbied for it, too. The Independence Party, affiliated with the national Reform Party founded by Ross Perot, has begun playing the game long ago perfected by the Liberal and Conservative parties of getting what it wants by offering to give its ballot line to major-party candidates, or threatening to withhold it. Gov. George E. Pataki, a Republican, has aggressively courted the party in preparation for his run this year for a third term, and has gained strong support from party leaders, who cite his support for an initiative system. But the governor's stroll to the Independence nomination could be tripped up by B. Thomas Golisano, the Rochester billionaire who was the party's candidate for governor in 1994 and 1998 and who is expected to announce on Wednesday that he will run again this year. Some state senators said that the timing of today's vote was meant to steal a bit of Mr. Golisano's thunder. Though a rival faction allied with Lenora Fulani - and Mr. Pataki - has taken over much of the Independence Party leadership, Mr. Golisano could give Mr. Pataki a serious fight in a primary. If he were the nominee, Mr. Golisano would be well positioned to draw votes away from the governor in November; he fares best upstate, and his platform of fiscal conservatism mixed with socially liberal and populist views resembles Mr. Pataki's own. Many lawmakers in both parties dislike a system that allows voters to bypass the Legislature - and undermine its power - by collecting signatures to put initiatives on the ballot. They warn of becoming like California, where interest groups spend millions of dollars to get initiatives passed and where the process has produced results like laws legalizing marijuana for medical use and withholding most government services from illegal immigrants. The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, has said he opposes an initiative system and will not bring the matter to a vote in his house. As recently as March, when Mr. Pataki held a news conference calling for initiatives, the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, said he did not support the idea. Today, he and his colleagues were less than enthusiastic in explaining their conversion. Mr. Bruno cited a long list of measures, like changes in the state's dysfunctional budget-making process, that the Assembly had refused to pass. "I guess, out of frustration, we're just moving this process," he said. Senator Carl L. Marcellino, a Long Island Republican, said, "This brings the issue to the table, as some people have requested." When asked what people he meant, he said, "The Independence Party and the Conservative Party." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth