Pubdate: Fri, 01 Oct 2004
Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Copyright: 2004 The Anchorage Daily News
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Author: Richard Mauer and Joel Gay
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/props.htm (Ballot Initiatives)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

MORE BALLOT WORDING CHALLENGED

REPRINT: Leman must change language on other initiatives, sponsors say.

As Lt. Gov. Loren Leman and state lawyers negotiated new wording of Ballot 
Measure No. 4 with its advocates Thursday under a tight court deadline, the 
sponsors of two other initiatives said Leman should remove what they 
described as biased language from their ballot language as well.

Leman declined to say Thursday whether he would seek an expedited appeal to 
the Alaska Supreme Court of an Anchorage judge's ruling Wednesday ordering 
him to reprint a half million ballots. Superior Court Judge Morgan Christen 
said that destroying the old ballots was the only way to correct the 
misleading, biased and factually inaccurate wording of the Trust the People 
initiative to strip the governor's authority to fill a vacated U.S. Senate 
seat by appointment.

Jeff Feldman, Trust the People's attorney, said negotiations failed to 
reach agreement by the 4:30 p.m. deadline set by Christen.

Leman filed new wording with the court, but Peggy Wilcox, campaign manger 
for Trust the People, said it was still objectionable.

Feldman said he expected negotiations to continue today as pressure mounted 
to reach a conclusion with the Nov. 2 election inching closer.

Meanwhile, sponsors for the two other citizen initiatives on the November 
ballot, one to outlaw bear baiting and the other to decriminalize 
marijuana, said they too were unfairly treated on the ballot by Leman. Both 
agreed their concerns weren't as serious as Trust the People's, but with 
the ballots being reprinted anyway they sought to have their statements 
changed.

Leman, the state's chief elections official, said Thursday that he wouldn't 
consider other changes.

Like Trust the People, Yes on 2 and Citizens United Against Bear Baiting 
said they were not informed when Leman wrote new ballot language rather 
than use the same wording that had been used on their petitions.

In her decision Wednesday, Christen noted that the Division of Elections 
Web site says that the same language would be used on the ballot as 
appeared on the petitions. And in court, an assistant attorney general who 
advises Leman said that previous lieutenant governors routinely alerted 
ballot sponsors when the ballot language was altered, though she said such 
notice isn't required by law.

"They changed the language but we didn't know about it in enough time to 
object," said Ken Jacobus, attorney for Yes on 2, the decriminalization 
measure.

Jacobus objected to the mention of children in the third sentence on the 
ballot: "It removes all existing state restrictions on prescription of 
marijuana by a doctor for all patients, including children."

"Medical marijuana isn't prescribed for kids," Jacobus said. "And the 
initiative allows municipalities to prohibit marijuana use by people under 21."

Proponents of Ballot Measure No. 3, which would ban bear baiting, also have 
requested new ballot wording. They contend that Leman's office subtly but 
critically altered the language they had negotiated earlier with the 
Department of Law, "rendering (the) summary an unfair and biased misstatement."

Attorney Tom Meachum says two changes in the ballot language could mislead 
voters into thinking they could be jailed for a year and fined $10,000 if a 
bear happened onto their bird feeder and they photographed it.

The ballot currently says it would be illegal to use any item or substance, 
including food, "to entice a bear." The original version said 
"intentionally entice," and the ballot should be reprinted to include the 
missing word, Meachum said.

He also disputes the inclusion of specific monetary and jail penalties on 
the ballot, which he called a scare tactic. The penalties are no different 
from most other wildlife offenses, he said.

On Thursday, the group asked Leman to replace the ballot wording with the 
same language assistant attorney general Marjorie Vandor approved in June, 
and which was used to gather some 30,000 signatures needed to put the 
measure on the ballot.

Told that Leman wouldn't change the measure, John Toppenberg, executive 
director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, said he wasn't surprised.

"The (Murkowski) administration is obviously opposed to our position and 
has acted through Loren Leman to intentionally distort it, even though they 
earlier agreed to language that was clear on the issue," he said.

Leman said "it's absurd" to say that he is "somehow Frank Murkowski's 
toady." Rather, he said, he followed the law in writing the ballot summaries.

"I believe the treatment for all the other ballot measures followed the 
same test about being true and impartial and fair," Leman said. "Just 
because we're having to move now to reprint doesn't mean it's going to open 
it up for the other measures."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager