Montini: Lawmakers want ballot initiatives dead, dead, dead

The Republicans who control the Arizona Legislature want to remove you from the democratic process. They want to render you politically powerless.

It’s that simple.

They have the nerve to call this “reform.”

The idea is to make it essentially impossible for regular citizens to get an initiative on the ballot. That way, our elected officials are the only ones who get to make laws.

There are several bills in the Legislature that would wipe you off the political map.

One is sponsored by Rep. Vince Leach. House Bill 2404 is a death warrant for direct democracy.

Fixing fraud? More like a power play

In a press release Leach explained it this way, “Arizonans have lost confidence in our initiative process. Far from being a citizen-driven form of direct democracy, special interests have hijacked our initiative process and made it rife with fraud, forgery, and fabrications.”

That’s not it at all.

This is a simple power play.

They want to make it practically impossible for signatures to be gathered.

Why would lawmakers do such a thing?

Lawmakers just don't trust you

The Republicans at the State Capitol don’t trust you. Under the Arizona Constitution citizens have a right to collect signatures and put an idea on a statewide ballot for all of us to decide.

We approved increased education funding, Clean Elections regulations, medical marijuana, the minimum wage and more. We even approved a law that keeps lawmakers from messing with a law we pass directly. They hate that.

But the framers of Arizona's constitution believed in it. They trusted citizens.

For now, when the spirit moves us, regular citizens get to drive our democracy.

Republican-sponsored bills at the legislature would siphon the gas from the tank, deflate the tires and take away our car keys.

Reform, they call it.