1o — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS - APRIL 1998

 

Fayston Frownson
Citizen Initiatives

I Renfrew convinces Town Meeting to oppose state-
wide ballots that would frustrate the progress of
marriage proponents

BY VIRGINIA RENFREW

This year, as my family has for five generations, I attended
my Town meeting. I live in the town of Fayston. One ‘of my goals
for the day was to have my town vote against supporting the
Citizens Initiative. You may ask what the Citizens Initiative is;
that was the question of the people at my town meeting. The
Citizens Initiative proposed in Vermont would enable groups
of special—interest citizens to have their issue on a statewide bal-

lot for a vote during an election. If the majority votes in favor of.

the issue, then the legislature must take it up and act upon it in
20 days. I ‘ ’

, When the issue came up, my State Representative,_Bruce
Hyde, stood up and attempted to explain how this would be

~ good for Vermonters, as it would give citizens a voice in the

legislature. Fortunately, I had done my homework prior to the
meeting and raised my hand to explain what this really meant.

Other states that have Citizens Initiatives find that it is spe-
cial interest groups, often financed with out-of-state money, that
organize and sponsor the Initiatives, not ordinary working
women and men. This Initiative would open the door to those
well-financed special interest groups who would be able exert
their influence on the legislative process. One of the many prob-
lems with the Citizens Initiative is that it is often one minority
group going after another minority group whilethe majority
stays home and does not vote.

The state of Maine has a Citizens Initiative process and a
Popular Referendum process (which achieve similar goals). Last
month, using the Popular Referendum process, Maine repealed
a law that ba\nned discrimination on thevbasis of sexual orienta-
tion in credit, housing, employment, and public accommoda-
tions. This happened as a result of the efforts of well—funded (by
largely out—of-state funds) and well-organized special interest
groups. Only 30% of the citizens Voted. They repealed this law
by a 51°/o—49‘/o vote. With such a low showing at the polls, only
15% of Mainers were able to repeal a law that had been passed
by the Legislature.

Here in Vermont, the Initiative is very popular with those
who dislike Act 60, Bernard Rome followers, the new group TIP,
and the group POST. Bernard Rome was hailing the vote on the
initiative as a great success. He said that it showed that Ver-
monters want this process. I hate to tell Mr. Rome, but not all
Vermonters were given the opportunity to vote on this issue. Is
this really the Vermont way? .

Vermont has 243 towns, yet only 57 towns had the ques-
tion on their agenda, less than one—quarter of the towns. Forty-
two towns voted in favor of the Citizen .Initiative..Many of the
towns voted by Australian Ballot, which means, there was no
discussion. I called half the ‘towns that supported the Citizens

Initiative to find out the percentage of voters that attended town _

meeting. The percentage ranged from 8% to 45%. Most were
around 20%. The fact that so few Vermont towns had this issue
on their agenda, and so few people attended‘ those meetings,
shows that the majority of Vermonters did not have the oppor-
tunity to be involved with this process. —

At my town meeting, I told my neighbors that, if the only
reason they wanted to support this was because of their dislike
for Act 60, they were opening a door they really would not want
to open. If they disliked Act 60, or any other law that was passed
or defeated, come election time in November, they could ex-
press their sentiments by voting and electing new legislators.

As I reminded my neighbors, we elect and / or re-elect our
legislators every two years to represent our interests in the leg-

, islature. Every two years, we have an opportunity to let them

know whether we believe they are doing a good job represent-
ing us. Our legislative process and legislature, made up of citi-
zens from around the state, are sensitive to the needs and inter-
ests of the citizens.

The vote was then taken and my fellow townspeople over-
whelmingly (almost unanimously) voted against the Citizens
Initiative.

     

The court shoul_d
not redefine marriage

Beyond One Man & One Woman

- BECAUSE THE CONSTITUTION BELONGS TOATHE PEOPLE '

Vermonters Do Npt Want
Same Sex Marriage!

 

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Take It to the People
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The above 2—sided, color announcement was distributed in four
dailynewspapers across the state. TIP is soliciting donations and
volunteers. Their email address is VermontPeople@ iname.com.

RE YUU HIP TO

I Community
groups respond to
threatening paid
political ad

BY MICHAEL C. ALBERO

February 27th, 1998 — It
was an ordinary Friday morn-
ing for countless Vermonters.
After rising from bed, prepar-
ing for work and sending the
children off to school, many sat
down in the kitchen to enjoy a
cup of coffee, while glancing
through the morning newspa-
per. Among the different sec-
tions and typical circulars was
a special advertisement from
Take it to the People, a newly
established anti-gay rights or-
ganization. Yet, the statements
contained in their flyer are an-
cient in origin and have only
served to mobilize the GLBT
community into action through
series of emergency town meet-
ings.

As a result of the recent
assault by the Radical Right,
many community agencies, in-
cluding the Vermont Coalition
for Lesbian and Gay Rights
(VCLGR), are merely continu-
ing their work and looking for
more opportunities in which to

 

continued at right, p19