AZ: Prop. 200 backers file lawsuit over veto

Capitol Media Services ^ | By HOWARD FISCHER

[hsmomx3]

PHOENIX -- Backers of Proposition 200 filed legal papers Tuesday contending Gov. Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Terry Goddard "are destroying the Arizona initiative process."

The Yes On Proposition 200 Committee seeks a ruling that their pair acted illegally in deciding by administrative fiat and legal opinion that illegal entrants remain entitled to many state benefits despite voter approval of the initiative in November.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge refused in March to expand the scope of Proposition 200 beyond the handful of programs Goddard said are affected. Attorney David Abney who represents the plaintiffs, now wants the Court of Appeals to rule it was wrong to toss the case even before he got to make his arguments.

While Abney was filing his legal papers, initiative backers were hurling political charges.

Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, said the governor ignored the will of voters.

"The illegal aliens have found a friend in this country," he said. "And her name is Janet Napolitano."

Randy Pullen, another initiative backer, said he believes it will be shown "there was collusion between the governor and attorney general to ..

. stop the implementation of Prop 200." Both publicly opposed the initiative.

Both denied any attempt to thwart the will of voters.

"All we do is read the statute as it is drafted," Goddard said.

He said the restrictions in the initiative were placed in the state's welfare code, leaving other programs like health care and adult education unaffected. Goddard also said organizers "left a lot of terms undefined."

And gubernatorial press aide Jeanine L'Ecuyer called Pullen's charges of collusion "absolute nonsense."

"The Attorney General's Office does not do the bidding of the governor's office," she said.

The initiative, approved by a 12-point margin, requires proof of identification to register and vote. It also denies "public benefits" to illegal entrants.

Goddard's opinion said it applies only to a few welfare programs funded solely with state funds. Napolitano then issued an order directing state employees to implement the initiative -- but only as required by Goddard's opinion.

"Between them, the governor and the attorney general have devised a way to destroy the initiative process that has been a bedrock of democracy in Arizona," Abney wrote in his brief.

"All that is needed is for the attorney general to give a restrictive interpretation to the initiative in a written opinion," he said. "Then the governor can complete demolition of the initiative by proclaiming it to be law, but only in accord with opinions of the attorney general. This is not what the Arizona constitution envisions."

[Vigilanteman]

. . . deciding by administrative fiat and legal opinion . . .

And just how else are our oligarchs supposed to control the unwashed masses? < / sarcasm>

[A CA Guy]

Heard about those fiats myself.

[HungarianGypsy]

Isn't this the way. Voters decide and the opposition uses veto or courts to get their way. In Mesa Riverview just passed. It doesn't matter who was for or against it, the voters passed it. Now, those against it are trying to get it back on the ballot AGAIN, because the vote was about the zoning and not the incentives. Everyone who voted knew about the incentives already.