These are the talking points from Ted Costa, proponent, so I can't vouch for them.
WHY is this happening? I think the GOP is attempting to undermine the governor. This isn't the first time one of his reforms have been hamstrung. One regarding unions was assaulted as not protecting fire fighter widows' pensions and the political hell because so difficult that one was revoked from circulation. It had been prepared by a GOP legislator. Now we have this screw up by Ted Costa. TWO of FOUR?? What are the chances of this happening when you have *professionals* involved in the process?
I smell a R-A-T and it's spelled "litmus test" G-O-P. They've hated Arnold from day one and I wouldn't be surprised to see them run someone against him in the gubernatorial primary next year. That could split the vote between fiscal conservatives and the "litmus test" folks and put a Democrat back in office. Those "litmus test" folks have controlled the party and put up one brain dead candidate after the next: Matt Fong, Bill Simon, Bill Jones... it's an embarrassment how we can't get it together in CA even against the truly insane Barbara Boxer or a governor we had to turn around and recall because the "chosen one" (Simon) in that election was such a inept nimrod!
Well, I'm scratching my head on that one. The testimony from Costa's folks admits that Lockyer had the more recent version. So, now, he's saying that he would want to put the old version on the ballot? I posted the language changes at this link (I think there were a couple more than these, but, as you can see, they're not just a couple word changes).
These changes came to light, supposedly, when the proponents brought it to the attention of the AG's office. It seems the AG's office does not routinely validate changes haven't been made.
Yeah. If you read the ruling (PDF FILE), it covers this. But it seems that one thing that ticked off the judges was the allegedly not-so-timely disclosure. They knew for a while, but didn't tell Lockyer until the middle of June, after it was qualified for the Ballot. I do know that the text of the initiative originally posted on Costa's website disappeared sometime before May 21, as I was looking for it on that day and the prior link took me to a table on the # of petitions qualified. (I know that because I emailed a friend asking if they had a copy on that day).
WHY is this happening?
Really good question. I'll leave it to those who are politically connected to speculate. I will note that the GOP folks who have been very supportive of Arnold are the same ones that gave us Bill Jones, et al, so I think it is something different than you have outlined.