[Carry_Okie]

Quentin Kopp, then a state senator, carried a bill in the early 1990s to prohibit pay-to-play ballot measures.

Despite the fact that he was a Democrat, I really liked Quentin Kopp. As far as I could tell, he was the last of a dying breed: an honest Democrat. Yet another example of why term limits were a really bad idea.

[SierraWasp]

Here is the most important excerpt of that column:

And then there is Proposition 84, a direct descendent of Meral's first such exercise, his 1988 measure to issue $776 million in park improvement bonds. Proposition 84 is a little more ambitious; it would authorize $5.4 billion in bonds for parks, watershed improvement and other environmental efforts, in part through grants to nonprofit conservation organizations that have contributed to the multimillion-dollar campaign to qualify and promote the measure. (emphasis added)

With the state budget mired in deficit and a political gridlock over taxes, ever-more tax, bond and spending decisions will be made by voters through the initiative process. Shouldn't those who write the measures be subject to the same conflict-of-interest and bribery laws that apply to legislators? (emphasis added)

I think this is one of the best Dan Walters Columns I've ever seen!!!