Willamette Week snuck this one by me in their "Murmurs" feature, so I didn't mention it in my earlier post:
[T]alk swirls that opponents (including downtown business heavyweights) might force the issue [of public financing for city elections] onto the ballot with a petition drive. Could they do it? In 2001, property-rights initiative ninja David Hunnicutt spent $81,000 to gather the 17,000-plus signatures needed to put a street-management fee on the ballot (City Council promptly caved, repealing the fee before Portlanders could vote on it). The last time a petition drive actually led to a general vote on a council decision was 1956. The issue? Banning pinball machines.
Well, if you judge the merits of your position by the sort of people you annoy, getting on the bad side of a "property-rights initiative ninja" might not be such an awful thing.
Sounds safer than crossing a pinball wizard, at least.
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