Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's office just announced that only two initiative petitions have been certified for the Nov. 2 ballot. And the proposal to change the way Missouri selects its judges is not one of them.
Today was the deadline for announcing certification.
Carnahan's staff reported that the judicial measure, which would have called for the election of all Missouri judges, only turned in enough valid signatures in one of the six required congressional districts.
By the numbers
Earnings Taxes
Congressional District 1 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 15,080; Valid Signatures: 21,931
Congressional District 2 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 19,148; Valid Signatures: 26,110
Congressional District 3 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 15,609; Valid Signatures: 22,057
Congressional District 5 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 15,585; Valid Signatures: 21,767
Congressional District 6 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 16,542; Valid Signatures: 23,830
Congressional District 7 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 16,300; Valid Signatures: 19,871
Congressional District 9 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 16,416; Valid Signatures: 24,832
Dog Breeders
Congressional District 1 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 15,080; Valid Signatures: 21,583
Congressional District 2 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 19,148; Valid Signatures: 27,787
Congressional District 3 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 15,609; Valid Signatures: 25,220
Congressional District 4 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 15,313; Valid Signatures: 4,827
Congressional District 5 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 15,585; Valid Signatures: 21,948
Congressional District 6 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 16,542; Valid Signatures: 7,682
Congressional District 7 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 16,300; Valid Signatures: 22,020
Congressional District 8 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 13,931; Valid Signatures: 1,974
Congressional District 9 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 16,416; Valid Signatures: 21,207
Real Estate Taxation
Congressional District 1 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 24,128; Valid Signatures: 36,632
Congressional District 2 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 30,637; Valid Signatures: 31,601
Congressional District 3 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 24,974; Valid Signatures: 20,673
Congressional District 4 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 24,501; Valid Signatures: 758
Congressional District 5 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 24,935; Valid Signatures: 28,982
Congressional District 6 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 26,467; Valid Signatures: 1,650
Congressional District 7 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 26,080; Valid Signatures: 27,937
Congressional District 8 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 22,289; Valid Signatures: 299
Congressional District 9 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 26,266; Valid Signatures: 24,874
Nonpartisan Court Plan
Congressional District 1 (Sufficient) Signatures Needed: 24,128: Valid Signatures: 32,723
Congressional District 2 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 30,637; Valid Signatures: 20,053
Congressional District 3 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 24,974; Valid Signatures: 16,862
Congressional District 4 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 24,501; Valid Signatures: 447
Congressional District 5 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 24,935; Valid Signatures: 17,304
Congressional District 6 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 26,467; Valid Signatures: 783
Congressional District 7 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 26,080; Valid Signatures: 17,243
Congressional District 8 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 22,289; Valid Signatures: 210
Congressional District 9 (Insufficient) Signatures Needed: 26,266; Valid Signatures: 15,148
The same problem beset the proposal aimed at barring a real estate transfer tax, now allowed in most other states. Valid signatures were only submitted for four of the six required congressional districts. The real-estate proposal's backers say they are headed to court in a last-ditch quest to get on the ballot.
Those failures are key because both efforts used the same signature-collection firm, Lincoln Strategies, and close to $2 million was raised and spent for the collections. Two prominent Republican operatives also were involved -- James Harris led the judicial campaign, while David Barklage headed up the anti-real estate tax effort.
So what did make the November ballot?
The proposal to bar or restrict municipal earnings taxes and a law change imposing restrictions on dog breeders.
The effort to get the earning tax proposal was bankrolled by wealthy financier Rex Sinquefield, who activists noted used a different -- and more expensive -- signature collection operation. But it apparently paid off.
Marc Ellinger, spokesman for the Let Voters Decide Committee, the anti-earnings tax group bankrolled by Sinquefield, said in a statement:
"We’re pleased that Missourians will have the opportunity to vote on our initiative, and we expect to see the same strong support in November that we saw during our petition drive. We gathered and submitted twice as many voter signatures as required, and we think it’s pretty clear that Missouri voters want to have a say on the issue of local earnings taxes. The Let Voters Initiative gives them their say. Voting YES on the measure will require local sunset votes on the existing earnings taxes in St. Louis and Kansas City, so voters there can decide if they want to continue their local e-taxes or phase them out over a period of 10 years. In addition, voting YES will prohibit any new local earnings taxes other cities or towns that don’t currently have such taxes. "
Here's the wording for the two successful ballot measures:
The petition relating to earnings taxes reads:
"Shall Missouri law be amended to:
• repeal the authority of certain cities to use earnings taxes to fund their budgets;
• require voters in cities that currently have an earnings tax to approve continuation of such tax at the next general municipal election and at an election held every 5 years thereafter;
• require any current earnings tax that is not approved by the voters to be phased out over a period of 10 years; and
• prohibit any city from adding a new earnings tax to fund their budget?"
The fiscal note: "The proposal could eliminate certain city earnings taxes. For 2010, Kansas City and the City of St. Louis budgeted earnings tax revenue of $199.2 million and $141.2 million, respectively. Reduced earnings tax deductions could increase state revenues by $4.8 million. The total cost or savings to state and local governmental entities is unknown."
The petition relating to dog breeders reads:
"Shall Missouri law be amended to:
• require large-scale dog breeding operations to provide each dog under their care with sufficient food, clean water, housing and space; necessary veterinary care; regular exercise and adequate rest between breeding cycles;
• prohibit any breeder from having more than 50 breeding dogs for the purpose of selling their puppies as pets; and
• create a misdemeanor crime of “puppy mill cruelty” for any violations?"
The fiscal note: "It is estimated state governmental entities will incur costs of $654,768 (on-going costs of $521,356 and one-time costs of $133,412). Some local governmental entities may experience costs related to enforcement activities and savings related to reduced animal care activities.
early questions about Better Courts' actions
ShowMe Better Courts, the group seeking to toss out Missouri's current system for choosing judges, claimed back in May (when the signatures had to be turned in) to have collected and submitted "more than 250,000 signatures from all nine of Missouri’s congressional districts, over 90,000 more than required by law."
But a rival group that supports the current system, Missourians for Fair & Impartial Courts, had analyzed those signatures and soon asserted that the Better Courts group had failed to collect adequate signatures in the right districts. And the secretary of state's office appears to agree.
Harris said in a statement this afternoon: “We’re very disappointed that Lincoln Strategies failed to collect the requisite number of signatures, but we will continue moving forward and will re-submit the petition in November.”
He also blamed the Impartial Courts group for some of the collection failures.
“Unfortunately, the opposition’s gender- and race-based voter suppression tactics succeeded in preventing us from collecting the signatures necessary to make it on the November ballot," Harris said. "Why are trial attorneys so afraid to see this measure make it to the ballot? Quite simply, they don’t want to give up control of our courts. They don’t want to give the power to the people because they know that the people are tired of activist courts controlled by special interests. If Lincoln Strategies had succeeded in collecting enough signatures for the petition, there is no doubt in my mind that the people of Missouri would have supported it by a large margin.”
Missourians for Fair & Impartial Courts countered in a statement that the Better Courts group was off-base from the start.
“This cynical attempt to inject special interests into Missouri’s courtrooms was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters,” said Ken Morley, adviser for the Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Action Fund. “Missourians clearly do not want Illinois-style politics in their courtrooms. This monumental failure by those wishing to politicize our courts sends a strong message that Missourians want to keep our system of justice fair and impartial.”
Meanwhile, backers of the real estate tax proposal say they are headed to court in an effort to overturn the secretary of state's decision. Lawyer Chuck Hatfield said in a statement that The Vote “YES” To Stop Double Taxation Committee believes that signatures were tossed out that should have been counted.
“With the large volume of thousands of signatures of supportive voters and the deadline pressure scores of local election authorities faced to check the signatures, there will inevitably be mistakes, and we believe mistakes happened,” Hatfield said.
link to U.S. Senate contest
Political fallout is likely expected, because the Better Court group is led by a number of conservative Republicans -- Harris and lawyer/former GOP executive director Jared Craighead among them.
The party's best-known candidate for the U.S. Senate -- U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Springfield -- also had endorsed the proposal, which would have called for the election of all judges, includes those on the Missouri Supreme Court.
The likely Democratic victor for the U.S. Senate nomination tonight is Robin Carnahan.
However, a number of moderate Republicans had announced their support for the current judicial-selection, which calls for the governor to choose judges for the higher courts and in the urban areas from three-person panels set up by a judicial-selection board. So it's unclear how far Blunt's allies will press any allegations that ShowMe Better Courts was mistreated by Carnahan's office.
This article originally appeared in the St. Louis Beacon.
