Lopsided spending in California initiative races
With Labor Day finally behind us, consider this your official welcome to the 2016 election.
Don’t expect too much California activity out of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, unless the presidential candidates are here to raise money. Clinton has maintained a very comfortable lead statewide, despite Trump’s repeated vows to make the Democratically-dominated state competitive. California’s U.S. Senate race between frontrunner Kamala Harris and fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez remains a somnolent affair.
But the ballot will still feature flashes of excitement and big spending thanks to a handful of swing congressional and legislative seats – and direct democracy.
Among the 17 measures going before voters on Nov. 8 is a proposal to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 years and older, Proposition 64. Voters will also decide on dueling initiatives to abolish the state’s long-dormant death penalty, Proposition 62, and to streamline the appeals process, Proposition 66.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article99692992.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
</gomer-pyle>
As a rule, if I see a barrage of ads on one side of a particular initiative, I head right on over to the other side.
edit: The sad thing is that the initiative process was created in response to a legislature that was bought and paid for by the Big Four magnates (Mark Hopkins et al.). Nowadays, our legislators are more independent than most, but big money can get whatever it wants on the ballot and usually get it passed. 
(although an insurance industry-backed measure went down in 2014)
