The Legislature’s recent votes in favor a death penalty resolution and against a government spending limit resolution brought with them a very valuable question. Should Wisconsin’s elected state legislators be the only ones to vote on issues of statewide importance, or should we occasionally ask our constituents to take a vote at the ballot box? In both instances, arguments were made that those legislators who supported the resolutions to put questions on the statewide ballot were doing a disservice to their constituents.
In the case of the death penalty resolution, which I supported, we were successful in getting a non-binding advisory referendum placed on the November ballot. Keep in mind that whatever the result of the referendum vote is, it would place no binding legal commitment on the Legislature. State law will not change regardless of the vote outcome.
Meanwhile, efforts to allow the voting public to approve or rebuke the Taxpayer’s Protection Amendment inclusion in the Wisconsin Constitution, which I also supported, failed to pass. The attempt to place permanent caps on government’s ability to tax and spend was thwarted, in part, because the referendum question would have been binding. In other words, final approval of the measure would have been taken out of the Legislature’s control.
Both issues are of the utmost importance, both locally and statewide, and both have spent considerable amounts of time being debated in the court of public opinion. It’s also apparent that most of the people with an eye on state government have already formed strong, personal opinions on each issue.
Needless to say, I appreciate and embrace my role as your representative in the 8th Senate District. Each year I proudly cast several hundred votes on your behalf on issues big and small. Despite that fact, I believe the majority of my constituents want to be given the option of “weighing in” on certain state issues of great magnitude, regardless of whether the referendum is binding or advisory and regardless of whether they support or oppose the question.
I don’t believe statewide referendum questions are bad for representative democracy. I don’t feel it would be abdication of my job duties to support resolutions that put questions before the voters. I also trust the results locally would reinforce my stance that I’m properly representing your views.
To provide some feedback on this column, contact me at (800) 863-1113, or sen.darling@legis.wi.gov.
