Video and Audio Archives
The following interviews feature representatives of the Institute discussing the initiative and referendum process. You will need a media player in order to either view or listen to your selection. If you have any comments about the interviews or have recommendations on additional interviews that should be added to this site, please email mdanewaters@iandrinstitute.org.
Recalls Seen as Growing Trend
NPR, Morning Edition, August 12, 2003
California Gov. Gray Davis may be the highest-profile politician to face a recall effort, but he's far from the only one. More than a dozen mayors and other local officials around the country also have been targeted for recalls over the past two years, and some experts predict such elections will become more common. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports.
Mixed Reviews for Prop 13 on 25th Anniversary
NPR, Morning Edition, June 6, 2003
It's been 25 years since California voters passed Proposition 13, a tax-slashing initiative that changed the political landscape of the state. Voters in other states have used the initiative to curb taxes. But many Californians blame Prop 13 for destroying the state's economy and quality of life. NPR's Ina Jaffe reports.
Ballot Initiatives Exacerbate State Budget Gaps
NPR, All Things Considered, May 13, 2003
States across the country are struggling to close budget shortfalls totaling more than $50 billion. The problem is particularly acute in many Western states, where ballot initiatives on taxation and spending have tied legislators' hands. NPR's Ina Jaffe reports.
Rethinking Ballot Initiatives
NPR, Dick Gordon’s Connection, October 9, 2002
Grassroots democracy, ballot initiatives and big money politics. In 1774, when Thomas Jefferson proposed that citizens should vote to approve their state constitution, he probably hadn't imagined paid signature gatherers and cross-country campaigns funded by the rich and the famous. What started as a mechanism for politics by the people, without the politicians, has become a high stakes game. Take Oregon, where the food industry has raised more than $4 million to defeat an initiative requiring the labeling of genetically-modified foods. Bully politics? Mob rule? The ballot initiative may still be the best way to get the people back into politics, but money and power are insidious forces. Too much manure is never good for the grass roots. Guests: Lane Shetterly, member of the Oregon House of Representatives; Dane Waters, executive director of the Initiative and Referendum Institute; Florida State Senator Kendrick Meek, chairman of Florida's Coalition to Reduce Class Size; Ed Moore, a member of "The Coalition to Protect Florida."
Oregon Initiatives
NPR, Weekend Edition, Sunday, June 6, 2002
From Oregon Public Broadcasting, Colin Fogarty reports on the Voter Education Project, which urges citizens to think twice before signing initiatives. The group thinks there's fraud in the initiative system, including forged signatures and collectors who mislead the voters they canvass.
High Court Overturns Term Limits Law
Oregon Public Broadcasting, January 11, 2002
Dane Waters and Oregon attorneys Kelley Clark and Charles Hinkle comment on a decision by the Oregon Supreme Court overturning a term limits law, passed by the people in 1992, on the grounds that it violates the single subject rule.
Ballot Initiatives
NPR, All Things considered, November 8, 2000
NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports on the outcome of some of the more than 200 ballot measures voted on by Americans in 42 states.
The Big Picture
NPR, All Things Considered, November 1, 2000
Interview with Dane Waters, president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute, a non-profit and non-partisan educational and research organization. He says that initiatives are often used to bring contentious issues to the fore - issues like gun control and health care reform that politicians may be reluctant to touch.
Ballot Initiatives
NPR, Talk of the Nation, October 31, 2000
Analysis: Process of getting initiatives on state ballots, and some of the referenda that will appear on ballots this year around the nation. Guests: Bill Sizemore, Peter Schrag, Dane Waters
The Initiative Debate: Discussion
Online News Hour with Jim Lehrer, May 17, 2000
David Broder of the Washington Post and Dane Waters of the Initiative & Referendum Institute assess the implications of ballot initiatives on governing.
Ballot Initiatives: Empowering People or
Derailing Democracy? May 16, 2000
A Cato policy forum featuring David S. Broder,
M. Dane Waters, and William A. Niskanen
In his book Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money, David Broder argues that America's Founders preferred a system of checks and balances to direct democracy. Ballot initiatives arose late in the 1800s as grassroots efforts to fight government corruption and big business influence yet today are vehicles for special interests. But are initiatives in fact a way to fight big government, a cry for help by majorities that find their freedoms restricted?
Election Results
Pacifica Network News, November 3, 1999
Pacifica's Mark Bevis speaks with Dane Waters of the Initiative and Referendum Institute on the outcome of the ballot initiative and referenda votes. Hint: Late term abortion ban lost in Maine; a tax package won in Washington.
The Business of Ballot Initiatives
NPR, Morning Edition, October 27, 1998
NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports on the history of ballot initiatives. Since coming into effect one hundred years ago, nearly two thousand have been approved on states' ballots. The process of introducing and passing initiatives has become a major political industry.
Midterm Elections / Local Initiatives
NPR, Talk of the Nation, Monday, October 26, 1998
It's a cliché to say all politics is local. Yet many of the country's hot-button social issues will be decided in voters' home states in the form of ballot initiatives. Americans will weigh in on affirmative action, same sex marriages, physician assisted suicide, and cigarette taxes. Join Ray Suarez and guests for a look at some of the key initiatives on ballots across the country and how they might affect you and your community. Guests: NPR Correspondents Wendy Kaufman, Don Gonyea, and Ina Jaffe; Dane Waters, President, Initiative Referendum Institute.