187: Former Governor Ed Schafer talks about Measure 2

Former North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer does not support Measure 2. He does not believe the Legislature should get a chance to overturn a ballot-box vote to enact a constitutional amendment.

Measure 2 would amend the state constitution to make it so that constitutional measures approved at the ballot box would also have to be approved by both houses of the Legislature. If one or both houses voted against the amendment, it would go back to a second statewide balloting allowing voters to overturn the Legislature's veto.

I don't agree with Ed, and on this episode of Plain Talk we debate the issue, but we did find one area of agreement.

Whatever happens with Measure 2 next month, it's clear the status quo in North Dakota's initiated measure process is broken. Schafer and I spoke of potential policy curatives ranging from finance reform for initiated measure campaigns to bans on paid signature collectors to limiting measures to one policy change each.