San Diego Review April 1, 1996

Carrying and Planting the Seeds

By Dwayne Hunn

Maturing  baby boomers…   Wouldn’t be too unusual if you knew a few who dedicated  their growing  years to intense  political involvement.  It would be fairly unusual, however, to find a core of   boomers  who look back on  years of  intense work with a  political leader  and still carry him in the highest regard.  Time, history and  subsequent knowledge  tarnishes traditional political giants.

Ed Koupal, People’s Lobby founder,  was not  traditional, and time hasn’t tarnished the memories of those who worked with or learned about him.

Koupal believed in the initiative so  deeply  that 20 years ago  he convinced two boomers  to take the seeds he sowed  in their heads onto an old  yellow school  bus and   plant them  along the  back roads of America  until they sprouted  in a Senate Judiciary hearing room.

Author David Schmidt, whose Citizen Lawmakers, The Ballot Initiative Revolution, this year went into its second printing, studied and learned about the Koupals’ People’s Lobby by living with  initiative gardeners John Forester and Roger Telschow.  “Roger  and John were constantly telling stories about Ed.  Referring to him as a genius who knew how to put  politicians on the run…  Ed was the center piece of the book.  It started with the  conclusion that Ed and Joyce Koupal and the Lobby revived the initiative process and supported that conclusion with lots of evidence.”

A book can tell you some of a  man’s deeds, but working next to him increases the odds  that his green thumb or magic madness might rub off.   John Forester is a broker now where he “must stay  up on current affairs,” reading  at least three newspapers a day.  It’s a habit he watched Ed and Joyce practice daily, one that rubbed off.  “My People’s Lobby training and thinking is still the same.  I’m still a Koupal guerrilaist, “ Forester says in broker’s gear..

John isn’t  as political as he and Roger were yellow bussing through  the states and setting in motion the 1977 Senate Judiciary hearing on  implementing a National Initiative.  But he still enjoys dispensing  “Koupalisms”  learned during People’s Lobby crusades.   Weeks ago a Coloradan  called,  frantically explaining how  some of his state legislators  were, “Trying to take the initiative away.  Trying to make it so the only way an initiative can pass is with a super majority vote, like 75%.”

John rattled off how they might organize political opposition,  including reaping high praise upon the  Anti-Initiative Legislators.  “Maybe  announce that since  they are such  great legislators, your people will be proposing that they  need a  75% majority for re-election.  Legislators  as outstanding as they are  should have no objection to  seeking election under that process. ”

“You know,”  John continued, “I was just using  Ed’s philosophy that people have total  power.  These guys are nothing.  I just did what Ed would do.  I just figured how to cut them down to size, which is what Ed taught us, isn’t it?”

As a District of Columbia resident,  John may soon  plug into an initiative campaign with  more than just phone advice.   In the 70’s Roger and John spent 18 months amending the Washington DC home rule charter and passing the bill that established their Initiative, Referendum and Recall process.  Now as poverty and crime  pregnant DC flounders along  without  the right to choose a federal representative, and  the Federal Control Board administers the bankrupt city,  Republicans  and Democrats offer proposals ranging from spending less to making DC a tax free zone.

John and some boomers think DC’s best choice  is aborting the District and returning it to Maryland.   Will Congress propose that?  If not,  these boomers may soon birth an initiative delivering DC citizens choice — thanks to the initiative of a one-time used car salesman and jazz band leader  who had two boomers carry initiative seeds east to someday give the nation direct  choice.

San Diego Review March 1, 1996

The Political Heartbeat of America

By Dwayne Hunn

Like many organizations, People’s Lobby learned how to succeed by failing.  It twice failed to recall Ronald Reagan in 1967-68; failed to qualify a Clean Environment Initiative (CEI) in 1969, then gathered 328,235 in 1971 to qualify  the CEI for the November 1972 ballot.  Its largest  contributor was Paul Newman, and it spent about $9,000 in its qualifying campaign….

Today’s initiative campaigns can run well above several hundred thousand dollars.  One of today’s campaign axioms is “get” groups and individuals to “commit” and then have your leadership push them to “contribute.”  Back then People’s Lobby got each of its mostly young, volunteer  and  poor steering board to “commit” to contribute  “thousands of signatures.” Succeeding with that approach, People’s Lobby launched the National Initiative & Referendum movement in the 70’s.  Today, most campaigns hire paid  signature gatherers.

Can old fashioned dedication and incorruptible leadership qualify and win an initiative campaign in today’s job concerned  economy? Of the 519 initiatives that sought  a ballot spot in 1994, you won’t find one that earned it the old fashioned, Peole’s Lobby way.

So how would one fund and run a  campaign to enact a national initiative?

There are three major groups working to allow Americans to choose whether they want a national initiative and referendum process — former Senator Mike Gravel’s Philily II, Barbara Vincent’s National Referendum Movement, and Rick Arnold’s American Initiative Committee (AIC), which is an adjunct of his existing, successful  signature gathering business.

AIC expects to go through the traditional, long and arduous Constitutional amendment process.  The plan to fund that campaign that could change America’s political heartbeat mixes some creative capitalism through the Heartland Corporation.

“Heartland wants to fund AIC.  Heartland wants to make sure the National  I&R works.  We know it takes time and effort.  Rick and his people are doing what they need to do.  And we  are working on producing, marketing, and distributing radio shows, looking for companies to buy to increase cash flow and preparing to go public with the Heartland Corporation,”  says Heartland CEO, Gerald Garcia, a veteran of  30 years of media work ranging from Capitol Cities/ABC, to Gannet to the launch team of USA Today.

What cash flow ventures is Heartland packaging to attract investors?  They presently have three on-air radio shows:  1) America the Beautiful, hosted by Mike Foudy;  2) another political talk show hosted by Hugh Rodham, Hillary’s brother, who recently married California Senator Boxer’s daughter; and 3)  Synergy, which talks about new age lifestyles.

Seven shows in development deal with finances, travel, car repair, hot subjects, education, women’s issues and psychology.    Heartland plans to develop, market and distribute these shows, and if that requires buying, investing in  or leasing satellite space, they’ll pony up to do that too.

In addition, Heartland’s initial investors are looking for high quality service oriented  businesses that have exceeded the planned successes of the original founders, who now would like to cash out.

Not ignoring increased interest in educational and personal development, Heartland is in the early stages of  defining  its American Institute Program, whose goals include developing skills of self-help and self-esteem, so that its students become “problem solvers rather than problem creators.”

Heartland has not forgotten the traditional print media, where it believes it will have products that are “distinct and niched and will be available for the fall of 1997.”

What do you think?  Does America’s heartland house enough investors interested in seeing some of their dividends from media, education and small businesses reinvested in the tools of direct national democracy? Would elected politicians invest?   Well-heeled special interest groups?  Politically frustrated citizens?  You?

San Diego Review November 1, 1995

Old School Bus + 20 years: National Referendum Realized?

by Dwayne Hunn

In 1976  Roger Telschow and  John Forster  packed up their People’s Lobby literature, training, and maverick politics  in an old yellow bus, crisscrossed 30 states and poured their energy into making the wooden figures in the marbled halls of Washington implement the National Initiative & Referendum.  The results?

In  1977 Senators Abourezk, Hatfield and Gravel (D-AK, 1969-81)  co-sponsored Senate Judiciary  Committee hearings on implementing a national initiative process.  They all expressed support for the idea of  initiative law making, but  Hatfield and  Abourezk didn’t support the initiative amending the Constitution. “Ridiculous!”  Gravel  today responds,  “That means  the employees of people can amend the Constitution,   but people can’t. Ridiculous!..”

In 1977 Rick Arnold’s initiative helped replace  the lessons of  Vietnam and three Bronze and one Silver Stars by learning how to gather signatures and run initiative campaigns.  Today, more than 300 initiative campaigns later, he sees  the  National Initiative  as the  safety  valve  America needs to check systemic cynicism. Today, Gravel and Arnold’s paths increasingly cross, as they pursue the goal of a national initiative, albeit by  slightly different processes.

A three day San Diego October 1995 Campaigns and Elections Conference allowed political experts to hone the skills of  the sponsoring American Initiative Committee (AIC) and Philadelphia II participants, as both organizations approach 1996 intending to make Direct  Democracy available to America.  What’s the difference between AIC and Phily II?

Both want Americans “empowered” with the National Initiative and Referendum (NI&R) and believe a grassroots ground swell will be needed to do that.   Arnold believes that every Congressional district needs an organization gathering signatures and pressuring representatives so that 3/4ths of the states plus 1 (38) will empower Americans by ratifying a simply worded Amendment such as: “The people reserve the right to the initiative and referendum.”

For the 1996 Presidential ballot, Gravel wants a National Initiative and Referendum ballot in every registered voter’s hand.  When one over 50% votes for empowering Americans with those Direct Democracy tools,  Philadelphia I, where Americans in 1787 drafted their   new Constitution without asking permission of  the states under the inept Articles of Confederation, will  have an equally revolutionary and powerful   brother — Philadelphia II..

Gravel’s Phily II  does not, however, leave defining the process for doing national initiatives in the hands of  elected representatives.  Instead, like the Constitution with its articles and sections,  Phily II specifies the what, when and how of the NI&R.  “Governments make it harder to do initiatives, so why leave it in their hands to establish the process. Anyway, I’ve been there (the Senate)  and don’t want to entrust that to them.”

Simple process, complex wording.  Which do you prefer?

California cruisin…

San Diego Review, September 1, 1995, Dwayne Hunn

As a young person living in the midwest during the ‘60’s,  music, television and news left one with visions of  “woodies” cruising beaches filled with beautiful bronzed “California girls” under skies speckled with mountains and palm trees in temperatures that were always warm, but not sweaty.  The economy boomed,  and Hollywood left you with a Vance Packardized image that everyone swooned over California….

Those images weren’t easily forgotten, especially after two years working in Bombay’s slums with the Peace Corps.  So, when I was lucky enough to received a fellowship to Claremont Graduate School, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, I came to California…  Traveling east from Bombay via Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, and Hawaii, the roads, cars and buses became a barometer of lifestyles.  They grew bigger, fancier and faster right up to California,  where my gears stuck in reverse culture shock, as comfortable homes and  smooth freeways zoomed by my air conditioned bus window.

Graduate school and high school and college teaching helped  temper the culture shock, but something about perfect California kept gnawing  at me.

Near Claremont is another bucolic town called Glendora,  where I lived my southern California years.  I lived on a 2+ acre funny pharm, nestled at the base of the San Gabriel foothills, where a number of us helped build a castle.  I lived there for several months with my eyes wide open, before the fabled Santa Anna winds came through around November.  The Santa Annas blew the air overhead away, out into the Pacific Ocean for the plankton to ingest.  And lo and behold, what had been a single row of mountains riming the pharm was clearly three finely etched ranges deep. That discovery, and the scent of fresh air, prodded me to increase studying and lecturing on air pollution and the environment.

Back then most California kids  didn’t concern  themselves much with air pollution.  Under those weather caster defined “hazy skies” they were enjoying the good life hanging out, chasing girls, surfing, beaching, partying, smoking, etc.  Now and then their good times would leave them with a stunning, educational revelation,  like when some of my  high school students returned from the other side of the mountain ranges after enjoying a star-studded, desert camping trip.  “There were like a million stars up there!  God, there were so many stars I couldn’t believe it!”

Yeph, they had been raised in the Los Angeles basin.   At night they saw hundreds of stars — the others Carl Saigon counted had been smogged out.

To a midwestern guy accustomed to clear, blue skies it didn’t seem like many California students or graduates knew or cared about air pollution.  But ….  it only takes a few and a dedicated core more to turn the sky upside down.

“Below the inversion layer, it’s just brown and yucky

                                           stuff.”

As a kid growing  up in Los Angeles in the 50’s, Roger Jon Diamond loved playing football, baseball and basketball.  He hated smog.  Neither his folks, buddies or teachers cared about air pollution, but as the years moved him to manhood his distaste for it grew into a crusade to erase it. “When I took my first air plane flight, then it   really dawned on me how much the smog was — cause you could see the inversion layer.  Once the plane gets above the inversion, it’s like a whole new world — you could see blue sky above the inversion layer.  Below the inversion layer, it’s just brown and yucky stuff.”

His concern didn’t leave after becoming an attorney.  As Roger put it on one of People’s Lobby’s recent  public affairs television productions, “I had always been involved in environmental issues.  That was my dream — to clear up the air in Southern California.  Growing up as a kid in Los Angeles, I learned first hand  about smog and air pollution.  When  I graduated from UCLA Law School in December of  ‘66, I decided to do something about air pollution. I filed a class action suit.”

Come back next month, if you think daring lawyers can fix anything  from smog to plumbing to  12 point deficits with only 2:11 left ….   San Diegans know that lawyer Steve Young can do at least 2 out of three of  the above, right?  Can Roger go three for three?

San Diego Review August 1, 1995

Can’t Recall the Government?

Then Let’s Recall the Smog!

by Dwayne Hunn

 In the summer of 1968 Edwin and Joyce Koupal were immersed in gathering signatures to recall Governor Reagan, which included the complex, time-consuming re­quirement of matching the gathered signatures with names and precincts. (Thanks partially to the later efforts of People’s Lobby, that laborious cross filing process is no longer required.)

In that same summer Ronald Reagan threw his hat into the presi­dential ring, which pit the rookie, charismatic, right-hook develop­ing governor of the nation’s most productive state against the come­back, cagey and savvy. inside-the-ropes conniver, Tricky Dick Nixon. The last thing not-yet Teflon-protected Governor Reagan needed as he stepped in­side the presidential ropes, was a successful recall campaign mounted by a 41-year old high school drop-out and political nov­ice, who had just registered to vote.

Cannon Ball Berg, Ed’s side­kick, recalls the August 1968 day when they delivered the recall sig­natures to the Secretary of State’s office just before the 5:00 p.m. closing time. To this day, Canon Ball Berg remains amazed at the counting efficiency of the Secre­tary of State’s office in that pre-computer age.

At signature filling time, Governor Reagan was in Florida at the Republican National Presidential Nominating Convention. By 10:00 p.m. Florida time (7:00 p.m. Califor­nia time), Gov. Reagan announced the recall effort had gathered only 550,000 of the required 700,000 sig­natures needed for the ballot.

Well, the former used car sales­man had taken his jazz man antics into big time politics and failed. That, however, didn’t cause him to pack up the band and find a real job. Instead, the recall campaign, which the Koupals had based in Los Angeles, where the people were exposed to the wretched air. And Edwin Koupal, the kid who probably left for the mer­chant marines before he took a high school civics class, pinned the blame for the putrid, smog filled air on — the politicians.

The Koupals began learning about smog from a mostly silver-haired led group called Stamp Out Smog. Soon they became leaders and soon formed their own group— People’s Lobby.

If you think low-lead gas, nuclear power plant construction moratori­ums, banning DDT usage, and lowered sulfide oxide emissions from diesel fuel are beneficial envi­ronmental developments — then read some of the upcoming columns. The Koupals and People’s Lobby may have done more than any other individuals and organization to move California and the nation into embracing those changes.