toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS - Republican lawmakers yesterday struck a deal with Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell that could eliminate a controversial ballot issue to restrain government spending.

As Democrats accused them of stomping on the Ohio Constitution, Republican legislative leaders said they will pass a law next week authorizing backers of the proposed Tax Expenditure Limitation amendment to pull it from the ballot.

In exchange, Republicans say they will enact a watered-down version applying only to the state's general budget and leaving local governments and school districts untouched.

Mr. Blackwell, after making the proposal the centerpiece of his gubernatorial campaign, promised to urge the committee that gathered the necessary 328,000 or so signatures to withdraw the issue from the ballot.

House Speaker Jon Husted (R., Kettering), Senate Presi-dent Bill Harris (R., Ashland), and Mr. Blackwell portrayed the compromise as a victory. Democrats, including Mr. Blackwell's opponent in November's election, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, characterized it as an admission that the proposal was flawed from the start.

"Once [the new legislation is] enacted, Ohio will have the necessary fiscal guardrails in our budgeting process to control government spending, cut taxes, and create jobs," Mr. Blackwell said in a statement.

The new legislation would limit annual growth in state general budget spending to 3.5 percent, or to the rate of inflation adjusted for population.

The rules for citizen petition and referendum are spelled out in the state constitution, but legislative lawyers say it is silent on the question of whether backers can cancel a proposed constitutional amendment after it has already been certified for the ballot.

"Since [committee members] are the ones that initiate it and give it life, they're the ones that should have the authority to remove it," Mr. Husted said.

The move has placed Democrats in the odd position of railing against GOP attempts to remove a controversial constitutional amendment from the ballot that they opposed in the first place. Instead, most of their rhetoric focused on the political ramifications.

"If we can't trust [Mr. Blackwell] now, what are we going to do if he's elected governor?" asked state Rep. Chris Redfern (D., Catawba Island), chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Mr. Redfern displayed a pair of flip-flop shoes, as Ohio Democrats embraced the "flip-flop" mantra that Republicans used successfully against Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004.

"This is one for the history books," Mr. Strickland said. "I suppose Mr. Blackwell will be able to say he was for the amendment before he was against it."

The conservative Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, which championed the ballot proposal, said yesterday's decision has postponed a necessary debate on local government spending. But President David Hansen said he did not believe Mr. Blackwell let the organization down.

"We're thankful that we've had as much discussion as we've had," he said. "We'll have to find another time or place to get it done."

Early polls have shown the Tax Expenditure Limitation concept is popular with voters. But some Republicans have worried that a proposal that helped Mr. Blackwell win the GOP primary election could backfire in the general election as local governments, schools, universities, social service organizations, and other opponents organize to tell voters how they would be adversely affected. George Passadino, senior fellow with the nonpartisan Reason Foundation in California, suggested the GOP may be making a mistake.

"When you look at the taxpayers' history at the ballot box, there's been a groundswell of support for tax relief," he said. "In California with Proposition 13 [to slash property taxes], there were those who predicted it would be ugly for those aligned with it, but it overwhelmingly passed. It's not surprising that the establishment would align itself against it."

Dale Osterle, an Ohio State University law processor with expertise in initiatives and referendums, said lawmakers have to be careful as they attempt to navigate the Ohio Constitution.

"If it looks like they're actually trying to put up roadblocks [to citizen initiatives], then the courts might step in and throw it out," he said.

Contact Jim Provance at:
jprovance@theblade.com
or 614-221-0496.

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