MPR’s Pat Kessler reports on St. Paul City Council as it considered petition on the repeal of gay rights ordinance to appear on ballot in city election. A debate over viewing as ‘referendum’ or ‘initiative’ ensued. City Council president Robert Sylvester and Councilman Dave Hosa oppose the petition.
PAT KESSLER: Despite the objections of President Robert Sylvester and Councilman David Hozza, the majority sided with the city attorney's opinion which states that, any inconsistencies or incorrect references in the repeal petition can be changed by the city attorney to comply with the law. That means that even though the actual petition to repeal gay rights in Saint Paul is based on an outdated law, the city attorney's office has the power through the city council to change any errors.
Sylvester maintains that the petition is in fact a referendum, not an initiative. As the city attorney's office has ruled, those two procedures give voters the final say on laws that are passed. But a referendum vote must take place within 45 days after the enactment of a law. The gay rights ordinance was passed in 1974.
ROBERT SYLVESTER: I believe, however, that the basic rule of thumb on any petition is that it should be difficult but not impossible for the people to take matters to referendum. I think that what we have here is that we have created and the attorney has supported the creation of a loophole to call what is properly a referendum, an initiative. In her opinion, I find no Minnesota cases on the question. And I find no cases involving human rights.
When I phrase the question to the attorney, it seemed to me that what we had here was a very serious question of a conflict between the right to petition under the First Amendment and the right to due process under the law under the 14th. It seemed to me that we needed a different kind of legal research than just case law involving rezonings, mineral rights and what have you. I don't think we got that.
It also seems a little inconsistent to me that on all the petitions I have been involved with in this council, that if the I's are not dotted just correctly or the T's are not crossed just correctly on the signatures, that they are thrown out. And when they come up to a question such as this, which I consider much more important than the signature, that there doesn't seem to be any standards at all.
PAT KESSLER: City council President, Robert Sylvester. In addition, Councilman, Hozza opposed the petition on the grounds that the city council is required by law to place the entire ordinance on the ballot or no part of it at all. This, he says, raises serious questions that the city attorney fails to answer.
DAVID HOZZA: My concern is this-- and I'm reading the same section of the charter that you've been referring to-- it states under initiative, first sentence, any ordinance may be proposed by a petition which shall state at the head of each page or attached thereto the exact text of the ordinance sought to be proposed.
And as I read it, when we talk about the exact text, we're not only striking the word sexual or sexual preference, but also by incorrect reference, deleting labor union and leaving out entirely from consideration religion, age or disability, which currently are in our ordinance. And I guess as such, I have some substantial problems as to what we're doing to our ordinance.
PAT KESSLER: Councilman, David Hozza. Because of the Council ruling to accept the petition, the question will appear on the city election ballot on April 25. And the St Paul gay rights repeal attempt will be the first since the controversial Dade county, Florida repeal late last year. I'm Pat Kessler.
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