'65%' Supporters Suffer Severe Setbacks

The 2006 election season was disappointing for supporters of the 65% Deception scheme. They suffered defeats in Washington, Arizona, and Oregon where petition drives to get the measure on the ballot were called off for lack of support and funding.

Versions of the 65% Deception were earlier defeated legislatively in Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

In fact, petition signatures were filed only in Colorado and Oklahoma. The Oklahoma petitions were ultimately thrown out by the state's Supreme Court and the 65% concept was soundly rejected in Colorado, the only state where voters were asked to decide the issue. In a rare development, Colorado newspaper editorial boards unanimously opposed the proposed constitutional amendment related to the 65% Deception.

Otherwise, Georgia remains the only state where a "65%" law has been enacted.

This does not mean the 65% Deception has necessarily been put to rest. Versions of the scheme have been introduced in the legislatures in South Carolina, Vermont, and South Dakota and there is no indication that the plan's primary backers are ready to fold up their tent.

In Oklahoma, the 65% initiative failed to get on the ballot for the 2006 election. After petitions were submitted and the measure certified for the ballot by the secretary of state, the state school boards association challenged the validity of the signatures and other aspects of the proposal in a case that wound up before the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

The court ruled nearly a year later, on June 12, 2007, that the petitions are invalid because the brief descriptions of the measure at the top of each signature page did not accurately portray the initiative and what it would do.

"...A potential signatory, looking only at the gist, did not have sufficient information to make an informed decision about the true nature of the proposed legislation," the decision states.

A petition drive in Arizona in 2006 didn't get even as far as the Oklahoma effort. It was widely reported in June of that year that the petition drive sputtered and died when the effort's principal backer pulled the plug for lack of funds.

An Associated Press story  published by the Arizona Daily Star and other newspapers in early June 2006 reported that the Arizona petition drive sputtered and died when the effort's principal backer pulled the plug for lack of funds.

It was an especially harsh defeat because Arizona is the home base of Tim Mooney, who is directing the national campaign promoting the 65% Deception scheme.

Earlier, the scheme's backer in Washington "suspended" his effort, at least temporarily, also for lack of donations to fund the campaign, according to a report in the Seattle Times.

Brian Janssen, listed as chair of the "Initiative 924" campaign to put the 65% scheme on the ballot in Washington, said in an email message to the Washington Association of School Business Officials that he was suspending the campaign because a successful effort would require millions of dollars that he was unable to raise. Janssen wrote to the school business group to cancel a previously scheduled speaking engagement.

Reports filed with the Public Disclosure Commission, show that Janssen's group received $9,100 in contributions in January -- $5,000 of which came from Janssen himself.

Charles Hasse, president of the Washington Education Association, said, "Our polling around [the initiative] indicated that it would be highly unlikely to succeed. We're relieved. This initiative would have been distracting to the real issue of students and schools facing inadequate funding levels in our state."