Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington's citizen initiative process is controlled by well-funded special interests. That's the conclusion of the state's Public Disclosure Commission in a new report out Friday.

In many respects, the PDC report confirms what we already know: It's all but impossible to qualify an initiative for the ballot in Washington without a lot of money and the help of professional petitioners.

This year, six initiatives are headed for Washington's fall ballot.

They include measures to privatize liquor sales, rollback a new soda pop tax and impose an high-earners income tax.

The PDC's analysis shows the campaigns have already spent $9M -- most of it on paid signature gatherers.

Corporate interests including BP and unions like SEIU accounted for the bulk of the contributions.

The PDC concludes that the citizen initiative was once seen as a check on special interest control of the legislature. But now those same powerful players also run the initiative process in Washington.

On the web:

Public Disclosure Commission report (.pdf)