Study finds money
does not dominate
the initiative process.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 17, 1998 (UPI) - New research indicates that money doesn't necessarily assure the success of California ballot initiatives.

The non-profit Public Policy Institute of California discounted that notion today in releasing a study by Elisabeth Gerber, an associate political science professor at the University of California, San Diego.

Gerber found that economic interests passed only 22 % of 31 ballot measures between 1988 and 1990, contrasted with a 60 % success rate for citizen-supported measures.

She found both groups were moderately successful in blocking initiatives, while economic interests vastly outspent citizen groups, mainly to defeat measures they opposed.

Gerberg concluded that economic groups such as the tobacco and insurance industries don't have the ``unbridled influence'' claimed for them by critics of the initiative process.

In fact, she said the millions of dollars they pour into campaigns actually may be self-defeating by suggesting to voters that their proposals probably are against their interests.

Copyright 1998 by United Press International.