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Published Marin Independent Journal, October 26, 1994
‘God’s angry man’ told us so DWAYNE HUNN since IT'S NEARING election time, I wandered to Ross Perot’s Autumn '94 "Let's get 'em!" Marin Civic Center rally. Then I went to a Kathleen Brown meeting, where they scrutinize for spies as they manufacture and hand out yard signs. I went because I once did some political stuff.
Whether
I worked for brother Jerry Brown or introduced George McGovern to a crowd of
15,000, my political work taught me that awe and adulation ain't deserved for
most who play the game. There's only one political guy I look back on and
always up to.
Leading
jazz bands was his love. Selling used cars was one of his jobs. When
his
car dealership owner
went
to jail, Ed Koupal threw such a giant "Jail Sale" that Sacramento's
dealers forced Ford to squelch his "marketedly incorrect" but hugely
successful gambit. When Reagan cut tile state budget by closing homes for the
infirm, Ed mounted a recall that stunted Ron’s early presidential
aspirations. When
Ed gagged on L.A.’s smog, he formed People's Lobby, revived the dormant
initiative process for grass roots organizations and, with a $9,000 budget,
put the Clean Environment Initiative on the 1972 ballot. When big money nuked
our efforts to lower the lead content in gasoline, reduce sulfur-dioxide
emissions in diesel fuel, ban DDT and stop construction of nuclear reactors,
Ed taught us to get even by leading the 1974 Political Reform Initiative to a
70 percent victory. Common
Cause and Jerry Brown joined that crusade. Back then, candidate Jerry didn't
sound like Edwin Koupal. Today,
minus Ed’s pork-chop sideburns,
humor, fun and commanding presence, Jerry often echoes him: "Only Nader
deserves to stay in Washington." To
Ed, political icons weren't good enough. Once, Ed chewed into Nader: "If
you wanna get something done, don't waste time trying to reform the system 'Write
your own damn laws. Recall the bums and put the really ...... ones
in jail,'
Nader said, "Show me." Ed organized Western Bloc, a coalition of 15
initiative states to stop nuclear reactor construction. Western
Bloc instituted the National Initiative, Referendum and Recall (NIR&R) as
the 27th (then) amendment to the Constitution. It picked up 55 cosponsors
and support from Jack Kemp and Recall Ronnie. Unfortunately, columnist Tom
Wicker was prophetic: "No one need worry, however, about Congress taking
plenty of time to study these particular reforms, striking as they do at
Congressional power." When
Ed Koupal, "one of God's angry men” left for heaven in 1976, most of
the 50 "long-haired, crazy and radical People's Lobby mules" took
refuge from a political scene that had lost the only guy they knew deserved
awe and adulation. Today, the direct democracy tools he wanted
constitutionalized still seem needed. Some
politicians skirt the need, saying, "The initiative process is too
complicated for regular folk! A National IR&R would be ghastly!" “Too
complicated" for the regular folks who employ highly paid politicians?
If our employees can't "KISS" (keep it simple, stupid), maybe we
ought to add a jazz man's song score that will at least make them dance. California's
initiatives are judicially limited to one subject and are generally from two
to 20 pages. "Keeping it simple, stupid" is easier in initiatives
than in those 1,500-plus-page Congressional omnibus pork bills. Few
legislators read those bills. Knowing only generalities, they vote as their
specially interested parties dictate. Democracy
ain't a box of chocolates. Today's world is harder to chew and digest. So if
you're growling a lot, consider exercising the National Initiative and
abiding by the People's Lobby adage, "Final responsibility rests with the
people, therefore never is final authority delegated." Dwayne Hunn, a
resident of Mill Valley, is working on a book about the National IR&R and
will be
teaching at the
University o[ San Francisco. People's Lobby's
mailing address is 5075 Charmian
Dr., Santo Rosa 95409. |
