A critical component of this effort, and a recent innovation in corporate lobbying, is using the mere threatof a ballot initiative to negotiate with lawmakers. In Seattle earlier this year, the city council decided to repeal the city’s “head tax” on large corporations rather than fight an Amazon- and Starbucks-backed ballot initiative reversing it. Ananalysis by Public Citizen, a progressive think tank, found after the 2016 election that well-funded, corporate-backed ballot initiatives won 62 percent of the time. Another challenge posed by corporate ballot initiatives is the scorched-earth public campaigns that often accompany them. Reuters Staff / Reuters A Seattle City Council debate over the Employee Head Tax, a fee for large corporations that was repealed under threat of a ballot initiative.

Source: Huffington Post October 01, 2018 22:50 UTC