This is a sad time for California, but this veto has made me even more
determined than ever.  The whole month of September while we were waiting
to hear what Arnold would do, I kept my hopes alive by promising myself
that if he did veto it then I would organize a petition to put ferret
legalization on the ballot.
 
I wrote to Jeanne, and she is still of the opinion that an initiative
would be a disaster for the ferret movement, citing that it would cost
around $1M to get it on the ballot and several million for advertising
before the election.
 
While I very much respect Jeanne's expertise in the legalization battle,
my modest amount of experience in gathering signatures and talking with
the non-ferret-owning public makes me much more optimistic.  First of
all, with an estimated 500,000 ferrets in the state I believe that a
concerted outreach effort (flyers in vets offices, notices on ferret
websites, and e-mail to ferret lists) would allow us to collect the
400,000 signatures necessary for qualification, without having to pay
professional signature collectors $1.50 or more per signature.  I think
there are a lot of frustrated and unhappy ferret owners out there right
now who want to feel in control of the situation and would gladly collect
a handful of signatures in place of shelling out $75 per ferret.
 
Second, while it is certainly true that we do not have several million
dollars for advertising, I'm not convinced that our opponents have
several million dollars they would be willing to waste on that purpose
either.  I imagine that this proposition would mainly be debated among
individuals and via the media (who have already displayed the potential
to provide positive information about ferrets).  I believe that a
grassroots initiative to free these cute animals from the hand of the
government may play pretty well in the media.
 
Anyway, that's my opinion.  I really want to hear other opinions out
there, either positive or negative.  If it sounds like there is enough
support and potential for a successful ballot measure, then we can decide
where to go from there.
 
Best wishes,
  Julie
[Posted in FML issue 4652]