Yesterday, Gov. Jerry Brown penned an “Open Letter to the People of California,” announcing his intention to go to the ballot in November 2012 with an initiative that would raise revenues by roughly $7 billion annually. But there are two other progressive tax initiatives and another for tax cuts sponsored by a billionaire. It could be a very confusing ballot next year

The Ohio campaign to defeat SB5, the anti-union bill, has really ramped up over the past couple weeks. And it turns out that when both sides get to make their arguments, the state of Ohio dislikes the stripping of collective bargaining rights and the right to strike, according to the latest polling.

Republicans just can’t resist a game where they make up the rules as they go along. Two fine examples of this are Wisconsin where they are going to redistrict before the recall elections, even though they have not drawn up the ward maps yet. And then there is Ohio, where SB 5 is going to before a vote of the people, but Republicans want to split it into 5 separate bills to confuse the voter.

The passage of SB5 in Ohio triggered a 90-day period where opponents could gather signatures to force a referendum, a “citizen veto” of the law, in November. The law does not take effect until the results of that referendum. Labor and progressive activists immediately went to work to try to overturn the law, which would severely limit collective bargaining rights in the state, eliminate the right to strike and even hit public safety positions like police and firefighters.

Governor Jerry Brown, who returned to Sacramento saying he would be “an apostle for common sense” able to get lawmakers to work together to meet the challenge, finally admitted that he actually couldn’t this week. Brown wanted to solve the $26.6 billion budget gap with a mix of cuts and an extension of revenues set to expire in June. The cuts have already been enacted; but it still takes a 2/3 vote of the legislature to pass revenues, and even to get them on the ballot for a proposed June statewide special election. Republicans, who have no other leverage over the government in the state after being wiped out completely over the past decade, dithered and moved goalposts and eventually came with a 53-point plan (53!) with new demands for changes to the state regulatory structure and public pensions, the institution of a hard spending cap, and more. It took Brown a long while, but finally he had enough. In his letter to Senate Minority Leader Bob Dutton, Brown lamented the new list of demands and the unwillingness to compromise. So he called off the talks, which were going nowhere.

As political candidates of both major parties continue to underwhelm as potential “agents of change,” ballot initiatives grow more interesting. According to BallotPedia, 90 ballot questions have been certified for 2010 spots in 31 sates. They estimate that if 2010 is an average year, another 130-140 will ultimately qualify. What measures are making their way onto the ballot in your neck of the woods?

In a ruling that portends the unwinding of multiple campaign finance laws, a DC appeals court using the Citizens United ruling opened up certain independent expenditure committees to unlimited spending.