POLITICAL PARTIES RESORT TO FEAR ON PROP. 62.

Byline: JILL STEWART Capitol Punishment

IT'S untrue that ``apathy'' causes people to not vote. People stay home out of active disdain. People actively disdain the politicians and the media - and they really disdain the special interests, who voters realize have more influence with the politicians and the media than do the voters themselves.

In California, our active disdain leads to powerful movements when voters get angry enough to enact government reform via the ballot box. In the face of the awesome power of fired-up voters, politicians and the media seem like bit players.

Voters will soon have a prime opportunity to start slapping Sacramento around. In November, Proposition 62 offers the reform-minded a scouring tool: the ``open primary'' - that is, the right to cross political lines to vote for anybody we wish.

The Legislature and political parties will fight viciously to stop Proposition 62, a direct assault on their comfy world. By allowing voters to cross political lines, Proposition 62 would lure our disgusted moderate and swing voters back to the polls. That, in turn, would attract normal people to run for office, pushing out hard left Democrats and hard right Republicans - hacks who thrive on gridlock.

Californians already approved the open primary in 1996 by a landslide vote of 59.5 percent, but the Democratic Party, joined by Republicans, challenged the law in court. I mean, how dare the voters cross party lines?

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the parties - a decision that also wiped out the popular, longtime open primary in Washington state. Yet the Supreme Court showed wisdom, writing up a road map that explained how to create an ``open primary'' that would survive the parties' legal challenges.

The rewrites suggested by the Supreme Court are on the California and Washington state ballots in November.

Polls show Californians support Proposition 62 by 59 percent. Voters grasp that the current hard-left, hard-right gridlocked Legislature is to blame for the $35 billion Gray Davis deficit. That's why Californians give our Legislature a richly deserved approval rating of about 30 percent.

Horrified that it will indeed lure California's moderate and swing voters back to primary elections, the Republican, Democratic and even Green parties are pushing fear to stop Proposition 62. All the parties are threatened by moderate and swing voters because these folks ushered in every political shake-up of the past 30 years.

So the parties use fear. They say Proposition 62 is ``Louisiana-style'' voting - and you know how corrupt Louisiana is. Shawn Steel, former chairman of the California Republican Party, has invoked the racist David Duke - ``He was elected in Louisiana'' - to spread fear.

Entrenched interests always use fear, with, sadly, a big assist from the media, to fight the people's reforms.

They used fear to fight Proposition 209, which ended racial preferences in college admissions (It's racist!), the Proposition 13 tax revolution (Government decimation!), term limits (Green politicians!) and so on. Voters ignored the fear-mongering.

Nick Tobey, author of Proposition 62, chuckles over the ``Louisiana'' claim. He notes that California's closed primaries ``helped elect a legislator from the KKK, numerous John Birch Society members'' and other unpalatable types to Sacramento. Not to mention legislators who were later convicted of corruption and sent to prison.

Proposition 62 ``will be guaranteed passage if the governor backs (it), so we very much hope he will endorse it before Sept. 1,'' says Tobey.

Let's hope Schwarzenegger endorses it. And let's hope the media don't side with the bad guys and spread phony fear - as they did on other reforms. Most media still won't admit that popular Proposition 13 has not decimated government or schools (in fact, funding is way up for both.) Nor do many media admit they were wrong on Proposition 209, which state officials last year said resulted in roughly 3,000 more black and Latino kids entering our state university system than under preferences. Nor do they like conceding that term limits have succeeded in letting minorities and women rise in politics.

In November, voters want to clean up another mess. And now that Schwarzenegger is governor, it would be truly nice if the people didn't have to go it alone.