Do California Democrats want to eviscerate the initiative process, or merely smother it to death with a blanket of supposed reforms?

The party has almost complete control of state government and apparently doesn't want to contend with pesky ballot measures. So this year – the 100th anniversary of the initiative, the referendum and the recall – it has declared war.

Last weekend, the state Democratic executive board made it official, declaring that "the initiative process is being abused by the use of misleading titles and advertisements by unscrupulous signature-gathering companies, hired signature collectors, and concealed sponsors to create laws and programs that benefit a very few people at the expense of the many."

It called on the Legislature to put restrictions on the paid signature-gatherers whom business and conservative groups often use to qualify measures for the ballot.

A number of bills have surfaced in the Capitol this year – all in the name of "reform," of course – that would make it more difficult for conservative groups to qualify ballot measures while leaving the methods favored by unions and liberal groups intact.

They seem to be aimed at what liberals fear will be a slew of state and local ballot measures in 2012 and beyond – public pension reforms, restrictions on political fundraising by unions, and prohibiting so-called "project labor agreements" in public works construction, among others.

One measure, Senate Bill 168, which reached Gov. Jerry Brown's desk, would have made it a crime for any initiative signature-gatherer to be paid by the name. But he vetoed it this week, saying it would unfairly inhibit groups that want to qualify ballot measures by driving up their costs.

"This is a dramatic change to a long-established democratic process in California," Brown said, adding, "I am not persuaded that the unintended consequences won't be worse than the abuses the bill aims to prevent."

Other bills may be headed Brown's way, but his veto of SB 168 indicates he's not inclined to make big, obviously partisan changes in the system.

After all, Brown won the governorship the first time around in 1974 by sponsoring the Political Reform Act initiative, taking advantage of voters' post-Watergate cynicism about politics. And he's indicated that he will sponsor one or more initiatives next year on the state budget.

The Democrats' drive to disable the initiative system is indicated, too, by a strange radio ad that popped up recently, warning listeners that if they signed ballot measure petitions they'd run the risk of identity theft.

The sponsor is a semi- secretive group called Californians Against Identity Theft that is apparently financed by construction unions worried about ballot measures that would ban project labor agreements.

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Call The Bee's Dan Walters, (916) 321-1195. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters.

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