Maura Carabello, who is handling the initiative's publicity campaign, called those accusations baseless because the sponsor group encourages voters to go to their Web site, www.utahlands2004.org, to read the petition and understand its details.

"Our main goal is that the citizens are educated about this," she said. "The things the taxpayer's association is throwing out are just political red herrings to scare people."

In the past week, much of the debate over the bond has veered from open space and conservation concerns to complex issues of initiative law and tax policy.

"They have basically desired to put spending and taxes on autopilot and take the appropriation process out of the hands of elected bodies," Stephenson said.

Placing lawmaking authority in the hands of citizens will end up in bad tax policy and irresponsible bonds, Stephenson said. States like California have suffered because of legislation by petition, he added, and are now left with a "junk status" bond rating.

One of the biggest concerns Stephenson has with funding by initiative is that the law can not be amended like it can be in a normal legislative forum.

But Smith said the initiative process is a constitutional right and the best resort when the legislature will not respond to public will. Smith also pointed out that Utah has strict petition guidelines, requiring signatures equal to 10 percent of the votes cast statewide in the most recent gubernatorial election, and the same 10 percent count in 26 of the state's 29 Senate districts.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com