Little initiative for change in Sacramento California's century-old ballot initiative system is cherished and cockeyed. What began as political reform - giving citizens the power of direct democracy - has become a tool of special interests and a plaything for nut jobs. Voters tend to become confused, gullible and even more cynical. So here are a couple of suggestions, neither of them new. But their time has come. Strip the state attorney general of the power to summarize ballot measures for voters. Give it to someone who's nonpartisan, preferably the universally respected legislative analyst. Dramatically increase the fee required for proposing an initiative. It's now only $200. In fact, it has been for 69 years. Jack it up to the cost of the state actually processing initiatives, at least $10,000. First, the attorney general. Give the voters a break. It's hard enough to figure out what most of these ballot measures do without the A.G. dishing out hard-core propaganda on official documents. Under the 1974 Political Reform Act, the attorney general is granted sole authority to prepare the ballot title and summary. State law requires the A.G. to provide an "impartial statement of the purpose of the measure" in language unlikely "to create prejudice for or against" the proposal. But increasingly over the years, the A.G.'s language too often has been reading like talking points for one side or the other. That's particularly true of hot political issues, especially when Democratic A.G.s seemingly try to protect public employee unions from pension reform. The latest example got many on the right screaming and even partisans on the left privately squirming. In her title and summary of a conservative pension proposal, Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris somehow felt it necessary to define public employees for voters. They include "teachers, nurses and peace officers," she noted. You know, all the admired people - the ones with their faces in the anti-pension-reform TV ads. No mention of parking meter readers or tax collectors. She also claimed the proposal "reduces pension benefits for current and future public employees," "eliminates constitutional protections for current and future public employees' vested pension benefits" and "prohibits public retirement systems from providing death or disability benefits to future employees." Nonsense. I'm not going to spend an entire column going over each point. Harris insists she's writing the unbiased truth. I'll just give the A.G. some benefit of doubt and say her contentions are a very long stretch. The sponsor of the initiative - California Pension Reform - dropped it, claiming that Harris had rendered the proposal practically impossible to pass. Maybe. But it probably could not have raised the many millions needed for a campaign anyway. There are too many other conservative causes to fund in this election year. Turns out, as Harris' office pointed out to me, her A.G. predecessor - Gov. Jerry Brown - also penned some pension propaganda in summarizing proposed reforms. This is the same Brown who wrote the 1974 Political Reform Act aimed at cleaning up politics for voters. Bias in ballot measure summaries began in earnest with Republican Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren and picked up steam with Democratic Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, the current state treasurer. But bad as it has become, the Legislature was even worse - almost comical - until a court intervened. Lawmakers got into the habit of slapping their own biased titles, summaries and labels on ballot measures they originated. It came to a head over the nearly $10-billion bullet train bond that voters approved in 2008. The ballot label read like a campaign mailer: "Safe, Reliable, High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act: To provide Californians a safe, convenient, affordable and" etc.