The first is that the availability of the initiative mechanism might exacerbate rather than allay the tendency of elected officials to avoid controversial policy issues. Elected officials might appear to be or feel themselves justified in avoiding policy-making in certain areas unless an initiative forces an issue upon them. They might interpret the absence of initiative as evidence that the status quo is working. Proposals for initiatives are very likely to be orchestrated by interest groups who will try and secure signatures to petition, etc. In a political system that privileges organized interests to generate policy, the unorganized will be disadvantaged.
Initiative is likely to help privilege organized interest groups.
So, even if spending limits are strictly imposed on interest groups, an initiative mechanism is likely to skew policy-making in favour of organized interest groups. Recall The potential drawbacks of recall are more numerous and possibly more serious for the quality of democratic politics than those of initiative. Again, interest groups and the likelihood that they will organize and dominate recall procedures elicits similar concerns to those outlined above. Second, recall invites a type of political mischief that is likely to worsen the quality of our parliamentary politics. The recall mechanism increases the opportunities for such campaigns, and might even appear to legitimize them.