Monthly Archives: February 2013

Rod Dembowski Appointed to Fill Vacant King County Council Seat

Posted on February 11th, 2013 | Comments Off on Rod Dembowski Appointed to Fill Vacant King County Council Seat

Rod at Campaign Event 2/10/2013

Rod Dembowki was selected today by the King County Council to fill the vacant seat left with the election last November of King County Council member Bob Ferguson to be Washington State’s Attorney General. Rod’s appointment is to fill the vacancy for the remainder of 2013.  The King County Council District 1 seat will be on the November 2013 ballot. Rod plans to run for election to the seat.

The King County Council voted 8 to 0 to appoint Rod. While a number of candidates vied for the appointment, the final vote was taken among the 3 candidates whose names were forwarded to the King County Council by King County Executive Dow Constantine.  The other two candidates considered for the final vote were Will Hall – a Shoreline City Council member  and 32nd LD State Representative Cindy Ryu.

Rod posted  the following statement on his website after the appointment:

“I am thankful to the King County Council for their faith in my ability to join them as a colleague in public service,” said Rod.  “I am so grateful to the many endorsers and organizations that supported me in the appointment process, especially the many state representatives, mayors, and city council members.  I look forward to working with them as we develop regional plans to benefit all of King County.  I am especially grateful to Bernie Talmas, Mayor of Woodinville and Chair of the Eastside Transportation Partnership and Denis Law, Mayor of Renton and President of the Sound Cities Association, for their unwavering commitment to my appointment.”

Rod thanked the other two finalists, State Representative Cindy Ryu and Shoreline City Councilmember Will Hall for their public service.  “I look forward to working with Representative Ryu in the legislature on behalf of the citizens of King County and I hope to work with Councilmember Hall as we develop regional plans that benefit our suburban cities,” said Rod.

“I am honored to have been given the opportunity to work on behalf of the residents of District 1 and all of King County,” said Rod.  Getting right to work, Rod will attend the Kenmore and Shoreline city council meetings this evening.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson at Rod Dembowki Campaign Event 2/10/2013

Rod also announced the endorsement of Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson for his election to the seat in November. You can visit Rod Dembowski’s  website  to endorse him or make a contribution to his campaign.  Dembowski has  raised $67,361 from 236 contributions for his campaign according to the most recent records filed through January with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission.

Supporters listening to Rod at Campaign Event 2/10/2013

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Four Bad Bills on Election Issues Before the Washington State Legislature

Posted on February 11th, 2013 | Comments Off on Four Bad Bills on Election Issues Before the Washington State Legislature

Tell Your Washington State Legislators What You Think!

The four bills listed below are before the Washington State Legislature and need to be opposed. Urge your Legislators not to support these bills.

Oppose SB 5291 – “modifies provisions relating to signing and receipt of ballots”

This bill says that voters must “return or mail the ballot to the county auditor so that the ballot is received by the county auditor no later than 8 PM the day of the election or primary.”

This bill eliminates the ability to mail ballots and have them postmarked on Election Day and still count. With the upcoming elimination of Saturday mail it means ballots will have to be mailed Thursday or Friday with no guarantee they will reach the Elections dept on Tuesday.

Tell your legislators you want to be able to mail your ballots up to and including Election Day and still have them count.

Oppose SB 5277 – “reducing costs and inefficiencies in elections”

This bill will eliminate the printing of the text of ballot measures in the Voter’s Pamphlet. You would have to look them up on the internet rather than having them available to read as you fill out the ballot. Not everyone has easy access to a computer and this bill will make it harder to understand what it is you’re being asked to vote on.

Tell your Legislators not to eliminate printing the text of initiatives and referendum in the Voter’s Pamphlet.

Oppose House Joint Resolutions 4201 and 4206 – These two resolutions propose that the Legislature approve and submit to the voters a constitutional amendment requiring that the majority vote now in the Washington State Constitution that is needed to raise revenue be raised to a 2/3 voting requirement by both Houses, effectively giving a 1/3 minority of State legislators veto power over any increases in revenue to fund state services like educating our kids or providing for health care. A 2/3 vote would also be needed to repeal any tax loophole while allowing a simple majority to create new loopholes.

Tell your Legislators you oppose turning the power of the Legislature to fund state services like educating our children over to a 1/3 minority of Legislators. Leave the Washington State Constitution as it is.  It does not need to be changed to benefit special interests and corporations.

Your Legislators can be sent e-mails at www.leg.wa.gov or you can call their offices directly and leave a message.  Or you can call the toll free hotline at 1-800-562-6000.

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Posted in Elections, Tax Exemptions, Washington State Legislature

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Washington State Democrats Vote to Oppose Eyman’s I-517

Posted on February 8th, 2013 | Comments Off on Washington State Democrats Vote to Oppose Eyman’s I-517

The Washington State Democratic Party voted at it’s February 2, 2013 statewide meeting in Olympia to oppose Tim Eyman’s Initiative 517. Initiative 517 is an initiative to the Washington State Legislature. The Washington Secretary of State has certified that I-517 received sufficient signatures.  As such it goes to the Washington State Legislature for consideration.  They have 3 options – ignore in in which case it goes onto the Nov. 2013 ballot, pass it in which case it becomes law, or pass an alternative in which case both I-517 and the alternative go on the Nov. 2013 ballot.

The following is a copy of the resolution the Washington State Democrats passed to oppose Initiative 517.

A Resolution Opposing Initiative Measure No. 517

WHEREAS perennial initiative promoter Tim Eyman of Mukilteo has sponsored and  submitted signatures for Initiative 517, a measure to the 2013 Legislature that has  purposely been written to make it easier and cheaper for Eyman to operate his profit- generating initiative factory under the guise of protecting the initiative process;

WHEREAS that after admitting in February 2002 that he stole more than $157,000 of his  own supporters’ money for his personal use and lied about it, Tim Eyman told the  Associated Press, “I want to continue to advocate issues and I want to make a lot of  money doing it”;

WHEREAS in that same interview with the Associated Press, Tim Eyman said, “This  entire charade was set up so I could maintain a moral superiority over our opposition,  so I could say our opponents make money from politics and I don’t”;

WHEREAS Public Disclosure Commission data shows that since 1999 and except for  2003 and 2006, Tim Eyman has promoted and qualified an initiative for the November  ballot every single year with the backing of powerful special interests like Great  Canadian Gaming, Bellevue developer and light rail opponent Kemper Freeman, Jr.,  Woodinville investment banker Michael Dunmire, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase,  plus big oil companies such as BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Tesoro;

WHEREAS each summer and autumn since 2003, Tim Eyman and his associates Mike  and Jack Fagan of Spokane have asked their followers and wealthy benefactors to  contribute to their “Help Us Help Taxpayers” compensation fund, which they divide up  for their own personal use;

WHEREAS Tim Eyman’s history of sponsoring and profiting from unconstitutional and  destructive initiatives demonstrates that he is primarily interested in making money  while wrecking the plan of government that our founders gave us, not improving the  lives of Washington’s people or strengthening Washington’s many diverse  communities;

WHEREAS Initiative 517 would extend from six to twelve months the period of time  permitted for signature gathering for an initiative to the people, allowing Tim Eyman  and his associates, Jack Fagan, Mike Fagan, Edward Agazarm and Roy Ruffino to make  collecting signatures for initiatives to the people a more profitable and lucrative year- round business;

WHEREAS Initiative 517 attempts to prevent Washingtonians from exercising their  First Amendment freedoms of speech and assembly in a “Decline to Sign” campaign by  making it a misdemeanor to maintain an “intimidating presence” within “twenty-five  feet of any person gathering signatures or any person trying to sign any initiative or  referendum petition”; and

WHEREAS Initiative 517 dubiously requires leaders of cities, counties, and other local  jurisdictions that provide for their own initiative process to place any initiative with  sufficient voter signatures on the ballot for a public vote at public expense, even if the  initiative in question concerns a matter that exceeds the lawful scope of the local  initiative power;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Washington State Democrats take a position  opposing I-517 before the Washington State Legislature and on the November 2013  ballot; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Washington State Democrats  encourage all Washingtonians to join the coalition opposing I-517 and campaign actively for the defeat of I-517.


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Posted in Democrats, Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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Why Democrats are not in the Majority in the US House of Representatives

Posted on February 8th, 2013 | Comments Off on Why Democrats are not in the Majority in the US House of Representatives

Why is the US House of Representatives controlled by Republicans in 2013 when Democrats won the Presidency and picked up seats in the US Senate?  The answer is not that Republicans outvoted the Democrats when it came to voting for Congress. In fact its the opposite.  Sam Wang in a New York Times opinion piece entitled “The Great Gerrymander of 2012“, points out that:

  ” Democrats received 1.4 million more votes for the House of Representatives, yet Republicans won control of the House by a 234 to 201 margin. This is only the second such reversal since World War II.”

The fact of the matter is that Republicans had an organized strategy and carried it out to gain control of the redistricting process in a number of key state in the 2010 elections. Controlling redistricting controlled the process of setting new boundaries for Congressional races after the 2010 Census was completed.  As Sam Wang notes:

“Through artful drawing of district boundaries, it is possible to put large groups of voters on the losing side of every election. The Republican State Leadership Committee, a Washington-based political group dedicated to electing state officeholders, recently issued a progress report on Redmap, its multiyear plan to influence redistricting. The $30 million strategy consists of two steps for tilting the playing field: take over state legislatures before the decennial Census, then redraw state and Congressional districts to lock in partisan advantages. The plan was highly successful. …

Gerrymandering is not hard. The core technique is to jam voters likely to favor your opponents into a few throwaway districts where the other side will win lopsided victories, a strategy known as “packing.” Arrange other boundaries to win close victories, “cracking” opposition groups into many districts. Professionals use proprietary software to draw districts, but free software like Dave’s Redistricting App lets you do it from your couch. “

The states with the largest imbalance of voting for Republicans and Democrats for Congress and Republican versus Democratic votes cast statewide were  – Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and  Florida which had a severe imbalance in favor of Republicans. Arizona had a severe imbalance in favor of Democrats.   Texas and  Illinois had a moderate imbalance toward Democrats while Indiana had a moderate imbalance toward Republicans.

The net result of these imbalances heavily favored Republicans because of the gerrymandering that occurred. Republicans in these states had a 7% greater vote than the Democrats.  But in terms of electing members to the House of Representatives this 7% advantage  was dwarfed by their electing 76% more Republicans than Democrats. These 10 states elected 109 Republican Congressman to the House but only 62 Democrats.

As Wang notes:

In the seven states where Republicans redrew the districts, 16.7 million votes were cast for Republicans and 16.4 million votes were cast for Democrats. This elected 73 Republicans and 34 Democrats. Given the average percentage of the vote it takes to elect representatives elsewhere in the country, that combination would normally require only 14.7 million Democratic votes. Or put another way, 1.7 million votes (16.4 minus 14.7) were effectively packed into Democratic districts and wasted.

The National Conference of State Legislatures lists states with Redistricting Commissions as of 2009. The composition of a Redistricting Commission is important.  While Ohio has a Redistricting Commission, it was comprised of a Board consisting  “of the governor, auditor, secretary of state, and two people selected by the legislative leaders of each major political party”.  Republicans had 4 of the 5 seats, having elected a Republican Governor, Auditor and Secretary of State in 2010.  With this Republican partisan redistricting, Ohio’s  Republican Congressional Dominance continued.  In 2010 Republicans had 13 seats to the Democrats having 5.  In 2012, having lost 2 seats due to population changes nationwide, the Republicans however continued their dominance  with 12 seats to the Democrats having 4. This was despite Obama winning Ohio by 2,827,621 votes to Romney’s 2,661,407 votes and electing  a Democratic US Senator,  Sherrod Brown, by a vote of 2,762,690 to 2,435,712 over his Republican opponent.

Sam Wang suggests that such voting disparities between total statewide Democratic to Republican votes and the differing outcome of Congressional races should be addressed by setting up nonpartisan Redistricting Commissions not subject to  blatant partisan makeup like in Ohio or subject to which party controls the process in the Legislature because they are the majority party.  This would certainly more accurately reflect the national and state political makeup and not give disproportionate representation to one party over the other based on election results in other races that can be gamed.    He also said there needs to be stronger judicial review of gerrymandering to ensure a fairer voting outcome.

Washington State voters in 1983 approved Amendment 74 to set up an independent Redistricting Commission. It set up a Commission of 5 members, 1 each selected by the  Washington State House and Senate majority and minority leaders  in the Legislature  and the 5th member selected by the 4 appointed members.The measure was put on the ballot by the Washington State Legislature as a proposed amendment to the Washington State Constitution and passed  with a 61% yes vote. The Washington State League of Women Voters was one of the primary forces behind the measure. Washington State was the third state in the country to enact an independent Redistricting Commission.

Washington state in 2012 picked up an additional Congressional seat and elected 6 Democrats and 4 Republicans to the US House of Representatives.  President Obama received 56.16% of the vote in Washington State. Senator Maria Cantwell (D) won with 60.45% of the vote.  The 10 Democratic candidates for the US House of Representatives received 54.43% of the vote. (1,636,726 votes out of 3,007,096 votes). So Washington State having elected 6 Democrats to the US House out of 10 seats is pretty close to the statewide Democratic voting average. (Voting numbers are from results posted on the Washington State Secretary of state’s website).

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Posted in campaign finance, Congress, Democrats, Elections, Republicans

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