Category Archives: Elections

Koch Brothers Enter Washington State Governor’s Race

Posted on October 18th, 2012 | Comments Off on Koch Brothers Enter Washington State Governor’s Race

The infamous Koch Brothers have entered the 2012 Washington State Governor’s race.  Surprise – they are supporting Republican Rob McKenna. McKenna is running against former Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee.

On Thursday, October 18, 2012, Americans for Prosperity, based in Arlington filed a C6 with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission that they were spending $27, 985 on a radio ad supporting Rob McKenna.

Americans for Prosperity  was founded by the oilmen Koch Brothers –  David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch, both of Koch Industries.

Wikipedia notes that:

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is an American conservative political advocacy group headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. AFP’s stated mission is “educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing citizens as advocates in the public policy process.” The group played a major role in the Republicans’ 2010 takeover of the House of Representatives, and has been called “one of the most powerful conservative organizations in electoral politics.”

Sourcewatch writes that:

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a group fronting special interests started by oil billionaire David Koch and Richard Fink (a member of the board of directors of Koch Industries). AFP has been accused of funding astroturf operations but also has been fueling the “Tea Party” efforts.  AFP’s messages are in sync with those of other groups funded by the Koch Family Foundations and the Koch’s other special interest groups that work against progressive or Democratic initiatives and protections for workers and the environment. Accordingly, AFP opposes labor unions, health care reform, stimulus spending, and cap-and-trade legislation, which is aimed at making industries pay for the air pollution that they create. AFP was also involved in the attacks on Obama’s “green jobs” czar, Van Jones, and has crusaded against international climate talks.

So far the spending by Americans for Prosperity is small potatoes in this state but this could quickly change. Kirby Wilbur, the Washington State  Republican Party Chair, was the state coordinator for Americans for Prosperity in 2010 and they successfully dumped money into last minute mailers against Democratic legislators who did not have sufficient time to respond to the last minute mailers. They are spending lots of money nationally and are doing it without disclosing their donors. This needs to change in disclosure laws.

As the Guardian in a just released articles states:

Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party-aligned group part-funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, is building a state-of-the-art digital ground operation in Ohio and other vital battleground states to spread its anti-Obama message to voters who could decide the outcome of the presidential election.

The group hopes that by creating a local army of activists equipped with sophisticated online micro-targeting tools it will increase its impact on moderate voters, nudging them towards a staunchly conservative position opposed to President Obama’s economic and healthcare policies. Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is spending tens of millions of dollars developing its local strategy, already employing more than 200 permanent staff in 32 states. …

AFP has already spent $30m so far this election cycle in opposing President Obama and other prominent Democratic candidates and their policies. It says it aims to reach up to 9 million targeted voters in crucial swing states, through the efforts of its 2 million activists.

 

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Kathleen Drew is a Progressive Majority Endorsed Candidate

Posted on September 5th, 2012 | Comments Off on Kathleen Drew is a Progressive Majority Endorsed Candidate

Kathleen Drew, who is running for Washington Secretary of State, is a top priority race for Progressive Majority. Washington State was one of the first states that Progressive Majority got involved in.  They have has a good record of helping to elect progressive candidates and are now involved in campaigns in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas in addition to Washington.

Besides Kathleen Drew, here are the other candidates Progressive Majority is prioritizing for help in the Nov 6, 2012 General Election:

Steve Bergquist, State Representative, District 11

Roslynne Reed, Mason County Commissioner, District 2

Marcus Riccelli, State Representative, District 3

Tom Riggs, State Representative, District 10

David Sawyer, State Representative, District 29

Yoshie Wong, State Senator, District 28

 Linda Wright, State Representative, District 39

Here is the short writeup Progressive Majority put up about Kathleen Drew.

Kathleen Drew Kathleen Drew is running for Secretary of State in the state of Washington. She is the only Democratic woman running for constitutional statewide office this year and if elected, will be the first Democrat elected Secretary of State in Washington since 1960. A long-time resident of Washington, Kathleen has a long record of public service marked by the successful advocacy for issues ranging from ethics to environment. In 1992, Kathleen was elected to the State Senate, becoming the youngest woman ever to hold that office. As a public servant, Kathleen wrote the state’s ethics laws for state employees and elected officials and worked with three west coast governors to promote ocean health.

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Republicans’ True Colors Emerge to Expose Their Relentless Agenda Against Women.

Posted on August 22nd, 2012 | Comments Off on Republicans’ True Colors Emerge to Expose Their Relentless Agenda Against Women.

Sometimes the unexpected happens in campaigns to change everything and it happened this week in Missouri. Republican Representative Todd Akin of Missouri, running against Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, spoke out about his beliefs on rape and abortion and shocked even his own party by his outspokenness. The result threatens Republicans up and down the ticket.

As reported by CNN on Sunday, Rep Akin :

Answering a question about whether or not he thought abortion should be legal in the case of rape, Akin explained his opposition by citing unnamed bodily responses he said prevented pregnancy.

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” Akin said of rape-induced pregnancy in an interview with KTVI. A clip of the interview was posted online by the liberal super PAC American Bridge.

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,” Akin continued. He did not provide an explanation for what constituted “legitimate rape.”

He added: “But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. You know I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”

The Republican response was seemingly to denounce Akin’s comments. As the Washington Post reported on Monday:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the entire GOP national political apparatus launched a swift and relentless crusade against one of their own Monday, seeking to drive Rep. Todd Akin out of the U.S. Senate race in Missouri after his controversial comments on rape and pregnancy threatened the party with widespread political harm.

But the reality of the situation is that Akin’scomments are mainstream Republican these days. And Romney’s running mate illustrates the hypocrisy. While asking Akin to leave the Senate race, the truth is that Ryan  is a Republican ally to Akin in  attempts to oppose all abortion. As noted in a New York Times editorial entitled “New Frontiers of Extremism”:

Mr. Ryan has said he doesn’t believe in a rape exception when outlawing abortion, and he worked with Mr. Akin in the House in trying to narrow the definition of rape so Medicaid would pay for fewer abortions of poor women. Mitt Romney says he supports a rape exception, but many of the politicians he has invited to speak at next week’s Republican convention disagree with him.

And the Republican Party as a whole supports this position and has for years, based on the Party platform. As noted on the Huffington Post:

Draft language for the 2012 Republican Party platform includes support for a constitutional ban on abortion without specifying exclusions in the cases of rape or incest, according to CNN.

One issue that seems left out of most of this current discussion is if the pregnancy endangers the life of the woman. While Romney is saying he does not support Akin,  an article in New York Times today again raises a question as to what he believes:

Mr. Romney’s views align with that of the Mormon Church, which opposes abortion except in cases of rape and incest or when the life of the woman is in danger. He has said he is personally opposed to abortion; as a Mormon bishop in the 1980s he attempted to talk a congregant out of terminating a pregnancy after doctors advised her to do so because of a potentially lethal blood clot.

Romney has changed his views repeatedly on issues like abortion.  The real question is which Romney would show up as President. The above quote indicates that by trying to persuade a woman to not terminate a pregnancy he was seemingly not even consistent with his professed Mormon beliefs. What is one to believe regarding Romney and the Republicans these days. The best guide is perhaps to look at their history and as the same article notes:

… as a legislator, Mr. Akin has a record on abortion that is largely indistinguishable from those of most of his Republican House colleagues, who have viewed restricting abortion rights as one of their top priorities. …

It is an agenda that has enjoyed the support of House leaders, including Speaker John A. Boehner and Representative Eric Cantor, the majority leader, who has called anti-abortion measures “obviously very important in terms of the priorities we set out initially in our pledge to America.”

If you believe that rape, incest or circumstances that threaten the life of a woman should be grounds for terminating a pregnancy, it would be a mistake to vote for putting Republicans in power. They are hell bent to restrict and end abortion for women no matter what the circumstances.

The same New York Times article also had the following which sums it up very well:

“All you need to know is that the House Republicans were willing to shut down the government rather than fund Planned Parenthood,” said Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, in an e-mail on Tuesday. “This is in keeping with their efforts — whether it’s Congressman Akin or Chairman Ryan or others — to deny investments in critical women’s health services, weaken the definition of rape, and take away access to preventive care like cervical and breast cancer screenings.”

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Who’s Raising Money in Washington’s Statewide Races this Year

Posted on July 1st, 2012 | Comments Off on Who’s Raising Money in Washington’s Statewide Races this Year

The Washington State Governor’s race is far and away attrracting the most money this year, followed by the race for Washington State Atttorney General. Through May 2012 Jay Inslee (D) and Rob McKenna (R) have each raised over $6 million dollars.  The next campaign finance report through June 0f 2012 will be released July 10th. Full reports and contributor’s names are available on the Washington State  Public Disclosure website.

here are the most recent reported numbers:

Name                                       Raised                                  Spent                             Owed

Governor

Jay Inslee (D)                         $6,195,567                           $2,604,808                $131,065

Rob McKenna  (R)                $6,333,189                           $2,601,872                  $58.028

Lieutenant Governor

William Finkbinder (R)          $103,327                                 $39,869

Brad Owens (D)                        $134,017                                  $78,134

Attorney General

Reagan Dunn (R)                    $878,303                               $358,223                    $1,756

Robert Ferguson (D)               $852,147                                $303,231                 $46,074

Auditor

Troy Kelley (D)                       $107,584                                  $12,956                   $10,254

Mark Milosca (D)                     $61,287                                  $29,471

Craig Pridemore (D)               $115,190                                  $43,167                    $5,500

James Watkins  (R)                 $45,515                                   $11,23o                  $20,000

Public Lands Commissioner

Clint Didier  (R)                         $4150                                       $1659                      $1656

Peter Goldmark  (D)            $289,626                                  $98,268

Insurance Comissioner

Mike Kreidler (D)                  $87,000                                   $29,665

Martin Reilly (R)                      $9,937                                    $7400

Secretary of State

Kathleen Drew                     $101,598                                       $75,429                   $3800

James Kastama (D)              $52,524                                        $37,215

Gregory Nickels (D)            $105,661                                       $57,667                 $10,700

Kimberly Wyman (R)         $102,443                                       $41,105                   $1,103

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Randy Dorn (N)                    $99,522                                      $60,532

Treasurer

James McIntire (D)             $83,642                                        $35,671                    $8,584

no opponent

 

 

 

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Beware the Romney Business Plan to Take Over America!

Posted on June 24th, 2012 | Comments Off on Beware the Romney Business Plan to Take Over America!
Under the Romney Business plan to grow our economy,  expect the rich to suck taxpayer money out of our government as they get richer. That’s his “successful” business model that he used at Bain Capital. Now he and the Republicans are touting this successful business experience  as a reason to vote for Romney and spread his plan  across America.
Under Romney we can expect more corporate control  of public services and investment in areas like health care, increased privatization of public schools,  and banks and investment companies running social security. Free enterprise to Romney and the conservatives under the Bain capital model would mean putting profit over public good.
For many Government is there to protect the public good over private gain, that is unless you are a conservative in America. The Bain Capital model of business was the accumulation of wealth by it’s investors, regardless of the consequences to its workers and the community it was in.
To see the real life consequences of this business model one just needs to looks at how Romney made his fortune. As detailed in the New York Times article entitled, “Companies’ Ills Did Not Harm Romney’s Firm“
Mr. Romney’s experience at Bain is at the heart of his case for the presidency. He has repeatedly promoted his years working in the “real economy,” arguing that his success turning around troubled companies and helping to start new ones, producing jobs in the process, has prepared him to revive the country’s economy. He has fended off attacks about job losses at companies Bain owned, saying, “Sometimes investments don’t work and you’re not successful.” But an examination of what happened when companies Bain controlled wound up in bankruptcy highlights just how different Bain and other private equity firms are from typical denizens of the real economy, from mom-and-pop stores to bootstrapping entrepreneurial ventures.       Bain structured deals so that it was difficult for the firm and its executives to ever really lose, even if practically everyone else involved with the company that Bain owned did, including its employees, creditors and even, at times, investors in Bain’s funds.”
So what does Romney propose to do for the takeover of America under this business model.  Well he and his conservative right wing friends propose to take over the US Government and run it like a business.  In his mind, his friends and mega-contributors are his investors . His goal is basically a  takeover of our Public Government and turning over the profits to his wealthy friends and corporate America. Their goal is to privatize most services now provided by Government to help its citizens.
The profits of course are whatever taxes are still paid by the so called workers of America.  Romney’s corporate and wealthy individual investors see our Government as another opportunity to take from the people and transfer more wealth to themselves. The so called investors  will put the minimum in taxes into the government to give the appearance that they are participating but their goal is to figure out how to maximize what they can withdraw from the Government for themselves..
Do you think I am joking?  Look at what he is proposing to do in Public Education.  It a profit maker for his investors if he can privatize it by Charter Schools and vouchers guaranteed by the government.  They are already getting tax dollars via on line schools where they sign up as many people as possible for paying tuition by advancing them loans and getting federal guarantees for payment, regardless of the qualifications of the students to complete the courses. It is similar to what the banks and mortgage companies did to homeowners, ignoring their ability to qualify for repayment and then reselling the so called qualified loans to others for a profit.
 Diane Ravitch in the New York Times Review of Books writes about Romney’s recently released education plan in an article entitled “The Miseducation of Mitt Romney”. His main focus is that turning public education over to the private for profit sector is the answer to our education future:
“The central themes of the Romney plan are a rehash of Republican education ideas from the past thirty years, namely, subsidizing parents who want to send their child to a private or religious school, encouraging the private sector to operate schools, putting commercial banks in charge of the federal student loan program, holding teachers and schools accountable for students’ test scores, and lowering entrance requirements for new teachers. These policies reflect the experience of his advisers, who include half a dozen senior officials from the Bush administration and several prominent conservative academics, among them former Secretary of Education Rod Paige and former Deputy Secretary of Education Bill Hansen, and school choice advocates John Chubb and Paul Peterson. …
Romney offers full-throated support for using taxpayer money to pay for private-school vouchers, privately-managed charters, for-profit online schools, and almost every other alternative to public schools.”
As to public colleges and the for profit free enterprise opportunities  they represent to Romney’s investment partners in America, Ravitch says that:
 “Romney will encourage private sector involvement in higher education, by having commercial banks again serve as the intermediary for federal student loans, an approach Obama had eliminated 2010 as too costly. (Until 2010, banks received guaranteed subsidies from the federal government to make student loans, while the government assumed nearly all the risk. When the program was overhauled by the Obama Administration, billions of dollars in bank profits were redirected to support Pell Grants for needy students.)  To cut costs, Romney encourages the proliferation of for-profit online universities.”
We have seen this turn the taxpayer dollars over to the private sector in other areas of Government and it would be accelerated under Romney. Privately run health care in the US is the most expensive in the world.  Romney wants to repeal and defund the Affordable Health Care Act and keep health care in the for profit private sector.  Costs continue to escalate. The Affordable Health Care Act limited the profit part of health care to 20% and even that is too little for Romney’s private sector business model.  The goal of corporate America is to maximize profits, not maximize the health of America’s citizens.  That model allowed private health care insurance companies to deny insurance to people, including children with pre-existing conditions.  It allowed insurance companies to drop people’s health care insurance when they got sick.  It allowed them to write policies that were woefully inadequate in covering major illnesses.
There is a reason for government involvement in health care and it is an ethical one.  Someone needs to put the health and welfare of our citizens over the profits of the corporate health care insurance system.  When Sara Palin said there were death panels she was right.  But it wasn’t the Government, it was private insurance companies denying coverage or cancelling coverage for health care for Americans.  Romney wants to abolish the Affordable Healthcare Act and put private for profit corporations in control of your health care.
In March in USA Today Romney  wrote:
“…It is past time to abolish the program, root and branch. …
… the case against ObamaCare extends far beyond questions about its constitutionality. President Obama‘s program is an unfolding disaster for the American economy, a budget-busting entitlement, and a dramatic new federal intrusion into our lives.It is precisely for those reasons that I’ve opposed a one-size-fits-all health care plan for the entire nation. What we need is a free market, federalist approach to making quality, affordable health insurance available to every American. Each state should be allowed to pursue its own solution in this regard, instead of being dictated to by Washington.”
What he’s really saying is that his investors backing him do not want the Federal Government limiting their profits or regulating how they do business. But our system is broken and continuing it as it is would be  a tragic mistake for America. Heath care run for profit as we’ve seen with the Bain Capital business model would put profit over people’s lives and quality of health care.
An article in the Huffington Post last year reported that:
“The nation’s health care tab is on track to hit $4.6 trillion in 2020, accounting for about $1 of every $5 in the economy, government number crunchers estimate in a report …

How much is that? Including government and private money, health care spending in 2020 will average $13,710 for every man, woman and child, says Medicare’s Office of the Actuary.

Compare it to this year, when U.S. health care spending is projected to top $2.7 trillion, about $8,650 per capita, or roughly $1 of $6 in the economy. Most of those dollars go to provide care for the sickest people.

Along with rising costs, the report found that the share of the health care tab paid by the government keeps growing, approaching half the total. …

…the United States continues to spend far more on health care than other economically developed countries. The study by the Commonwealth Fund found that U.S. health care spending per person in 2008 was more than double the median – or midpoint_ for other leading economies. ” 

If you followed Romney’s business practices to maximize profit to his private investors, expect that the same way he putting maximizing profit of his investors over retaining or creating jobs, he would as president let insurance companies once again drop patients that were costing too much and also allow insurance companies to pick and choose who they decide to insure in the first place.  There is nothing inherently ethical about creating profit but there is about caring or not caring for and helping America’s sick.  That is why keeping  health care protection as a public good is necessary. The Romney Business Takeover Model to maximize profit for the few regardless of the cost and pain to the many needs to be rejected.

America can not afford to elect Romney and adopt the Romney Business Model of maximizing profits for the wealthy few. They are  pushing what is essentially a hostile takeover of public education and  health care and other services now provided by our Federal Government and want to privatize as much as possible for private gain. Creating wealth for a few at the expense of the many is a recipe for disaster for our country.

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2012 Candidates Endorsed by the King County Democrats

Posted on June 17th, 2012 | 1 comment

The following is a list of candidates and ballot measures endorsed by the King County Democrats in Washington State for 2012. If you click on their name, it will take you to the candidate’s  website. Washington State has an all mail ballot election. The last day to mail ballots for the Primary is Tuesday August 7, 2012.  The last day to mail ballots for the General Election is November 6, 2012.

 

National Office

Barack Obama –  President

Maria Cantwell –  Senate

Laura Ruderman –  Congress –  WA CD #1

Jim McDermott –  Congress – WA CD #7

Karen Porterfield –  Congress – WA CD #8

Adam Smith –  Congress – WA CD #9

 

WA State Office Candidates:

Jay Inslee –  Governor

Bob Ferguson  –  Attorney General

Jim McIntire  –  Treasurer

Peter Goldmark –  Commissioner of Public Lands

Kathleen Drew –  Secretary of State

Greg Nickels –  Secretary of State

Mike Kreidler –   Insurance Commissioner

Craig Pridemore –   Auditor

 

WA State Legislative Candidates

Rosemary McAuliffe – Senate LD 1

Derek Stanford –  House LD 1  Seat 1

Luis Moscoso –  House  LD 1 Seat 2

Mark Mullet –  Senate LD 5

David Spring –  House LD 5 Seat 2

Zack Hudgins – House LD 11, Seat 1

Steve Berquist –  House LD 11, Seat 2

Bobby Virk –  House LD 11 Seat 2

Bob Hasegawa –  Senate LD 11

Roger Flygare –  House LD 30 Seat 1

Rick Hoffman –  House LD 30 Seat 2

Brian L Gunn –  House LD 31 Seat 2

Cindy Ryu –  House LD 32 Seat 1

Ruth Kagi –  House LD 32 Seat 2

Tina Orwall – House LD 33 Seat 1

Dave Upthegrove –  House LD 33 Seat 2

Joe Fitzgibbon –  House LD 34 Seat 2

Reuven Carlyle –  House LD 36 Seat 1

Sahar Fahti –  House LD 36 Seat 2

Noel Frame –  House LD 36 Seat 2

Gael Tarleton –  House LD 36 Seat 2

Sharon Tomiko Santos –  House LD 37 Seat 1

Eric Pettigrew –  House LD 37 Seat 2

Maureen Judge –  Senate LD 41

Jamie Pedersen –  House LD 43 Seat 1

Frank Chopp –  House LD 43 Seat 2

Roger Goodman –  House LD 45 Seat 1

Gerry Pollet –  House LD 46 Seat 1

Sarajane Siegfriedt –  House LD 46 Seat 2

David Frockt –  Senate LD 46

Bud Sizemore –  House LD 47 Seat 2

Ross Hunter –  House LD 48 Seat 1

Cyrus Habib –  House LD 48 Seat 2

 

Judicial Candidates – Washington State Supreme Court

Susan Owens –   Position 2

Steve Gonzalez –  Position 8

Bruce Hilyer –  Position 9

John Ladenburg –  Position 9

Sheryl McCloud –  Position 9

Judicial Candidates – King County Superior Court and Sheriff

Bill Bowman – Position 19

Scott Johnson – Position 20

Elizabeth J Berns – Position  25

Sean O’Donnell – ourt Position  29

Kim Allen –  Position  30

Ken Schubert – Position  40

Judy Ramseyer – Position  46

John Urquhart – King County Sheriff

Ballot Measures

King County Prop 1 – Children and Family Services Center Capital Levy – YES – on Primary Ballot

Seattle Prop  1 –  Regular Tax Levy Including Seattle Public Libraries –YES  – on Primary Ballot

Referendum 74 – Marraige Equality – APPROVE

Initiative 502 – License and Regulate Marijuana  – YES

Initiative 1240 – Charter Schools – NO

Initiative 1185  Tim Eyman’s 2/3 vote for revenue – NO

 

 

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Washington Conservation Voters Make First Round of Endorsements for 2012.

Posted on May 11th, 2012 | Comments Off on Washington Conservation Voters Make First Round of Endorsements for 2012.

The Washington Conservation Voters has released their first round of endorsements for the 2012 elections.

The Primary Election is August 7, 2012.

The General Election is Nov. 6, 2012.

Here is their list of endorsed candidates:

Statewide

Jay Inslee, Governor

 

Legislative

Senate Candidates

Andy Billig (3rd-Spokane)

Sen. Karen Fraser (22nd-Olympia)

Sen. Christine Rolfes (23rd-Kitsap County)

Sen. Kevin Ranker (40th- Island County)

Sen. David Frockt (46th-Seattle)

House Candidates

Rep. Zack Hudgins (11th-Tukwila)

Rep. Marko Liias (21st-Lynnwood)

Rep. Kevin Van De Wege (24th-Olympic Peninsula)

Rep. Dave Upthegrove (33rd-Des Moines)

Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (34th-West Seattle)

Rep. Reuven Carlyle (36th-Seattle)

Rep. John McCoy (38th-Everett)

Speaker of the House, Rep. Frank Chopp (43rd-Seattle)

Rep. Hans Dunshee (44th-Snohomish)

Rep. Ross Hunter (48th-Bellevue)

 

Thurston County

Sandra Romero, County Commissioner

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Big Oil Loves Tim Eyman

Posted on May 10th, 2012 | Comments Off on Big Oil Loves Tim Eyman

Big Oil loves Tim Eyman.  They love him so much they’re have given him $200,000 this year to protect their corporate profits and tax loopholes from the Washington State Legislature. They love it that he helped them two years ago prevent the Legislature from asking them to help clean up oil polluted stormwater in our state. They love it that voters said the Legislature needed a 2/3 vote to tax corporations and end profitable tax loopholes they have.

Eyman is busy carrying their water as he scurries to pay his minions to get signatures on I-1185 his “son” of 1053. I-1053 was passed by voters in 2010 and said the Legislature needed to get a 2/3 vote in both houses to raise new revenue or close any tax loopholes. For 2 years after an initiative passes it takes a 2/3 vote of the Legislature to amend an initiative. After that it takes a simple majority.

So Eyman is trying to put I-1185 before the voters to reset the clock for another 2 years.

The 2/3 vote requirement initially was in I-601 and then in I-960.  Both these measures barely passed 51% to 49%. Two years ago in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression and with high unemployment the measure passed with a 64% vote after opponents waited until the last few weeks to try to oppose it but it was too late.

Now voters can see the consequences of a no new taxes proposal which is what I-1185 is and what I-1053 is.  Austerity so to speak is another w0rd for protecting corporate profits while cutting services to the elderly, the sick and young kids.  Corporate interests like BP and Conoco Phillips continue to rack up huge profits and contribute to the increased concentration  of wealth in the hands of the few.

On April 4, 2012 BP Oil out of Chicago gave Eyman $100,000. Eyman immediately passed it on to his buddy Roy Ruffino at Citizen Solutions out of Olympia.  Citizen Solutions is paying signature gatherers $1.00 per signature and pocketing a fee for itself of course.

BP last year reported a net profit of $23.9 billion. $ 100,000 is peanuts to BP.

On April 20, 2012 Conoco Phillips added another $100,000,  Small peanuts to them also that they  can write off as a business expense. After expenses Conoco Phillips reported a 1st quarter Jan – March 2012 profit of $2.94 billion.

Isn’t it great that if you are a big corporation and you can buy yourself a place on the ballot and you can have friends like Tim Eyman to help you fool the public into supporting your corporate profits at the expense of diminishing public services that benefit the public.

Don’t sign I-1185!  Don’t support Big Oil’s power grab of the Washington State Legislature. Big Oil is not concerned about the well being of Washington State or its citizens. They are only concerned about increasing the bottom line of their business and their shareholders.

 

 

 

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Posted in campaign finance, Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Tax Exemptions, Washington State Legislature

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Eyman’s Initiative 1185 is Road to Nowhere

Posted on May 4th, 2012 | 1 comment

Tim Eyman is out getting signatures on his latest initiative for gridlock in Washington State.  It is nothing new but a recycling of a failed experiment – namely that blocking the Legislature’s ability to raise revenue or repeal non-performing tax exemptions is good for Washington State. That policy has been a dismal failure.

Initiative 1185 is an attempt to get voters to re-pass Initiative 1053 which was passed by voters in 2010. Initiative 1053 required Legislators to get a 2/3 vote in the House and the Senate  for any measure that raised revenue to fund state services.

Not once in 16 years has the Legislature been able to raise revenue under the 2/3 voting requirement because only a 1/3 minority of Legislators in either House can block a revenue increase. This statement was given recently in a Superior Court case attempting to declare I-1053 and its 2/3 vote requirement as unconstitutional.

The reason Eyman is recycling his 2/3 vote requirement is so that the Legislature can not amend I-1053 without a 2/3 majority.  The Washington State Constitution allows the legislature to amend initiatives by a simple majority after 2 years but requires a 2/3 vote for the first two years after passage. Re-passing I-1053 as I-1185 would reset the 2/3 requirement for another 2 years.

I-1053 was supported by Big Oil, Wall Street Banks and other corporate interests that didn’t want the state to repeal special interest tax exemptions and loopholes or require them to pay more for the benefits of doing business in Washington State.

Eyman portrayed I-1053  as a measure to protect the average citizen taxpayer from big government but the reality is that 1053 is really a Corporate Tax Loophole Protection Act.  Tax Loopholes exempt many corporations from paying taxes at the same rate as others.  In essence it shifts the tax responsibility to other tax payers like working families.

I-1185, like I-1053, would require a 2/3 vote to repeal tax loopholes even if they are providing no benefit to the state.  Tax exemptions only require a simple majority to pass in the first place. Meanwhile cuts to state services like education for our children and health care for seniors have been cut.  Only a simple majority was needed to cut that funding.

I-1185 would continue tax protection for corporations while forcing more cuts in state services. As service costs increase due to inflation and revenue doesn’t increase due to a lagging economy more cuts will be necessary. Don’t sign Initiative 1185. It time to bring some sanity back to how we fund state services.

 

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Tax Exemptions, Washington State Legislature

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Washington State Minimum Wage to Increase to $9.04 on January 1, 2012

Posted on December 25th, 2011 | 1 comment

On January 1, 2012 Washington State’s minimum wage will increase to $9.04.  Once again Washington State will lead the nation in having the highest minimum wage.  Oregon’s minimum wage will increase to $8.80. 

The minimum wage level of Washington State, Oregon and 8 other state’s is indexed to inflation and the consumer price index. In 1998 Washington voters passed Initiative 688. It was the first state to index it’s minimum wage to inflation and set the standard for other states to follow rather than every few years waging battles to try to increase the minimum wage when inflation went up. The other eight states are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, and Vermont.

As CNNMoney notes, “Minimum wage rates in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington will rise between 28 and 37 cents per hour on Jan. 1 …Rates in these states will range from $7.64 per hour (in Colorado), to $9.04 (in Washington) in 2012.” Nevada does not raise its minimum wage until July 1st and Missouri, even with an adjustment, does not exceed the Federal minimum wage.

Increasing the minimum wage has positive effects on the economy.  As CNNMoney noted:

 “The small boosts for 2012 are estimated to tack an extra $582 to $770 a year onto the paychecks of full-time workers, according to the National Employment Law Project, a non-profit advocacy group.

What’s more, the increases could be a mini-boost for the economy. The expected rise in consumer spending as a result of the wage increases would add $366 million to the nation’s gross domestic product and lead to the creation of more than 3,000 full-time jobs.”

The Economic Policy Institute calculates the actual impact in even broader terms.

Across these eight states, an estimated 1,045,000 workers will be “directly affected.”  These are workers whose current wages are between the existing state minimum wage and the new Jan. 1 minimum wage. In addition, another 394,000 workers will be “indirectly affected” by the increase. These indirectly-affected workers are those whose current wages are just above the new Jan. 1 minimum, and are likely to also see a wage increase as employers adjust their overall pay structures to reflect the new minimum (the “spillover” effect).

Despite the benefits of indexing the minimum wage to inflation, the national minimum wage is not indexed to inflation. Thus as the cost of goods like food and gas go up, the buying ability of minimum wage workers decreases. The current Federal wage is currently only $7.25.  That’s just a little over $15,000 a year.

The federal minimum wage needs to be indexed to inflation. Congress has a dismal record of increasing the minimum wage.  From 1997 to 2007, the minimum wage was stuck at $5.15 despite increases in inflation. In legislation passed in 2007 it went up to $5.85 in June 2007, then to $6.55 in June 2008 and then to $7.25 in June 2009. No further increase have been made in the last 2 1/2 years.

Barack Obama, as part of his transition team agenda, said he would work to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation.  We need to hold him to his promise and to put Democrats and Republicans on the spot as to standing up for helping low income workers make it in this economy.  Republicans will voice all their usual objections but there is no better way to convince voters of whose interests they really represent than to challenge them to support working Americans by raising the minimum wage for the lowest paid workers.

And progressives in the states that have initiatives would be wise to run minimum wage initiatives with an inflation index in 2012.  With all the attention on the vast disparity of wealth distribution in this country that has gotten worse, its time to put on the ballot measures that work to redress this imbalance and that point out the differences between the goals of Republicans and Democrats.  Democrats have joined with Labor in working to help raise the pay of lower wage earners. Republicans have not.

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Posted in Democrats, Economy, Elections, Initiatives

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