The Washington State Referendum might be dead, but the Initiative lives on. The AP's David Ammons reports today that
A national pro-initiative watchdog group has set up camp in Washington state, hoping to protect the time-honored, but oft-criticized tradition of "direct democracy" from disuse, disrespect or even destruction.The new WA state chapter of the Initiative & Referendum Institute is led by our good friend Shawn Newman! Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 17, 2005 10:12 AM | Email This
Can't you see with I-912 all those projects hanging in th balance. How can we payoff our big contributors, err, I mean improve the infrastructure if the people keep getting in the way with all those silly question? How much will it cost? When will it been done? Will there be proformance audits? Like the voters really have a clue.
Geeze. get real the people elected us to run things. They are just going to have to trust us and quit look over our shoulder at every little nickel and dime.
Posted by: JCM on July 17, 2005 12:00 PMThey have I don't recall the specifics but they have tried in the past. Also remember a initiative only last two years before the legislature can modify, overturn or just by dump an initiative from the people.
R-601 is dead, I-695 has been violated, even when a court orders them to stop the excess fees they continue.
My mantra for the next few election cycles. TTBO (throw the bastards out) no incmbent gets relected until Olympia learns to heel.
Posted by: JCM on July 17, 2005 04:31 PM"The best alternative, however, is the one where voters reject I-912, said Sen. Brian Weinstein, a Democrat representing Mercer Island, and parts of Bellevue, Issaquah and Renton.
``At this point, our best bet is to try and educate the public and hopefully they won't vote it down,'' Weinstein said."
See we only support the repeal of the gas tax because we are uneducated rubes. Perhaps the brilliant Senator Weinstein will educate us in the error of our ways!
Bill H
when, for example, the DOT comes in with 18 straight failed or serious flaws in their audits, I don't need no ega-kashun that something stinks. Like a refrigerator leftover--don't educate me about the refrigetator, just throw the moldy stuff out! What a pompous azz. Detached from reality.
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on July 17, 2005 07:04 PMI'm afraid we may be a wee bit too late in throwing the bastards out via our election system....
Why do you think the Liberal Democrats in the State legislature rushed so quickly to make our state an All Mail voting state? They KNOW that absentee voting is the easiest to rig and perpetrate fraud! It's incredible!
1. Remove the people's Referendum process
2. Overturn the people's Initiative process
3. Declare all costly bills brought up in Olympia as *Emergencies* so they will be exempt from the will of the people.
4. Quickly move to change all counties to All Mail Voting to easily manipulate election outcomes.
5. Continue to pay the Media to manage *their* version of public opinion....
The next initiative needs to be "Putting an All Mail voting system to a public vote"!
Local example? Well, if my observations of a news screen banner are correct, the Marysville school district/teachers neared or finished a settlement or contract. No 40-day strike. No whimpers. NO big splash in the news. Why? Well, could having a majority of union members now on the school board mean anything? They will rubber stamp everything. Angry parent-voters did this to themselves out of angst at the teacher's strike. NOW look who is watching the coop? The union-controlled school board there--like the legislature--keep hoping you are not watching or your memory is short.
Look at what the Liberal Democrats in Olympia have done since January:
1. Removed the people's Referendum process
2. Overturned the people's Initiative process
3. Declared all costly and unnecessary bills brought up in Olympia as *Emergencies* so they will be exempt from the will of the people.
4. Quickly moved to change all counties to All Mail Voting to easily manipulate election outcomes.
5. Continued to pay the Media to manage *their* version of public opinion....
(Just didn't want anyone thinking at a glance that I am advocating anything on that list..)
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=emerged17&date=20050717
Too bad Stefan seems to have missed it ...
Posted by: Richard Pope on July 18, 2005 01:41 AMI actually prefer the Torch and Pitchfork method. All of us uneducated, illiterate, uninformed and stupid peasant grab a pitchfork and torch, march down to Olympia. There we tar and feather every one we find in the capital building (I might have mercy on the janitor) then run the SOBs out of town on a rail.
I think that would be much more satisfying, effect and noteworthy. It would also dissuade any of 'em from running for office again.
Till then I think we're stuck with voting them out put every little bill up for referendum, and initiatives to undo all the damage done.
Posted by: JCM on July 18, 2005 07:17 AMMark my words when their audit comes out.
Posted by: swatter on July 18, 2005 11:50 AMIsn't 'educate' a euphemism for 'lobby' ? Even if these "in-kind contributions" are reported by the opponents of no-new-gas-tax, isn't it illegal for government to lobby passing these bills? In Pierce County, the PDC just found that their executive, John Ladenburg, illegally used public money to campaign for a county police levy.
On the other hand, even if it is illegal there is no penalty. Although Ladenburg, a lawyer, was former Pierce County prosecutor, and (one assumes) couldn't claim ignorance of the law, his penalty was waived.
So the only recourse is to vote them out of office when they do these things. ...just send those absentee ballots in to Dean Logan. Weinstien will be shaking in his boots.
Posted by: vote-em-out on July 18, 2005 01:41 PM