WA State Democrat Legislators bent on destroying the Initiative Process

email | Tim Eyman

[Iam1ru1-2]

Results of three legislative hearings on various anti-initiative bills:

*Legislators ignorant about the contents of bills that they themselves are co-sponsoring;

*Repeated, purposeful misrepresentation of the facts by the Secretary of State, misleading legislators, the press, and the public;

*Committee hearings where microphones are cut off when citizens are speaking;

*Legislators snickering and rolling their eyes during citizen testimony;

*Far-reaching bills with an "analysis" that is a single paragraph;

*Without discussion or debate, votes on bills with only two legislators present (we asked staffers "How can you vote without a quorum?" - they refused to answer);

*Long lists of citizens signing up to testify against these bills but chairs limiting testimony to three minutes each for just two people;

*Legislators sponsoring bills that the judiciary has already ruled unconstitutional.

Mike Dunmire, who attended these 3 Legislative Hearings said: "I am offended by their arrogance, their ignorance, their mistreatment of citizens, and their disrespect for the Constitution. Their shameless actions have moved me to do something meaningful to fight back. I cannot and will not ignore their assault on the citizens' initiative process without a constructive response."

Please take a minute to learn about the violence the Legislature is unleashing on the initiative process:

*Senate Bill 5182 and House Bill 2019 -- sponsored by Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup) and Jim McDermott (D-Seattle) -- say that VALID voter signatures MUST BE REJECTED if the person who gathered the signatures doesn't print and sign their name and include their address on the back.

*SB 5182 punishes and disenfranchises voters and kills off volunteer signature gathering. It also makes people who gather signatures much more susceptible to harassment by publicly reporting their address.

*House Bill 1087 and Senate Bill 5356 -- sponsored by Adam Kline ((D-Seattle) and Sherry Appleton (D-Poulsbo) -- would find people guilty of a misdemeanor crime if they gather voter signatures and are compensated on a per-signature basis. In Oregon, this policy tripled the cost to qualify an initiative for the ballot, cut by two-thirds the number of initiatives that qualified, and doubled the rate of invalid signatures. Olympia passed this exact same law in 1993 and the court ruled that it's "invalid because it unconstitutionally infringes on the freedom of political speech guaranteed by the First Amendment."

*Senate Bill 5181 -- sponsored by Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup) -- would require anyone gathering signatures to wear an ID badge. SB 5181 is intended to stigmatize people for simply exercising their First Amendment rights. It is offensive to anyone who cares about civil liberties.

*House Bill 2018 -- sponsored by Jim McDermott (D-Seattle) -- would require people who gather signatures to register with government. HB 2018 says only those licensed by the government have First Amendment rights --this obscene overregulation is a clear attempt to intimidate and deter citizens from collecting voter signatures and makes them even more susceptible to harassment.

*Senate Bill 5392 -- sponsored by Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle) -- would increase the initiative filing fee 1900% (from $5 to $100). SB 5392 is clearly intended to discourage regular citizens from filing initiatives.

*Senate Joint Resolution 8205 -- sponsored by Ken Jacobsen (D-Seattle) -- repeals the initiative and referendum process from our state Constitution.

Each bill does harm to the people's power without providing any benefits. Legislators are concocting unconstitutional schemes to undermine the people's right to initiative. These anti-initiative bills try to achieve surreptitiously what cannot be achieved honestly.

[Iam1ru1-2]

"Does Washington state allow recalling legislators?"

I think the majority Demonrat legislature is about to pass a law that prohibits this. (/sarcasm>

[Iam1ru1-2]

"What is a person to do?"

It seems that WA is becoming more and more demonic.....er demonrat-ick, and the only thing decent Washingtonians can do is..........move to Eastern WA, and then vote to secede Eastern WA from Western WA, and call it Cascadia.

[HairOfTheDog]

I voted for Rossi. Do you think the two Initiative examples I listed are good law?

[Vicki]

But are they going to do anything about people using Mailboxes Etc, and like "residential addresses" to vote, or what about felons ... oh that's right, they are proposing to do something alright. Let them vote without paying their fines and to top if off let them out a year early!

[Iam1ru1-2]

I guess I must be anti democracy, because despite the fun we've had with Time Eyman, we've had more bad law than good imposed on us by initiative, namely: The ban on use of hounds, bait and trapping for hunting bear and cougar. Without the use of bait and hounds in particular, bear and cougar are extremely difficult to take in any numbers, and their numbers are continuing to grow. YOU WROTE: Wildlife management decisions and hunting regulation is far better done by the departments that manage these things than by urbanites in Seattle who think it's mean to hunt animals. "The People" in this case, are not qualified to know what good management is.

The smoking ban in all bars and restaurants. An initiative paid for, in large part, by Indian Casinos, of all sources, who, coincidentally, are not covered under the ban.

You mean those pesky laws like 3 strikes you're out, $35 license tabs? 2% increase limits on property tax/year, an independent group to audit our government spending?

I voted yes to both of the proposals you mentioned because I don't believe in killing for sport - for population control and safety - YES, and I don't believe that non-smokers must breathe in the smoke that smokers spew into the air in closed environments. I used to be a smoker, but came to my senses, and have been smoke free for over 25 years - I did it cold turkey, the only way that worked for me.

[Iam1ru1-2]

"(Washington State where anyone can vote .... illegals, non-residents or anyone just passing through) "

You forgot the dead.

[HairOfTheDog]

You voted for both of those? Yikes!

[Oorang]

Thanks for the info. I'll assume it's a typo (Jim/John McDermott) and they meant the state legislator.