There’s a straightforward way for our state legislators to work around Eyman’s I-1053, an initiative that conflicts with several provisions of the state constitution. Will they pursue it? On Feb 29, 2008,  Senate Bill 6931 was brought before the Washington State Senate for a vote.  SB 6931 would have imposed a 42¢ per liter surcharge on the sale of…

[Note: For later news on this topic, see: State Republicans fined for violating reporting requirements in 2010 elections.] In October, 2010 a formal complaint was filed with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission against the Washington State chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers-funded organization that has promoted the Tea Party and that has…

MyNorthwest.com is reporting that Eyman honored for Washington initiative activism SEATTLE (AP) – Initiative activist Tim Eyman won a $20,000 award from the Sam Adams Alliance. The group calls him a modern day Sam Adams for his commitment to cutting the size of government in Washington state. The Seattle Times reports the “Sammies” awards were…

Here are two online tools that help you evaluate the performance of your state legislators: Washington Conservation Voters legislative scorecard Washington Labor Council Legislative Voting Records. Each tool shows ratings for House and Senate members, with the Labor Council having a year-by-year analysis. Anyone know of other scorecards? [Yes, Brian Gunn pointed me to Legislative…

I subscribe to the email list of BlackBoxVoting, the nonpartisan voting integrity organization whose director, Bev Harris, lives in Renton, WA. In this article I’ll give a very brief taste of the issues. Visit Black Box Voting and read To The American Media: Time To Face The Reality Of Election Rigging for more information. The…

[From top right, clockwise:  House Chair Rep. Frank Chopp,  Sen. Steve Hobbs,  Rep. Judy Clibborn, Gov. Christine Gregoire,  House Ways & Means Chair Ross Hunter (on bottom left), Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, House Majority Floor Leader Larry Springer,  Lt. Governor Brad Owen (on upper-left)] During the run-up to the 2010 election, our Democratic leaders…

(Photoshopped from a real Tea Party protest photo) To be fair, I’m sure many Tea Partiers are sincere in their desire to see an end to government corruption and handouts to special interests. But the Tea Partiers are allying themselves with Republicans, the most culpable practitioners of special interest government that serves the interests of…

[Update Thursday morning from Sandra Vanderven at the protest: There are more people who are willing to keep the occupation going tonight, and it isn’t unreasonable to think you’ll get away with it as we did.  I would be very happy if you wanted to join up with the various organizations that are making things…

Republican US Congressman Dave Reichert (WA, 8th CD) has signed a letter calling on President Obama to acknowledge the primacy of God in America. The following pdf file http://truthsite.org/politics/Letterto0bamaAboutGodFromUSCongressmen.pdf contains an image of the letter, which was signed by 42 US members of Congress. In a November, 2010 speech Obama said that e pluribus unum —…

A letter to a Democratic activist who called for a go-slow approach to eliminating tax preferences. (For background, see Failed KCDCC Resolution a Good Idea and Fair School Funding Coalition.) Thank you for your well-written and thoughtful analysis.  I admire your commitment to the cause of justness and fairness.  The real “enemy” is conservatives, not…