I-960 on ice: Murder on the Olympia Express

A telegraph requesting the services of Agatha Christie’s masterful detective Hercule Poirot is unnecessary in resolving what happened in Olympia Wednesday evening. Democrats in the Washington state Legislature sent a clear message to the people: We are the governors and you are the governed, and there is no reciprocity in that relationship.

By passing Senate Bill 6130 to suspend the requirement for a two-thirds vote to raise taxes — a measure approved by a majority of voters in a 2007 statewide election following an initiative campaign that was opposed by a barrage of well-funded arguments against — Democratic lawmakers in Olympia threw a withering haymaker at the notion that people, not government, ultimately hold the reins of power.

The Democratic phalanx in support of SB 6130 was not executing a partisan attack against Republicans. Even the voters were really only caught in the line of fire. Democrats were, in fact, performing a full frontal ideological assault on the notion that power in our system is ours first.

On the morning after, Northwest-area mega-blog Publicola kicked off the public relations campaign for Democrats in tight races. The headline of the Morning Fizz post read “The Democrats on the House Side Bucked Their Senate Cohorts,” implying to readers that a stalwart group of moderates opposed the suspending I-960.

Publicola cites as evidence that freethinkers exist in Olympia’s majority party the one-vote margin of passage despite the maximum 61-vote horsepower they’re capable of. A more likely explanation (and one that the experienced political writers at Publicola are well aware of) is that the ten “mavericks” were let go by their caucus because their votes were not needed. Pure politics and nothing more. Need proof? Play the home version of “Where’s Democratic Dissent?” and review the video of the debates (TVW is an invaluable resource for this) to find any evidence that any of the Democrats voting no offered words on the floor that could have harmed them with the liberal base.

It should be noted, for all would-be secessionists and radicals out there, that what the State Legislature has done to set aside Initiative 960 is not, on its face, unlawful or unconstitutional. Although the initiative process allows citizens to propose laws without the consent of the government, state law does not hold initiatives above laws made by the legislative body in terms of their being subject to amendment and/or repeal. This is a common sense safeguard against mob rule. The safeguard against governmental suppression of the people’s will is ultimately found in our elections, but also in extreme cases in the ability to recall certain elected officials.

And yet, although the Legislature acted lawfully, lawfulness and morality do not ride on the same ticket. The degree to which voters feel that their elected officials acted without regard for the higher standard of morality in their vote on I-960 will ultimately be felt at the polls. A decisive vote to eject Democrats from office could be the only way to remind lawmakers that it is our power first, not theirs.

For those who can’t wait until November 7^th to register their opinions, Democrats will be making a victory tour this weekend. Town halls are being organized and details are available through your legislator’s office. The “Find Your Legislator” tool on the Washington State Legislature website will let you know who to call.

House Republicans Fight Late Into The Night For I-960

The voter’s shield against runaway government spending by the State of Washington, Initiative 960 is perilously close to temporarily losing its most crucial piece, the requirement that the state Legislature pass a two-thirds vote for measures to increase taxes. The engrossed version of Senate Bill 6130 was moved to the House floor for consideration and a vote, and House Republicans in Olympia kept the lights on until close to midnight Tuesday after forcing a six-hour floor debate on a series of GOP-sponsored amendments, the net effect of which would have been to “indefinitely postpone” the Legislature’s plan to put voter-approved tax restraint law I-960 in cold storage.

If SB 6130 becomes law in its current form it would postpone enactment of I-960’s two-thirds requirement for tax increases until July 2011.

For those Washington conservatives who have griped that Republicans in Olympia are indistinguishable from their tax-and-spend neighbors across the aisle, the tone and spirit of Tuesday’s flurry of impromptu speeches offered a sneak peek at something different.

“We are not California. We are Washington, and we are Washingtonians. We’re strong and we’re proud people… we’re not going to bow down to recession by putting burdensome taxes on our people,” Rep. Brad Klippert said. (Click here to listen to Rep. Klippert’s remarks.)

Rep. Glenn Anderson later picked up the ball and succinctly encapsulated what is different about Republicans and the majority Democratic Party.

“Economic growth is essential,” Anderson said, going on to characterize Democratic tax-and-spend solutions as “chasing a Band-Aid to avoid the pain” of difficult choices.

Their voices were only two among a unified chorus of Republicans calling for a bipartisan step back from the precipice both to assess the ethicality of reversing the will of the voters as well as to visit the total budget – expenditures and revenues – before gutting the tax restraint provisions in I-960 and further eroding the faith of the people in their government.

A small ray of light did pierce the House’s dark decision in the form of its adoption of the Finance Committee amendment that allows the transparency provisions of I-960 to remain in effect. Careful observers will recall that the original Senate vote last week had left these requirements intact and that body actually took a second vote to correct the oversight of preserving public notification when Olympia begins to move to raise taxes. That silver lining tarnishes in light of the Legislature’s practice of floating “ghost” legislation – also known as “title-only” bills – that defy transparency rules by offering nothing for the public to review.

The evolution of modern political systems has come to recognize that in free societies in order for the social contract to be consummated individuals will naturally require built-in defenses to guard against an oppressive government. In the United States Constitution the Bill of Rights embody those protections, and in Washington state we have codified our necessary stalemate between the government and the governed in our initiative process.

In order to register your strong opposition to SB 6130, the resulting avalanche of new taxes that will undoubtedly spring forth, and the requisite loss of liberty, please call the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 to let your elected representatives in Olympia hear your voice.

If you have any interesting conversations with our legislators feel free to post details in the comments section to this post.

“Ghost” Bill Part II: The Execution

Calling Drs. Venkman, Stanz, and Spengler. Expertise in paranormal phenomena is needed in Olympia, Wash. to contain Senate Bill 6853 – the “ghost” bill – that is still working its way through the legislative process despite having no material form.

SB 6853 was introduced Tuesday as a title-only bill pertaining to the investigation of tax preferences, placed on the Ways and Means agenda for the afternoon, and by early evening had cleared committee without so much as a verb, noun, or other defining language added to indicate what its sponsors intended to do to the state’s tax system.

Anyone coming in after the initial 45 seconds of the Senate Ways and Means’ hearing on SB 6853 would also miss the committee’s vote waiving the rule requiring that bills be made public for at least five days prior to any executive action. After a single witness – Association of Washington Business representative Amber Carter – gave a cover-all-the-bases statement for the record, the bill of potentially limitless effect was passed out of committee during the executive session.

The Politburo did not work so efficiently as did Sen. Rockefeller’s committee. Jason Mercier, the Washington Policy Center’s government reforms director, assembled a real-time video album of the young life of SB 6853. Even if you’re on a tight schedule, the entire process of how a Washington state bill reaches the Senate floor can be viewed in less than a few minutes. In the implication that the public is again being kicked out of the room when their representatives craft laws that will affect them, Mercier’s clips should be sent for consideration to SyFy’s Ghost Hunters.

Perhaps SB 6853 will become to this legislative session what the Flying Dutchman is to nautical myth, a ghostly vessel doomed to sail forever and never come home. Methinks we shan’t be so lucky. Shutting down public comment on a bill is a pittance compared to the cavalier manner in which the state Senate cast aside the will of the people by voting to “suspend” Initiative 960’s requirement for a two-thirds vote by the legisalture to increase taxes. In fact, Senate lawmakers were so excited to trample on the voters that in their haste they voted to pass the wrong version of their amending legislation.

There’s no cause for panic, however. Their error was noted and will almost certainly be corrected forthwith.

Democrats let loose “ghost” tax bill in Olympia

While Tea Parties and concerned citizens focus their energies on changing the dysfunctional legislative process that is the status quo in the other Washington, lawmakers in Olympia are ignoring widespread voter demands for transparency into the sausage mill of lawmaking. The State Senate is entertaining discussion about a bill – Senate Bill 6853 – that could have dramatic effects on state residents and business owners. What effects, you ask? Therein’s the rub, as the bill lacks all of the detailed language that would ordinarily be required to begin deliberation over its contents.

As reported Tuesday morning by the Washington Policy Center blog, SB 6853 was introduced with only a header naming the bill’s sponsors (an all-Democrat squad), the required statement of purpose – “creating the legislative review of tax preferences act of 2010” – and no enacting language.

“This bill may make major changes in the tax code, and could result in a significant increase in the tax burden state lawmakers place on citizens, so it would be nice to know what the bill actually says,” WPC vice president Paul Guppy writes. “[I]t is hard … to make a fair assessment of a major bill when the public has no idea what it says, or how it may affect our lives.”

The bill was also scheduled onto the Senate Ways and Means committee calendar for Tuesday’s 1:30 p.m. meeting at which time it could be moved quickly to a Senate vote bypassing the body’s own five-day sunshine rule. It also lacks a fiscal note containing dollars and cents associated with enactment.

TVW is scheduled to webcast the Ways and Means Committee meeting LIVE.

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