Gov. Gregoire to Sign Suspension of I-960 Into Law

If anyone out there still remembers the great Johnny Carson’s (host of NBC’s The Tonight Show pre-Jay Leno) fortune-telling character Carnac the Magnificent, read on. For those who do not, take a quick detour to watch this video, and return with your cultural intelligence improved.

Now…

Imagine the sounds of a number 10 envelope being opened, blown into, and an index card being pulled from within. The Magnificent Carnac reads aloud:

Walt Disney’s cryogenically-frozen body, Lindsey Lohan’s acting career, and Washington state’s Initiative 960 tax restraint law.

What are three things currently on ice that have the same chance of being revived as Tiger Woods if he fainted at a conference of the National Organization of Women.

Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., Washington governor Christine Gregoire will sign Senate Bill 6130 that put on ice the voter-approved I-960 that would have forced a two-thirds vote in the Legislature on all tax increase measures. SB 6130 postpones full enactment of I-960 until July of 2011, just enough time to do a little free-wheeling tax raisin’ and for Democrats to figure out how to legally kill off the spending restraint law while it sleeps, like a vampire story in reverse.

According to sources in Olympia, the signing will take place in the governor’s private conference room.

Gov. Gregoire still has the power to veto sections of the bill and Sens. Mike Hewitt and Joe Zarelli delivered a letter to her on Monday requesting that she strike the repeal of non-binding public advisory votes on tax increases. Cross your fingers but the reality is that the request hasn’t a meatball’s chance in Michael Moore’s lunchbox.

For those who have the stomach, read the full text of the legislation Gregoire will sign into law. If that doesn’t floor you, the Washington Policy Center plans to publish the I-960 public disclosure that would have been printed in the voters’ pamphlet for this year’s general election.

Remember SB 6130 on Election Day 2010.

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.

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.

The Oregon Trail

Democrats and the interest groups feeding at the public trough were quick to look south with a smile today, and a glimmer of hope undoubtedly twinkled in their eyes as Oregon voters approved Measures 66 and 67.  KIRO’s Dave Ross thinks this may send a message, but I think the details may tell another story.  At the very least, Washingtonians should give serious thought to what the Oregon vote portends here.

Measure 66 raises the state income tax on households earning more than $250,000.  Washington lawmakers have no such option, in all practicality.  Given national trends, majority Democrats in Olympia are unlikely to pass a high-earners income tax this year and income taxes in general have major electoral hurdles to overcome in Washington.  Recent political events compound that problem for Democrats.

The left does, however, however, realize that this idea has the best prospects in the long run.  Why?  Because it’s easy to convince people to increase taxes they don’t have to pay.  That’s the problem with a progressive tax structure–you’re giving people all sorts of free goodies while promising most voters that some other person will pay for it.  The “rich” are a convenient target for the left, which loves to use “values” as a pretense for plundering from the profitable (try talking about “values” in any other context, however, and you’re promptly scolded for trying to impose your views on other people).

Measure 67 raises minimum corporate taxes and increases taxes on “upper level” profits.  Again, this is much more difficult in Washington.  Washington’s Business and Occupation Tax is a tax on gross receipts, so even if your company doesn’t earn a profit the state still gets its cut (how’s that for values?).  Small businesses suffer under this the most, which is why lawmakers are reluctant to raise it because the impact is broadly felt and not just targeted to faceless wealthy corporations that are easily demonized.  Targeted B&O increases could be an option, but the larger companies in Washington would likely put up a strong fight.

Based on conversations I’ve had with some Democratic legislators in Olympia, I think some of them realize that you don’t encourage private sector growth by raising taxes on the very businesses you want to create more jobs.  Oregon’s unemployment rate has been running higher than Washington’s, and the passage of Measure 67 isn’t going to help.  Taking a cue from Tony Soprano, Oregon voters just sent a message to Oregon businesses:  “Grow, and we’ll take a bigger cut.”  There are enough moderate Democrats in Olympia and enough commonsense voters in Washington who know better.

Another factor to consider is Oregon’s odd political landscape.  As Floyd McKay pointed out in a recent Crosscut article,

Oregon is weirdly counter-cyclical in terms of its politics. When I first began covering Oregon politics, Barry Goldwater had just driven the Republican wagon into the ditch in his 1964 presidential campaign and Democrats were resurgent everywhere. Except in Oregon, where Republicans overturned Democratic control of the Legislature and began nearly a decade running the Oregon House. … As Republicans surged in the Reagan years, Oregon became a solidly Democratic state, controlling both houses of the legislature and beginning in 1986 a line of Democratic governors that continues to this day. Republicans recaptured the Oregon House during the Clinton years, and during the administration of George W. Bush Oregon’s Democrats were firmly in control. Oregon seems to swim against the tide.

The Oregon Trail is uniquely Oregonian.  Politicos thinking they can replicate the Measure 66 and 67 vote here in Washington this year should think long and hard before trying.  This is not to say such efforts would surely fail (the internet is clogged with political predictions that didn’t come true), only that what happened south of the Columbia River yesterday doesn’t necessarily mean Washington voters would take the same route.

Fox News on Oregon Tax Measures