Chicken-hearted

We the victims of Washington State's "Democratic" controlled government are expecting massive tax increases. The chicken-hearted governor and legislature refuses to stand up for the people and kowtowed to their special interest cronies instead.

Republic is about one law for all. No one is above the law. There is no special treatment for elected officials or government workers.

If the Republican Party is about Republic, then Republicans will connect with millions of voters in this state if they use that message.

The officials of this state have decided they are above voter approved law (960). These subverters must be ejected from office and their place given to another. 70% of this state’s voters will agree with you.

Are the Republicans ready to take the wheel? They need to talk about how government is responsible to stay out of the way of the people in their daily lives.

The current dinosaur Democrat administration will try to evade responsibility for the mess they made by placing blame on the “Economy.” This is a familiar “Democratic” Party pattern -- We need responsible government, we get evasion by the blame game.

Gregoire & DemocRats Overthrow Democracy.

"Governoire" Christine Gregoire overthrew democracy in Washington State, Feb 25, 2010 by signing into law Senate Bill 6130, a "suspension" of the voter enacted initiative 960. I960 required the legislature to enact tax increases by a 60% majority rather than 50%. I960 also had a sunshine provision, which required step by step accounting of the tax increase process so voters could evaluate their legislators performance.

Christine Gregoire authorized the "Democratic" Party controlled legislature to raise taxes by $2.6 billion. In ordinary times, this would not sound like much (weird), but during the current depression brought on by Democratic Party policies, its a chunk of flesh. Gregoire and the Democrats add rebellion to their list of crimes against the people.

“Article 1. Section 1 POLITICAL POWER. All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights.”
-- Washington State Constitution

Indictment text

The people clarified the constitution’s recognition of the power of the people by requiring the legislature report to the people about each stage of the legislative process; a “sunshine” provision. The governor and legislature have turned off the sunshine of I960 for a year. The fact they turned it off for only a year shows they know sunshine is necessary for proper government, as found in Article 1, Section 34, "authority hereby conferred upon the legislature shall not be construed to grant to the legislature any exclusive power of lawmaking nor in any way limit the initiative and referendum powers reserved by the people."

The Constitution also guarantees right to recall as needed (Sections 33 and 34). This can only be done by an informed electorate. Suspending I-960 sunshine provisions works counter to this information, and cannot be tolerated.

Therefore, the governor and certain legislators have worked to subvert the Constitution. They should be indicted, tried and punished for the felony crime of subversion under RCW 9.81.010 and RCW 9.81.020

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State Representative Cary Condotta said,

"Jobs and people are leaving California due to high taxation and the inability to find work. Washington is not far behind if the only solution those in charge in Olympia can find are new taxes and fees. Businesses will close or relocate, families will move where they can find good-paying jobs and it will further erode our state’s economy. We cannot tax ourselves into prosperity."

Listen up Democrats: Unemployment isn't working! Unemployment is misery!

Olympic Obfuscation

From Olympia, WA. 2/18/2010

HB 3176, a massive tax increase bill, includes increases in the airplane excise tax. For example, tax Boeing for leaving the state. That will encourage Boeing to stay. Delusional.

The bill's list of sponsors is all Democrats. Naturally.

Click here for the text of the bill. The title of the bill blathers on about increasing funding for the "elderly and vulnerable people." In fact, this is classic Demo-crap. The Democrats' buddies are taken care of. You are screwed.

Tax Increases and Secret Government

Olympia is voting all types of unconscionable power for itself. The right to vote is itself under attack. ESSB 5808 takes away the right to vote on the matter of annexations.

Washington citizens used to have a control on tax increase. Control of spending increases always belonged to the legislators who support their "buddies" with your taxes. The only reason to take away the control of taxation from the people is to corrupt government. The "Democratic" Party is doing it.

Tim Eyman delivered a statement against the tax increases and closed government provisions Olympia is pushing. I-960 is the main defense the people have against this very sort of thing. The "Democratic" Party is against responsible government, so responsibility also is under attack. This following is an excerpt.

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"Chairman (Ross) Hunter is quoted as saying that I-960 makes the process 'unworkable.' It's quite an admission that [Democratic Party controlled] Olympia can't function if it's forced to follow the law, abide by the Constitution, and keep the people and the press informed.

"For two years, I-960 has worked exactly as voters intended.
"Two years -- the voters have learned that that's the maximum amount of time the Legislature can be restrained by a citizens initiative like I-960.

The rest of Eyman's testimony was read directly, without voice inflection, but he says he intended it to be taken as sarcasm, "When we did I-960, we made a mistake: we allowed a legislative session to be held without I-960's protections. We assumed that restrained by an upcoming election, that the Democrats would never, ever disrespect the voters this much.

"We were wrong. The voters, our supporters, and the sponsors of I-960 underestimated the Democrats' audacity, their arrogance, their shamelessness."

Ross Hunter (D-Redmond) then interrupted to slam down his gavel, upset that Eyman had criticized the Democrats, urged on by cheers and catcalls from the anti-960 people there.

Eyman took a deep breath and continued: "We can never make that mistake again. Two years is the maximum.

"The 2010 legislative session must always serve as the poster child of what happens when Olympia is not restrained by the law, not bound by the Constitution, nor obliged to keep the public and the press informed.

"Voters have approved I-960's policies 3 times, in 1993, 1998, and 2007. Yet without hesitation, Olympia's Democrats are getting rid of them. The Legislature does not want the citizens to know what it's doing, they want to keep it all a secret, and it's very unfortunate ..."

Hunter interrupted again: "That's it. Next," he said.

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To be sound and responsible, government must meet only one condition: The same law must apply equally to everyone. The "Democratic" Party is attacking the fundamental principle of good government; equality under the law.

They do more damage

First they drove Boeing's headquarters out of state. Then they sent Microsoft packing development off to India. Then they sent Boeing's next Dreamliner production line out to South Carolina. They whined the whole time these companies weren't being loyal to the state which only wanted to siphon the people dry. Who are they? Democrats, democratering Washington State.

Authoritarian politicians in Olympia decided today to overthrow the will of the people. Today they said it takes only a simple majority to overthrow the 2/3rds majority rule to increase taxes. Imprison the rascals.

"Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant."

Democrats' Subversive Activity

Under the Washington State Constitution, the people are the ultimate power in the state.

"ARTICLE I - DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
SECTION 1 POLITICAL POWER. All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights."

The people clarified the constitution by the initiative process, asserting that it would take a 2/3 majority of the legislature to raise taxes. This is not a ban on tax increases.

Now that the legislature revoked that clarification, they put themselves above the people on a procedural safeguard. The requirement is for a 2/3 majority. This clarification is overthrown in direct defiance of the people's right to govern themselves. This is a subversion.

RCW 9.81.020 specifies subversive activity.

9.81.020 Subversive activities made felony — Penalty.
(1) It is a class B felony for any person knowingly and willfully to:
(a) Commit, attempt to commit, or aid in the commission of any act intended to overthrow, destroy or alter, or to assist in the overthrow, destruction or alteration of, the constitutional form of the government of the United States, or of the state of Washington or any political subdivision of either of them, by revolution, force or violence; or
(b) Advocate, abet, advise, or teach by any means any person to commit, attempt to commit, or assist in the commission of any such act under such circumstances as to constitute a clear and present danger to the security of the United States, or of the state of Washington or of any political subdivision of either of them; or
(c) Conspire with one or more persons to commit any such act; or
(d) Assist in the formation or participate in the management or to contribute to the support of any subversive organization or foreign subversive organization knowing the organization to be a subversive organization or a foreign subversive organization; or
(e) Destroy any books, records or files, or secrete any funds in this state of a subversive organization or a foreign subversive organization, knowing the organization to be such.
(2) Any person upon a plea of guilty or upon conviction of violating any of the provisions of this section shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not more than ten years, or both, at the discretion of the court.

It goes without saying that a person who is a felon may not hold public office. Those who voted to defy the will of the people ought to be tried for subversive activity.

I should add that any state employee who is "only following orders" should also be tried for subversion.

End of Democracy - The Democrats Are To Blame

Democrats aren't bound by votes, not even their own -- "you peasants don't understand, the rules don't apply to us."

A vote on the floor of the State Senate yesterday by the Democrats eliminated the 2/3's legislative vote requirement for tax increases. Voters have approved that law 3 times and that 2/3's law has survived 4 court challenges -- the voters are clearly on record demanding that that be the law. Nonetheless, Democrats in Olympia took it away yesterday without hesitation -- they are clearly planning on violating that voter-approved law in the coming weeks and during all of next year's legislative session after the election. But in their zeal to steal more of the taxpayers money, they realized after their vote, that the citizenry would learn of their treachery because of I-960's transparency provisions.

So now they're saying yesterday's vote doesn't count. Now they've ordained they're entitled to a 'do-over' vote, eliminating not just the 2/3's vote requirement, but all of I-960's sunshine policies, especially the bills' costs and legislators' voting records.

Democrats in Olympia aren't bound by 3 votes of the people, nor are they bound by their own vote yesterday. They are above the law, above the rules, above reproach, above criticism.

With their dictatorial, banana republic approach to governing, why are they even having another vote? Why not just 'decree' that Democrats don't have to follow the law, aren't required to follow senate rules and cut-off dates, and don't have to disclose the costs, hearing dates, sponsorship, and voting records of legislators? Why are they even pretending to follow the rules or abide by the Constitution? Such strictures only apply to us mere mortals, not to the demi-gods in the Democrat party.

During the debate on the Senate floor yesterday, Democrats didn't even allow for a full discussion, voting to cut-off and truncate debate. Rodney Tom's exasperated "let's get on with it" captured perfectly the Democrats' arrogance. Citizens worked for 300 days to qualify and pass I-960, waited nearly a year for a unanimous state supreme court rejecting Lisa Brown's lawsuit, and yet Democrats whined about spending a couple of hours discussing the ramifications and implications of eviscerating this 3 time voter-approved policy.

The Democrats' scheme is to screw over the taxpayers, while making sure we never find out who screwed us and by how much.

Indict, Try, Punish

Senate Bill 6843 completely eliminates I-960's 2/3's vote requirement, cost projections, Sunshine on legislators' sponsorship and voting records on tax-hiking bills, and other transparency provisions. This excerpt comes from last week's hearing.

"Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the committee, I appreciate you calling on me. It's unusual to have one of your colleagues testify on a bill that's not sponsored by them so I'll be breaking away from protocol today.

"Madame Chair, for the record I am Senator Don Benton from the 17th District and I am here to speak in strong opposition to Senate Bill 6843 not only on behalf of my district but also on behalf of all citizens of the state of Washington as well.

"As a person who had a strong involvement in drafting this initiative, especially its sunshine provisions, I must ask you, ladies and gentlemen, what does the phrase “Will of the people” mean to you?

"I know what it means to me.

"What it means to me is that the people of this state have spoken and as their elected representatives we must listen.

"Why do we fear the will of the people in this state so much? Does I-960 make raising taxes more difficult? No question, of course it does. But who ever said that the job of governing should be or is easy? We all know that it is not.

"As one of those who worked hard in developing I-960, I remind this committee that there is much more to 6843 than simply removing the two-thirds vote requirement. And this is a big concern to me.

"I said back in 2007, on the day this initiative as filed, and here is my quote from that day 'Too many of our citizens find the legislative process a mystery. And too often, legislators hear more from the lobbyists and the special interest groups than from average citizens. The sunshine provisions in the Taxpayer Protection Initiative will aim a needed spotlight on Olympia and will provide valuable information in a user-friendly format to my fellow representatives, the public, and the press. They promise increased dialogue between the people and their representatives. I'm proud of my contribution to the drafting of this important initiative and sincerely hope the voters will support it this year.'

"Well, they did support it, Madam Chair, as you well know.

"This bill removes functions and systems that enhance transparency and improve upon the ability for the people to know what we are doing and why we are doing it. Why would the legislature of this state again hide its deliberations? Why does public knowledge frighten so many here?

"Why are we having a hearing on this bill so soon after it was dropped? How is that “transparent?”

"The issue of transparency is not limited to what our government at the federal level is doing. That concept must apply to all levels of government, including ours. Any effort to ignore the expressed will of the people should be given the due process necessary to allow those same people to study this effort and weigh in on our deliberations before we throw this particular baby out with the bath water.

"I implore you, ladies and gentlemen. Do not follow the example that has been recently set at the federal level that has done so very much to alienate the people from their government, causing such widespread dissatisfaction and consternation among the people we govern.

"I would ask this body: do not take this course to again eliminate the people's voice from what we do. To do so is to disenfranchise the hundreds of thousands of people who assigned us this requirement. To do so, in my opinion, is to laugh in the face of a recent, state-wide vote where the people considered all sides of this issue and voted their conscience and their desires for how our government should operate.

"In closing, I like to remind you, my colleagues in the senate, that our judgment does not supersede those we would govern. Thank you for your time."

State Senator Don Benton, in Olympia, 1/3/10

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The Olympia Democrats should listen to Don Benton, and th epeople of Washington State. But the Democrats are no longer about Democracy, but doing what they want. Their response to the people has been, 'screw you, we are going to rule you.' These criminals far exceed the bounds of lawful government.

Indict, Try, Punish.

Arrogant Democrats Decide Democracy Does Not Apply To Them 1/3/2010

On Wednesday, Olympia's Democrats introduced their long-anticipated, yet still maddening repeal-of-Initiative-960's-policies bill. The public hearing on it was scheduled less than 24 hours later, illustrating perfectly their lack of desire to hear from the people. What follows are excerpts from Tim Eyman's address to the Washington State Legislature.

"The taxpayers have to follow the law, but this bill exempts you from it. The people must abide by the Constitution, but this bill means you are above it.

"Voters have approved I-960's policies 3 times, in 1993, 1998, and 2007. Yet without hesitation, Olympia's Democrats are getting rid of them. Voters have made clear that if state government is going to raise taxes, it must be a last resort requiring either 2/3's of politicians or a majority vote of the people. But I-960 also required more public transparency and more public notice to deter you from sidestepping the rules -- but you're sidestepping them anyway.

"Democrats in Olympia are violating the law, sidestepping the Constitution, and eliminating the publics right to know what they're doing.

"What's particularly galling is to watch you take a hatchet to the sunshine provisions of this initiative. To make an argument that the voters don't have a right to know what you're doing, don't have a right to know what your voting records are, especially when you slap emergency clauses on bills to make them exempt from the citizens' right to referendum, is a belief that you are somehow above the law and that the people don't have a right to know what you're doing.

"When the voters elect you, they don't elect you to rule over them, only to represent them.

"And they asked you, told you, 3 times in a row that it ought to be tougher to raise taxes. Now for those who say 'we can't possibly live under these rules' well, you just have for the past two years. The system is working exactly the way the voters wanted it to be done. The voters are being told when you are introducing bills, finding out how much they cost, they're having an opportunity to interact with their elected officials. You don't like the reaction you're getting because all your bills are raising taxes and fees on 'em, but that's the kind of interaction the voters had in mind when they voted for it.

"But they also said if you can't get 2/3's of your colleagues to sign on to a tax-raising bill, put it before the voters. You're not even trying that, you're not even giving the facade that you're even trying to abide by the provisions of it. You're just chucking 'em because the 2 years is up, so now you don't have to the listen to the people anymore.

"I'll close with this Madam Chair because there are other people who want to testify....

"No citizen can do what the Legislature is doing now. Imagine an average citizen saying, well, you know what, I'm not going to pay my taxes, I'm going to wait 2 years and exempt myself from those rules. Or a trucker who says, you know what, I don't want to pay my rent, I'm going to wait 2 years and exempt myself from the requirement. You're abiding by rules that no citizen would ever be able to get away with. And everybody is wondering why are we doing an initiative that's restating a law (the 2/3's) that's already on the books.

"And it's because you guys are saying that 3 times from the voters isn't enough. And that apparently you need to hear 4 times from the voters before you actually start listening to them. I really encourage you to drop going after this stuff about the transparency provisions, getting rid of the 2/3's is bad enough.

"And for you to stick your finger in the eye of the voters and tell them they have no right to know what's going on, that is the height of arrogance."

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We must indict, convict, and punish the politicians who would overthrow our democracy.

Anti-Democracy movement gains steam

There are two reasons to be against anti-initiative bills: (1) the democratic system is working (2) the enemies of democracy want to stop it from working. In Washington State, the union bosses are anti-democracy.

"If you see a signature gatherer, we suggest you ask signature gatherers if they are being paid, find out their names and take their pictures (alone). We would like to identify as many as possible." -- Washington State Council of County and City Employees (AFSCME - AFL-CIO) Quote source Incidentally, they took my photo at a Tea Party rally.

"Keep an eye out. The best way to beat this is at the signature gathering stage. Please let us know if you see those paid signature hunters in your area and let them know in no uncertain terms what their job will do to your job!" -- Washington State Council of County and City Employees (AFSCME - AFL-CIO)

"If you see a signature gatherer, call us. We want to do all we can to stop them." -- Washington State Council of County and City Employees (AFSCME - AFL-CIO)

The essence of democracy is the legislature that is under the control of the people at large. In Washington state, the control is manifest in both balloting and the initiative process. A legislature that attempt to control the people will eventually face their wrath.

To the Legislature: Leave the people's initiative process unmolested. Its good advice. We must resist the anti-initiative bills: HB 2614; HB 2613; HB 2397; and HB 2615.