Chris Christie Stumps for Rob McKenna

Chris Christie stumped for Rob McKenna last week.  Here is one of the things he had to say:

"Now I'm sure Congressman Inslee is a nice guy. But here's the problem: He's Congressman Inslee. And he's been part of the problem in Washington, D.C. And I'm going to tell you something: You don't want to import Washington, D.C. problems to Washington State. You need a New Direction, and Rob's going to give it to you."

Governor Christie is a Republican with a Democratic legislature, but he's managed to balance the budget, rally the state around education accountability and reform, and lead the charge on job creation that has been dubbed, "The New Jersey Comeback."

Governor Christie is a setting a New Direction in New Jersey. Now it's Washington's turn and it starts with you. Vote for Rob McKenna.

~~~~~~~~

KING5 television screwed up their report with an attempt to minimize the importance of Christie's support. Its pathetic and funny.  Here's the link.

Ads for Governor

I watched the Inslee advertizement and Mr McKenna's ads.

The "progressive" Inslee connects better with the ordinary public even though his ads make little sense. The theme of his ads runs "Here is my family. I believe in the future. I believe in the public. Jobs." The audience is led to fantasize the ads mean whatever they like.

Republican Mr McKenna gives summaries of what he thinks. He also introduced his family, then went on to outline his plan for government; lower taxes and fair regulation. He should have added that lower taxes and fair regulation would promote jobs. Lower taxes and fair regulation will also help the family owned business.

Jobs are a warm and fuzzy button issue for this election cycle. The politician who does not mention jobs cripples himself.

The "progressives" are trying to paint McKenna as an enemy of jobs and progress. The "progressives" themselves want to us back in the 19th century -- its clear they mean one party rule when they say "progress."

The "Progressive" Democrats have run this state for 30 years. They made an regulatory environment painful to the citizen and suitable only for their big business buddies. A change would be a fresh breeze.

~~~~~~~~

Inslee ads are promoting the idea that some industries should receive preferential treatment from state government in order to promote jobs.

If Inslee is elected and actually does this, this is what special treatment will be: Inslee will routinely use taxpayer money to support his favorite companies.

What happens when government is "partner" to private companies? It is a path to taxmoney sinkholes. A never ending stream of public resources are wasted to promote some politician's friends. No public benefit ever manifests.

~~~~~~~~

C'mon, McKenna, I'm rootin' for you.

Murray and the Democrats Play With Your Paycheck

Sen. Patty Murray

Senate Democrats are willing to use your paycheck to play political hardball on taxes unless Republicans agree to President Obama's plan to raise taxes on America's top earners.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Monday announced that Democrats are willing to allow a slew of tax cuts and spending expire if Republicans refuse to raise taxes on the wealthy, potentially inching the country off a "fiscal cliff."

"If we can't get a good deal, a balanced deal, that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013, rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus,"

Murray's notion of a "fair share" is nebulous.  According to the Wall Street Journal, the top 1% of the wealthy pay 40% of the taxes in the country.  She also neglected the fact that 47% of the US does not pay any taxes at all.

Murray is a Senate budget committee member and former co-chair of the debt supercommittee.

Sources Yahoo, Foxnews

Ban of the Killer Plastic Bag

The Seattle City Clowncil enacted law against killer plastic bags.    Paper bags will still be available at most locations for the mandated price of a nickel each. 

"Bring your own bag" is the message the mindless nitwits of the Clowncil says they are trying to promulgate.

The supposed increase in pollution is cited as the cause for the plastic bag ban. When nailed down, the Clowncil members insist there is too many plastic bags in the landfills.  Never mind plastic trash is only 0.4% of landfill trash. 

The Clowncil should have enacted a recycling program.  But its more fun to tell a formerly free people they aren't free anymore.

The People's right to rule is challenged.

Initiative 1053 was overturned by the power hungry King County Superior Court Judge Bruce Heller.  

The leftist legislators who backed the court challenge patted themselves on the back, saying they would be able to fund education now the will of the People was out of the way.  

There is no truth to their lies.  The state of Washington spent a total of  $32.1 billion in 2011.  Of that, $17.3 billion of state funds was spent on education, leaving almost $15 billion for the legislature to spend on other pursuits. 

The right of the People to informed self-rule is absolute.  Law cannot be based on misleading the People. 

Law should be consistent.  This is the reason why law should be written down  ---  so law is forced to be consistent with the written record.  If law is not consistent in application or content, it is unfair.

When law is disregarded and a judge goes on making up law form the bench, that is a form of terrorism.  Law is no longer consistent, law is no longer reliable.

If law is not consistent, then law which states racial discrimination is illegal no longer matters.  Terror ensues.

If law about property is abandoned, then property is automatically forfeited to the control of terrorist [government].

Many "progressive" judges willingly legislate from the bench, saying their ruling is constitutional.  But there is no part of the written constitution they base their new law on.  They are practicing terrorist adjudication.

Those judges should be tried for this crime against the right of the People to govern themselves.  "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, Article 1, Section 1)

Especially offensive is the statement by big tax coalition that "Initiative 1053 allows a small segment of the Legislature to overturn the principal of majority rule."  The majority of the People made this decision.  The legislature derives its authority from the People, so if the legislature whines about it, the legislature is out of line.

Olympia is too transparent -- Kline

State Sen. Adam Kline announced he is resigning from the Public Records Exemptions Accountability Committee (The Sunshine Committee), over whether jurors should be able to serve on juries despite no legal eligibility.  Kline indicated government does not need to be that clear about government.

"[W]hile couched in innocent terms as an enhancement of the public’s right to know … is to create a public scandal about illegal aliens serving on Washington juries and use it to advance legislation requiring photo identification for voters and/or requiring citizenship for drivers licenses," Kline wrote.

Kline said he felt strongly about the committee’s fundamental purpose but believes the balance of  power had swung too far in the direction of transparent government.

“The public as a whole, in my view, has equal and competing interests in transparency and privacy,” he wrote, “and I believe strongly that the rightful role of the committee is to reach a balance between the two. That view is not shared by the majority of the committee, in which the press is numerically dominant.”

Seattle should consider retiring Adam Kline.

More at The Olympia Report 

State’s ‘social-purpose corporation’ law to take effect in June

by Jeff Rhodes

Business owners who also dabble in social activism were granted legal cover during the just-concluded Washington state legislative session in the form of a bill that would protect [politically correct] “social-purpose corporations” from lawsuits filed by investors more concerned with making money than advancing a personal agenda.

And vice versa.

Passed by both houses of the Democrat-controlled state Legislature and signed into law by Democrat Gov. Christine Gregoire, the new law allows companies as of June to charter themselves as social-purpose corporations (SPCs) with the stated objective of pursuing social goals in addition to profits.

And having done so, SPC corporate officers cannot be sued by stockholders more interested in seeing a financial return on their investment than they are, for example, in saving the whales.

Conversely, an SPC’s stockholders now have a tool with which to challenge their company’s directors if they appear more concerned with making money than in the social goals investors were told they embraced.

“There is a growing community of socially responsible, sustainable businesses that want to be able to safely pursue the profit motive, like they historically have done, but also want to be able to pursue specified environmental or social purposes,” John Reed, a lobbyist with the Washington State Bar Association, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. “They want to be able to do that in a way that is flexible but in a manner that’s transparent to shareholders.”

Under the law, new companies have the option of organizing as an SPC, and an existing company can re-charter as an SPC with the approval of two-thirds of its shareholders.

Exactly what social purpose (or purposes) the company then decides to pursue are more or less its own affair, but the law broadly suggests goals that are “intended to promote positive short-term or long-term effects of, or minimize adverse short-term or long-term effects of, the corporation’s activities upon any or all of (1) the corporation’s employees, suppliers or customers; (2) the local, state, national or world community; or (3) the environment.”

“One of the hallmarks of these corporations,” Reed explained, “is that it’s the shareholders who decide what the social purpose is to be when they set it up.”

Several states, including New Jersey, Vermont, Maryland, Virginia, California and Hawaii, have statutes allowing for the creation of “benefit corporations.”

Washington’s law is similar, but more flexible.

“A benefit corporation is one of the models that would fit under our law,” Reed said, “but others would, too.”

As written, Washington’s social-purpose corporations would be required to notify prospective investors that their goals would not be limited to earning a profit. Also, a copy of its annual report must be posted on the company’s website to show how it fulfilled its social aims.

“It’s important that the company actually live up to its billing,” said Sen. Adam Kline (D-Seattle). “We don’t want a company claiming to be a social service corporation for marketing purposes when it’s really driven by profits.”

Drafters of the new law, a committee of lawyers within the Washington State Bar Association, reportedly spent nearly two years to create a structure that would serve the needs of various enterprises including, the owner-managed microenterprise; the venture-funded startup; the late-stage, privately held company; the wholly owned subsidiary of a public company; and, the publicly traded enterprise.

“We do need a new business model in Washington state that addresses the needs of investors who are trying to create businesses that do more than just maximize profits,” said Stephanie Ryan, development director for B Lab, a Seattle-based nonprofit that recruits and promotes benefit corporations . “(The law) does not require corporations to pursue social or environmental concerns. It simply gives businesses permission to consider these ideas if they choose to.”

Budget Going to Gregoire

"The Washington state Legislature approved a supplemental budget Wednesday, setting the stage for adjournment of a double overtime legislative session.

The Senate passed the measure on a 44-2 bipartisan vote, sending it to the governor for her signature. The House earlier passed the negotiated agreement on a 64-34 vote. Lawmakers worked through the early morning hours passing several bills before taking up the budget"

from The Spokesman Review

The Governor's New Budget Package

Governor Christine Gregoire announced that she is drafting a “compromise budget plan” that would include many of the legislatures “contentious proposals” into one package – to include raising taxes (naturally).

This proposal will be reviewed by House and Senate Leadership. At this time Gregoire would not reveal the specifics of the options or specific taxes. She publicly stated that “in the next 48 hours we could have an agreement.”

Lawmakers are trying to close roughly a half a billion dollar budget imbalance for the next two year budget cycle ending June 2013.

Mark Gjurasic

Bellingham ends photo ticketing plans

Legitimate government draws power only from the ongoing consent of the governed. For this to happened, those people in government have to be listening in intimate contact with the people they govern.

Red light cameras disturb me because they put an automatic, mechanical element between the people and law enforcement. The cameras appeal to government because they are cheap, easy to operate, and efficient law-enforcement. But they isolate government from those they govern.

The Bellingham city council made the right decision.

From The Newspaper.com, March 27, 2012

The city council in Bellingham voted 6-1 Monday night to respect the wishes of voters and pull out of a red light camera and speed camera contract. The city entered an agreement with American Traffic Solutions (ATS) in May 2011 to install the devices, ignoring local activists who had been collecting signatures for a ballot measure opposing camera use.

After a long and drawn out legal battle, the camera ban was placed on the ballot as an advisory measure in November and earned 68 percent of the vote. The same election replaced then-Mayor Dan Pike, the man responsible for the camera contract, with Mayor Kelli Linville who said during the campaign that the cameras were a mistake.

"I think that the mayor and the city council need to pay a lot of attention about what the public thinks about this," Linville said during an October 21 debate. "I personally don't think that it's a good way to generate revenue. The studies show it's not necessarily a good way to make them safer."

Linville and the council approved a settlement that gives ATS $100,000 to break the contract.

From the Bellingham Herald.com March 27, 2012

The money paid to ATS will come from the general fund reserves, but staffing changes she instituted in the mayor's office will save more than that amount each year, Linville said. The dollar amount was a product of negotiations, she said, with the city starting with a lower number and ATS starting with a higher number.

Bellingham would have paid ATS more than $450,000 per year for the cameras. Linville said ATS was willing to approve the new deal because several communities in Washington state have had problems installing and keeping the cameras, and the company knew she didn't support the program. ... "I believe the approach we have crafted together is fair to both parties and, most importantly, supports our citizens' wishes," Linville said in the release. "In working through this matter, American Traffic Solutions has acted as a responsive, respectful vendor and I appreciate the company's willingness to work with us."