OLYMPIA — Proposed changes to the state's initiative laws were blasted as unconstitutional, arrogant and un-American by a Republican senator who tried to block them Thursday.

No, they're an attempt to bring modernize the system and protect it, said the Democrat who sponsored the changes.

In a series of 4-3 votes, the Senate Government Operations Committee rejected most attempts by Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, to change the proposal and sent it to the next step of the legislative process. Senate Bill 5297 would raise the fee for filing an initiative from the current $5 to $500, require businesses that pay people to gather signatures to register with the state and require paid signature gatherers to present photo identification whenever asked.

“Last time I checked, we live in America,” said Benton in explaining an amendment to strip out provisions for paid-signature collectors to have identification. “We don't have to carry papers. You shouldn't have to provide a photo ID to anybody other than law enforcement.”

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Just a week after saying he was sticking in the U.S. Senate race, State Sen. Don Benton dropped out and endorsed the man he labeled the “establishment” candidate, Dino Rossi.

In a press release, Benton, a Vancouver Republican and former chairman of the state party, said the party needs to “consolidate our resources and work together to put our country back on track.”

“Therefore, since this campaign has never been about me, I have decided to do what is best for my country, my party, and my fellow Washingtonians: I am stepping aside to endorse Dino Rossi,” Benton said in a press release.

Rossi formally entered the race last week, after months of speculation which drained much of the attention from Benton and the dozen or so other Republicans already running. Benton officially entered the race in February, and had raised $121,000 by the end of March; Rossi’s campaign said Thursday it raised $600,000 in one week.

After Rossi made his candidacy official last week, Benton vowed to stay in the quest to be one of two candidates to survive the Aug. 17 primary. As a three-term incumbent and the only recognizable Democrat in the race, Patty Murray is expected easily to take one of those spots, leaving one for the crowded field of challengers.

Benton called Rossi a friend, but suggested he had the wrong connections: “We can no longer look to the establishment to turn our economy and our country around. The people want an independent voice that will take on both parties and stand up for common sense and fiscal responsibility.”

All announced candidates must file their paperwork and pay the filing fee by next Friday to have a spot on the primary ballot.

ino Rossi’s long expected entrance into the U.S. Senate race did not prompt a mass exodus by other Republican candidates Wednesday. Several said they welcomed the competition of the former state senator who has been weighing the race for months.

Rossi, who announced his candidacy on the Internet early Wednesday morning after months of weighing his options, has statewide name recognition from two runs for governor and enters the race with the support of top Senate Republicans. But at least five active GOP candidates said they’ll stick in the race.

That includes state Sen. Don Benton of Vancouver, who has amassed a list of endorsements from GOP office holders, and former NFL player and Connell farmer Clint Didier who has the support of Sarah Palin.

Voters will now have a choice between a “GOP established candidate or a citizen statesman who is a part of the grass roots movement,” Didier said in a press release after Rossi’s 7 a.m. announcement was posted on the Internet.

Benton called Rossi a friend whom he will enjoy debating, while taking a shot at Rossi’s Washington, D.C., establishment backing: “We can no longer look to the establishment to turn our economy and our country around. The people want an independent voice that will take on both parties and stand up for common sense and fiscal responsibility.”

Sean Salazar, a Seattle chiropractor who specializes in sports injuries, offered to drop out months ago and support Rossi if the former gubernatorial candidate would get in the race then, spokeswoman Kandy Schendel said, but Rossi took too long to decide. “He’s not going anywhere. We’ve put so much work into this campaign, the volunteers are saying ‘You better not jump the race.’”

Salazar is building a coalition among voters that Rossi and some other Republicans ignore, such as Asian-Americans, African-Americans and Hispanics, she said.

Craig Williams, a PacifiCorp energy trader and real estate broker from Vancouver, said he considers Rossi and all the other GOP candidates friends and won’t run against them. “Our focus is Patty Murray.” He said while Rossi and others court the far right, he’ll seek support from a broader spectrum of Republicans, independents and Democrats in the Top Two primary.
“It’s really not a primary, it’s two general elections in a row,” Williams said.

Paul Akers, a Bellingham businessman, is staying in the race, a spokesman said. He released a statement saying his expertise in “empowering people and eliminating wasteful spending” was what the nation needed.

Skip Mercer, a Seattle physicist and professor at the University of Washington, will likely stay in the race but may run as an independent, his wife Lisa Mercer said. Skip Mercer is on a ship in the Philippine Sea doing research and may not even know that Rossi is formally in the race, she said.

Mercer’s campaign website has a picture of him with Rossi taken months ago. Whether he’ll remove the photo is “a decision he has yet to make,” she said

Only one candidate in the race Tuesday said he was getting out because Rossi was got in. Ed Torres of Orting, a general superintendent for a plumbing firm, said he was throwing his support to Rossi.

Another, Art Coday, a Shoreline physician, “is still in a decision-making process,” a spokesman said.

Washington’s U.S. Senate race may not be on most people’s radar yet. But if you’re a pollster, you’ve gotta love a race with a three-term Democratic incumbent, 10 announced Republican challengers. one potential but unannounced Republican challenger and the national political machines ready to jump into anything with the slightest provocation.

Today there’s word of an Elway Poll which has Sen. Patty Murray up 51% to 34% over Dino Rossi, who’s thinking about the race but hasn’t committed to it yet. The same survey has her up 51% to 27% over Don Benton; 50% to 24% over Clint Didier and 50% to 26% over Paul Akers.

Which is a big difference from yesterday’s Rasmussen Report poll that was:

Murray 48% Rossi 46%
Murray 52% Benton 38%
Murray 51% Didier 36%
Murray 49% Akers 35%

Which was different from the mid April SurveyUSA poll that was:

Rossi 52% Murray 42%
Murray 46% Benton 44%
Murray 46% Didier 44%
Murray 45% Akers 44%

Which was different from the late March Research 2000 poll in Daily Kos that was:

Murray 52% Rossi 41% (they didn’t do the other candidates)

Which, in turn, was different from the Moore Information poll in late January, that was:

Rossi 45% Murray 43% (also did not do the other candidates)

So take your pick, but remember when partisans start talking about “the poll results”, you have to ask “Which poll results?”

The Washington College Republicans just released the results of the straw poll from their recent convention in Spokane, and they’re backing Clint Didier…although with a couple of caveats.

First, while there are 11 announced GOP candidates looking to oust Patty Murray in the U.S. Senate race this year, they only invited the ones “deemed most likely to win the primary.” Of that group, they had a few that declined, David Bergman of the Gonzaga College Republicans said.

Unfortunately, Craig Williams was unable to attend due to a conflict in his work schedule.  Sean Salazar opted to spend the weekend focused on the west side of the state, rather than accepting a request to speak before the gathering of College Republicans from across the state, in the county that contains the largest concentration of elected republicans in the 
state. Chris Widener was also unable to attend,” Bergman wrote in a press release.

So only four showed up. 

Then the group took two straw polls, one for all in attendance and one for just the College Republicans.

Didier finished with 75 percent of the votes in the first, with Paul Akers, Art Coday and Don Benton trailing far behind. Didier got 60 percent in the second, followed by Coday, Akers and Benton.

OLYMPIA – The Legislature would be able to raise taxes this session and next with a simple majority vote under a bill approved Tuesday in the state Senate.

In the most contentious Senate debate this year – one that constantly invoked “the will of the people” and at one point became a showdown between grandmas in the chamber – Democrats suspended the need for a supermajority on tax increases imposed by voters in 2007.

Just hours after a 26-23 victory, however, they said they’d made a mistake and intended to suspend all the requirements of Initiative 960, including the need for statewide advisory votes on any tax they choose to raise. Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, the bill’s prime sponsor, said in an evening press release the majority party will bring up a new version to the Senate floor “as soon as possible … to suspend I-960 in full until July 2011.” (WEDS update: Senate Democrats expect to introduce a bill to “fix” that problem sometime today and suspend all of I-960 for that time period. No time table at this point but watch Spin Control for updates.)

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