Janitor challenges incumbent senator

John Moyna – perhaps the biggest underdog in any of this year’s state legislative elections – agrees a little with Republicans, a bit with Democrats and a bit more with Libertarians.

Many of his platforms, however, clearly aren’t supported by any well-known political party.

“He’s a puppet and robot of the secret controllers,” Moyna said, referring to President Bush. “The secret controllers are the super-rich elite secret controllers of global government and power politics. It’s all a systematic, conspiratorial effort to combine politics, economics and spirituality into a mandatory organization that people have to be a member of. That’s the way I see what’s happening.”

Moyna, the night janitor at Dick’s Hamburgers, is challenging the incumbent Democratic Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown.

He has an uphill battle. While Brown has raised more than $220,000 in campaign contributions, Moyna isn’t accepting them. In the August primary, Brown topped Moyna with 76 percent of the vote.

Among the more dramatic changes Moyna proposes for Olympia is for the state to take over all banks and insurance companies.

“If there’s no private banking, the secret controllers would not be able to manipulate the economy,” said Moyna, who also accuses Democrats and Republicans of implementing communist policies.

If re-elected, Brown likely will play a large roll in shaping the state’s response to forecasted budget deficits brought on by the faltering economy.

“Basically, everything will be on the table, from slowing down programs to cutting expenditures,” she said.

Brown said she, in general, doesn’t support raising taxes next year, but added she might agree to rolling back some tax exemptions.

“It’s not a good time to raise taxes because people are already reeling from high gas prices and food prices and so forth,” Brown said.

Brown recently garnered headlines by challenging in the state Supreme Court the voter-approved requirement that tax increases receive a two-thirds vote from state lawmakers. Moyna criticizes the move as going against the will of state voters, but Brown said she believes the rule is unconstitutional.

“This initiative is disrupting that balance of power in a way that was not intended by the framers of the constitution,” she said.

The incumbent senator said reality dictates that local governments will need to contribute money to the north Spokane freeway and light rail project in order to get the state money needed to finish construction.

“The writing is on the wall that we’re going to need some regional support as well,” she said. “When the region steps forward and says, ‘We are also putting resources into something,’ that helps move you to the top of the line.”

Moyna argues that the state should eliminate the business and occupation tax and all property taxes on residential properties. He also supports the creation of an income tax, but only on global and national corporations. He says freeways, including Interstate 90, should be toll roads. He doesn’t support using taxes to support public schools and suggests that parents could make donations to pay for their kids’ educations. He opposes fluoridating water systems and blames fluoridation in other places he has lived for the loss of all of his top teeth.

Brown said she believes sex education, including information about birth control, should be taught in public schools. She also said she has no problem with evolution being taught, as well. Moyna said no sex education should be in public schools, and that creationism, not evolution, should be part of curriculum.

Evolution is “just another idea for the secret controllers to get people brainwashed to go along with their materialist go-along-to-get-along philosophy,” Moyna said.