February 12, 2010 in Opinion

Democrats take wrong approach on I-960

There were theatrics and bombast to go around on Wednesday when the Washington state Senate took up and eventually suspended Initiative 960.

The voter-approved measure, which would require two-thirds approval for lawmakers to raise any taxes this session, doesn’t go away permanently – assuming the House concurs – just long enough to let the Democratic majority do what it feels it must to see the state through this recession-plagued biennium.

And what it feels it must do is raise taxes – which most Republicans emphatically oppose. Democrats have numbers, given to them by the voters, in the form of solid but not 960-proof margins in both the House and Senate. Republicans have 960, which voters put on the ballot in 2007 and then approved.

So, even though the ideological breakdown was evident, the senators orated for hours about defending fragile constituencies versus honoring the will of the people. And under Washington’s Constitution, the ultimate authority for lawmaking clearly resides with the people, whether they delegate it to their elected representatives in the Legislature or use the hands-on initiative process.

By putting I-960 on hold, by making that an urgent priority out of the gate, majority Democrats sent a discouraging message to ailing taxpayers who were hoping for a more earnest run at cost-cutting. Curiously, the majority has invoked an economic crisis as justification for tax hikes, but has adamantly refused to acknowledge the same reason for reopening contract negotiations with state labor groups.

For the record, initiatives are a clumsy way to make law, and we recommended in 2007 that voters turn down 960. The voters spurned that sound advice, however, and it’s a good bet that they will come back this year with a sharp reminder to lawmakers that they want it restored.

In seeming anticipation of that reaction, the Senate suspended not only the supermajority requirement in 960 but also a package of transparency provisions, one of which would display individual lawmakers’ tax votes in the state voter’s pamphlet.

We may not be crazy about Initiative 960, but if the Democratic majority in Olympia wants to persuade taxpayers that it’s sensitive to their circumstances, it needs to reconsider its strategy.

To respond online, click on Opinion under the Topics menu at www.spokesman.com.

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Nine comments on this story so far. Add yours!

JBlim on February 12 at 7:07 a.m.
The Republican solution is just stick your head in the sand, pretend there is no deficit and repeat the tired old rhetoric about cutting taxes. It didn’t work on the national scale when GW Bush doubled the national debt and then destroyed the economy. Hey I got an idea. Instead of limiting the blame to labor, let’s have the state tell ALL it’s suppliers it’s cutting the price they pay for all their supplies. Yup, you, janitor, 10% pay cut, and you, Dell, you get 10% less for your computers. Sorry Avista, 10% off for your energy bill. That would go over just swell. I bet the Spokesman will only back cutting the janitor’s pay 10%, though. Employees are an easy mark.
horse_feathers on February 12 at 8:23 a.m.
The working people of this country are tired of having our money confiscated by both of the major parties. Obama has not only continued Bush’s national debt follies he has multiplied them.
JBlem, Can you say “Tea Party”?
mmspowaus on February 12 at 4:11 p.m.
Jblim you partisan twit.
Obama and the DNC who own the congress and the Whitehouse for now, have increased the deficit more than ALL OTHER PRESIDENTS COMBINED.
This is clearly on the DNC watch. You can try to do the Obama thing and blame Bush and the GOP, but the public has wised up to the point their not buying what you are selling. The biggest fault of the GOP and Bush; they didn’t scream loud enough when the DNC took over in 2007 and negatively tweaked the banking laws and Fanny & Freddie. IT WAS THEIR WATCH, AND THEY FAILED TO SOUND THE ALARM.
What’s up next for the national body politic?
There was an old story about an MIS manager who went to work in a hostel, high-pressure company. The previous MIS manager who was a competent sojourner retired.
When the new manager started his job, he found in his desk three sequentially numbered envelopes labeled ONE, TWO, THREE. A note was included that read “Open when the job is getting rough in sequential order.”
The new job was fine and for a year things went well. Then things started to unravel; the new MIS manager opened the first envelope. The letter inside only had one sentence:
“Blame your predecessor”
The new MIS manager had nothing to lose and did just that. The troubles seem to vanish. About a year later the pressure return. Desperate to keep his job, the new MIS manager opened the second envelope. This letter also had only one word
“Reorganize”
Likewise the MIS manger reorganized. Again, like magic the heat was off. The MIS manger had survived. About 18 months went by, just approaching his 4th anniversary with the company, the pressure and rhetoric had returned.
As a last ditch effort to keep his job, the MIS manager opened the final envelope.
It again had only one sentence:
“Make three envelopes”
The Obama administration and the lemming democrats have been blaming previous administrations to the point that they are becoming a laughingstock and a punch line. Expect reorganization soon….
JBlim on February 12 at 5:24 p.m.
matt, you are mistaken. I know actual facts make you go haywire but here it is:
Total Public Debt Outstanding
inauguration day George W Bush:
01/20/2001 $5,727,776,738,304.64
inauguration day Barack Obama:
01/20/2009 $10,626,877,048,913.08
today:
02/11/2010 $12,349,324,464,284.28
source:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/NPGateway
Who’s the partisan twit?
Too bad we now have to suffer from the poor decisions Bush made for 8 long years, like attacking Iraq for “WMD’s” and then not funding his wars. But what are you getting all hot and bothered about. Let’s see who was it that said, “Deficits don’t matter.” Hmmm…
mmspowaus on February 13 at 9:37 p.m.
I still must insist you are a DNC partisan twit, JBlim. Your sophomoric analysis compares apples to oranges. First off the CONGRESS is mostly responsible for spending. The last two years of Bush term was dominated by mooncalf legislators lead by true American traitors such as Chris “Kick Back” Dodd and Barney “Fannie Mae” Frank.
Bush in his first year increased the debt by 200 billion. This is in part due to 9-11-2001.
Military buildup is an expensive process; but in exchange, we have not had an attack on US soil, yet. Under the Obama administration and their demonstrated lack of expertise or just common sense, America will most likely be attacked in 2010-2011 according to security experts.
The Obama administration has increased the debt in a year by 2 trillion dollars. This is ten times what Bush did in the same amount of time. What socialist Obama and the DNC have on the table will increase it to 20+ trillion by the end of his term. As I stated in my last post; this will be more than all other previous presidents COMBINED.
Frankly I feel that moderate GOP folks should be held accountable as the DNC since they did not shout and scream when Dodd, Frank and the DNC changed the banking laws that really jack up the debt at the end of Bush’s term.
Bush knew about the problems of Fannie and Freddie early in his first term but put in on the back burner. When the DNC took over congress in 2006, Bush should have shrieked his lungs out on the issue; but didn’t. This perhaps was his greatest failure.
JBlim on February 14 at 12:06 p.m.
matt, thanks for admitting you’re wrong, Your claim now is that the debt “will be” doubled under Obama. Everybody knows (well except you, I guess) that the $2 trillion during Obama’s first year was mostly for bailouts agreed to by both parties to get us out of a looming 1930’s style depression that started before Obama took office. Contrast that with Bush’s first year in office where the debate was what to do with the surplus generated by the Clinton years. Bush still managed to spend more money that all the other presidents in history combined, and it wasn’t quality spending either, most of it was wasted on his moronic search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. You really seem unable to see reality objectively.
mmspowaus on February 15 at 3:57 a.m.
Jblim:
By your own words you have proven my original premise.
You are indeed a partisan twit.
You insist on blaming just the GOP for the ills of the nation when in fact both parties merit blame. I outlined some of the major players yet you like a DNC lemming seem to only wish to chant the “blame Bush” mantra
You even see my summary of the recent history as where I “admit I was wrong” when in fact that is not the case. My goal was sober analysis, yours the readers can only speculate.
Jblim, illogically blaming a person or group for all ills is neither healthy nor productive. The DNC is mostly to blame for the failure of Fannie, Freddie and banking industry regulation. Bush and the GOP are to blame because they did not ring the warning bell and COULD HAVE. This is a matter of fact so I will not waste time on further debate.
The GOP chose not to sound the alarm of the heinous changes Frank, Dodd and the DNC majority were doing to the system in 2007.. This is the genesis of the financial crisis at the end of 2008 and lead to an Obama overwhelming victory, a 60% majority in the Senate and a strong majority in the House.
With their new found dominate majorities, the DNC, stoned with power sought to recreate America to their socialist vision; regardless of the want by the people or the cost to nation; thus the proposed 20 trillion dollar debt. More than ALL OTHER PRESIDENT”S AND CONGRESSES COMBINED.
Loyalty is a good thing if it is merited. The DNC and the Obama administration by their actions have not earned loyality with various municipalities as elections in the last two years have indicated. 2010 we be the first nationwide testimony of dissatisfaction with the hard turn to socialism.
Wil you still blame Bush then, Jblim?
JBlim on February 15 at 9:37 a.m.
Matt, there is nothing wrong with holding individuals accountable for their actions. That is not being partisan. You really have a problem communicating without name calling don’t you? Frustrated? Maybe you need reality-based arguments to support your case. (Good luck with that!) The fact is you claimed Obama and the DNC doubled the national debt. I provided you with actual facts from a credible site disproving your statement. George Bush was the president from 1-21-2001 until President Obama took office. It was under his Bush’s watch that the federal debt doubled. He could have vetoed much of that spending. He could have lead the nation on a different tract, but he didn’t. He led us into costly a war of choice in Iraq and he gave tax cuts to the wealthy for ideological reasons. Dick Cheney told us all “deficits don’t matter.” Obviously, they didn’t matter much to George Bush and the Republicans in congress.
mmspowaus on February 15 at 6:11 p.m.
If it walks like a duck…Jblim…
I stand by my words and history….