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January 14, 2010 in City
Olympia protesters call for reins on federal power
Valley lawmaker leads call for rejection of health care, energy rules
OLYMPIA – The time has come for people who believe in states’ rights to move from protest to political action, a Spokane Valley legislator told a crowd on the steps of the Capitol Building this afternoon.
Rep. Matt Shea, a first-term Republican, told a crowd estimated between 200 and 300 they need to rein in the federal government that’s becoming too powerful and too intrusive.
“We will not suffer government any more telling us how to live our daily lives…buy our health insurance…buy our energy,” Shea said.
He and other House Republicans have introduced a series of bills they say will allow Washington to reassert rights it has under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which essentially reserves to the states anythibng not mentioned in the Constitution.
Among his bills are proposals to nullify any national health care plan in Washington state, nullify any cap and trade system set up on energy, keep the federal government from regulating any firearm manufactured in the state and require federal agents to check with a sheriff before conducting an investigation in a Washington county.
While he called the bills a way to reclaim state sovereignty, prospects of their passage are not good at this point because Republicans are in significant minorities in both houses. Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, a co-sponsor of many of the bills, said they represent issues important to many of the constituents in his rural northeastern Washington district, but may not get committee hearings, let alone floor votes, this year.
“Sometimes it takes three or four years” for issues to pass the Legislalture, Kretz said.
The rally, officially called the Sovereignty Winterfest, included elements of the Tea Party, the 9/12 Project and the Campaign for Liberty,. Two busloads of participants came from Spokane. If the different groups can work together, it could be “a little ripple on the surface that becomes a tsunami,” said George McGrath, a Spokane resident who attended.
They gathered outside the Capitol in intermittent rain, carrying placards with messages like “Defend the Constitution” and “Bill of Rights for All Americans Only”. Mike Fagan, a Spokane activist who ran unsuccessfullly for City Council last year, served as master of ceremonies. The portable toilets, he said had been renamed for the event in honor of Washington’s two U.S. senators and governor.
Members of the group waved yellow flags with a coiled rattlesnake and “Don’t Tread on Me” message. Tom Newcomer of Skagit County unfurled a Confederate battle flag, which he said was a symbol of the fight for states’ rights, not slavery.
“It’s just a battle flag, not a flag flying over a country,” said Newcomer, a former high school English teacher who now works as a security guard. He came to the rally, he added, “to let the people in office know what we think of them.”
Romney/Paul split weighing on county GOP 
Renata29 on January 14 at 3:44 p.m.
I hope they’re the first in line to sign and vote for the initiative legalizing marijuana in Washington state.
“We will not suffer government any more telling us how to live our daily lives…what plants not to use or ingest.”
www.sensiblewashington.org
Pat O'Leary on January 14 at 4:10 p.m.
Looney Tunes….where the hell was Eyeman?
Spokane_PI on January 14 at 4:50 p.m.
The Looney Tunes need the federal government to take care of them as Self Reliance is not in their vocabulary. I cant wait to see what kind of health care plan the lawmakers in Washington DC have negotiated for me….. Cant wait to pay more taxes… Cant wait to pay more for energy…Cant wait to send my money to Washington so that the lawmakers can use it to negotiate the best deal possible for their own state. I am so glad they are ramming the legislation through as fast as possible in the most partison way possible. No reason to wait after all. Dont want anyone to actually read the legislation so that “we the people” can get a look at it. No sir…. I really like having “big union” running Washington. Wait….whats that sound??? Oh its the sound of Jobs moving overseas where there arent unions and the government to run businesses into the ground……
deacon46 on January 14 at 5:13 p.m.
Snce when is the state government any less intrusive than the federal government. Be careful for what you wish for and all politicians like to blame others and take no responsibility for their own actions.
oneandtwo on January 14 at 9:08 p.m.
:Bill of Rights for All Americans Only”.. I musta fell asleep in school. I thought it was the U.S. Bill of Rights. I keep looking for that country called America on the map and all I find is two continents.
No wonder Fagan didnt make the City Council.. that and his “dilligas” email address.
Matt Shea is an attorney. Makes John Ahern look like Ralph Nader. Shea has some weird stuff on youtube and on web sites. Have your straight jacket ready.
Our elected officials are politicians, not born with much honesty nor common sense beholden to the dollar and not the voter. They leave a vaccum in Olympia which sucks in more of the same.
Mr. McGrath should continue what he does best.. sticking it to the City Council.
lewis8457 on January 15 at 7:11 p.m.
sometimes the local or state government wont do anything while the feds will. case in point Officer Thompson, Otto Zehm issue. if the feds hadn’t stepped in nothing would have happened.
I don’t know if i want my federal government cut out. sure they are corrupt and ineffective, but so is my state government.