Will Of The People Compelled Decision

Poor Tim Eyman threw a tantrum on Tuesday, tearing up a campaign sign and flinging the shreds around a King County courtroom. The fast-talking souvenir watch salesman had just been forced to sit in silence while a judge shredded his attempt to pose as a maker of laws. Initiative 695 violates the Washington state Constitution, said Superior Court Judge Robert Alsdorf.

Voters surely shared some of Eyman’s disappointment - although folks hurt by the service cuts I-695 caused in their communities may not be feeling so fond of Eyman’s initiative now.

Nevertheless, it is a serious moment for representative democracy when voters make a resounding decision and a judge overturns their decision. Aren’t the people in charge?

Yes, they are. And that is why the state Legislature should enact - in a constitutional manner - a repeal of the motor vehicle excise tax. Whatever else voters thought they were doing when they approved I-695, they clearly wanted that tax to go.

However, voters have been in charge in this state for a long time and the highest expression of their will, accumulated over 111 years, is found in the state Constitution on which Alsdorf based his ruling.

It is a shortsighted conceit to think that one small-minded initiative could brush aside a century of constitutional wisdom.

Over the decades Washington voters have learned lessons from numerous battles, many of them nobler than Eyman’s cause - a tax break weighted to the wealthy at the expense of cuts in public transportation, law enforcement and public health.

Among the lessons placed in the Constitution over the decades - lessons Alsdorf enforced - are these:

When the people consider making law by initiative, each initiative must be described accurately and clearly on the ballot.

Each initiative should involve only one subject, rather than mushing a few different reforms under one heading.

Ours is a representative form of government and decisions by our representatives can only be repealed one at a time, by following in each case the rules for submitting a referendum to the voters. I-695’s attempt to force an automatic referendum on every tax or fee increase conflicts with these constitutional principles.

It should be difficult and time-consuming to amend the Constitution on which our liberty and the stability of our government depend.

So, let the motor vehicle excise tax go - unfortunate as that will be for a state with a regressive tax burden and a seriously inadequate transportation system.

But let us stick with our Constitution, let us applaud the judge who had the courage to enforce it and let us be more cautious whenever we consider making law by initiative. Too often, initiative authors make mistakes that cause serious problems down the road.