Please turn to "Free Thoughts" on page 5 and "The Mean Season Comes to Washington" on page 8 for details on why you may want to avoid voting for incumbent Mark Sidran, who for some reason is running unopposed. Please ... please ... pick a write-in candidate. (It must be a lawyer).
Free Press says: NOT Sidran
Seattle City Council - Position 2
While Gerry Lovchik is running on a platform of proportional representation (which many of us here like), we feel uncomfortable with the rest of his views. That leaves incumbent Jane Noland, who has a disturbingly inconsistent voting record and apparently no firm philosophy.
Free Press says: No Endorsement
Seattle City Council - Position 4
The only reason we're endorsing Jan Drago is because her opponent, Norwood Brooks, while publicly pro-choice, has an office-full of Human Life of Washington (anti-choice) people working for him. Drago, though she has a reputation of being difficult to work with, was endorsed by the Harvey Muggy Democrats, among others.
Free Press says: Drago
Seattle City Council - Position 6
Incumbent Tom Weeks is a friend of the gay/lesbian/bisexual community and has the backing of the Rainbow Coalition and Harvey Muggy Demos. He also voted against the ridiculous drug-loitering law. A one-termer, he deserves another shot.
Free Press says: Weeks
Seattle City Council - Position 8
Incumbent Cheryl Chow is a nice woman and talks a lot about parks, but as we said last month, she doesn't really get us excited. Some of us here like challenger Stephanie Summers' position on proportional representation, but the freshly-out-of-school Evergreen grad needs to show us more involvement before getting our endorsement.
Free Press says: No Endorsement
King County Executive
As we said in our last issue, we believe that incumbent Tim Hill, while a moderate Republican, may not have the sensativity and technique to deal with the scads of problems now facing the county, all of which likely will get worse before they can be solved. State Rep. Gary Locke is our clear choice to replace Hill. Locke's politics are less offensive, more inclusive and more befitting of King County.
Free Press says: Locke
King County Council - District 1
Endorsed by the Washington Environ-mental Political Action Committee (WEnPAC), Democrat Maggi Fimia - a transportation, human-services and children's activist - is a clear choice over Republican "common sense" candidate Stan Hess.
Free Press says: Fimia
King County Council - District 3
Not to reduce the King County Council elections to environmental issues, but Louise Miller is so out of it, and Gail Harrell is so together, that Harrell is the obvious choice in this race.
Free Press says: Harrell
King County Council - District 5
We have no reason not to support unopposed incumbent Democract Ron Sims for reelection. His record speaks for itself.
Free Press says: Sims
King County Council - District 7
Federal Way Mayor Bob Stead's no-nonsense approach appeals to us much more than that of conservative Repub-lican Peter von Reichbauer. Stead, a Democrat, is backed by WEnPAC.
Free Press says: Stead
King County Council - District 9
Incumbent Eastside Republican Kent Pullen has a terrible environmental record. We like the idea of having someone like former Jerry Brown campaign leader John Sliwa in office.
Free Press says: Sliwa
King County Council - District 10
Larry Gossett's incredible primary victory over two well-known opponents was a tremendous victory for the voters of this district. A Seattle native, Gossett is among the best King County has to offer. Republican challenger Drake "Ducky" Sisley shoudn't have bothered registering to run.
Free Press says: Gossett
King County Council - District 12
Moderate Republican incumbent Brian Derdowski has gotten some surprising support from progressives, including WEnPAC and prominent Democrats who like how he has stood up to developers.
Free Press says: Derdowski
King County Council - District 13
Former Democratic state legislator Mike Todd is strongly pro-choice and had a great environmental record while serving in Olympia, while former Republican state Rep. Chris Vance got a putrid 25 percent environmental rating from WEnPAC.
Free Press says: Todd
Port of Seattle
Incumbent Paige Miller ran six years ago promising to shake up the establishment. Unfortunately, she has been standing watch while taxes and debt service have soared and the Port has lost business. Progressive Mercer Island businessman George Tamblyn would bring the right mix of environmental concern and business sense to this undernoticed yet crucial agency.
Free Press says: Tamblyn
Initiative 593
Life in prison for three "violent" crimes? Not hardly! Though worrisome offenses, extortion and second-degree manslaughter (which often involves an accidental death) are not the sort of crimes for which people should be sent away for life. The "three strikes you're out" folks are using cheap scare tactics in a debate that should focus more on the causes of crime and not the means to punish criminals. Let's start this discussion over, and leave out the tough-on-crime grandstanding.
Free Press says: No
Vote 'No' on 601 & 602
Corporate Lobbies, Misguided Intentions Lurk Behind Tax-Revolt Initiatives
Well-financed initiative campaigns are becoming experts at fooling most of the people most of the time. Tax rollback Initiatives 601 and 602 are good examples. Like TV commercials for fast-food burgers, the initiatives are designed to look very appealing, but the actual product will harden Washington state's arteries.
I-602 would repeal all new taxes that were passed in last spring's legislative session to help to balance the state's budget. I-601 would limit state spending and make future taxes more difficult to pass by requiring a two-thirds vote in the Legislature, a recipe for gridlock.
In the spirit of confining the debate over the initiatives within the realm of rational discussion, here is why we oppose both measures:
- The initiatives effectively would nix the Health Reform Act, Olympia's attempt at providing universal health care through new taxes on tobacco, cigarettes and business. Not surprisingly, I-602 is backed in a big way (nearly $1 million) by alcohol, tobacco and insurance interests, including Anheuser-Busch, Washington Beer and Wine Wholesalers, The Restaurant Association, The Tobacco Institute and the Health Insurance Association of America.
- The initiatives are opposed by dozens of labor, social-service, medical, environmental and religious organizations big and small.
- By placing somewhat arbitrary limits on taxing and spending (growth of personal income, population, etc.) the initiatives ignore other factors that drive the demand for government services, such as increased crime, growing higher-education attendance, and so on. The result likely would be dramatic tuition increases and student enrollment losses in the tens of thousands for community colleges, vocational schools and universities.
- The two initiatives threaten jobless benefits and retraining programs for laid-off workers at the same time as causing thousands of layoffs of state employees and "ripple effect" job losses in the private sector.
- Less tax money for the state means less tax money trickling down to county and city governments, therefore putting increased revenue pressures on locals.
- The Washington Environmental Political Action Committee (WEnPAC) says the initiatives would jeopardize programs for surface mining reclamation and wildlife habitat protection.
- Unless you're a chain smoker, a boozer, a tanning-booth addict or a rich person who uses a lot of financial services, the package of new taxes passed last year probably won't cost you more than 50 cents a week.
- The overblown issue of cutting "waste in government" is not addressed at all by the initiatives, which seek to control the amount of state spending, not the quality.
601 and 602 are dangerous for the health of Washington. On the other hand, opponents of the initiatives must admit that there is a budget crisis and recommend better, more productive ways to solve it. A start would be passing comprehensive, loophole-free campaign-finance reforms that would help put challengers on a level playing field with incumbents who are cozy with big-money interests that benefit from budget-busting tax breaks.
A spokesperson for the Committee for Washington's Future, the organization leading the fight against I-601 and I-602, could give no better recommendation than to "vote for different legislators if you are not happy with the current ones."
We can worry about that next year. For now, vote NO on 601 and 602.
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Contents on this page were published in the October/November, 1993 edition of the Washington Free
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