BELLEVUE, WA – Effective at 5:00 p.m. today, Monday, July 29, 2013, Chairman Kirby Wilbur resigned his post as leader of the Washington State Republican Party. Chairman Wilbur released the following statement on his announcement:
“I am resigning as the chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, effective today at 5:00 p.m. I have been offered a five-year contract with the Young America’s Foundation that I would be foolish not to accept. I will be moving to the “other” Washington within the next couple of months to write this next chapter of my life.
“It has been an honor to serve as chairman of the WSRP since January 2011. We have had many successes and I have had some failures. The Party has a good crop of up-and-coming leaders, and a strong staff, and it will continue to move forward no matter whose hand is on the helm.”
Chairman Wilbur was elected to his first term in January 2011. Under his leadership, Washington elected the only statewide Republican official on the west coast in Secretary of State Kim Wyman, and picked up 1 seat in both the State Senate and the State House in 2012. In late 2012, early 2013, two Democrats joined with our Republican Senators to create the Majority Coalition Caucus, thus giving Republicans a majority in at least one chamber of the Legislature for the first time since 2004. Chairman Wilbur was reelected to a second term in January 2013.
Vice-Chair Luanne VanWerven will serve as interim chair of the WSRP. According to WSRP bylaws, the election of a permanent chair must take place within 90 days of today.
Centerpiece of plan would target large category of service businesses
When House Democrats passed their controversial tax-increase legislation on April 24, it contained a section that would permanently extend the business and occupation (B&O) surtax on service businesses. They described this group as “doctors, lawyers, architects and others.” It turns out that “others” represents a very large category of individuals and employers.
When House Republicans requested a list of the service businesses that would be impacted by House Bill 2038, it was not readily available. Working with the state Department of Revenue, they were able to compile a comprehensive list.
Included on the list are these types of individuals and employers: assisted living facilities, auto dealers, builders, child day care facilities, child group foster homes, civic organizations, death services, dentists, educational support services, employment services, family services, grantmaking and giving services, fine arts schools, home health care services, housing programs, legal services, medical labs, nannies, newspaper publishers, nursing care facilities, outpatient care centers, performing arts companies, personal care services, radio and television broadcasting, real estate activities, technical and trade schools, vocational rehabilitation services, and independent artists, writers and performers, to name a few of the more than 144,000 employers that would be impacted. (more…)
