Referendum 88 – Keeping Washington State Free From Discrimination

by | Jul 30, 2019 | For Your Action

by Ruth Peterson, Boistfort PCO
Lewis County GOP

I had the privilege of attending a gathering recently that included some Civil Rights warriors. The topic of discussion was making sure that legal discrimination does not return to our state. Twenty years ago, we fought that battle and defeated Affirmative Action at the ballot box – Washington State citizens voted overwhelmingly to pass I-200 which stopped the practice of Affirmative Action, a policy that allowed state agencies and colleges to base their hiring or acceptance solely on race. This year, in a party-line vote, the Democrats put Affirmative Action back into place with I-1000. The Republicans tried to force them to put it on the ballot, but they refused. Democrats knew that if the people of Washington were free to vote on this measure, it would fail. The people of this state do not believe in discrimination and preferential treatment – not on race, religion, or gender. Not at all. We believe that every single person in this country should be judged, not on the color of their skin (or gender, religion, etc), but by the content of their character and their personal qualifications.

A very small percentage of volunteers did the miraculous, and you will have the opportunity to vote on this issue. Referendum 88 was filed right after the end of the Legislative Session. It required 130,000 signatures to qualify to put on the ballot this November – an overwhelming task. In only six weeks, we were able to get over 220,000 signatures, more than enough to go on the ballot.

This fall, R-88 will be on your ballot. It will be confusing when you see it, because of the way it is worded. R-88 will be the title of the entry on the ballot, but you will be voting on whether to accept I-1000 or reject it. We must REJECT I-1000. I-1000 itself is worded in such a way as to be very confusing. It says in the language that the purpose is to stop discrimination. But if you read it carefully, you will see that its purpose is to be able to hand-select based on race, color, religion, gender (they’ve added sexual orientation, as well). The language talks about “under-representation.” That means that if any agency believes a group is under-represented, they may require hiring from that group, regardless of higher-qualified individuals. They will be able to accept and reject students into colleges based on physical characteristics. This is wrong, and we must stop this from becoming law – there isn’t one area where we should look at a person’s physical characteristics to judge them, rather than what they have done and who they are as a person.

Ward Connerly, a hero of the civil rights movement, took the time to come to Olympia last Saturday to address a gathering of R-88 volunteers. He is an African American who founded the American Civil Rights Institute. He was also one of the regents of the U of CA years ago when he noticed that the University was accepting students based on their race. He said that as a person born in Louisiana in 1939, he experienced a great deal of discrimination and would fight all discrimination in every corner of the country as long as he had breath. He helped with the I-200 campaign in 1998 and will return to help defeat discrimination again. I agree with Mr. Connerly – it’s a terrible piece of legislation and must be defeated.

When you see the words R-88 and I-1000 on the ballot this fall, vote REJECTED. Again, REJECT legalized discrimination in Washington.

How to take action now –
Please post and re-post this message over the next few months. Feel free to take any part of it and create your own letter to the editor or forward this email to your friends. This will be a confusing issue to most voters, so we need to make sure the word is out to vote “rejected.” The only way to succeed is with your help. I know many of you collected signatures to get R-88 on the ballot, but that’s only half the battle. We’ve got a few more months to go. I’ve sent this letter to the editor of our local paper and plan to send more. I will also send out another email as a reminder in a few weeks. There are many issues that are extremely frustrating right now to Republicans – increased taxes, increased regulations, gun laws that don’t make sense, etc. This is just one of them. But it is one that we can stop with a little bit of effort. Thank you again for all your help.

$27 BILLION in new State Taxes – who’s getting hit?

by | Jun 13, 2019 | For Your Action, Taxation

In the dead of night, the last day of the State legislature, the State Democrats passed 11 NEW TAXES to the tune of $27 BILLION over the next 10 years, with little or no public input.
 
Here’s a breakdown of the new taxes.
 
 * New payroll taxes (HB 1087): $8,036,110,541 
 * New property sales taxes (REET – SB 5998): $1,747,300,000
 * New fuel taxes (MTCA – SB 5993): $2,760,000,000
 * New taxes on bank customers (SB 6016):  $367,900,000
 * New taxes on bank customers (HB 2167):  $1,035,700,000
 * New taxes on border business customers (SB 5997): $311,759,000
 * New taxes on travel agent customers (SB 6004): $30,100,000
 * New taxes on vaping customers (HB 1873): $207,135,000
 * New taxes on online buyers (SB 5581): $1,039,261,000
 * New taxes on service business customers (SB 2158): $3,097,600,000
 * New property taxes (SB 5313): $8,661,000,000 
Total:  $27,293,865,541
 
These are all the tax hikes I-1648 will kill off if passed.  Initiative 1648 is the “Sunsets/Expires all 2019 Tax Hikes” Initiative sponsored by Tim Eyman’s group and the citizens of Washington.
 
Initiative 1648 — “Term Limits on New Taxes” — sunsets/expires all tax hikes not approved by voters at the ballot box. For tax hikes imposed in 2019, the initiative requires they expire on December 5. For tax hikes imposed in 2020 and thereafter, the initiative puts a one-year time limit on them. The “single subject” of I-1648 is putting term limits on legislatively imposed tax increases.
 
Initiative 1648 needs 320,000 signatures by July 5 to qualify for the ballot. 
 

BALLOT TITLE:
Initiative Measure No. 1648 concerns state taxes. This measure would require state tax increases to expire after one year unless approved by a majority vote of the people, and immediately terminate any tax increases imposed in 2019 without such approval. Should this measure be enacted into law?

 
 
 
 
The Washington State Republican Party (WSRP) passed the following in support of the Initiative:
 
Resolution in Support of Signature Gathering for I-1648
WHEREAS, the Party has consistently supported initiatives that make it tougher to raise taxes,
WHEREAS, during the 2019 legislative session, Governor Inslee and the Democrats imposed,
despite unified opposition from Republican legislators, 11 tax increases (costing taxpayers
$27 billion over the next 10 years) with extremely limited public participation or public
scrutiny,
BE IT RESOLVED: that the Washington State Republican Party supports term limits on new
taxes and calls on voters across the state of Washington to sign petitions and gather
signatures for Initiative 1648 before the July 5 deadline.
 
To learn more about the initiative or to download petitions, visit www.givethemnothing.com.
You can sign or pick up initiatives at
Clallam County Republican Party headquarters, 509 S. Lincoln, Port Angeles or
at The Master Locksmith, 445 W. Washington, Sequim, WA.