Voters this year face a flood of citizen sponsoredInitiatives that are intended to limit the power of our out of control stategovernment. And the ads against some of these Initiatives would have youbelieve that only government can protect you from the rapacious practices ofevil businesses like AIG, BP, or convenience stores that will sell liquor toyour children. But the reality is it is the dictatorial practices of our stateelected officials that have created this flood of citizen sponsoredlegislation.

Some of these measures are confusingly worded and manyreaders have expressed concern about whether a “yes” vote means they aresupporting the measure or opposing it. Here are my brief comments regardingthese measures which I hope you will find helpful.

Initiative 1053 – limits the legislatures power to raisetaxes – vote Yes

The legislature has done everything in its power to rejectthe will of the voters regarding limits on their power to raise taxes. ThisInitiative says, again, that voters really mean it when they say they need atwo-thirds majority (67 percent) to raise taxes. This is a non-partisan issuesince a super majority would require either party to have to work with theother party to raise taxes. Legislators are supposed to work for us. Tell themagain who’s the boss.

Initiative 1082 – ends the state monopoly on worker’scompensation insurance – vote Yes

Do your local small businesses a favor and support thismeasure. Competition is good at controlling the cost of any service. Thismeasure will give small businesses another option to consider when providingrequired coverage for injured workers. The current program leaves smallbusiness people at the mercy of an out of control state bureaucracy whenchallenging fraudulent claims or negotiating rates based on their actual claimsexperience.

Initiative 1098 – Establishes a state Income tax – vote No

Government cannot control costs so giving them more money towaste will not force them to deal with that problem. And if they turned theirback on the two-thirds majority for raising taxes how long will it take beforethey lower the income limits to include you and your family.

Initiatives 1100 & 1105 – Close state liquor stores -vote No

These Initiatives both end the state’s monopoly on the saleof liquor. Selling liquor is not an essential state function and I wouldsupport a measure to get the state out of this business but, that said, manysmall businesses will be harmed when the big box stores can sell liquor incompetition with those local businesses. Our liquor laws really need somemodernization but giving Wal-Mart, Costco and the large grocers anotheropportunity to monopolize our local economies is not good for those localeconomies.

Initiative 1107 – Repeals sales taxes on candy, bottledwater, etc. – Vote Yes

Instead of cutting their bloated spending budgets in orderto balance the books, legislators cooked up a new list of taxable items youroutinely buy at the grocery store. The ballot describes many of these as “temporarytaxes.” Ever seen a “temporary tax?” Again, the first priority is to cut statespending not take more out of taxpayer wallets to support Olympia’s largess.They won’t address spending until they have no more money to spend.

Referendum 52 – Authorizes new debt – Reject

We do not need to take on more debt until our leadersdemonstrate they can be fiscally responsible.

Senate Joint Resolution 8225 – Changes the way the debtlimit is calculated – Reject

No matter how they cook it, this is just another way toallow them to spend our money and burden future generations. Just say no.

House Joint Resolution 4220 – Constitutional Amendmentdenying bail for certain crimes – Reject

This measure is woefully ill defined in the voter’spamphlet. Since it is a Constitutional Amendment the proponents need to make abetter case.