Governor Christine Gregoire comes out swinging against Tim Eyman’s latest initiative at recent lefty breakfest meeting:
In a brief, fiery Thursday speech to a crowd of 800 conservationists, Gov. Chris Gregoire declared that the state “won’t come out of this recession” if voters pass Initiative 1033 in November.
The Tim Eyman-sponsored initiative, which imposes rigid restrictions on growth of government income, would “devastate the state of Washington,” Gregoire told Washington Conservation Voters’ “Breakfast of Champions.”
“I will not stand by. I will not be silent … Look at California. They can’t function because they have been ‘initiatiated’ to death,” Gregoire said.
It’s pretty easy for politicians from all over the state to slam Tim Eyman’s initiatives before they are passed. What can be difficult to find is a politician with the backbone to continue fighting these initiatives after they’re passed. Initiative 747, which severely restricted property taxes, was ruled unconstitutional in 2007, but it was Gregoire who came to the rescue. A special session of the legislature was called, and it was yet again enshrined into law.
So, it’s true, she will “not stand by”—instead she’ll work overtime to make sure Eyman’s unconstitutional initiatives are rewritten into law. And she will “not be silent”—she’ll kick and scream until voters are duped by another one of his for-profit campaigns, and then she’ll be silent.
What?
You should be less slanted here: I-747 was only declared unconstitutional due to the fact that its impact was misrepresented to voters, not due to the content of the initiative itself. It was thrown out more or less on a technicality; it’s petty (and dishonest) to describe using the legislature to pass I-747’s cuts as “rewriting” an unconstitutional amendment.
@2: still, the legislature was under no obligation to make it law.
Very true, @3.
@2: Oh, totally. The legislature (and especially Democratic governor) shouldn’t have caved to the anti-government interests – but that doesn’t call for Fox News style name-calling and fact distortion.
@3. Really.
Fuck Gregoire. That’s why I voted for Rossi. At least he’s honest about his positions.
She doesn’t care about initiatives when they fuck local governments, but when Timmy starts coming after the state, that’s when she gets scared.
@7 – lol.