Archives for July 2004

I had an incredibly busy week working the media in preparation for the July 2 signature deadline, and then baking pizzas and drinking beer in celebration of its passing. So I didn’t have time to crack open The Seattle Weekly until its last day on the street.

Knute Berger said the word “fuck.”

I double-checked… I hadn’t accidentally picked up a copy of The Stranger. It really was Knute in the Weekly… although he was just borrowing vocabulary from our foul-mouthed VP, Dick Cheney.

Since starting my blog I’ve received a handful of emails from readers who don’t appreciate my occasional, um… colorful language. And recently this site was rejected by Google AdSense for “excessive profanity.”

Personally, I feel that I use just the right of amount of profanity. Besides, if Dick Cheney can say the word “fuck,” and Knute Berger can say the word “fuck,” I don’t see why I can’t say the word “fuck.”

After all, it’s just a fucking word.

Anyway, nice column on Fahrenheit 9/11, Knute. [“Burn, Baby, Burn.”]

And great use of the word “fuck.”

I just got back from a holiday weekend in Brownsville, Oregon. Two days with no cell phone, no email, no blog, and no internet. I didn’t even read a newspaper.

But though I tried to celebrate the failure of I-864 by spending a couple days forgetting Tim Eyman and his self-serving initiatives, the five-hour road trip each way was grim reminder of what could become of Washington if we were to allow Tim to lead us down the government slashing path that Bill Sizemore carved through the heart of our neighbor to the south.

The first thing I noticed upon crossing the border was the relative state of disrepair of large sections of Interstate 5 compared to the Seattle to Portland stretch. The speed limit was constantly jumping between 50 and 65, depending on the quality of the road surface, or the semi-permanent construction zones that seemed unchanged from last year’s trip.

Not that the limits seemed to matter; cars were speeding with impunity. During each two-hour Oregon leg of my round-trip journey, I did not see a single state trooper. A couple local sheriffs had set up revenue generating speed traps, but this hardly seemed a deterrent.

Now I know many people would consider the dearth of radar guns a blessing, and I freely admit that I generally drive 5 to 10 miles over the limit at highway speeds. But it is a mixed blessing at best when I’m traveling with my daughter in the car, and some asshole in an Expedition nearly runs me off the road while weaving through traffic at 90 miles-per-hour.

Local residents confirmed my anecdotal observations, and the cuts weren’t just limited to road maintenance and state troopers. From underfunded public schools to hospital closures to a host of other public services we take for granted, quality of life has declined significantly for many families in communities across the state.

Tim Eyman wants us to demand that our state and local governments do more with less, but Oregon is a harsh lesson in reality. When you cut revenues beyond the bone, governments will do less with less.

In the end, that’s the biggest reason why I-864 failed to generate support: voters understood that they weren’t just being asked to cut taxes… they were being asked to cut essential services.

Tim Eyman arrived at the Secretary of State’s office riding in the back of a pickup truck like a dog… not the grand entrance one might expect from Washington’s self-proclaimed “initiative king.” This was no royal carriage, and there was certainly no throng of loyal subjects waiting to cheer him on.

Over the past few days Tim had repeatedly emailed the 3600 people on his list, asking them to show their support by joining him at the press conference this morning. But as he peered out the canopy window, all he saw were the usual members of the press, the loyal opposition, and angry scowls of determined librarians from the Timberland Regional Library.

It was exactly this kind of inability to energize his base that had led me to call Initiative 864 dead a few weeks back. Tim lacked the money to hire paid signature gatherers in force, and has for years failed to display the motivational and organizational skills necessary to lead a volunteer petition drive. I couldn’t see how, under those circumstances, he could possibly gather 200,000 signatures.

Still, I admit a pang of anxiety as he and the Fagans dropped the tailgate and started to unload their cargo. At times, I can be nearly as arrogant as Tim… had I underestimated his grass roots support? His political savvy? His intelligence? His fashion sense?

Tim was wearing sandals with a business suit! What other shocking surprise might he have in store today?

But all my self-doubt was quickly erased when out from the truck came a folding table adorned with stacks of petitions. This was clearly a prop. I-864 had failed.

The rest of the festivities were fairly anticlimactic. Tim pulled out the usual bullshit chart showing the steep rise in property tax revenues over the past 25 years. (As Steve Zemke says, it’s kind of like whining that candy bars no longer cost a dime.) Then he sat down behind the table and told a few lies before disingenuously opening the floor to questions he had no intention of answering.

When Tim was done, the librarians took their well deserved moment in spotlight, placards in hand, as the TV cameras taped interviews of I-864 opponents. I say “well deserved” because librarians across the state played a key role in defeating I-864, by seeking out paid signature gatherers and countering their lies with the truth. These were some of the so-called “union thugs” Tim has complained about.

Now, I joked about the librarians in my previous blog, and was immediately chastised via email for perpetuating stereotypes. If I did so, I did it lovingly. (And, well… because I thought it was funny.) The truth is, the librarians were an inspiration; this wasn’t a top-down political campaign, but a self-organized effort of dedicated individuals committed not only to saving their own jobs, but to saving the libraries on which we all rely.

Of course the librarians were not alone in opposing I-864. Firefighters undertook a similar effort, as did the Council of County and City Employees through their very effective Voter Education Committee. And the Association of Washington Cities deserves special credit for the tremendous job they did mobilizing their members to get accurate information out to local media as to devastating impact I-864 would have on public services.

And as long as I’m doing a post mortem, I’d like to take a moment to talk about the media.

I have been known, in the words of Knute Berger, to “kick the crap out of the news media.” Why? Because often, they deserve it. (And, it’s fun.)

But I must admit that both I-864 and I-892 have received the most thorough and informative news coverage of any Eyman initiative in recent years. Reporters and editorialists didn’t wait to see if these initiatives qualified for the ballot… they weighed in early and often, ensuring that the handful of voters who still read newspapers had more to work with than Eyman’s sound bites.

And by the way, I genuinely appreciate the way they put up with me, my badgering press releases, and my occasional wild rants.

But enough backslapping for now. I’ll have more to write about I-864, but first I’m going to take a couple days to drink a few beers, watch some fireworks, and relax.

Happy Independence Day.

As first predicted here over three weeks ago [Stick a fork in it, Eyman’s done] Initiative 864 has failed to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot! Snatching failure from the jaws of defeat, Timmy inexplicably held a press conference to announce that he had collected about 150,000 signatures, well short of of the 198,000 needed.

As Tim announced the number, a gathering throng of angry librarians was suddenly whipped into a bacchanalian frenzy of joyful celebration. Okay… one of them clapped. But they looked happy. In a quiet, thoughtful way.

I’ll post a more detailed report later in the day.

Tim Eyman has scheduled a news conference for 10AM at the Secretary of State’s office, and asked his supporters to join him as he turns in petitions for I-864. I still don’t believe he has enough signatures to get on the ballot, but we’ll know soon enough.

Anyway, I’m setting off for Olympia bright and early, and will report back as soon as I return.

I’m not entirely sure what to make of Collin Levey’s muddled disquisition on Hollywood, liberals, and anti-Semitism: “Spiritual accessorizing in an era of religious conflict.”

While I enjoy taunting her as a cog in the right-wing propaganda machine, I have to admit that she’s not a bad writer. But this week’s column just isn’t up to her usual standard of ruthless clarity, and since I haven’t been keeping up on the WSJ op/ed pages, deciphering her thesis was all the more difficult.

I believe what Collin is trying to say is that Democrats and their hedonistic liberal backers are anti-Semites, and thus Jews should vote Republican for a change.

Needless to say, I have a couple of problems with her thesis. I myself am a liberal, Democrat-voting Jew… although few people who know me would classify me as a hedonist (with the possible exception of the Hassidic Rabbi next door.)

And I doubt anybody would consider me an anti-Semite (again, with the possible exception of the Hassidic Rabbi next door.) Her attempt to brand liberals and Democrats as anti-Semitic or anti-Israel based on the comments or actions of one individual or another, is at the very least, irresponsible.

In fact, (parenthetically) speaking of the Hassidic Rabbi next door… after accusing us lefties of promoting the absurd notion of an international Jewish conspiracy, Collin actually reinforces this false premise herself:

Jews as a group vote overwhelmingly Democrat.

Jews, as a group, don’t do anything, let alone vote as a block. As a secular Jew raised in a Reformed synagogue, I have little in common with my Hassidic neighbors except maybe a repertoire of colorful Yiddish swear words and a taste for Eastern European Jewish cuisine. And with the Sephardim who seem to dominate the Jewish community here, I don’t even share that.

Indeed, compared to an Orthodox Seattle Sephardim, I have more in common culturally with a New York Irishman (not the least of which being an unfortunate fondness for Irish women.)

The point is, there is no Jewish cabal, no Jewish vote, and no Jewish leaders (at least none I’ve every voted for.) In fact, the very existence of the “Jewish neocons” Collin mentions, contradicts her characterization of us as uniform political block.

While I agree with Collin that anti-Semitism continues to persist, I’m not sure she fully appreciates its subtle insinuation into the debate over support for Israel, nor that she understands the difference between “anti-Semitism,” and good old fashioned religious “Jew hatred.” (The former is a political tool. I suggest Hannah Arendt’s definitive work “Antisemitism.”)

Collin claims “liberal” college campuses are veering towards the plight of Palestinians, and compares this to the staunch support for Israel from the Christian right, implying that Jewish Democrats don’t know who their real friends are.

Speaking as someone who is sympathetic to the aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians (and hostile to the leaders of both,) I think Collin presents an intellectually dishonest choice. And she ignores the fact that the strong support some fundamentalist Christians show towards Israel stems from a profound, doctrinal hatred of the Jewish people.

Unlike most Jews, I have read The New Testament; as sequels go, I found it rather boring (“Jesus this” and “Jesus that.”) But Revelations is, well… a revelation. The prophesy requires the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple before the Messiah can return. Of course, in the resulting Armageddon, two-thirds of the Jews are destroyed, but well, you can’t have everything.

So while it’s hard to describe the Christian right’s staunch support for Israel as anti-Semitic, a 66% mortality rate certainly doesn’t come across as particularly Jew-friendly.

I’ve always found it offensive when politicians woo Jewish votes by touting their support for Israel. I’m a Jewish American, not an Israeli. Hell… 49% of Israelis don’t even support the Sharon government, why should I?

If this is the best the right wing media echo chamber can do, the Rs are going to have a tough November.