HorsesAss.Org

It was the talk of conservative talk radio Monday and Tuesday, after the Seattle Times published an editorial Sunday with the dire headline “Warning: New taxes will be permanent.” Only problem was, the Times got it wrong. Dead wrong.

A change in the state law regarding property taxes has silently transformed what have been temporary tax increases into permanent ones.

We say “silently” because the Legislature, which made the change, did not name what it was doing in the bill title or the bill reports. The change is something every voter should keep in mind as the election arrives Tuesday and more new taxes are proposed in November.

Hmm. You’d think before the state’s largest newspaper prints an editorial impugning the integrity and/or competency of the Legislature, it might have given legislators or their staffers an opportunity to explain themselves, huh? And you’d think just maybe, before warning voters that “new taxes will be permanent” — just days ahead of crucial levy votes in yesterday’s election — the Times might want to double- or even triple-check their facts, right?

But the Times didn’t. As a result, thousands of voters went to the polls yesterday angry and confused, and had any of the regional levy votes been close, the Times’ factual error and lack of editorial judgment could have flipped the outcome.

On the surface, Senate Bill 5498 allows fire districts and other special-purpose taxing districts to ask voters for multiyear tax increases. It is the same authority cities and counties already had.

That’s the one part of the editorial the Times got right, except for their implication that there is something nefarious beneath the surface. There is in fact nothing beneath the surface.

The nonobvious part of the bill changed the old rule that unless a tax levy said specifically it was permanent, it wasn’t. Under the old rule, after a levy expired, Washington’s 1-percent property-tax limit would be set as if the levy had never happened. If voters didn’t renew the levy, their taxes would go down.

And what makes this change particularly “nonobvious” is that it just isn’t there. Here’s the “old rule” the Times talks about:

(2) After a levy authorized pursuant to this section is made, the dollar amount of such levy shall be used for the purpose of computing the limitations for subsequent levies provided for in this chapter, except as provided in subsections (3) and (4) of this section.

That’s also the text of the new rule, except it now references subsection (5). What this means is that the default behavior of a lid lift is now, and always has been, to permanently raise the base on which the limit factor is calculated… except as otherwise provided. That was the default under the old rule. That is the default under the new rule.

Under SB 5498 — a governor’s-request bill passed by large majorities in both houses — unless a tax levy says it is temporary, its authority is permanent. So says the Department of Revenue in an official memo to county assessors.

A) It wasn’t a “governor’s-request bill.” It just wasn’t. B) If the Times’ editors don’t understand the difference between a “permanent” lid lift and a “temporary” lid lift, they really shouldn’t be editorializing on the issue without thoroughly researching the subject. All they’ve succeeded in doing is making an already confusing issue even more confusing, but I’ll try to clear things up.

The whole purpose of a permanent lid lift is to permanently reset the base on which the limit factor is calculated. For example, lets say a fire district levied $100,000 in taxes from existing construction in 2003, the year I-747 went into effect. Under the initiative’s arbitrary 101-percent annual limit factor, the maximum dollar amount the district could levy by 2007 would be $104,060. But due to inflation, the purchasing power of this revenue is really only equivalent to $91,920 in 2003 dollars. Year after year, the fire district would steadily lose purchasing power, and be forced to steadily cut back services.

Or, the district could put before voters a permanent lid lift with a dollar rate that would increase total revenues to $115,000 in 2008, a figure that would pretty much reset the district’s revenue to 2003 levels in inflation-adjusted dollars. The 101-percent limit factor would subsequently be calculated on this new base, but over the years, that too would be eaten away by inflation. Better than slowly starving to death, but not a stable means of securing a reliable revenue stream for longterm planning. And also, quite costly. According to public testimony, South King Fire and Rescue has spent over half a million dollars over the past six years running a string of successful permanent lid lifts.

Under the old rules, counties, cities and towns had an additional tool at their disposal. They could instead choose to put before voters a multi-year temporary lid lift (up to six years) which states a dollar rate for the first year (just like a permanent lid lift,) but also specifies an index to be used as the limit factor for subsequent years of the levy, superseding I-747’s 101-percent limit. Each of the parks levies passed yesterday did exactly that, raising an additional $0.05 per $1000 of assessed value in the first year, and authorizing annual increases on that amount indexed to inflation. The parks levies thus produce a stable revenue stream of inflation-adjusted dollars throughout their six-year term.

But these lid lifts are temporary under both the old and the new rules, and when they expire the basis for calculating revenue limits under I-747 reverts to the maximum amount it would have been had the parks levies never been passed. It appears the Times kinda-sorta understands this, but then at the same time kinda-sorta doesn’t:

To be deemed temporary, a measure has to say when the tax expires, and it has to limit itself to specific purchases.

Right, and the parks levies do both these things.

Otherwise, in the year after the last tax increase authorized by voters, the new tax limit is 1 percent higher. Even if voters don’t renew the levy, the taxing authority can keep pushing taxes up — at a slower rate, but still up.

Poorly phrased, but um… what’s your point? That’s what permanent lid lifts have always been intended to do. You know, the kind of permanent lid lift the parks levies are not.

King County Assessor Scott Noble, who drew our attention to this, has looked over the 11 property-tax measures that will be on county ballots Tuesday: two for King County parks, two for Redmond, one for a hospital district and six for fire districts.

“All of them are permanent increases in new levy capacity,” he says.

Um… no they’re not, and the Times being misled confused by Scott Noble being misled confused by a confusing DOR memo is no excuse for a string of sentences that clearly contradict each other. To be deemed temporary, a lid lift must limit itself to a period of time or a specific purpose, and the parks levies clearly do that. The new rules specifically state that “except as otherwise provided in an approved ballot measure under this section, after the expiration of a limited period … or the satisfaction of a limited purpose … subsequent levies shall be computed as if … the limited proposition … had not been approved.” The parks levies are temporary, and temporary levies by definition do not permanently increase levy capacity.

How can I be so sure? Well for starts I, um… read the fucking bill. And the RCW. And the WAC. And in the Times defense, this stuff is pretty damn confusing. So I called the House Finance Committee and asked a staffer to step me through it. He did. And he stands by the succinctly worded summary in the final bill report:

Any property taxing district with regular levying authority may seek multi-year lid lifts over a six year period in the same manner as counties, cities, and towns.

That was the clear legislative intent of the bill, and that is how committee staffers expect it to be written into the rules.

Of course, to the Times’ demerit, this stuff is pretty damn confusing, and so I simply cannot believe that they didn’t ask a legislator or staffer to step them through it before running such a hyperbolic and misleading editorial. The Times clearly considers foul-mouthed bloggers like me to be unserious, but at least I took the time to do my homework. Meanwhile Times editorial page editor James Vesely only compounds his paper’s error in a separate column, denouncing “a sneaky tax” he clearly doesn’t understand:

Voters should also pay attention to The Times editorial opinion on the fourth page of this section about an obscure change in state law that turns temporary taxes into permanent ones. Instead of asking for a four- or six-year levy increase on your property taxes, the new law takes the opposite view — that taxes are permanent unless they are specifically noted as temporary. It turns the approval of a levy from something voters see as binding for a few years into a perpetual tax that can be renewed, but at always higher levels.

No, no, no. Multi-year lid lifts are temporary by default, and remain so under the amended statute. Furthermore, Vesely clearly doesn’t understand the relative roles of permanent vs. temporary lid lifts, and now neither do his readers.

Sure, the lid lift statutes are complicated and confusing; hell, I didn’t get it right the first couple times I read through SB 5498. But the Times’ editors didn’t just get it wrong, they implied ill intent. Had the editors been strong supporters of the parks levies (or levies in general,) one wonders if they would have been so quick to jump to conclusions… or so eager to publish them just days before the vote?

Either way, the tone and timing of this editorial was simply irresponsible, and as such it deserves a retraction as prominently placed as the editorial itself. I eagerly await Sunday’s op/ed page.

(Link)

…is give war a chance.

A new group of prominent conservatives plans to begin a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign Wednesday to urge members of Congress who may be wavering in their support for the war in Iraq not to “cut and run.”

The group, Freedom’s Watch, is rolling out television, radio and Internet advertisements in more than 20 states and 60 Congressional districts.

Former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, the spokesperson for the group, offers their message: “the war in Iraq can be won and Congress must not surrender.”

It is amazing how Fleischer can, in one simple sentence, offer two concepts that are entirely inappropriate for the “war in Iraq.” I won’t even quibble with the fact that Iraq is not truly a war at this point. But Fleischer mentions “winning” and “surrendering.”

When the Bush administration was lying the country into war, they painted an image for us. The U.S. would be welcomed as liberators, the oil money would pay for reconstruction, Iraq would blossom economically following the lifting of the U.N. sanctions, and democracy would take the country (indeed, the entire region) by storm following the toppling of a brutal dictator. And democracy would bring peace to the region.

Instead we see a post-invasion Iraq with unquelled violence both against the occupiers and among numerous ethnic, political, and criminal groups within Iraq. We see broken infrastructure and a dysfunctional Iraqi government that is on the verge of collapse. That original vision of “winning” has been abandoned.

So after a couple years of downgrading expectations in the face of repeated failures, what is a concrete vision for “winning” in Iraq now? Really…what concrete set of goals will define a “win” now?

Secondly, Fleischer mentions the world “surrender.” What the hell does that mean?

Traditionally, “surrendering” implies giving up to another, presumably superior, power. But there is no “superior power” in Iraq. There is no al Qaeda group, Shia or Sunni militia, or ethnic army that we could go and say, “we surrender…you won. What do you want from us?” Because right now, everyone is a loser in Iraq (except for some U.S. contractors and a handful of Iraqis that made off with billions in our cash).

Surrender? Hogwash! We couldn’t surrender if American lives depended on it.

When Republicans say “we cannot surrender,” you know they really mean? They mean that they cannot be humiliated by admitting that the pre-invasion vision was naive and the post-invasion management has been disastrously incompetent.

And so protecting their pride means that a thousand or two additional young Americans have to die in Iraq.

Yesterday was a pretty damn fine day for Seattle-area Democrats in general and progressives in particular… though you never want to see your party blow an opportunity like the opportunity the Dems have blown against DUI-damaged King County Councilmember Jane Hague. So in tribute to the suddenly high-profile KC Council District 6 race — and the missed deadline that has made Richard Pope the Democratic Party standard bearer — I’ll be posting HA’s official primary endorsements and predictions, sometime later this afternoon. (I think you’ll find my predictions pretty dead-on.)

My election night take-away in a nutshell? Bill Sherman has a clear path to defeating Dan Satterberg for King County Prosecutor, the numbers favor Alec Fisken and Gael Tarleton bringing a reformist majority to the Seattle Port Commission, and in passing the two parks levies by comfortable margins, voters once again prove that they like paying for government services that deliver the services they like. Oh… and the 2-to-1 Democratic preference in our pick-a-party primary shows just how marginalized the King County GOP has become.

Republicans tend to turn out heavier than Dems in primaries — particularly low-profile, off-year primaries like this one — so the party-identification split is likely closer to 70-30. “Nonpartisan” local races have served as a wilderness preserve for endangered Eastside Republicans, but look for identifiably progressive candidates to make huge inroads this November.

Some fun baseball trivia. I noticed that on Friday, former Mariner Jamie Moyer will be pitching for the Phillies against Greg Maddux of the Padres. I wondered if it was the first time two pitchers over 40 years old faced off. It wasn’t. This page had my answer:

The oldest matchup featured California Angels SP Don Sutton and Cleveland Indians SP Phil Niekro, June 8, 1987. Their combined age was 90 years, 135 days.

Also, Moyer faced over-40 David Wells in an earlier Phillies-Padres matchup from July.

Will Bruce Harrell sing the Husky Fight Song tonight? Will “passionate Latina” Venus Velazquez come away with the win (she’s passionate)? Does Bill Sherman have the hot hand, or is it enviro-boy Keith Scully who’ll be the next King County law top dog? Will Joe Schwajajaya survive to challenge the Nice Lady From The Newspaper? Do people even know what the Port Commission does?

If you know where the parties are, put ’em in the comments.

There’s always the Montlake Ale House…

A note to the people person sending me bullshit. First, thanks, you rule! Second, I didn’t use it, because I link to the people calling bullshit, not the actual bullshit itself, but I still love ya. Anyway, on with the post:

* You know what proves the war in Iraq is going swimmingly? Glenn Reynolds says it’s the fact that the media hates America and refuses to report all that good news. You would think they would have new shit, but I guess someone told them the old stuff didn’t stink.

* The good Glenn continues to call bullshit on the foreign policy establishment. This time he goes straight to our militarism and the fact that if you don’t think it’s totally awesome, you aren’t allowed to talk about it.

* And the last national bullshit is an extended look at Rich Lowry. Calling bullshit not only on his career and his political leanings, but frankly on his whole life and on his humanity. It’s really quite a read, but don’t start on it unless you’ve got some free time.

Locally:

* Dave Reichert is taking some flack for taking some scratch from crooks. And what I want to know is why he couldn’t find any Eastside crooks. I mean Baltimore, and Alaska aren’t the only places with crooks who would be happy to bribe a Congressman, surely.

* And finally, one of my favorite local loons thinks that because the temperature in the continental U.S. was slightly warmer during the dust bowl than it was in 2005, it totally proves that the planet isn’t getting warmer.

This is an open thread.

My apologies to King County Councilmember Jane Hague. A few weeks ago I abused her for a fundraising letter in which she warned that her opponent would engage in a the “politics of personal destruction.” Considering the 25-to-1 cash advantage she held over the combined Democratic field (perennial gadfly Richard Pope, and officially anointed write-in candidate Brad Larssen,) I bluntly characterized Hague’s letter as fanciful, unnecessary and dishonest: “Hague is a liar, shamelessly fleecing her fellow Republicans for money that would be better spent elsewhere.”

Well, who knew…?

Metropolitan King County Councilmember Jane Hague faces a Redmond court appearance Aug. 29 on a driving-under-the-influence charge, according to court records.

Neither Hague nor her attorney, William Kirk, could be reached for comment about the July 16 charge.

It’s not so much the politics of “personal destruction” as it is the politics of self-destruction (Mike McGavick style,) but either way it looks like Hague’s eventual opponent will have plenty of ammunition — and justification — to go negative against Hague in November. If only he has the resources to get his message out.

I bet there are some name-brand Dems who are kicking themselves for turning down the opportunity to take down Hague.

If business meetings were like comment threads (audio is NSFW).

Thoughts from a wingnut (via Kos and Digby):

When faced with the possible threat that the Iraqis might be amassing terrible weapons that could be used to slay millions of citizens of Western Civilization, President Bush took the only action prudence demanded and the electorate allowed: he conquered Iraq with an army.

This dangerous and expensive act did destroy the Iraqi regime, but left an American army without any clear purpose in a hostile country and subject to attack. If the Army merely returns to its home, then the threat it ended would simply return.

The wisest course would have been for President Bush to use his nuclear weapons to slaughter Iraqis until they complied with his demands, or until they were all dead. Then there would be little risk or expense and no American army would be left exposed. But if he did this, his cowardly electorate would have instantly ended his term of office, if not his freedom or his life.

This is not some random crazy wingnut, as Kos mentions, “this is from the conservative group Family Security Matters, whose board includes mainstream conservatives Barbara Comstock, Monica Crowley, Frank Gaffney, Laura Ingraham and James Woolsey.” The particular author’s name is Philip Atkinson.

Here’s more:

If President Bush copied Julius Caesar by ordering his army to empty Iraq of Arabs and repopulate the country with Americans, he would achieve immediate results: popularity with his military; enrichment of America by converting an Arabian Iraq into an American Iraq (therefore turning it from a liability to an asset); and boost American prestiege while terrifying American enemies.

He could then follow Caesar’s example and use his newfound popularity with the military to wield military power to become the first permanent president of America, and end the civil chaos caused by the continually squabbling Congress and the out-of-control Supreme Court.

President Bush can fail in his duty to himself, his country, and his God, by becoming “ex-president” Bush or he can become “President-for-Life” Bush: the conqueror of Iraq, who brings sense to the Congress and sanity to the Supreme Court. Then who would be able to stop Bush from emulating Augustus Caesar and becoming ruler of the world? For only an America united under one ruler has the power to save humanity from the threat of a new Dark Age wrought by terrorists armed with nuclear weapons.

The folks at FSM have been trying to scrub this (and evidently some other articles that are just as insane) from their site. Steve Clemons wrote about this group last summer.

Christmas isn’t coming early this year, but primary election day is: today is WA’s first ever August primary! So if you haven’t already cast your ballot, get thee to a polling place.

And stay tuned for live coverage of today’s premier race, the hotly contested battle between Richard Pope and Democratic Party endorsed write-in candidate Brad Larssen, as they fight for the right to get their ass kicked by King County Councilmember Jane Hague in the general. (I know my fellow Dems would prefer I talk up Larssen, to which I say: show me the money!)

I am looking for somebody with expertise in developing WordPress templates, widgets and plugins, who is willing to do some work for me in exchange for little more than the vague promise of future glory and/or potential remuneration should our mutual efforts eventually result in future glory and/or remuneration. The project involves developing a heavily widgetized template, custom widgets, and modifications to the WordPress drag-and-drop sidebar/widget admin tools. If done right, it would be way cool.

Please contact me via email if you’re interested and qualified. Thanks.

During my recent trip to Cannon Beach, my cousin and I stopped in Aberdeen. We walked around a few blocks, went to Safeway for some supplies, returned to our car and headed south. We spent perhaps an hour and a half in Aberdeen. Here’s a little of what I wrote:

Aberdeen is depressing. Now I know why Kurt Cobain got the hell out of there. But seriously, Aberdeen is in rough shape. I’m told its always been a rundown kind of place, but Jesus! Huge parts of its downtown are deserted and empty. Cheap furniture stores are aplenty. The electrical infrastructure looks about 50 years old. The people I met were very nice and down home, but Aberdeen needs some serious work.

I don’t think I was clear about what I really meant. I had not been to SW Washington since the way-back days, so I wanted to make sure I visited. It was sad to see Aberdeen’s downtown rundown and somewhat empty. I grew up in a small town, a small town that blew up into a city. Sometimes I have to remember that this doesn’t happen everywhere.

Aberdeen City Councilman Paul Fritts left a comment in the last post, so I’ll let him have the last word.

What is it with those from Seattle, etc that they take great delight and seem to have a need to slam Aberdeen and every smaller town in Washington?

[…]

Yes, Aberdeen like many areas that has suffered as it has forges through a variety of problems. Unemployment, drug use, suicide, etc. But Aberdeen is and always will be resilient. Over the years it has taken blow after blow yet it continues to survive. Perhaps if the author would have gotten off of his ass and actually done some research he would have found out that Aberdeen is actively courting various businesses to locate here. Most are interested. Some are here. In the downtown area that the author slams two theaters are in the midst of renovation and re-opening within a year or two thanks to John Yonich an Aberdeen native and Bellevue businessman.

His other project along with another developer is the Morck Hotel which was a grand hotel in it’s day.

Currently plans for that entire downtown area have been developed and some work on the buildings started.

The city of Aberdeen’s Community Development Director works her rear off in dealing with various business/industries which want to locate here.

We are working hard to improve our area yet you feel the need to slam it instead of gathering the facts. Good thing you are a blogger instead of a reporter.

Funny thing too, we are all classified as hicks, backward, redneck, flag waiving, conservative scum down here by all of you in Pugetropolis, yet, in the last presidential election only three or four counties/cities voted a straight democratic ticket. Grays Harbor County, which includes Aberdeen, was one of those counties. Only one Republican has held an office in Grays Harbor in 50+ years and that was Rep. Jim Buck whose area covered only a section of Grays Harbor (not including Aberdeen) and most all of Jefferson and Clallam counties. Yep we certainly are a “red” area.

Finally as far as the Kurt Cobain comment perhaps you should go to www.kurtcobainmemorial.org and check the FAQ’s to find out what he really thought and the context of it not just what was said to some magazine.

[…]

Hope this is something all of you will think about the next time you are traveling and feel the need to judge a town through a windshield.

Paul Fritts
Aberdeen City Council

Just a reminder that the best show on television, Real Time with Bill Maher, starts up again this Friday.

Update: Speaking of Bill Maher, here is Part 1 of his HBO special called The Decider:

The rest of the special can be found here — Darryl

The State of Washington needs some pot advice. Specifically, how much marijuana constitutes a 60 day stash for medical use?

Washington’s current law, passed as a voter initiative in 1998, says folks with certain medical conditions may use marijuana to relieve pain and other problems, if their physicians approve.

A problem is that the law says patients may have a 60-day supply of marijuana, but it doesn’t define how much that would be, according to a bulletin from the Washington State Department of Health.
[…]

To define the 60-day supply and create the report, health officials are to consider research, the advice of experts, the best practices of other states and input from the public.

Here is how you can contribute:

• Come to one of our four public workshops to be held around the state in mid-September (watch the website for more details).
• E-mail us at MedicalMarijuana@doh.wa.gov
• Post your comment…. [on the web site]
• Send your comments to:
  Department of Health
  PO Box 47866
  Olympia, WA 98504-7866
• Fax your comments to (360) 236-4768

But if you do offer your expert opinion, exercise a little discretion in what you reveal about yourself. After all, the federal government still considers it a heinous crime to possess or use pot…even for medical use. It is not clear that the Washington law provides any protection from federal prosecution whatsoever.

Do I sound paranoid? If so, it isn’t for the reason you think (not a user—never have been). The feds have not backed down on prosecution for production or use of marijuana for medical use. Most recently, concerns about federal prosecution of New Mexico state employees is slowing down implementation of that state’s medical marijuana laws:

Gov. Bill Richardson ordered the state Health Department on Friday to resume planning of a medical marijuana program despite the agency’s worries about possible federal prosecution.

However, the governor stopped short of committing to implement a state-licensed production and distribution system for the drug if the potential for federal prosecution remains unchanged.

The department announced earlier this week that it would not implement the law’s provisions for the agency to oversee the production and distribution of marijuana to eligible patients. That decision came after Attorney General Gary King warned that the department and its employees could face federal prosecution for implementing the law, which took effect in July.

So just keep in mind…your emails, faxes and such sent to the State will likely be available as public records….

More information about Washington’s medical marijuana law is available at here.

Update: Lee points out: It’s important to note that the only Democratic candidate who has not publicly stated that he/she will stop using the federal government to interfere with the state medical marijuana laws is Obama. He’s allegedly said it privately to people, but is not on the public record yet.

The bottom line is that if you want to stop the federal government from interfering with our laws, vote for the Democrats (or Ron Paul).