HorsesAss.Org

There is a hearing in Olympia this morning before the House Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs on HB 1087, which would prohibit paying initiative petition signature gatherers on a per-signature basis.

Word is that the hearing room is packed with opponents of the bill, a crowd organized by Tim Eyman and his signature gathering contractors at Citzens Solutions. Of course they’re crowding the hearing room. This isn’t democracy or free speech that’s at stake for them, it’s their livelihood.

I’d thought about heading down to the hearing myself, but it’s hard to make an 8:00 AM hearing in Olympia when my daughter doesn’t walk out the door to school until 9:00 AM. Besides, I already know what the Eyman folks are going to say, so why not just refute them here?

There are really only two arguments against HB 1087. 1.) There is no evidence of signature fraud in WA state, and thus this bill is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech; and 2.) this bill is intended to destroy the initiative process.

Both arguments are complete and utter loads of shit.

As to the first argument, a similar Oregon law was recently upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, precisely because the state of Oregon presented gobs of evidence of signature fraud conducted by signature gatherers, incentivized by their pay-per-signature compensation.

That’s Oregon. Just across the border. Does anybody really believe that Washington state is somehow immune to the same sort of shenanigans, especially when you consider that most paid signature gatherers are mercenary migrant workers traveling from state to state during the signature gathering season? Gimme a break.

Some have argued that our Secretary of State has reported no fraud of this sort here in WA, but just because the SOS hasn’t found this fraud (or even looked for it) doesn’t mean it’s not happening. And it is more than a touch ironic that these people who would vociferously argue against simple safeguards protecting the integrity of the initiative process, are the same people who vociferously argue for requiring photo ID at the polls… when they can provide absolutely no evidence of polling place voter fraud! What a bunch of fucking hypocrites.

Signature fraud was rampant in Oregon, and they just got away with it until watchdog organizations did their own investigations and presented their evidence to the government and the press. No doubt similar fraud occurs annually in WA state and across the nation… which, um, could explain the extraordinarily high signature rejection rates here and elsewhere. Eyman himself, the grand defender of the initiative process that has so lavishly supported him and his family, has filed petitions with a rejection rate pushing 20 percent, and I’m told that at least one petition in another state last season was thrown out after the signature rejection rate exceeded 50 percent!

As for the second argument, that this bill is intended to kill the initiative process, well that is simply refuted by reality. A similar bill is law in Oregon, and the same folks who fought it in court there are still managing to qualify initiatives for the ballot. Perhaps it’s a touch more expensive, I don’t really know. But nobody ever said that qualifying an initiative for the ballot should be easy.

Hell, if it was up to me, I’d lower the signature threshold in exchange for banning paid signature gathering altogether. This would make it harder for self-interested professionals like Eyman to qualify an initiative simply on the merits of a big check from Michael Dunmire, while at the same time making it easier for initiatives with real grassroots support to come before voters.

But, well, anything that takes the profit motive out of the initiative process is sure to draw opposition from initiative “champions” like Eyman.

In the 24 hours since I launched my first annual HA Pledge Week, 38 readers have contributed nearly $1,400, bringing me more than a third of the way towards my one-week goal of $3,500. That’s an amazing start, and I thank all 38 of you for your generous support. (As for the other 2100 readers who visited HA today, well… you know who you are.)

Still, not everyone reacted so positively to my pledge drive. I expected the usual personal attacks belittling me as stupid or lazy or a societal leech, and my trolls didn’t disappoint. But by far the nastiest comments came via email, where one pseudonymous righty lectured that my “shameless panhandling” made me an “unfit parent,” and claimed to have copied the email to DSHS along with my street address and phone number.

Whatever.

Of course, if I were a righty blogger with a comparable impact on local politics and media coverage (and yes, I know that requires a leap of imagination on both counts) I probably wouldn’t be reduced to begging — at least not publicly. The right has developed institutions to nurture and support up-and-coming talking heads, and help build and promote their profiles. Faced with the prospect of losing a right-wing voice like mine, a faux-think-tank like the EFF might find me some cushy job, or a friendly publisher might offer me a generous book deal. Nobody on the right would expect me to continue doing what I do for as long as I’ve done it without some sort of steady income.

And yet that’s exactly the status quo on the left. This despite the fact that us netroots bloggers have not only become an integral part of the Democratic Party’s messaging machine, but have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for Democratic candidates.

Chris Bowers writes about the “one-way flow of progressive movement money,” and he comes off sounding rather pissed. And rightly so.

In a painful and disturbing irony, the same Democratic political consultant structure that the netroots seek to reform–and which Markos and Jerome called “The Consultant Con” in Crashing the Gate–is actually being funded, reinforced, and strengthened by the netroots. Roughly one-third of the money that went to Democratic campaign consultants in the 2003-2004 election cycle came from netroots activists….

[…] While I don’t think the netroots should regret any of the money it raised for Democratic candidates during 2003-2006 […] we needed to do more to help support the underfunded people, institutions and ideas that make the progressive movement possible. Just lining the pockets of already well compensated consultants is no way to build a movement over the long term.

My partner at BlogPac, Matt Stoller, has previously written about examples of full-time progressive movement activists who receive little or no compensation for their work. Maria Leavey, who did not have health insurance, passed away last month as the result of a heart attack a doctor could have identified. […] Local progressive bloggers typically lose money on blogging every year, even as they help transform local media and activist scenes. Even a prominent blogger such as myself, who helped raise around $2 million for Democratic candidates and committees in the 2005-2006 cycle (and transfer another $3 million into competitive races through Use It Or Lose It), spent the entire 2005-2006 cycle without health insurance. Quite frankly, it is pretty brainless for someone such as myself to help so much money flow into the hands of a small number of highly paid consultants without simultaneously raising money to meet my own basic needs, such as health insurance. What the hell was I doing?

But I am not just angry at myself, or the general lack of funding currently available to the people, institutions, and ideas that make the progressive movement so vital. I am also pissed off at the Democratic and progressive establishment that is funded with our dollars, but which refuses to fund us in return.

I’m not ashamed to be asking for your contributions, but I don’t particularly relish doing it, and I realize that long term this is an unsustainable way to support my work. My personal goal is to integrate my blogging and activism into a fulltime radio gig or some other kind of paid media venture. But my personal finances aside, the larger deficit is institutional, and if we want the progressive blogosphere to continue to grow in size and influence, the progressive community is going to have to step up and find a way to support bloggers of merit. This means labor, environment, pro-choice and all the traditional private and institutional backers of progressive candidates and causes are going to have to dedicate resources to funding bloggers like me. You can’t expect us to do this work, unpaid, indefinitely… and in the long run, you get what you pay for.

But in the meanwhile, I need your help. If you value what I do, if you would miss this blog if it were to suddenly go away, if you look forward to the impact I might have on future elections, I ask you to please reach into your pocket and throw a few bucks my way. I don’t do what I do for the money, but the bank that holds my mortgage does.

Six days and $2,100 to go. Thank you in advance for your generous support.

Evergreen Freedom Foundation attorney Rob McKenna made a splash in the other Washington last week arguing before the US Supreme Court against the rights of unions. (McKenna also apparently freelances as our State Attorney General.)

Why would such an ambitious politician (he wants to be President) calling from one of the most pro-union states in the nation risk political capital defending the union-busting EFF? University of Washington Political Science Professor David Olson has a theory:

Olson described the case as one that will “nail the base” of state GOP voters because it gets “the red-meat juices flowing.” And although it’s likely to anger the trade-union base of Washington Democrats, Olson believes the case is likely to “fly below the radar screen” of most of the state’s independent voters whom McKenna courts.

“McKenna has calculated that the net gain to his base from supporting this case is greater than his net loss of pro-union support,” said Olson, who has been tracking McKenna’s political career for the past 20 years since his days as student council president at the University of Washington.

Yup, that’s McKenna for you, a shrewd political operator willing to play to his conservative base when he can get away with it, while masquerading as a centrist when it suits his purposes. McKenna’s also done an incredible job courting the press, who have largely rewarded him with uncynical and uncritical coverage. As such, he has become the most dangerous Republican in the state.

The state Dems need to hire somebody full time just to track McKenna and stick a few wrenches in his slick, professional PR machine. It’ll be an investment well worth the time, effort and money.

1. “Them libruls are stealin’ our tax money!”

Here’s a fancy little nugget from my favorite sociopathic troll at Postman on Politics:

KingCo has already sucked up most of the transportation money with that rip-off called a gas tax.
Now Seattle believes the rest of the state should pay for their harbor beautification project?
Screw that.

Posted by Hinton at 04:28 PM, Jan 24, 2007

Nevermind the fact that King County exports gas taxes to less populated counties. This is a common refrain among the wingnut “flying monkeys.”

2. “The Democrats control the ________!!”

Unless you’re talking about government in Washington state, what do Democrats really control?

Let’s face it, Washington is a tough state for Repubs because the Dems own the newspapers, the universities, the non-profits, ects.

Posted by thatcher at January 24, 2007 06:53 PM

Do Democrats “own” these things? Granted, most colleges have lots of liberals. But current UW President Mark Emmert was a college buddy of Mike McGavick, and they were still pretty close as of the beginning of McGavick’s campaign.

Washington state’s newspapers are owned by right-of-center families (like these two) or they are owned by big corporations. The Seattle P-I is liberal, but the Times? As if!

(I don’t know why this douche mentions “non-profits”, but the WA-based think tanks skew heavily to the right.)

3. The Seattle P-I and “Sound Off”

The P-I has a great little feature that is currently not available at the Fairview Fanny. What is it? Well, at the bottom of many articles, readers are invited to give their two cents. There are some gems, including…

A film about the Iraq occupation is nominated for an Oscar:

Posted by red-wind at 1/24/07 10:54 a.m.

Should clean up if it shows the US as the enemy, that type of story-line wins all the time!

Apparently, “the left” is intolerant for trying to teach science:

Thanks again for showing the tolerance and open-mindedness that the left demands of others, but seems unwilling or incapable of giving. That gives me such confidence that you are also better judges of science.

Finally, this in response to a P-I editorial blasting Bush’s SOTU speech just makes me giggle:

it was too funny watching the media after the speech. poll after poll after poll scored a very very high positve result for our president from those who watched the speech. even more interesting is that more democrats watched the speech than usually would. it was obvious the media wanted president bush to fall flat on his face, but instead, he came out quite well indeed.

It’s awesome that entire blogs have been dedicated to find these pearls of wisdom shit. Amazing.

A bit of gambling advice for Gov. Gregoire and my Democratic friends in the state legislature: don’t take the wager that you can let the proposed Spokane Tribe gambling compact slide through without much debate or opposition. It’s a sucker’s bet.

This compact is a bad deal for everybody except the Spokanes, and would inevitably lead to a massive expansion of gambling statewide. If well publicized, it would also be immensely unpopular with voters, and could lead to real political repercussions.

The WSRP has been grasping at straws these past couple years looking for an issue that holds traction with voters, and in their opposition to the Spokane compact they have found one that crosses party lines. Just two years ago voters overwhelmingly defeated I-892 — Tim Eyman’s slot machine initiative — by a 61 to 39 percent margin. (It failed 63 to 37 percent in Spokane County.) Yet the Spokane compact would essentially do for tribal casinos what I-892 hoped to do for card rooms and bowling alleys.

By federal law the Spokanes have the right to negotiate the same terms offered the other tribes in Washington state, but the same is true in reverse. If the Spokanes get 4,700 Las Vegas style slot machines, every tribe in the state is going to reopen their compact looking for the same deal. The same is true of the increased betting limits offered the Spokanes.

State Republicans sense the enormous political opportunity this proposed compact gives them, and they don’t even have to resort to lies, hate-mongering and obfuscations to make their point. So hot is the WSRP on this issue that they even made it a primary focus of a recent conference call with journalists and (mostly) right-wing bloggers.

With little else to spark widespread voter ire at their Democratic colleagues, the R’s are prepared to make this one of the signature issues of this session. Don’t let them.

Voice your opposition now. Oppose this compact and instruct the negotiators to go back to the table. It’s not only good for the state, it’s good politics.

Today my monitor blew up.

It was a turn-of-the-century Apple 17-inch Studio Display, and it worked well enough I suppose, until I turned it on this morning and a gigantic spark shot across the screen and out the top grill, leaving a puff of acrid, black smoke in its wake.

For a moment I considered moving back to my old 12-inch iBook (circa 2001), but its screen is slowly failing too, and it feels frustratingly pokey, even compared to the less-than-muscular Mac mini I’ve been using as my main computer for the past year. So this afternoon I headed down to Tukwila to shop for a new monitor.

I immediately gravitated towards a crisp 20-inch widescreen HDTV LCD, that at 1366×768 native resolution would have given me more screen real estate than my old display, while tuning in a number of HD channels over the air. But at $399.00, I just couldn’t justify the purchase. Next I checked out LCD monitors, but the big screens were even pricier than the televisions, while the 17- and 19-inch screens just didn’t feel like enough of an upgrade to make them worth the two to three hundred dollar price.

I’d never really liked switching from the iBook’s small but comfortable LCD back to the larger but less ergonomic CRT, and had long coveted a large LCD for my desktop. But the truth is, my personal finances are more than a bit precarious at the moment, and so at the end of the day I reluctantly found myself at RE:PC buying a used 19-inch CRT for $24.95. The colors are a bit washed out, and the image is fuzzy around the edges, but it works, and I guess that’s good enough.

Well… actually, the monitor kinda sucks. But it was cheap.

The past few years have been an extraordinary experience, immensely gratifying in nearly every way except financial, and while it is a relief to have some steady income from the KIRO gig, two nights a week does not make ends meet and is far from enough to help pull me out of the financial hole I’ve dug for myself. Everything in my life — my house, my car, my clothes, my body — is falling apart, and well… as I stare at these words on my fuzzy new/old screen, it’s just kinda depressing.

Don’t get me wrong. I love what I do, and given the choice I’d do it all over again. (‘Cause… I’m crazy.) And I certainly plan to continue almost-full-time blogging as long as I can keep the lights on. But the City Light bill is past due, so who knows how much longer that might be?

The point is, I need cash, and so I’ve decided to do what I first should have done a couple years ago, and hold an online fundraiser. That’s right, I’m asking you, my loyal readers, to help me continue my hard work, by forking over a little or your hard earned cash.

Consider this to be HorsesAss.org’s first official pledge drive. From now through the end of the month I’ll be shamelessly begging you for money… you know, just like politicians, NPR, PBS, teenage children and… well… beggars. My goal: a modest $3500 — about enough to pay my bills for a month. Barely.

I won’t be spending the money on fancy computer equipment (though I’d love a new MacBook if anybody has one to spare)… just the mortgage, health insurance, maybe a trip to the dentist and stuff like that. Just the nuts and bolts of getting by.

It’s been a privilege doing what I do, but it takes an awful lot of hard work and time… time I probably should be spending earning a decent living. So if you enjoy HorsesAss.org, if you believe I make a contribution that’s worth continuing, then please show your appreciation the American way — by whipping out your credit card and sending me some cold, hard cash.

As always, I thank you for your support.

After a contentious public meeting last night the Federal Way School Board lifted it’s moratorium on the showing of Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” and tried to put a positive spin on a controversy that has clearly spun out of control.

Board members have said they hope this controversy will start a healthy debate about global warming.

Actually, what it’s started a healthy debate about is the composition of the Federal Way School Board.

The Board is dominated by religious conservatives and members of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a right-wing faux-think-tank dedicated to busting the teachers unions and dismantling public education. Right wingers have long targeted local school board elections — low profile/low cost races that rarely garner much public spotlight. But they don’t represent the broader community.

As has been seen throughout the nation, from Pennsylvania to Kansas, when the righties overreach as they have occasionally done in pushing Intelligent Design, the voters wake up and replace the the school board. That’s what should happen in Federal Way. That’s what will happen in Federal Way.

Looking to get in on the ground floor a presidential campaign? Hurry up, these domain names are already registered:

• www.wa4edwards.org
• www.wa4gore.org
• www.wa4hillary.org
• www.wa4obama.org
• www.wa4richardson.org
• www.wa4kucinich.org
• www.wa4vilsack.org

What… nobody’s grabbed www.wa4dodd.org …?

President Bush said something or other about energy and health care and about not failing in Iraq (I mean, any more than we’ve already failed there,) but the real speech last night was given by Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA). This was probably the best Democratic response I’ve ever seen. If Webb’s Senate tenure wasn’t only a few weeks long, people would be whispering about a Presidential run.

Twenty years ago, this was the type of standup guy who would have proudly called himself a Republican. In fact, he did.

‘Nuff said.

Below is a comment by Chad Shue, a local blogger and activist. First, let me explain.

The Seattle Times’ David Postman wrote about how right-wing activists are airing commercials about Iran, and why we should take unilateral military action against that country. Never mind most Iranians are young people who are against their own government, neoconservatives want to drop bomb instead of talk. People sometimes get sucked into the “war mindset” and see every global problem with a military solution. While military action is warranted, it ought to be the last resort. I find it obscene to be advocating military action against a nation we don’t talk to. That’s wrong, and it’s wrong whether you are a Scoop Jackson Democrat, a James Baker III Republican, or anything else.

Here’s Shue’s comment:

Let’s see if we have this right.

In what must be the world’s worst kept secret, the country of Israel, a staunch ally of the United States and protagonist of Iran, was the first country in the Middle East to have a nuclear bomb. Indeed, Iraq was certainly in the beginning stages of developing a nuclear weapon right up to the point of the Gulf War in 1991. We know this because the United States almost certainly provided some of the technical capability for this program during the time we were supporting Iraq in its war with Iran during the late seventies and eighties. Then, of course, there are India and Pakistan; both countries with ongoing nuclear programs that are not only accepted by the United States but actually equipped by us to help further those programs. This in spite of the fact that India has yet to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Pakistan, a country known to have sold nuclear plans and materials to countries throughout the Middle East, is certainly the current base of operations for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. So while the Bush Administration is happy to openly support and supply the known nuclear weapons programs of regional neighbors, we draw the line with Iran – because?? Maybe we believe that there isn’t room for more than one “aggressor” in the region? Don’t get me wrong. I am not supportive of any proliferation of nuclear weaponry. However, diplomacy through hypocrisy cannot produce any result other than hostility; which brings us back to the crux of the argument.

Peace through War – the Bush Doctrine.

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue

Well said.

According to CBS News, Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to 28%, a new low. By comparison, at this point in his presidency, Bill Clinton’s job approval stood at 65%… and that was during the height of the impeachment proceedings.

UPDATE:
If you really can’t wait for the speech, the White House has already released talking points and excerpts.

Our regular Tuesday night gathering of the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets two hours earlier tonight, 6PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E… so we can all watch the President’s State of the Union address in the comfort of friends and alcohol.

We’ll be playing the State of the Union Drinking Game and SOTU Bingo, so please join us for some politically inspired cheers, jeers and beers. (Oh… and our fearless leader Nick implores, no swearing! It’s a family restaurant.)

Not in Seattle? Washington liberals will also be drinking tonight in the Tri-Cities and Vancouver. A full listing of Washington’s eleven Drinking Liberally chapters is available here.

The Seattle Times editorial board joins the unimaginative chorus of “responsible” politicians and business leaders calling for closing the “Internet sales-tax loophole.”

With the rise of Internet purchases, what used to be a small leak of should-be tax revenues has become a hemorrhage. A state Department of Revenue spokesman said about $794 million in state and local use tax goes unpaid every year. The Washington Legislature should plug the hole by changing a law so the state can become a full member of the multistate Streamlined Sales Tax project. Twenty-one states are participating so far, and about 1,000 retailers have agreed to collect sales taxes.

Yes, this loss of revenue is a huge problem which will only get worse as more commerce shifts to the Internet. And no, I’ve got absolutely nothing against forcing buyers to pay use tax on mail-order purchases.

But the system the Times is supporting would be an absolute disaster to hundreds of thousands of small business people nationwide, essentially making interstate commerce the exclusive realm of only the largest corporations.

I founded and operated a small mom-and-pop software company where the vast majority of our product shipped out of state. About $30,000 a year of that business, and the bulk of my profits, came in the form of individual sales of $50 or less, shipped directly to households in every state in the union. Had I not been able to sell direct to my customers, I couldn’t have stayed in business as long as I did. Had I been forced to file quarterly returns in every goddamn state with a sales tax, I couldn’t have afforded to sell direct.

The accounting burden imposed by the Times’ preferred solution is simply too great for truly small businesses to bear, and makes no workable provision for small businesses like mine. There were some states to which I might sell only a handful of units a year; tell me, how can I afford to file quarterly taxes — even a return with nothing due — over a stinking $14.95 upgrade? And the alternative, forcing us into the maws of some third-party fulfillment and/or tax accounting service would eat up too big a chunk of the revenues to make such small mail-order and Internet businesses worthwhile.

I never would have started my business had this burden been in place. This is a proposal that crushes innovation and entrepreneurship, and discourages the creation of home-based, Internet businesses.

And it completely ignores the real problem.

The real problem is not that WA residents aren’t paying sales tax. The problem is that WA state and local governments rely too heavily on sales taxes to produce revenues.

If WA had a balanced tax system that included an income tax, this would be a much less dire issue. But instead of addressing the real problem and responsibly talking about tax restructuring, our politicians and our state’s paper of record prefer to fiddle around the edges of our broken tax system, willfully oblivious to the unintended consequences of their actions. It’s not that most small Internet businesses don’t want to charge their customers sales tax — it’s that we simply can’t afford to turn ourselves into fulltime tax collecters.

We need bold action on tax restructuring, not cowardly avoidance of the real issues at hand.

Hmm. Clay Bennett paid about $350 million to buy the Sonics and the Storm, and now he wants the state to build him a $530 million “multiplex” from which he would reap all the profits from all events. Nice deal for him.

Um… but wouldn’t it have been cheaper for us taxpayers if we had simply bought the teams and kept them at Key Arena, which as far as I can tell, is still a pretty damn nice place to watch a basketball game? It’s a shame we can’t just force a sale of the teams via eminent domain. Sure, we might lose a few million dollars a year operating the clubs (though who really knows when it comes to professional sports accounting?) but that’s a helluva lot less than the cost of paying off the bonds on a half-billion-dollar arena. Plus, a state-owned team would be a much better investment of public monies, as sports franchises seem to constantly go up in value regardless of their performance, while flashy new arenas and stadia apparently become worthless hunks of junk the minute we drive them off the lot.

The fact is, publicly financed stadia just don’t make economic sense, but at twice the price of other new arenas Bennett’s latest proposal is particularly crazy. Crazy as a fox.

See, when Bennett and his partners bring the Sonics back home with them to Oklahoma City they’ll be greeted as conquering heroes. That’s why they bought the team. But if they come right out and say it, they’ll lose dump trucks full of cash between now and the 2010 expiration of their Key Arena lease as local fans abandon the team in droves. So Bennett has to at least make a show of wanting to stay.

In that context a $530 million arena proposal makes perfect sense. The dream of a Renton multiplex is just enough to keep hope alive and fans in the seats… but more than crazy enough to assure that it’s a political nonstarter.

At least, I sure hope it’s more than crazy enough to be a political nonstarter — though when it comes to publicly financed stadia, you never know.

The other day Fox News smeared Sen. Barack Obama, implying that the Indonesian elementary school he attended as a six-year-old was an Islamic madrassa. Fox chose to repeat this pile of right-wing bullshit, without any confirmation or further investigation. But not CNN.

Wolf Blitzer righteously smacks down his cable “news” rivals:

“CNN did what any serious news organization is supposed to do in this kind of a situation… actually investigate and learn the facts.”

Yep, they actually sent a reporter to Indonesia and reported the truth, because unlike FOX, CNN considers itself a “serious news organization.” You can view the clip here.