Monday, October 26, 2009

EYMAN TALKS IN ALL CAPS

Seriously, sir, haven't you ever heard the internet convention against typing things in all capital letters, even it if is the title of the post? It looks absolutely terrible in my RSS feed.

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Sunday, October 25, 2009

As the Father of a Special Needs Child, This Scares Me

The impact of I-1033 on county health budgets.

The people at the Spokane Regional Health District were invaluable during the first three years of my daughters life, after she was diagnosed with her profound deafness and we worked through all the other various diagnoses that came up along the way; the thought that parents might not have access to that is troubling.

More here from the Washington State Budget and Policy Center.

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Sunday, October 18, 2009

No on I-1033 Week: Firefighters Hate It, Too

There is absolutely nothing to like about this Initiative.

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Saturday, October 17, 2009

No on I-1033 Week: Because Tim Eyman Is a Twit

Tim Eyman as a Snake Oil Salesman
Sound Politics has given Tim a platform to talk about I-1033, which seems kind of repetitive because he'd be preaching to the choir there, but such is life. What's rather funny is one of the headlines he used:

GREGOIRE BLOWS A GASKET OVER INITIATIVE 1033

....particularly when you compare that to the previous video of him acting like a jerk to Joel Connelly and David Goldstein.

It also doesn't help that his biggest critique is a house built on sand:
After Gregoire recently announced that she's changed her position and now wants higher taxes - whatever increases "lawmakers and interest groups" tell her to enact - the need for Initiative 1033 became even more evident.
Let's compare that to what she actually said (emphasis mine):
Now Gov. Chris Gregoire, of all people, jump-started the tax talk in response to a question from Associated Press reporter Curt Woodward. The governor said her “door is open” to lawmakers and advocates who want to make the case for a tax package come January. “I’ve told them come on in, convince me that that’s the right thing to do and that the people will support it,” said Gregoire in a briefing with Capitol reporters.
So she's asked lawmakers (you know, the guys we elect) to make their case, and if they can convince her that tax increases are the best way, she'll consider it.

That's a long ways off from the metaphorical dinner bell that Eyman would have you think that she's ringing. My belief is that the political will won't possibly be there this session, since 2010 is an election year, and that's despite a reasonable argument to be made that taxes might be better than the alternative.

Government may have it's problems, but this initiative is not the solution.

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Friday, October 16, 2009

No on I-1033 Week: The Seattle Times Editorial

The Times lays out the case for voting no on I-1033; additional commentary by David Goldstein here.

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Thursday, October 15, 2009

No on I-1033 Week: Tim Eyman Hates It, Too!

No on I-1033 Week: It Didn't Work in Colorado

Good video from Horse's Ass with the president of the Colorado Education Association talking about what a similar bill there did to the schools in her state.

Also check out this video of Tim showing up to a press conference and acting like, well, a Horse's Ass. He gets asked the question about levy equalization and levy lids and he has no answer because he doesn't give a damn about public schools.

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

No on I-1033 Week: Because Tim Eyman Doesn't Understand Levy Law

It's worth reading this interview with Tim Eyman on the TV Washington website, because he's a moron:

Let’s say you put it to voters to raise sales tax by $1 billion a year and use that for education. If voters vote for that, the billion a year would be exempt for all time from the formula for determining growth.
Now nevermind that we've just cut $2 billion dollars from education and are in line to cut hundreds of millions of dollars more. The trouble comes from the fact that local school districts have a lid on the amount of money that they can ask for from levies (24%), and can't ask for money above that. Consider, too, that there are many school districts that could never ask for the full 24% because of their property-poor nature (see the tag below for levy equalization), so they'll never have a real chance at success.

Tim doesn't care what this will do to our schools. Hopefully, the voters will.

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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

No on I-1033 Week: Tim Eyman Single-Handedly Heals Schism Between Anglican and Catholic Church


It's true!

The state's Roman Catholic and Episcopal bishops, together with other faith leaders, warn that Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033 would "make Washington State's recession permanent" and cut human services.
Let's deploy him to the Middle East stat so that he can bring his particular brand of love to the Palestinians and Israelis. Much as only Nixon could go to China, only Eyman can go to the West Bank.

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No on I-1033 Week: More from the League of Education Voters

Monday, October 12, 2009

No On I-1033 Week: The LEV Takes a Call

It takes a lot for me to say it, but good on the League of Education Voters for the conference call they held last week sharing objections to the newest Tim Eyman initiative, I-1033. It's well worth listening to for anyone who is a school advocate.

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Saturday, October 10, 2009

God Says Vote No on I-1033