| 2010 COMMENTARY | ||||
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February 16, 2010
Opposite side rallies dominate Presidents Day at State Capitol
The Presidents Day event to protest excessive state government spending and anticipated tax hikes coincided with another rally later in the day sponsored by the Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition, a 100 member group comprised of labor, social service organizations and the education lobby.
The Push Back rally crowd, eventually estimated to be well over 4,000, arrived early and tried to stay late. They eventually had to make way for the second group. Many came because they were frustrated and wanted their voices heard.
Bob and Val Watson from Tacoma said it was their first time at a rally. Bob said the state needs to “stop spending, stop taxing – enough is enough.”
Referring to the 1970’s film Network, he said, “I’m mad, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
Val asked, “What does it take for (the Washington State Legislature) to hear us?”
Postal worker Trish Peckham came from Shelton to participate. “I would like to see our government cut back on spending,” she said. “I don’t what to see Initiative 960 killed.”
I-960 is a measure passed by voters in November 2007 that requires a two-thirds super-majority vote of the Legislature before taxes can be raised. It also mandated transparency on potential tax hikes. It is the subject of a bill in the Legislature to suspend it until July 2011.
Like the Watson’s, Peckham is also a first-time protester. “Government needs to listen to us,” she said. “I’m frustrated.
Trish Jerue of Bellevue came because holding the line on taxes seems common sense, she said. She was a first time protester too.
“My family is making less money these days,” she said. “So, why do they take more?”
Jerue questioned why the state hasn’t done more to reduce spending. She said it should explore privatizing state ferries and liquor stores, among other things.
With Jerue was 12-year-old Caroline Mull, a 6th grader at Issaquah Middle School. She was worried that her generation would end up with the bill for all the spending that’s going on today.
Freedom Foundation CEO Lynn Harsh served as the event MC. She asked how many in the crowd had driven more than 100 miles to attend. Dozens of hands shot up.
Harsh told the crowd that they were there for their children who will end up inheriting the millstones of debt being accumulated by excessive government spending.
Amber Gunn, the Freedom Foundation’s Director of Economic Policy, said that politicians had no business coming to the people asking them for a bailout. “We will remember in November,” she said, referring to Election Day.
Patrick Conner of the National Federation of Independent Business welcomed the crowd as fellow radicals and fellow revolutionaries. He criticized the opposition, whose rally was to follow, for it’s “how dare we” attitude.
He said, “The powers that be have miscalculated the powers of our numbers. One by one we will take back the people’s Legislature.”
Former radio talk show host Kirby Wilbur, now the head of the local chapter of Americans for Prosperity, said that the state “can’t squeeze any more blood out of us.”
“It’s necessary to defeat those who think you are an unlimited access for money,” he said. “Don’t come after me year after year after year asking for more, more, more.”
When Wilbur told the crowd that November wasn’t that far away, they broke into a spontaneous and sustained chant of “no more taxes.”
Featured-speaker Monson found irony in the fact that the pre-rally music included The Who’s tune “We Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
“I am here, as are all of you, to tell our elected leaders that enough is enough,” he said.
Elected officials are scheming to overturn the will of the people, he said, referring again to their efforts to suspend I-960.
Monson said that in the 72 hours preceding the rally, bills that would raise taxes $11 billion had been introduced into the Legislature. Rhetorically asking why they had been introduced, he answered saying it was because Gov. Gregoire and the Legislature grew spending 35 percent in the last five years. Now they want more, he said.
“They know it will be economically disastrous,” he said, “but they don’t care!”
Reminding the crowd that the governor had promised in 2008 not to raise taxes, he called her a liar. “She said that in tough economic times, no legislator proposes raising taxes.”
Calling the governor a tool of unions, lobbyists and special interests who demand tax increases for their benefit, Monson said the governor takes her marching orders from them. “Special interests have bought off the governor and the Legislature,” he said.
While it’s necessary to have a social safety net, it shouldn’t be a socialist safety net, he said.
In a play on words, Monson said that the root of the word “politics” was “poli,” meaning many, and “ticks,” which are insects that suck blood. In other words, he said, politicians are blood suckers.
It was time to push back, he said, and he asked everyone to raise their hand. He said that the raised hands would become clenched fists, to which the crowd responded by chanting loudly “no more taxes.”
The Freedom Foundation’s Harsh closed the event by urging the crowd to go into the legislative building and tell Legislators what they think. “You know your job,” she said, “let your voice be heard.”
Attending the rally was Rep. Carey Condotta, R-Wenatchee, and he said that the event would have an impact on how far the Legislature is willing to go in raising taxes. I-960’s suspension was pretty much a done deal, he said, but Legislators are nervous – there has been a change in the atmosphere.
As fast as the Push Back – No Taxes supporters could get off the Capitol Building steps, the pro-tax rally attendees took their place.
Eventually numbering some 5,500, they marched in representing groups such as the Washington Federation of State Employees, various student activist organizations, the Freedom Socialist Party and others.
Clicking on the Web site of rally sponsor, the Rebuilding our Economic Future Coalition, you get directed to a Web site owned by FUSE, a hard-left progressive organization. The Coalition lists as members organizations such as the 48th District Democrats, the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition Against Tobacco, Juan de Fuca Festival of Arts and scores of others.
Sola Raynor is a WFSE member from Spokane who works as a developmentally disabled case manager at Lakeland Village, a group home. She carried a sign that said, “Save Lakeland Village.”
“We need common sense on revenue expenditures to fund the safety net,” she said. “What we are doing here today is helping support the people of Washington state.”
She said her comments were her own personal opinions, and they didn’t reflect the official policy of her employer, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. She asked that a disclaimer be made to that effect because she could get into trouble with DSHS without it.
Rev. Carol McKinley held a sign saying “Voices for justice.” She was there representing the Washington State Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice office, she said.
She said she was attending the pro-tax rally to call for fair and equitable tax policy that would include a state income tax. She said that the Push Back rally supporters needed to look at the role of government and how we relate to others in society. “We must care for the vulnerable,” she said.
McKinley said that she understood and sympathized with those who are angry about taxes and spending. She also said she believed most Legislators and other elected officials are committed to doing the right thing.
Washington State University student Patrick Horton of Sammamish was there protesting Senate Bill 6562, which would give tuition-setting authority to regents at the state’s universities. While his tuition payments won’t be affected, what his parents will have to pay for his younger brother will be unpredictable and unmanageable, he said.
Pre-rally pep talk included a number of people with bullhorns leading chants. One that received enthusiastic support was “Down with the ivory tower – let’s go back to student power.” Another popular chant was “Two-four-six-eight – students want to graduate.”
Clark College student Corey Mitchell from Spokane said that he survived off financial aid and work-study grants. When asked if he worked at all, he said that he did. When asked what his job was, he said, “Student.”
Mitchell said state student-aid programs were an investment. “A little investment goes a long way,” he said.
“Giving me financial aid is an investment in your future,” said the international studies and communications major.
As the crowd grew larger, one of the bullhorns could be heard broadcasting a pledge to close down business in the area between the Capitol Building and the Temple of Justice, which are a few hundred yards apart.
When the formal program started, Leno Rose-Avila, the executive director of the Social Justice Fund Northwest, served as MC. He said that claims by the Push Back rally supporters that they were engaged in a revolution were specious. “They don’t know what a revolution likes like,” he said.
Rose-Avila said that they were there to urge Legislators to close tax loopholes and raise revenue. “We have to protect our revenue,” he said.
Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, told the crowd that they would succeed because there were so many more of them than those who attended the Push Back rally. “They’re running out of teabags,” he said.
He said that the current economic crisis was because of waste, fraud and greed on Wall Street.
Rep. Sharon Nelson, D-Seattle, said, “You bring hope.” She said, “Parks, trails and our quality of life are the future for our children – they are why companies come to Washington state.”
She said that Democrats are the party of hope and that they would solve the economic crisis by bringing in more revenue.
Washington State Labor Council head, Rick Bender, demanded an end to budget cuts. He said last year’s all-cuts budget was the cause of today’s problems.
He said that pressure must be kept up on behalf of national health care reform because failure is not an option. He said it was necessary to raise revenue to protect the future.
Leanne Clark, who owns a small business at Seattle’s Pike Place Market, said that further cuts in Washington state’s Basic Health Plan would devastate small business.
WFSE president, Carol Dotlich, said that her union stood for beaten down public service workers. “We are the safety net,” she said.
She said public-sector workers didn’t cause the economic crisis, which she described as temporary. The larger crisis was in raising revenue where there was an absence of political will, she said.
“We need real leaders,” she said, and those who voted to suspend I-960 showed real leadership.
Closing the program, Rose-Avila said that the Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition was delivering on change. He urged the crowd to lobby their legislators on behalf of “hope, revenue and change.”
The Washington State Patrol maintained a constant vigil over both rallies. They reported no problems with either aside from minor crowd-control issues with the pro-tax people including trampling the tulip beds that are between the Capitol Building and the Temple of Justice.
Radio talk show personality Dori Monson’s calling out Gov. Christine Gregoire as a tax-hiking liar brought the crowd to a fever pitch at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Push Back No Tax rally.
The Presidents Day event to protest excessive state government spending and anticipated tax hikes coincided with another rally later in the day sponsored by the Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition, a 100 member group comprised of labor, social service organizations and the education lobby.
The Push Back rally crowd, eventually estimated to be well over 4,000, arrived early and tried to stay late. They eventually had to make way for the second group. Many came because they were frustrated and wanted their voices heard.
Bob and Val Watson from Tacoma said it was their first time at a rally. Bob said the state needs to “stop spending, stop taxing – enough is enough.”
Referring to the 1970’s film Network, he said, “I’m mad, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
Val asked, “What does it take for (the Washington State Legislature) to hear us?”
Postal worker Trish Peckham came from Shelton to participate. “I would like to see our government cut back on spending,” she said. “I don’t what to see Initiative 960 killed.”
I-960 is a measure passed by voters in November 2007 that requires a two-thirds super-majority vote of the Legislature before taxes can be raised. It also mandated transparency on potential tax hikes. It is the subject of a bill in the Legislature to suspend it until July 2011.
Like the Watson’s, Peckham is also a first-time protester. “Government needs to listen to us,” she said. “I’m frustrated.
Trish Jerue of Bellevue came because holding the line on taxes seems common sense, she said. She was a first time protester too.
“My family is making less money these days,” she said. “So, why do they take more?”
Jerue questioned why the state hasn’t done more to reduce spending. She said it should explore privatizing state ferries and liquor stores, among other things.
With Jerue was 12-year-old Caroline Mull, a 6th grader at Issaquah Middle School. She was worried that her generation would end up with the bill for all the spending that’s going on today.
Freedom Foundation CEO Lynn Harsh served as the event MC. She asked how many in the crowd had driven more than 100 miles to attend. Dozens of hands shot up.
Harsh told the crowd that they were there for their children who will end up inheriting the millstones of debt being accumulated by excessive government spending.
Amber Gunn, the Freedom Foundation’s Director of Economic Policy, said that politicians had no business coming to the people asking them for a bailout. “We will remember in November,” she said, referring to Election Day.
Patrick Conner of the National Federation of Independent Business welcomed the crowd as fellow radicals and fellow revolutionaries. He criticized the opposition, whose rally was to follow, for it’s “how dare we” attitude.
He said, “The powers that be have miscalculated the powers of our numbers. One by one we will take back the people’s Legislature.”
Former radio talk show host Kirby Wilbur, now the head of the local chapter of Americans for Prosperity, said that the state “can’t squeeze any more blood out of us.”
“It’s necessary to defeat those who think you are an unlimited access for money,” he said. “Don’t come after me year after year after year asking for more, more, more.”
When Wilbur told the crowd that November wasn’t that far away, they broke into a spontaneous and sustained chant of “no more taxes.”
Featured-speaker Monson found irony in the fact that the pre-rally music included The Who’s tune “We Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
“I am here, as are all of you, to tell our elected leaders that enough is enough,” he said.
Elected officials are scheming to overturn the will of the people, he said, referring again to their efforts to suspend I-960.
Monson said that in the 72 hours preceding the rally, bills that would raise taxes $11 billion had been introduced into the Legislature. Rhetorically asking why they had been introduced, he answered saying it was because Gov. Gregoire and the Legislature grew spending 35 percent in the last five years. Now they want more, he said.
“They know it will be economically disastrous,” he said, “but they don’t care!”
Reminding the crowd that the governor had promised in 2008 not to raise taxes, he called her a liar. “She said that in tough economic times, no legislator proposes raising taxes.”
Calling the governor a tool of unions, lobbyists and special interests who demand tax increases for their benefit, Monson said the governor takes her marching orders from them. “Special interests have bought off the governor and the Legislature,” he said.
While it’s necessary to have a social safety net, it shouldn’t be a socialist safety net, he said.
In a play on words, Monson said that the root of the word “politics” was “poli,” meaning many, and “ticks,” which are insects that suck blood. In other words, he said, politicians are blood suckers.
It was time to push back, he said, and he asked everyone to raise their hand. He said that the raised hands would become clenched fists, to which the crowd responded by chanting loudly “no more taxes.”
The Freedom Foundation’s Harsh closed the event by urging the crowd to go into the legislative building and tell Legislators what they think. “You know your job,” she said, “let your voice be heard.”
Attending the rally was Rep. Carey Condotta, R-Wenatchee, and he said that the event would have an impact on how far the Legislature is willing to go in raising taxes. I-960’s suspension was pretty much a done deal, he said, but Legislators are nervous – there has been a change in the atmosphere.
As fast as the Push Back – No Taxes supporters could get off the Capitol Building steps, the pro-tax rally attendees took their place.
Eventually numbering some 5,500, they marched in representing groups such as the Washington Federation of State Employees, various student activist organizations, the Freedom Socialist Party and others.
Clicking on the Web site of rally sponsor, the Rebuilding our Economic Future Coalition, you get directed to a Web site owned by FUSE, a hard-left progressive organization. The Coalition lists as members organizations such as the 48th District Democrats, the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition Against Tobacco, Juan de Fuca Festival of Arts and scores of others.
Sola Raynor is a WFSE member from Spokane who works as a developmentally disabled case manager at Lakeland Village, a group home. She carried a sign that said, “Save Lakeland Village.”
“We need common sense on revenue expenditures to fund the safety net,” she said. “What we are doing here today is helping support the people of Washington state.”
She said her comments were her own personal opinions, and they didn’t reflect the official policy of her employer, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. She asked that a disclaimer be made to that effect because she could get into trouble with DSHS without it.
Rev. Carol McKinley held a sign saying “Voices for justice.” She was there representing the Washington State Unitarian Universalist Voices for Justice office, she said.
She said she was attending the pro-tax rally to call for fair and equitable tax policy that would include a state income tax. She said that the Push Back rally supporters needed to look at the role of government and how we relate to others in society. “We must care for the vulnerable,” she said.
McKinley said that she understood and sympathized with those who are angry about taxes and spending. She also said she believed most Legislators and other elected officials are committed to doing the right thing.
Washington State University student Patrick Horton of Sammamish was there protesting Senate Bill 6562, which would give tuition-setting authority to regents at the state’s universities. While his tuition payments won’t be affected, what his parents will have to pay for his younger brother will be unpredictable and unmanageable, he said.
Pre-rally pep talk included a number of people with bullhorns leading chants. One that received enthusiastic support was “Down with the ivory tower – let’s go back to student power.” Another popular chant was “Two-four-six-eight – students want to graduate.”
Clark College student Corey Mitchell from Spokane said that he survived off financial aid and work-study grants. When asked if he worked at all, he said that he did. When asked what his job was, he said, “Student.”
Mitchell said state student-aid programs were an investment. “A little investment goes a long way,” he said.
“Giving me financial aid is an investment in your future,” said the international studies and communications major.
As the crowd grew larger, one of the bullhorns could be heard broadcasting a pledge to close down business in the area between the Capitol Building and the Temple of Justice, which are a few hundred yards apart.
When the formal program started, Leno Rose-Avila, the executive director of the Social Justice Fund Northwest, served as MC. He said that claims by the Push Back rally supporters that they were engaged in a revolution were specious. “They don’t know what a revolution likes like,” he said.
Rose-Avila said that they were there to urge Legislators to close tax loopholes and raise revenue. “We have to protect our revenue,” he said.
Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, told the crowd that they would succeed because there were so many more of them than those who attended the Push Back rally. “They’re running out of teabags,” he said.
He said that the current economic crisis was because of waste, fraud and greed on Wall Street.
Rep. Sharon Nelson, D-Seattle, said, “You bring hope.” She said, “Parks, trails and our quality of life are the future for our children – they are why companies come to Washington state.”
She said that Democrats are the party of hope and that they would solve the economic crisis by bringing in more revenue.
Washington State Labor Council head, Rick Bender, demanded an end to budget cuts. He said last year’s all-cuts budget was the cause of today’s problems.
He said that pressure must be kept up on behalf of national health care reform because failure is not an option. He said it was necessary to raise revenue to protect the future.
Leanne Clark, who owns a small business at Seattle’s Pike Place Market, said that further cuts in Washington state’s Basic Health Plan would devastate small business.
WFSE president, Carol Dotlich, said that her union stood for beaten down public service workers. “We are the safety net,” she said.
She said public-sector workers didn’t cause the economic crisis, which she described as temporary. The larger crisis was in raising revenue where there was an absence of political will, she said.
“We need real leaders,” she said, and those who voted to suspend I-960 showed real leadership.
Closing the program, Rose-Avila said that the Rebuilding Our Economic Future Coalition was delivering on change. He urged the crowd to lobby their legislators on behalf of “hope, revenue and change.”
The Washington State Patrol maintained a constant vigil over both rallies. They reported no problems with either aside from minor crowd-control issues with the pro-tax people including trampling the tulip beds that are between the Capitol Building and the Temple of Justice.
| Contact: Scott St. Clair | | | Investigative Journalist |
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