It should be brought to the attention of every voter in this state that on Feb. 10, 2010, our votes and our voices were deemed illegitimate, unimportant, and irrelevant to 83% of Democrats in the Washington state Senate. In a vote on a bill that passed and was deviously titled only “Relating to Fiscal Matters” Washington state Senate Democrats voted to suspend the provisions of the voter Initiative 960.

The initiative requires either a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate or 50 percent plus one of Senate votes and a majority vote of the public to raise taxes.

The intention of this voter-approved initiative was to force government to live within its means and present tax increases to the electorate as a last resort. The government has not even feigned an attempt to follow the spirit of law and bring proposed increases to the public for a vote. As expected, Senator Mary Margaret Haugen voted in support of the bill to overturn the will of the people.

As businesses and families struggle amid tight budgets and difficult times, where is the first place we turn? We turn to our spending. We make hard choices and cut back. We don’t run to our rich friends and neighbors asking for money which we have not the means nor the intent to ever repay. In this shocking and appalling move by the Washington State Senate Democrats, this is exactly what they have done.

It should also be noted that numerous amendments were proposed to this bill that would maintain some aspects of the original initiative, such as continuing to require notice to voters in the voters’ pamphlet when the legislature votes to increase taxes, reinstating the email notice to public requirement of the initiative and restoring the advisory vote provision of the initiative. The defeat of these proposed amendments by Senate Democrats demonstrates their intent to blatantly thwart the will of the people without even providing notice to taxpayers and voters.

It is my sincerest hope that this move by Washington State Senate liberals, amidst the current era of “open government” and “transparency” rhetoric coming from the Democrats across the state and around the nation, will serve to further the growing awareness by the electorate of the great depths to which the hypocrisy of the left dwells in their policies, their actions, and their intent.

This bill, now passed by the Senate and conveniently renamed “An act relating to amending provisions related to Initiative Measure No. 960” will pass to the Washington state House of Representatives for a public hearing on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 9 a.m. before the House Committee on Finance. Our state representatives of the 10th legislative district, Rep. Norma Smith and Rep. Barbara Bailey, are staunchly opposed to this legislation and the effect it will have in undermining the trust of common people in their role in governance as well as the role of their government.

We, the voters of the 10th legislative district, should be calling representatives from other districts to voice our opposition to this despicable legislation. Phone numbers of members of the House Committee on Finance can be found at www.leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/FIN.

We are in troubling times here as liberty loving Americans. Our government has become so arrogant and consumed by their power that they have the audacity to declare with such boldness that they know best. It is their position that they know better than “We the People.” I call on all citizens to stand up and shout, to declare once again that the power and strength of our democracy lies not with government cronies and politicians but in the men and women who work, and build, and teach, and defend our communities.

Lest we forget “Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government” – Declaration of Independence 1776

Jason K. Joiner

Coupeville