Tell legislators to oppose newest anti-initiative bill — Wed 8 am hearing on Senate Bill 5397 in Olympia (Senate Gov Ops, Cherberg Bldg, Hearing Room 2)

This Wed, Jan 31 is another weekday 8 am hearing in Olympia — perfectly timed so that regular folks can’t be heard, only the special interests. I’ll be participating (5 am departure from Mukilteo, hours long drive to the Capitol, sit there for multi-hour hearing to get 3 minutes of testimony, and then hours long drive back home).

Our supporters can’t do that because you work for a living so you can’t take the entire day off to do this (and legislators know that). You’re too busy pulling the wagon. But folks ridin’ in the wagon have plenty of time to trek to Olympia to advocate taking away our rights.

The system is totally stacked against us.

But we’re here to help ALL OF YOU tell all 147 legislators that you strongly oppose these anti-initiative bills.

Send them an email that says this or something like this (tell ’em what you think):

“Legislators, there’s a new anti-initiative bill that’s really horrible. Senate Bill 5397 requires people to get the government’s permission before being allowed to collect signatures for an initiative. It requires government registration, licensing, training, criminal background checks, etc. It also requires that you tell the government which initiatives you’ll be gathering signatures for. And then SB 5397 actually says that 2 days after you register with the government, the government will then publicly display your name, where you live, a photo headshot of yourself, and which initiative you will be collecting signatures for for all to see. Talk about dangerous — initiative opponents will know exactly who to target. All it will take is a brick through a window, slashed tires, an assaulted child, or other violence to deter that person from exercising their First Amendment rights. This is reckless and irresponsible. It puts a bullseye on the back of regular people whose only ‘crime’ is a willingness to give voters the chance to sign a petition. There are Democrats AND Republicans sponsoring this bill!!! You people should be ashamed of yourselves. SB 5397 is unAmerican and deserves condemnation and derision. The initiative process is ours, not yours, leave it alone.”

Subject line: Oppose anti-initiative bills like Senate Bill 5397

Cut and paste these email addresses into the To line of your email — here’s the 98 House members for the 2018 session:

sherry.appleton@leg.wa.gov; andrew.barkis@leg.wa.gov; steve.bergquist@leg.wa.gov; brian.blake@leg.wa.gov; vincent.buys@leg.wa.gov; michelle.caldier@leg.wa.gov; bruce.chandler@leg.wa.gov; mike.chapman@leg.wa.gov; frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov; judy.clibborn@leg.wa.gov; eileen.cody@leg.wa.gov; cary.condotta@leg.wa.gov; richard.debolt@leg.wa.gov; tom.dent@leg.wa.gov; beth.doglio@leg.wa.gov; laurie.dolan@leg.wa.gov; mary.dye@leg.wa.gov; carolyn.eslick@leg.wa.gov; jake.fey@leg.wa.gov; joe.fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov; noel.frame@leg.wa.gov; roger.goodman@leg.wa.gov; paul.graves@leg.wa.gov; mia.gregerson@leg.wa.gov; dan.griffey@leg.wa.gov; larry.haler@leg.wa.gov; drew.hansen@leg.wa.gov; mark.hargrove@leg.wa.gov; mark.harmsworth@leg.wa.gov; paul.harris@leg.wa.gov; dave.hayes@leg.wa.gov; jeff.holy@leg.wa.gov; zack.hudgins@leg.wa.gov; morgan.irwin@leg.wa.gov; bill.jenkin@leg.wa.gov; laurie.jinkins@leg.wa.gov; norm.johnson@leg.wa.gov; ruth.kagi@leg.wa.gov; christine.kilduff@leg.wa.gov; steve.kirby@leg.wa.gov; brad.klippert@leg.wa.gov; shelley.kloba@leg.wa.gov; vicki.kraft@leg.wa.gov; joel.kretz@leg.wa.gov; dan.kristiansen@leg.wa.gov; john.lovick@leg.wa.gov; kristine.lytton@leg.wa.gov; drew.macewen@leg.wa.gov; nicole.macri@leg.wa.gov; matt.manweller@leg.wa.gov; jacquelin.maycumber@leg.wa.gov; joan.mcbride@leg.wa.gov; gina.mccabe@leg.wa.gov; bob.mccaslin@leg.wa.gov; joyce.mcdonald@leg.wa.gov; jeff.morris@leg.wa.gov; dick.muri@leg.wa.gov; terry.nealey@leg.wa.gov; ed.orcutt@leg.wa.gov; timm.ormsby@leg.wa.gov; lillian.ortiz-self@leg.wa.gov; tina.orwall@leg.wa.gov; mike.pellicciotti@leg.wa.gov; strom.peterson@leg.wa.gov; eric.pettigrew@leg.wa.gov; liz.pike@leg.wa.gov; gerry.pollet@leg.wa.gov; kristine.reeves@leg.wa.gov; marcus.riccelli@leg.wa.gov; june.robinson@leg.wa.gov; jay.rodne@leg.wa.gov; cindy.ryu@leg.wa.gov; sharontomiko.santos@leg.wa.gov; david.sawyer@leg.wa.gov; joe.schmick@leg.wa.gov; mike.sells@leg.wa.gov; tana.senn@leg.wa.gov; matt.shea@leg.wa.gov; vandana.slatter@leg.wa.gov; norma.smith@leg.wa.gov; larry.springer@leg.wa.gov; melanie.stambaugh@leg.wa.gov; derek.stanford@leg.wa.gov; mike.steele@leg.wa.gov; drew.stokesbary@leg.wa.gov; monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov; pat.sullivan@leg.wa.gov; gael.tarleton@leg.wa.gov; david.taylor@leg.wa.gov; steve.tharinger@leg.wa.gov; javier.valdez@leg.wa.gov; luanne.vanwerven@leg.wa.gov; brandon.vick@leg.wa.gov; mike.volz@leg.wa.gov; jim.walsh@leg.wa.gov; jt.wilcox@leg.wa.gov; sharon.wylie@leg.wa.gov; jesse.young@leg.wa.gov; tim_eyman@comcast.net

Send a separate email for the Senate — here’s the 49 senators for the 2018 session:

jan.angel@leg.wa.gov; barbara.bailey@leg.wa.gov; michael.baumgartner@leg.wa.gov; randi.becker@leg.wa.gov; andy.billig@leg.wa.gov; john.braun@leg.wa.gov; sharon.brown@leg.wa.gov; reuven.carlyle@leg.wa.gov; maralyn.chase@leg.wa.gov; annette.cleveland@leg.wa.gov; steve.conway@leg.wa.gov; j.darneille@leg.wa.gov; jeannie.darneille@leg.wa.gov; manka.dhingra@leg.wa.gov; doug.ericksen@leg.wa.gov; joe.fain@leg.wa.gov; phil.fortunato@leg.wa.gov; david.frockt@leg.wa.gov; bob.hasegawa@leg.wa.gov; brad.hawkins@leg.wa.gov; steve.hobbs@leg.wa.gov; jim.honeyford@leg.wa.gov; sam.hunt@leg.wa.gov; karen.keiser@leg.wa.gov; curtis.king@leg.wa.gov; patty.kuderer@leg.wa.gov; marko.liias@leg.wa.gov; john.mccoy@leg.wa.gov; mark.miloscia@leg.wa.gov; mark.mullet@leg.wa.gov; sharon.nelson@leg.wa.gov; steve.oban@leg.wa.gov; mike.padden@leg.wa.gov; guy.palumbo@leg.wa.gov; jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov; kevin.ranker@leg.wa.gov; ann.rivers@leg.wa.gov; christine.rolfes@leg.wa.gov; rebecca.saldana@leg.wa.gov; mark.schoesler@leg.wa.gov; timothy.sheldon@leg.wa.gov; shelly.short@leg.wa.gov; dean.takko@leg.wa.gov; kevin.vandewege@leg.wa.gov; keith.wagoner@leg.wa.gov; maureen.walsh@leg.wa.gov; judy.warnick@leg.wa.gov; lisa.wellman@leg.wa.gov; lynda.wilson@leg.wa.gov; hans.zeiger@leg.wa.gov; cyrus.habib@ltgov.wa.gov; ltgov@ltgov.wa.gov; tim_eyman@comcast.net

Sending these 2 emails will really help — BUT IT’S ONLY EFFECTIVE IF WE ALL DO IT. If you have any problem, just email me the message you want sent, and I’ll forward it to all legislators (and I’ll cc you). OK?

I HAD AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE THIS WEEKEND — there was a political conference at Ocean Shores. It’s a yearly event called the Roanoke conference (normal people go to sporting events and music concerts — political junkies like me go to Roanoke). I was honored to be one of the speakers on a panel called “Taxapalooza, how best to stop Democrats from taxing us to death.”

I was joined with other heroic anti-tax warriors — Sen. Jacquelyn Maycumber (a real superstar) and Sen. Steve O’Ban who are fighting in the legislature and Chris Rufo who is fighting in the courts (against Seattle’s illegal income tax).

My message was: the initiative process is THE ABSOLUTE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY to protect taxpayers — our initiatives have saved taxpayers over $40 billion so far — but it’s an incredibly tough process that requires junk-yard dog determination and persistence.

After 20 years of fighting for taxpayers, we’ve learned that the most effective way to fight the Democrats’ tax-hiking schemes is by taking our case directly to the people. That’s why we’re moving full steam ahead with We Don’t Want An Income Tax. It prohibits the state and local governments from imposing any kind of income tax, especially a capital gains income tax.

Jack, Mike, and I are committed to protecting taxpayers. But we can’t do it alone. We need everyone’s help.