The Sam Adams Alliance - Building a network for liberty

Washington Resource Guide

December 18, 2007

Background

Washington is divided politically by the Cascade Mountains with the western half being more liberal and the eastern half being more conservative. However, because the western portion of the state is more populated, the Democrats usually do better in elections. The state went Democrat in the last two presidential elections.

The state is divided into 49 districts resulting in 98 members in the state House of Representatives and 49 members in the state Senate. The House is currently home to 62 Democrats and 34 Republicans. The Senate is composed of 32 Democrats and 17 Republicans. Term limits were originally enacted in 1992 but were later repealed by the Washington Supreme Court in 1998. Debates, committee meetings and other special events in the legislature can be viewed throughout the state on TVW (the state’s public affairs television channel).

Issues

Initiative and Referendum

Washington is home to both indirect and direct statutory initiative rights. Citizens, however, can not amend the constitution through the initiative process. The state also allows for recall of all state and locally elected officials except for members of the judiciary.

2004 Gubernatorial Election

The 2004 Gubernatorial election was highly publicized and controversial. It was one of the closest races in U.S. election history. The initial results had Republican candidate Dino Rossi winning by 261 votes (.009%). State law requires a vote recount by machine for result differentials less than .5%. Rossi still was ahead of Democrat candidate Christine Gregoire, but this time only by 42 votes. The Democratic Party requested a hand recount of all the votes again as is allowed by law. The hand recount put Gregoire ahead by 129 votes. This was the last recount allowed in Washington. She was declared the winner and was later inaugurated. Court battles ensued for months after the final count and the judge ended up throwing out more than 1,600 fraudulent votes.

Washington Taxpayer Protection Initiative

In November 2007, Washington voters passed initiative Washington Initiative 960. The measure, sponsored by Tim Eyman, requires either a two-thirds vote in each house of the legislature or voter approval for all tax increases. New or increased fees require prior legislative approval. Also, an advisory vote is required on any new or increased taxes enacted by the legislature without voter approval. The office of financial management is required to publish cost information and information regarding legislators’ voting records on bills imposing or increasing taxes or fees. This measure was a real win for the state’s taxpayers—putting more power into their own hands!

Think Tanks

Evergreen Freedom Foundation
http://www.effwa.org/main/page.php

Washington Policy Center
http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/

Washington Research Council
http://www.researchcouncil.org/

Action Groups

League of Washington Taxpayers
http://www.washingtontaxpayers.org/

Voters Want More Choices
http://www.saveour30tabs.com/

Anonymous Citizens for Tax Sanity
http://www.olympus.net/personal/dwren/

Washington Coalition for Open Government
http://www.washingtoncog.org/index.html

FreedomWorks- Washington State
http://www.freedomworks.org/washington/

Institute for Justice- Washington State Chapter
http://www.ij.org/washington/index.html

Blogs