Recent Stories with tag olympia

Sheriff's detectives arrested Olympia mayor pro tem Joe Hyer yesterday, alleging he engaged in "unlawful possession of a controlled substance, unlawful distribution of a controlled substance and unlawful use of a residence for drug purposes," reports Seattlepi.com. Hyer has previously been a city council member, and was president of the Olympia Downtown Association.

Norm Stamper, author of "Breaking Rank"

The Northwest is home to plenty of upstanding citizens who prefer marijuana be legalized. Fresh-scrubbed travel guy Rick Steves argues that it's not Christian to put pot smokers in jail. And former Seattle "top cop" Norm Stamper wrote in to Sensible Washington, the people behind the I-1068 marijuana legalization initiative, to let them know of his support:

I thought I would reach out to you, let you know of my strong support for I-1068, and authorize use of my name (and, no doubt, that of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) if you think it would be helpful to the campaign.

Currently Sensible Washington (2,300+ Facebook fans and counting) is looking for volunteer signature gatherers and donations to the cause. In a masterstroke of strategical positioning, they'll be outside the Bon Jovi concert at Seattle Center tonight, gathering signatures. People who want to help are invited to meet at the Space Needle at 6 p.m.

A joyful "Gum Wall" courtesy of SunBreak Flickr pool member lwestcoat

Governor Gregoire has come up with a few ways to raise an easy $605 million: sin taxes. The Olympian says she'd put "new levies on toxic materials that include refined oil, and on bottled-water, carbonated beverages, cigarettes, candy, and gum."

I suppose the tax on toxics like oil qualifies as a sin tax. (We're getting very moral about the environment these days.) In any event, it brings in the most money, about $215 million, mostly from Washington refineries. Putting a sales tax on candy and gum, the Seattle Times says, brings in just $28 million.

You'd think $600 million added up to real money, but the state has a $2.8 billion deficit forecast for 2010 and 2011. Gov. Gregoire is hoping to talk the federal government out of over $400 million, but that still leaves quite a shortfall.

The rusting husk of Gasworks Park, a fitting metaphor for our elected government. Photo by our Flickr pool contributor feekner.

Late last month, I wrote about Oregon's special vote for Measures 66 and 67, two bills passed by the legislature and signed by the governor that were sent to the voters as a referendum, which raised taxes to help close a budget shortfall. One raised the minimum corporate tax for the first time since 1931, while the other was a modest increase in the income tax for high-earners (Oregon has an income tax but no sales tax). Both measures passed with substantial margins, with roughly 54 percent in favor to 46 percent opposed.

The vote was closely watched nationally because Oregon, like Washington, is a state known for its anti-tax fervor. Oregon had its own Tim Eyman, has caps on property tax increases, and has repeatedly rejected new tax increases. But faced with dramatic cuts to crucial services, Oregon voters banded together with their elected representatives and passed two very simple measures that kept the state working.

Our fearless leaders in Olympia, on the other hand, have done virtually nothing. While Gregoire has stated she wants to "buy back" some of the slash-and-burn budget cuts she originally proposed (as a matter of state law, which requires her to present a balanced budget--from the beginning, she made clear she did not support that budget), her alternate budget still relies extensively on cuts, with a large portion of new revenue expected from federal stimulus money. The House has introduced a bill (HB 3176) that would generate $210 million in new tax revenues by mostly closing loopholes, but that's a pittance compared to the overall $2.6 billion shortfall over the biennium....

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