Fight legislative arrogance with a 900-pound gorilla

Gov. Christine Gregoire and the Democrats in charge of Olympia just wrapped up their legislative session. It was a stunning display of arrogance and disregard for the voters' ballot-box decisions over the years. Their "father knows best" approach to governing was incredibly insulting and condescending to the voters.

Time after time, they had a choice: follow the voters' previous mandates or follow their own tax-and-spend agenda. Each and every time, they chose their selfish pursuits while disregarding the voters.

The list of voter mandates that got flushed down the toilet is lengthy. Here's the worst:

• The voters have twice approved $30 car tabs, once in 1999 and again in 2002. The rationale for this public-policy position is simple: As long as taxpayers must pay one of the highest sales taxes to buy a vehicle and pay one of the highest gas taxes to use a vehicle, government isn't entitled to a "third bite at the apple," an outrageously expensive yearly fee just for owning a vehicle. Voters have said $30 tabs two times in two separate elections.

Nonetheless, Gregoire and the Democrat-controlled Legislature put state and local governments on a path to increase vehicle tabs to their pre-Initiative-695 levels, which were hundreds, and many times thousands, of dollars every year.

• Four voter-approved initiatives in a row have made clear that voters want the final say on tax increases. State and local governments spend more than $40 billion every year — that's plenty of funding. A tax increase should be a rare, rare occurrence. Voters want politicians to ask their permission for tax increases to force politicians to justify them.

Yet, Gregoire and the Democrat-controlled Legislature unilaterally and radically increased taxes without involving the voters. Why? Because they knew the voters didn't support them and they knew they couldn't justify the increases.

• For the past 12 years, thanks to voter-approved Initiative 601, state government couldn't increase taxes without garnering two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate. It made it tougher to raise taxes. I-601 also put a fair cap on the growth of government spending, limiting it to inflation plus population growth. So government has continued to grow bigger but at a rate that doesn't bust the family budgets of struggling taxpayers. But Gregoire and the Democrat-controlled Legislature saw I-601 standing in the way of their tax-and-spend agenda — so they obliterated it.

• The voters rejected an $8 billion transportation tax increase in 2002, yet Gregoire and the Democrat-controlled Legislature jacked up taxes $9 billion this session. That $9 billion is on top of the Legislature's $4 billion increase in 2003. So voters said "absolutely not" to $8 billion but got stuck with $13 billion instead. What arrogance!

• Voters overwhelmingly repealed the state's death tax in 1981. The state Supreme Court ruled in January that state government was illegally collecting estate-tax revenues it was no longer entitled to. Even the U.S. Congress is listening to voters by phasing out the federal estate tax. But instead of accepting the long-overdue death of the death tax, Gregoire and the Democrat-controlled Legislature resurrected it. Taxing dead people ... have they no shame?

• Our state constitution guarantees the citizens the right to question any law passed by Olympia. But Gregoire and the Democrat-controlled Legislature sabotaged the constitution and ended the referendum process. They insulated their destructive decisions by simply declaring them "emergencies," protecting them from citizen referendum.

Prior to the November elections, Gregoire and the Democrats in charge of Olympia never told voters about their tax-and-spend agenda. They never said, "Elect us and we'll overturn your $30 car tabs, impose massive tax increases without asking voters' permission, make it easier to raise taxes, tax the dead, and insulate our decisions from voter challenge." Instead, they kept it all a secret.

The only way to fight back against all these unsupported legislative changes is with the initiative process which, despite Democrat control of Olympia, is still guaranteed by the state's constitution and which has not been sabotaged, at least so far.

I-900, the 900-pound gorilla, is our initiative for this year. It requires top-to-bottom performance audits of state and local governments. With more than $40 billion being spent each year, it's critical for us to learn whether we're getting the biggest bang for our billions of bucks. I-900 is the best way to fight back against Olympia's arrogance.

We'll likely push more than one initiative in 2006 but one of them will be $30 tabs, Round 3.

In newspaper stories, I've read legislators complimenting themselves for their "courage." Courage? It is not courageous to do exactly the opposite of what the voters want you to do.

Gregoire and the Democrats' father-knows-best approach to governing only deepens the rift between legislators and voters. Let me assure our supporters and the voters that we are committed to giving the voters the opportunity to turn our ship of state back in a positive direction. Voters will have the final say.

Tim Eyman is sponsor of "Performance Audits of Government Initiative" I-900 and head of Voters Want More Choices, a grass-roots taxpayer-protection organization, 425-493-8707, www.i-900.com