Opponents Throw Kitchen Sink at I-517
With the November 5th election just one week away, opponents of Initiative 517 in Washington are spending more than $600,000 on radio and TV ads twisting the provisions of the “Protect the Initiative Act.” The money against I-517 has come exclusively from corporate interests such as Safeway, Kroger and the Washington Retail Association – each chipping in $100,000 to oppose 517.
Even the Washington State Hospital Association has come out against 517, feverishly claiming that the law would allow petitioners to collect signatures outside of hospitals, even though they already currently have the right to do so. (For obvious reasons, hospitals are not good places to petition.)
On the flip side, activists who might not have worked in the past with Tim Eyman – a key sponsor of I-517 – are expressing their support of I-517, as it gives the people a guaranteed vote if a petition drive is successful in gaining enough signatures.
“I never in my life dreamed that I would be able to support a Tim Eyman initiative,” well-known Bellingham activist Stoney Bird wrote to the Herald, “but I’m a strong supporter of Initiative 517 which … says that if you have enough signatures, the voters get to vote. The voters can’t be prevented from voting.”
Bird likes that “I-517 also ensures that signature-gatherers and petition signers can’t be threatened or bullied” and “extends the time for gathering signatures, giving grassroots groups greater access to the process.”
Retailers fighting Eyman’s I-517>
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2013/10/28/retailers-fighting-eymans-i-517/
Hospital group comes out against 517 > http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/health-care-inc/2013/10/petitions-in-a-hospital-waiting-room.html
Letter to editor FOR 517 from a prominent local activist, Stoney Bird > http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/10/28/3271487/backs-i-517-to-aid-initiatives.html
A cartoon>
http://www.federalwaymirror.com/opinion/229183421.html#
Spokane paper editorializes against 517 >
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/oct/23/editorial-spokane-doesnt-need-initiative-517s/
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