One Liquor-Store Campaign Presents Signatures, and Worker-Comp Initiative Says it Will Qualify

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

UPDATED 5 p.m. June 23 with Eyman comments and signature presentation and latest count for I-1100.

OLYMPIA, June 23.—A full nine days ahead of the deadline, the campaign for a liquor-store privatization initiative turned in nearly 400,000 signatures Wednesday at the state elections office, the start of a parade that may produce one of the longest ballots in state history.

            Initiative 1100 has hit the magic number and exceeded it by nearly 100,000. It takes 300,000 signatures to practically guarantee a spot on the Washington ballot -- a daunting task for any campaign. But it looks like it won't be the only one that hits the target.
            Six other initiative campaigns are in the field right now, scrambling to collect signatures by the July 2 deadline. One says it has enough signatures in hand to make the ballot. That's the campaign for I-1082, which would allow private competition for the state’s worker-compensation system.

            And another has announced that it will turn in somewhere in the neighborhood of 340,000 signatures next week -- but that claim has to be taken with a grain of salt. Backers of I-1107, which would roll back tax increases on soda pop and other grocery products, made the claim Tuesday when it set an appointment to turn in signatures at the elections office at the last possible moment.

            Meanwhile, the others are in a mad dash to get the remaining signatures needed to put their campaigns over the top. All but one are using paid signature gatherers to give them an edge, and their chances range from possible to slam-dunk.  

           The campaigns must present a minimum 241,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office, which oversees elections. But state elections officials point out that it really takes at least 300,000 signatures to assure a spot on the ballot, because signature-checkers typically find that about 18 percent of signatures are not valid.

            I-1100 was the first to turn in signatures.

            Why turn in signatures early?

            “Number one, we’re done,” said campaign manager Sharon Gilpin. “And number two, I don’t want to be in the traffic jam next week.”

            Worker Comp Also Done

            The campaign for I-1082, the worker-comp initiative, also reports that it has reached the 300,000-signature mark. That measure is sponsored by the Building Industry Association of Washington, and is intended to break the long-running stalemate in the Legislature over worker-comp reform. Business interests say the Washington system, one of only four in the country that do not permit private competition for industrial insurance, has little incentive to keep costs low. But labor interests have blocked reform proposals, arguing that injured workers would be harmed.

            This year BIAW decided it could get nowhere in a Democrat-controlled Legislature and opted to take the matter to the voters instead.

            Spokeswoman Erin Shannon said the campaign already has collected enough signatures to place the measure on the ballot, but set an appointment to bring in signatures on July 2, the final day. Many petitions are still out in the field, Shannon said, and by next week the campaign will be able to add several thousand more to the figure.

            Two Liquor-Store Measures This Year

            I-1100 is one of two liquor-store privatization measures that seek a spot on the ballot this year. Both would junk the state liquor-store system through which hard liquor has been sold in this state since the end of Prohibition.

            The key difference is that 1100 would allow retailers to deal directly with manufacturers. Its most enthusiastic supporter has been Costco, which is by far its biggest financial backer, and which collected signatures in its stores statewide.

            Meanwhile, I-1105 is sponsored by liquor distributors active in other states. It would require retailers to buy liquor from distributors and would preserve their position in their marketplace. That campaign launched late. A judge okayed the ballot title on June 9, and it has been scrambling to collect signatures using a network of paid signature gatherers.

            Charla Neuman, spokeswoman for the campaign, declined to say how many signatures the campaign has collected so far. “We’re on target and on schedule, and so we’re going to get into uncharted territory and see two initiatives on the same subject on the same ballot,” she said.

            Pop-Tax Rollback Campaign Sets Appointment

            The campaign for I-1107 is promising to bring in somewhere around 340,000 signatures next week. But it set up an appointment with elections officials to bring in signatures on July 2, the deadline day, meaning that it will be collecting signatures until the last minute. The campaign is relying in part on a statewide mailing, and its success depends not only on the cooperation of registered voters but that of the U.S. Postal Service. On Monday campaign spokesman Robert Gara refused to say how many signatures were on hand.
             The measure, sponsored by the Washington Beverage Association, would cancel tax increases passed by the Legislature this year on soda pop, candy and bottled water, and would restore a tax break for food processors. That campaign also started late – the ballot title was approved June 10.

            Income Tax Measure on Target

            Initiative 1098, a high-earner income-tax measure sponsored by labor organizations and social service groups, says it is on track to hit the target by next week. The measure would impose an income tax on those who earn more than $200,000 a year and raise an additional $1.7 billion a year for state programs. The campaign had passed the two-thirds mark Monday, said spokesman Sandeep Kaushik. I-1098 has not yet set an appointment to turn in signatures.

            Eyman in Field

            No initiative season would be complete without an entry from Washington state’s veteran initiative promoter Tim Eyman, and this year he’s back with a re-run of a measure from three years ago. I-1053 would restore a tough two-thirds-vote requirement for the Legislature to pass tax increases. Voters passed the same measure in 2007, in the form of I-960, but the Legislature voted to suspend it this year and promptly raised taxes.

            Eyman said Wednesday, "We're not there yet, but we're going to keep our heads down and keep working." 
            And he said he never provides the press with progress reports on signature gathering efforts.

Eyman's initiative is endorsed wholeheartedly by many of the state's business organizations, including the Association of Washington Business. The measure would make it possible for the Republican minority in the Legislature to block tax increases next year. Without the measure, tax hikes seem a pretty good bet. State officials are projecting a $3 billion shortfall.

The rationale has to do with legislative politics and the rules surrounding ballot initiatives. Lawmakers can repeal or suspend an initiative immediately on passage with a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate, but that rarely happens. However, after two years go by, the Legislature can make changes with a simple majority vote. That’s what the majority Democrats did this year. Passage of the initiative would make tax increases extremely unlikely for another two years.

            Marijuana Initiative is Wild Card

            The biggest question mark this year is Initiative 1068, which would essentially end marijuana prohibition under state law. Of all the measures being promoted this year, 1068 is perhaps the most populist of the bunch. And unlike the others, the core group of activists behind the measure don’t have a financial stake in its success.

            But they don’t have a budget that allows them to pay for signatures. Big donors pulled out. So the Sensible Washington campaign has to do it the old-fashioned way, with volunteers.

            Campaign Director Philip Dawdy said the campaign has somewhere between 150,000 and 170,000 signatures in hand. Thousands of petitions have yet to be returned, and the campaign is mounting a last-minute drive. So don’t count this one out, he said.

            “It just drives me wild watching some of these initiatives get on the ballot that have $1 million to spend,” he said. “If we get on the ballot, we’ll do it for about $40,000. And that’s a pretty good return on investment.”