Of Oxygen and Money: Initiatives

Of Oxygen and Money: Initiatives

Campaign managers and public affairs consultants have a term they use. And this year it comes up a lot. “There will be very little oxygen this fall.”

The initiatives and the Rossi/Murray races will buy up a ton of airwaves and mailbox space this fall. So the air is gone – and thus the term.

But what does it really mean to the future of Washington state public policy? It is oppressive.

The lack of air and space left in mailboxes will drastically impact local and legislative elections.

First the money side. Private and public interests will have to spend even more than they already have to defend the initiatives in court, run the campaigns, and handle the everyday events of a voting period that is now over three weeks long in some counties. Yes, the ballots will sit on the tables for as long as three weeks. No one can time the “peak” of a campaign anymore. The secretary of state estimates that about a third of the people vote when they get their ballots, a third dribble in over the two- or three-week period, and a third dump them in at the last moment. Some of the initiatives are already wrapped up in litigation or investigation that also will pull money that otherwise could have gone to legislative races.

The second big question? Who will be voting? Or rather, who will vote who otherwise would not have? It is an off-year election, or as some call it, “mid-term,” referring to the lack of a U.S. presidential contest. There will be people voting for and against initiatives that otherwise would have sat this one out. These are motivated voters, emotional voters, philosophical voters. There should be a greater and more focused turn out.

And finally, what does this recession-season, mid-term ballot say for our Legislature? Key fundamental revenue and policy positions of the electeds will be on trial. Are the new taxes just too much for Washingtonians? Are they ready for booze retailers to actually treat them like a customer? Do they really think they can impose an income tax on the “rich?” In other words, was/is the Legislature out of touch?