Washington voters have big decisions to make this year, including who will be the next governor, whether to hinder state lawmakers’ power to tax, whether to allow charter schools, and whether to legalize marijuana and same-sex marriage.
For the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC), AFL-CIO, the top priority is the governor’s race, which has Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee facing off against Republican attorney general Rob McKenna.
“In states around the country,” says WSLC publications director David Groves, governors’ offices “seem to be the focal point of attack to take away union members’ rights and blame public sector workers for the global economic downturn.”
Polls show the Inslee-McKenna race to be close, though Inslee is leading. That, Groves says, underscores the importance of the “ground game” — people-to-people get-out-the-vote efforts.
Inslee, like the rest of Washington’s Congressional delegation, has been a supporter of free trade agreements that labor opposes. But otherwise, Inslee has a pro-labor voting record: The national AFL-CIO says he has a lifetime rating of 89 percent.
McKenna, on the other hand, has been on the opposite side of labor on most issues. As attorney general, he went to court to block a 12 cent minimum wage increase, a suit that was summarily dismissed by the court.
“We think that’s a pretty good indication of how he would look at the issue as governor,” Groves said.
McKenna also has been a big opponent of the health reform known as Obamacare. As attorney general, he joined the multi-state lawsuit against the law, which mostly lost at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court did rule, however, that states can opt out of the law’s requirement that they expand Medicaid coverage to everyone under 133 percent of the poverty level, and McKenna would opt out as governor. McKenna has said he’s no Scott Walker (the Wisconsin governor who stripped public employees of all meaningful union rights), but he’s also told supporters that public employee unions are dangerous. He’s said he wants to change the law to reduce state employee union rights to negotiate over wages and benefits.
WSLC is also prioritizing the statewide race to replace McKenna as attorney general. There, Democrat Bob Ferguson has labor’s endorsement against Republican Reagan Dunn. Both are current members of the King County Council, and have a history of being on opposite sides of issues. Dunn, named for Ronald Reagan, is the son of former Republican Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn. On the King County Council, Dunn voted against a resolution to beef up enforcement of the requirement to pay the prevailing wage on public construction projects — a key issue for building trades unions.
Ballot measure bingo
Washington voters once again will find a medley of initiatives on their general election ballots this year. WSLC is opposing measures on taxation and charter schools, and supporting measures on same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization:
- Longtime union foe and ballot measure entrepreneur Tim Eyman is back with a biennial measure to limit the state ability to tax. Measure I-1185 would extend the requirement that any bill to eliminate tax breaks or raise taxes must have a two-thirds majority in both legislative houses to pass — or go to voters for approval. The requirement already exists, but the state Constitution allows lawmakers to amend voter-passed laws two years after passage, so Eyman is returning it to the ballot every two years. In 2010 it passed by 64 percent. This year, his initiative campaign received heavy financial backing from the oil and alcohol industries. The problem, says Groves, it only takes a simple majority to pass a tax break, but a two thirds majority to repeal it. The law is currently facing a court challenge: A King County judge ruled in May that it violates the state Constitution, and the state Supreme Court heard the case this month. Labor opposes the measure. “All it takes is this tiny minority of 17 senators in one legislative branch of state government to tie the Legislature’s hands,” Groves said, “but nowhere in the state Constitution does it say anything about supermajority votes, except when amending the Constitution.”
- I-1240, co-sponsored by the Oregon-headquartered group Stand for Children, would authorize up to 40 public charter schools. Washington voters have rejected charter school initiatives three times before, in 1996, 2000, and 2004, but charter school supporters keep coming back. WSLC says the measure would siphon millions of dollars out of existing public schools, since it sets up new schools outside the traditional system, but provides no new funds. Labor opposes the measure.
- Referendum 74 would allow same-sex couples to marry, while also preserving the right of clergy or religious organizations to refuse to perform, recognize, or accommodate such marriage ceremonies. It has wide union backing, including the endorsement of WSLC, Seattle Building Trades Council, AFSCME Council 28, Machinists District Lodge 751, and Teamsters Joint Council 28. “It’s an equality issue, not just for human rights, but for legal rights at work,” explains Groves.
- I-502 would license and regulate marijuana production, distribution, and possession for persons over 21, remove state-law criminal and civil penalties for personal use and possession of up to an ounce, and impose a 25 percent sales tax on marijuana. It would also set a standard for driving under the influence, making it illegal for a motorist to have more than 5 nanograms of THC (the active ingredient of marijuana) per milliliter of blood in their system. Proponents argue that given already widespread use, regulating and taxing marijuana provides a huge potential source of revenue for state government — an estimated $1.9 billion over the next five years. It also makes the product safer, takes away a market for organized crime, and ends a costly waste of public funds on law enforcement and incarceration for a drug that’s demonstrably less harmful than alcohol. Besides WSLC, the measure is backed by the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council, Office and Professional Employees Local 8, Professional & Technical Employees Local 17, and the Sailors Union of the Pacific.
Southwest Washington
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, has endorsed a number of state legislative candidates in Southwest Washington, but curiously, not Jim Haugen, the Democrat challenging Republican Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler has a rather anti-labor voting record, having voted in accord with the AFL-CIO only 25 percent of the time in her first two-year term. But Haugen failed to fill out the candidate questionnaire seeking the state labor federation’s endorsement. So WSLC is recommending voters oppose Herrera Beutler, but hasn’t specifically endorsed Haugen. That Congressional seat was held for 12 years by Democrat Brian Baird, but after Herrera Beutler won the election to replace Baird, the district boundaries were redrawn, and the district now leans more Republican. Herrera Beutler outpolled Haugen by 17 percentage points in Washington’s top-two primary in August. Denny Heck, the candidate who lost to Herrera Beutler in 2010, is favored to win in the newly redrawn Congressional district that includes Olympia.
WSLC is recommending votes for the following Southwest Washington legislative candidates, all Democrats:
- Legislative District 49: Annette Cleveland for Senate; Sharon Wylie for House, Position 1; and Jim Moeller for House, Position 2.
- Legislative District 17: Tim Probst for Senate; Monica Stonier for House, Position 1; and Jim Gizzi for House, Position 2.
Probst’s and Stonier’s campaigns are considered labor federation priorities. Probst, a state representative and labor ally, is challenging Republican incumbent state senator Don Benton. And Stonier is running against Republican Julie Olson for Probst’s vacated seat.
