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Christine Gregoire, Legal Challenges, and I-601

Kevin Hamilton, the attorney for Democratic Governor (maybe) of Washington Christine Gregoire in the ongoing election battle, is quoted in today's New York Times stating that "imperfection is not enough to overturn an election." An astute observation. After all, every election is imperfect. But is Mr. Hamilton not aware that the "imperfection" in the election amounts, at the very least, to thousands of votes, and Ms. Gregoire's alleged victory (after losing the first two counts) was by a margin of precisely 129 ballots?! Meanwhile, as the Washington Post reported earlier this month, Christine Gregoire is "governing as if she won by a landslide." This month, she is attacking one of the most important distinctive legal traditions of the state of Washington. "The first power reserved by the people is the initiative." (Washington State Constitution, 2.1a, emphasis added). In the state of Washington, we don't trust party politicians (yet somehow, we can't seem to elect independents or third-parties... hmm...), so we make laws ourselves - of the people, by the people, for the people. Not long ago, we decided to pass a law called Initiative 601 requiring a 2/3 majority of both houses of our legislature to increase statewide taxes, because we like to keep our government on a leash so it doesn't get out of control like the feds (not that it isn't already, but we can still try). As the politically important Washington Farm Bureau states in a recent press release, the people are a "a co-equal legislative body ... who in this state constitute a fourth branch of government." Meanwhile, Christine Gregoire and the Democrats of the state senate have passed Senate Bill 6078, effectively (and illegally) overturning the initiative (Ms. Gregoire signed the bill the same day it was passed; there seems to be some sort of "emergency clause" floating around). My Republican representatives in the House are vehemently opposed to the measure.

So, to sum up, the Democratic governor we may or may not have elected is, along with her supporters in the legislature, illegally overturning our laws so that she can spend our money against our will. Isn't this fun! I voted for Ruth Bennet.