VANCOUVER, Wash. – The Republican Party has endorsed Initiative 912, opening another source of money for the campaign to repeal a state gasoline tax increase that was enacted earlier this year to finance transportation projects.
The GOP state committee approved the endorsement on a voice vote last weekend in Yakima, chairman Chris Vance told The Columbian newspaper. Republicans already held most key positions in the I-912 campaign, he noted.
“It’s clear the grass roots of the Republican Party support this overwhelmingly,” Vance said. “There’s great skepticism among grass-roots Republicans about this package.”
A spokesman for the I-912 campaign, Brett Bader, who often does consulting work for Republicans, said the Libertarian Party also has endorsed the repeal.
“We did not seek any of these endorsements,” Bader said. “Rather, members of the party organizations put these forward.”
An endorsement allows the party to make contributions to the campaign, which would repeal a measure enacted by the Legislature to boost the gas tax by 9.5 cents a gallon over four years. The first 3 cents took effect in July.
I-912, which has fared well in public opinion surveys, has drawn 5,000 contributions totaling about $200,000, and backers hope to raise another $150,000, Bader said.
The tax increase would help finance $8.5 billion in transportation projects around the state over 16 years, including replacement of the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle.
Supporters of the tax increase include many leading Democrats and a number of the state’s largest employers and labor unions. Some Republicans in the Legislature also voted for it.
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