Process is flawed, resulting in bad laws

In their wisdom, when our lawmakers legalized the initiative process, they properly limited each to one topic. Permanent Offense and Tim Eyman have a new initiative. It will dedicate a large portion of the budget to road building, call for performance audits of WSDOT, and open carpool lanes to general traffic. Weren’t Mr. Eyman’s first two initiatives unconstitutional as they dealt with more than one topic? And doesn’t this latest edition deal with three? Regardless of what the initiative is or one’s view of it, it must conform to state law to become a state law.

The vast majority of states in this union get along perfectly well without initiatives. Lawmakers make laws and set tax rates: if they fail to heed the will of the people, they don’t get re-elected. We are now seeing the dark side of the initiative process: bad laws, misleading initiative advertising, unreported personal gain. The list goes on.

As citizens, we must be aware of self-serving folks conning us with simple solutions to complex problems. Passing all these anti-tax initiatives only handicaps our political system, removing all flexibility to deal with future problems and critical situations. Our constitution is vaguely worded and generalized, allowing it to remain workable as times change. If you feel our lawmakers tax us too much, elect others. Don’t change the system – change those implementing it.

Snohomish