2012-06-08

Belated, but good news for the US State of Washington

"King County Courthouse this morning: Superior Court Judge Bruce Heller has just ruled that Tim Eyman’s I-1053 – the third in a series of initiatives undemocratically requiring two-thirds votes of both houses of the Legislature to raise revenue – is unconstitutional on multiple grounds."

More here - http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2012/05/breaking-tim-eymans-i-1053-has-finally-been-struck-down-as-unconstitutional.html

Another prize bit -

"Governor Chris Gregoire has yet to issue a statement commenting on today’s ruling. However, we’re guessing that she is happy with it, given her past opposition to I-960 and I-1053, and her active interest in this case.


(The governor was independently represented by her own counsel during oral argument; her attorney urged Judge Heller to reject Attorney General Rob McKenna’s argument that the case should not be heard).

McKenna, for his part, wasted no time in announcing that he would be appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.

“We thank Superior Court Judge Heller for his thoughtful consideration of this matter,” McKenna said. “However, we will appeal this decision because we believe these voter-enacted laws are constitutional, and we are determined to defend the will of the voters, just as we defend laws passed by the Legislature.”

Who exactly is McKenna talking about when he says “we”? Who is he speaking for? Certainly not Governor Gregoire or legislative leadership – they believe I-1053 to be unconstitutional. Is McKenna thinking of his buddy Tim Eyman, the sponsor of I-1053, who was once his client? (For those who don’t know, prior to becoming Attorney General, Rob McKenna co-wrote Tim Eyman’s Initiative 747 in 2001. It was later struck down by the Supreme Court in 2007 as unconstitutional)."

No comments:

Post a Comment