Remember a year ago, when Prop 1, SeaTac’s $15 minimum wage ballot initiative, was teetering on the edge of being disqualified for the November ballot after judge ruled it lacked the proper number of valid signatures?
A lawsuit filed by a local business owner who signed the petition claimed, “This circuitous attack on King County’s finding of sufficiency was wholly illegal. Moreover, they deprived voters, including (the) plaintiffs, of their state and federal Constitutional rights. When Washington granted its citizens the right to enact laws by initiative, the initiative right became a fundamental one under the state and federal Constitution. The procedures of SeaTac and the decision of Judge Darvas directly disenfranchise 262 voters, but indirectly disenfranchise all of the voters who signed to qualify Prop 1 for the ballot. Its action cannot withstand any constitutional scrutiny.”
She claimed those who signed the petition were disenfranchised and their vote ignored. The Seattle Times reported here that the Committee for Good Jobs—a group intertwined with the unions—filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiff, Patricia Seidenstricker.
The initial lawsuit filed by Seidenstricker claims her rights, as well as others, were trampled on by the efforts to keep Prop 1 off the ballot.
Yet today, unions are fighting to keep local citizen initiatives off of the ballot. They seem to have conveniently forgotten their previous argument that fighting to keep initiatives off of the ballot disenfranchises voters.
Sam Woods, of MoveOn Clallam County, an Occupy organizer and IBEW 46 member, describes those who want vote on the two measures in November in Sequim: “These people are anti-union. They want to make the process as contentious as possible. We’re trying to stop the race to the bottom. We don’t need lower-paying jobs in this country. We need higher-paying jobs.”
Unions only want people to exercise their initiative rights when those rights are in line with the union’s agenda.
Links:
- Sam Woods disparages Freedom Foundation and worker’s right to the initiative process.
- Committee for Good Jobs’ connection to Working Washington.
- Working Washington PAC . Union funding used to pass $15/hour minimum wage; a citizen generated initiative in SeaTac.
