All the talk of campaign finance reform that we’ve heard from the mouths of some politicians and the talking heads in the media has come to fruition. Another money grab disguised again as a tax has reared its ugly head in Seattle, Washington.
Labeled “Initiative 122″, passed with 60% saying yes to more money taken from them, and 40% saying no to having their hard-earned income extorted. Seattle will now be the country’s 1st city to issue taxpayer-funded “democracy vouchers.”
Heather Weiner, an I-122 spokeswoman praised the additional forced relinquishing of her fellow citizens income by saying this with stars in her eyes, “Seattle leads the nation, first on $15 an hour and now on campaign finance reform. We look forward to seeing more cities and states implementing their own local solutions to the problem of big money in politics.”
While complaining how big money corrupts local politics, the advocates for the I-122 tax hike raised a whopping $1.384 million that almost broke a record, meanwhile their opponents who tried to fight off being stolen from could only gather a little over $461 thousand in donations.
The so-called “Honest Elections” campaign raked-in 52% of its cash from outside of the Seattle city limits. With the chip-ins averaging out to be around $7,134 in contrast to the $166 that was thrown in the cage match between Kshama Stewart and Pamela Banks in the year’s City Council election that turned out to be the most expensive city election in Seattle’s history.
The “Honest Elections” proponents accepted and conquered the challenge of persuading the people of Seattle that they should pay an additional $30 million in property taxes over the next 10 years for their voucher experiment.
Weiner stated that her and over 100 volunteers cheered as the results came in while they were at the I-122 election-night party: “This is very much a local campaign that got national attention.”
I-122 backers cried that the financing of Seattle elections is controlled by the wealthy elite, and that half of the campaign contributions aimed at the 2013 candidates came from just 1,686 donors. The now forced experiment will take place every two years or during each election cycle, the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission (SEEC) will send out four $25 vouchers to each registered voter. They are only valid in the campaigns for city positions like mayor, city council or the city attorney.[adinserter block=”1”]
The voters will then choose a candidate to support and use this designed swindle by signing off on them, then dropping them in the mail to their beloved person desiring the political power to rule over them. But wait, they even made it more convenient that they can just pay their prospective hopefuls online through the (SEEC). With all the money being intercepted by the (SEEC) first, they will decide to release the funds to the candidates that completely agree to abide by all of the rules. One of which is to take part in three debates and agree to accept lower contribution amounts and to have limits on the way the money is spent.
With these sugar-coated regulations added in to make the theft more palatable the I-122’s rules will also deny candidates from accepting campaign contributions from any company or person that has $250,000 or less in city contracts or lobbying expenses totaling $5000. So the loophole is revealed, they’ll just fudge with the numbers and use multiple people and or businesses to fall below these numerical thresholds and still get the money that they crave. Another rule states that it will ban elected officials, and their aides, from engaging in lobbying against the city for a minimum of three years after they exit their jobs at City Hall. I asked a seasoned anti-establishment warrior and a staunch believer in “Taxation is Theft” Amy Hedtke for a quick statement on this matter, she replied: “I am unequivocally opposed to this legal plunder bullshit, I encourage the candidates to refuse any such cooperation with any such initiative”. Phoenix Horton, co-founder of DontComply.com predicts this kind of legislation will sweep the entire nation.
The fight against this type of corruption is just a tug of war of who gets to be the deposit box to the dollars that are given, with the victor this time being able to force the deductions of incomes upon the people. Will the for certain disregarded vouchers be selected by the (SEEC)? The easy indoctrination that coughing up more money on your eternal rental property is better than these crooks getting it from contributions and donations is literally funding their demise.
By Andre’ Gabriel Esparza – DontComply.com
