BISC presents...BallotBlog!

Washington: No Kids, No Marriage

Kicking off the sort-of-New-Year with a doozie out in Washington state:

Proponents of same-sex marriage have introduced a ballot measure that would require heterosexual couples to have a child within three years or have their marriages annulled.

The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance acknowledged on its Web site that the initiative was ''absurd'' but hoped the idea prompts ''discussion about the many misguided assumptions'' underlying a state Supreme Court ruling that upheld a ban on same-sex marriage.

The measure would require couples to prove they can have children to get a marriage license. Couples who do not have children within three years could have their marriages annulled.

All other marriages would be defined as ''unrecognized,'' making those couples ineligible for marriage benefits.

There are staff members at BISC who daydream about pushing this kind of initiative all the time - sly, witty, damning - instead of the healthy public policy for which we advocate on a daily basis. So we sit back and cheer on this type of thing somewhat wistfully, knowing that it is run without a chance in hell of passing and without any real strategy beyond a principled statement of fairness.

Sometimes that's enough - especially this early in the season.

Washington: Smashing Good Message

Opponents of I-912, an initiative to repeal the Washington gas tax, are using a "proof is in the pudding" strategy to show voters how the gas tax is being put to work on highway projects around the state. At one project, Governor Christine Gregoire received some messaging help from a bad driver.

From the Bothell Herald:

Political leaders from across the state are hoping that the launch of a series of high-profile road projects from the 2003 nickel-a-gallon gas tax increase, which included the $220-million project to add new lanes, ramps and sound walls on I-5 in Everett, will convince voters to defeat Initiative 912.

I-912 seeks to repeal the phased-in 9.5-cent-a-gallon gas tax the Legislature adopted this year. If it survives the vote, the increase would bring $486 million for road and rail projects in Snohomish County over the next 16 years.

State employees can't advocate for saving the new gas tax, but they can (and aren't shy) about promoting the work the 2003 gas tax package is paying for, including posting "It's your nickel, watch it work" signs at each of the 22 projects supported by the increase that are currently underway.

State Transportation Secretary Doug McDonald is quick to point out that most of those projects are under budget and ahead of schedule.

Gov. Christine Gregoire called on voters to reject I-912 at last week's groundbreaking of a project that will add a carpool lane and an all-purpose lane to Everett's crowded stretch of I-5 between U.S. 2 and Highway 526, one of the most congested spots in the state.

"I'm going to work from now until November to educate every citizen," said Gregoire, who pointed to a backlog of safety improvements the gas tax increase will fund.

While the governor was talking at Friday's groundbreaking, which was held at the corner of I-5 and 41st Street SE, a car smashed into another just behind her. Both cars appeared to be vying to get on crowded northbound I-5. No one was hurt.

"That was not staged, but it makes my point," Gregoire said moments after that accident.

Washington: Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell Journalism

A Seattle Times article on the competing medical malpractice initiatives in Washington does absolutely nothing to educate voters on which initiative would help the citizens of Washington who are not doctors or lawyers. The piece represents the laziest kind of journalism, in which dueling press releases are seemingly alternated paragraph for paragraph with no analysis to cut through the spin.

An example:

Initiative 330 is the medical community's prescription for what it contends is an epidemic of "jackpot" jury verdicts and skyrocketing malpractice-insurance costs.

Among other things, the measure would place a $350,000 cap on what juries could award in noneconomic damages — also known as pain and suffering — to victims of medical negligence. It also would limit attorney fees.

Initiative 336, funded almost exclusively by trial lawyers, would do nothing to limit what injured patients could seek in court and instead would target negligent doctors.

The measure would require the state to track health-care providers' malpractice history and make that information available to the public. Doctors who have three or more malpractice judgments against them in a 10-year period could have their licenses revoked.

At best, readers of this passage are still in the dark about whether juries are awarding more "jackpots" than ever before, or whether lawsuits are the real cause of rising malpractice insurance rates. At worst, the passage is subtly biased against I-336, with its comparison between "the medical community's prescription" and I-336, which "would do nothing."

This will be a big political fight, and the horse race aspects of it will undoubtedly turn out to be intriguing. But voters need to read about how these competing measures will affect them, and whether the claims of the proponents are true. Ironically, at one point the article's author includes this quote:

"It's fair to say the arguments that will be presented on either side will not necessarily focus on the real problems," Kreidler said. "There's going to be a lot of confusion when this is done."

Unfortunately, the article does nothing to clear up the confusion that it specifically cites.