Jefferson County voters decisively rejected the Proposed Tax increase called Prop1 to create a Homeless Funding program. All but one precinct voted against this proposed tax plan. This was not expected by the political establishment in Jefferson County.
Every time anyone writes about Washington State elections the night of the election, due to the nature of the drawn-out process of trickle-in snail-mail ballots, there can be significant shifts in the final results. A lot of local races effectively too close to call with any certainty,
Jefferson County, dominated by the City of Port Townsend is a left-leaning county (29% for Trump in 2016), there is rarely a tax this county won’t support. The Jefferson County Commissioners have also used their central planners to do an excellent job of destroying the ability of people to build affordable homes for themselves. The County Commission decided it was time to impose another property tax – this one for “homeless” services. The voters overwhelmingly rejected this scheme (70% opposed as of election night).
There was a robust campaign in opposition to this Proposition 1 tax increase and it was led by local activists. It was called the “Love Your Neighbor, vote No on Prop 1” and it featured people all over the county who would be made homeless or be harmed by this tax. Their vigorous sign campaign in opposition was probably the most aggressive local anti-tax revolt Jefferson County has seen in decades. For those who complain about higher taxes and wonder how they can be stopped, there are lessons to be learned here. Not surprisingly it takes work, action, and effort.
The “Love your neighbor, vote no on Prop 1” movement was also helped by the historic and repetitive incompetence of the current bureaucrats and homeless profiteers who always seem to flourish in Leftist enclaves like Jefferson County. Their recent homeless housing scheme called the “Cherry Street Project” included a cool plan to barge a building down from Victoria, BC and post it up on seismically unstable pallets on a slope in town without a permit and then leave it there as a public monument to their own incompetence and financial waste – over $1.6 million squandered (6 times more than originally promised to the voters). In addition the local commissioner was caught violating campaign finance laws by trying to illegally shift funds from his campaign account to fund the Prop1 campaign (this author filed the original complaint on this commissioner – see here)
Interestingly enough, some unlikely local candidates for office challenging establishment incumbents appear to have been helped by the local opposition to Prop1 and appear to have managed big upsets. Bill Putney for Port Townsend Port Commissioner District 2 is leading with 52 % of the vote, and Bruce McComas for East Jefferson Hospital District no. 2 commissioner 1 is also leading with almost 52%. In both cases, the political establishment strongly and vociferously attacked these challengers. However, they appear to have overcome the inertia of incumbency and smashed through the wall of the political establishment in Port Townsend.
This type of political result in Jefferson County and the impressive grass roots energy behind it is a strong indicator that the political establishment in Port Townsend is seriously out of synch with their local voters.
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OUR CONSTITUTION BEGINS WITH THE PHRASE “WE THE PEOPLE.” IT WAS THE FOUNDER’S INTENT THAT GOVERNMENT BE CREATED BY THE PEOPLE, TO SERVE THE PEOPLE. IT WASN’T THEIR INTENTION FOR THE PEOPLE TO SERVE THE GOVERNMENT. IT WAS ALWAYS INTENDED THAT GOVERNMENT WHICH FAILED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE SHOULD BE “ALTERED OR ABOLISHED.” UNTIL WE RETURN TO THE FOUNDER’S INTENT, WE REMAIN WE THE GOVERNED…
For more background and related articles of interest:
PT Leader – August 30, 2017 – “City Council votes to support housing levy”
