Keep Heat on Murray on Class Action Lawsuit Reform - She Needs to Hear From You as Well!
While Sen. Maria Cantwell has indicated she will support S. 2062, the Class Action Lawsuit Fairness legislation, Sen. Patty Murray has not indicated she will support the bill. When our members contacted her, she sent e-mails saying that with the volume of e-mails she is getting she’ll respond later. Keep the pressure on. Contact her at (202) 224-2621, fax (202) 224-0238 or e-mail at senator_murray@murray.senate.gov.

Moore Poll Says Presidential Race in Washington is at a Dead Heat Today
In a telephone poll by AWB member Moore Information during June 9-11, a week before President Bush visited Spokane and Ft. Lewis, the race for President is a dead heat in our state. On a three-way ballot test President Bush earns 44 percent of the vote while 45 percent favor John Kerry and third-party candidate Ralph Nader earns 4 percent. The remaining 7 percent are undecided.

Eastern Washington Voters Strongly Favor Bush, Seattle Wants Kerry
Moore finds that regionally, Bush is most widely supported in eastern Washington. West of the Cascades, voters are largely divided, with the exception of Seattle, where Kerry leads the President by a 77 to 12 percent margin. By party, Republicans and Democrats are showing equal loyalty to their party’s candidates. Among independents, Bush has a narrow 40 to 36 percent edge over Kerry, with 7 percent supporting Nader and 18 percent undecided. Though there is no significant gender gap today, Bush is favored by men age 55 and older (54-38 percent over Kerry), while Kerry leads among women age 55 and older (50-38 percent over Bush). Younger men and women, however, are divided.

Nethercutt, Hastings and Dunn Vote to Allow Washington Sales Tax to Be Deductible on Federal Income Tax
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a tax cut bill last week that would save residents in Washington and five other states about $500 a year by allowing them to deduct sales taxes from their federal taxes for the first time since 1986. Under the provision, residents of Washington and other states that have sales tax but no income tax would be able to deduct an amount by simply referring to a chart that shows annual income and estimated sales tax paid. The savings would vary, depending on the taxpayer's income. Voting for the tax cut were Representatives Nethercutt, Hastings and Dunn. Voting against it were Congressmen Inslee, Smith, Dicks, McDermott, Baird and Larsen.

Coming to Policy Summit – Robert Mak Will Moderate Gubernatorial Debate!
KING 5 TV newscaster Robert Mak is scheduled to moderate the gubernatorial debate at AWB’s annual Policy Summit to be held September 22-24 at the Inn at Semiahmoo in Blaine.

House Work Session on Outsourcing – AWB is Monitoring!
Last Wednesday, the House Commerce and Labor and Trade and Economic Development Committees held a joint working session on the issue of outsourcing. The main focus was on whether companies that contract with the state should be allowed to use offshore labor in areas such as call centers. AWB, which has an ongoing outsourcing work group, is keeping close track of these proceedings. Contact AWB’s Kris Tefft at (360) 943-1600 or KrisT@awb.org.

Up She Went - Duplex Burnt as Part of AWB Parking Lot Expansion in Olympia!
It was like a big marshmallow roast on Saturday at AWB. The Olympia Fire Dept. burnt down the one remaining duplex on the block AWB owns in Olympia. The controlled burn clears the way for our parking lot expansion. With the expansion, hopefully no one will have to park on the city streets and dodge Olympia’s parking enforcement and their $15 fines.