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Chair's Column: Make Your Voice Louder in the Upcoming Elections |
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Written On: July/August 2004 |
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Written By: By Mike Bernard - Chair, Board of Directors |
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Your voice needs to be louder in the 2004 elections, and AWB is giving you the opportunity to turn up the volume.
You’ll be asked to help interview and endorse candidates for the state Legislature, Supreme Court, Commissioner of Public Lands, Insurance Commissioner, Attorney General, Lt. Governor and Governor.
This is a whole new ballgame for our Association, one that was carefully thought out and discussed by our Executive Committee and Board. In fact, the Board gave us the signal to throttle up and launch the program when it met in Spokane just before Memorial Day.
It is an important move if we are going to keep our state competitive, accelerate the economic recovery, and provide new jobs and opportunities.
Your Success Depends Upon You
Your success and our success depend upon you. You need to take the time to participate in these elections.
Here’s why it is important for you to be involved this year. For the first time since 1996, we have an open race for governor, and for the first time since 1992, there is a wide-open race for attorney general. Those folks, along with the Legislature, will determine if our state continues its efforts to become more competitive and if you can stay in business or hire more people.
For example, they will determine if your taxes go up. We were fortunate that Gov. Locke and the Senate embraced the Priorities/Price of Government (POG) to eliminate a $2.7 billion revenue shortfall two years ago. But the POG is under fire from those who saw their programs trimmed or eliminated.
Now, heading into the 2005 legislative session, our state faces at least a $1 billion revenue shortfall, state employees are gearing up for a new agreement that could require up to $3.2 billion in new state spending, and our state’s workers’ comp system is in desperate need of reform.
Let’s Not Have a 1993 Rerun
How we deal with these problems will be decided by who sits in the Legislature and in the governor’s office. In 1993, lawmakers dealt with them by passing $1.1 billion in new taxes and fees on employers. We prefer that our elected officials do what they did in 2003 instead.
So here is how you do your part.
First, make sure you’re registered to vote – and make sure your family and friends are registered to vote, as well. For help, go to AWB’s Web site: www.awb.org.
Second, make sure you and those you talk with understand the issues. Again, go to our Web site.
Now for the fun stuff. You need to help interview candidates for the Legislature. No one understands the issues important to your district better than you. They need to know you live and vote in their district. Then you need to tell our Board whom to endorse. That will happen at the Policy Summit in late September.
Then, after the endorsement has been determined, the candidates need your support, your time, and your money. Unlike many organizations that endorse candidates, AWB does not have a Political Action Committee (PAC) to funnel money or other resources to the candidate. AWB will rely on you to contribute funds directly to candidates.
AWB to Endorse Candidates at Policy Summit
Finally, make plans now to attend the Policy Summit. The Summit will give you an opportunity to interact with many of the legislative candidates and hear the candidates for statewide office. Most importantly, you will hear the debate between Dino Rossi and the Democrat nominee for governor.
Only you can make a difference. The time is now. It is much easier to convince elected officials of how major issues affect competitiveness if they understand employer needs and the importance of providing jobs through the private sector.
And if you don’t think your work makes a difference, consider that in 2002, eight House seats in the Washington Legislature were decided by 1,000 or fewer votes and six of the eight by fewer than 600. In the Senate, four of the 24 seats were decided by fewer than 1,300 votes. Democrats control the House 52-46 and Republicans have a slim 25-24 edge in the Senate.
Get involved! It’s your future.
Mike Bernard is a partner in the tax-consulting firm of Madison Cooke, Bellevue
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