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Election - page 2

Can I Vote?

Here are the rules for voting in Washington State.  Everyone is encouraged to vote and it is your right.  You do need to register to vote, however, and you do need to be a resident of Washington State.

To register to vote, you must be:

  • A citizen of the United States;
  • A legal resident of Washington State;
  • At least 18 years old by Election Day;
  • Not under the authority of the Department of Corrections; and
  • Not disqualified from voting due to a court order.
Don't forget to vote Seattle!  You have a voice so let the World hear it.
Don’t forget to vote Seattle! You have a voice so let the World hear it.

Initiative Measure No. 1240 – Against

At this time I’m against Initiative Measure No. 1240.  Our schools are constantly needing more money now and obviously can’t manage what we have in place so I can’t imagine them digging any deeper into a hole with charter schools.  I do support the idea of the charter school system and perhaps would support it in the future.  At this time, however, better management, reviews, and oversight is needed in our current public schools to see where the over spending is happening and how improvements can be made.  Our public schools today are constantly complaining about lack of funding (I blame it on spending), however, with the money they are getting now through enrollment – it would be passed to the charter schools making it even more difficult.  It’s a very messy situation and the main reason I can’t support it at this time is because our current system (financial for schools) needs to be examined and repaired first.

Initiative Measure No. 1240.

This measure would authorize up to forty publicly-funded charter schools open to all students, operated through approved, nonreligious, nonprofit organizations, with government oversight; and modify certain laws applicable to them as public schools. “

As I do support the idea of charter schools and would most likely support it down the road, due to to the current situation of public school system I can’t support this initiative at this time.  We need to root out the problems with our current system first.

Initiative Measure No. 1185 – Supported

I’m tired of the constant and steady (and sneaky) raises in my taxes.  It’s always the same story each time and it goes a little like this “we’re broke” or “the recession is hurting us” or perhaps “they keep cutting our funding”.  It’s troubling especially with all the revenue being generated from every sector.  The revenue being generated is at it’s highest!  I believe the problem is with the spending and management and it each department needs to become completely transparent with line item spending.  Until that happens I will never be for raising taxes.

I believe most people would support raising taxes if they knew where each dollar was going.  They wouldn’t have a problem supporting their schools or the local fire department, however, without honesty and complete transparency, the public will not support it because they know it’s due to wasteful spending internally.

Initiative Measure No. 1185

Initiative Measure No. 1185 is already the law but will be expiring soon.  Your vote supporting it renews the law making it more difficult to raise taxes on all of us.  Your vote for Initiative Measure No. 1185 “would restate existing statutory requirements that legislative actions raising taxes must be approved by two-thirds legislative majorities or receive voter approval, and that new or increased fees require majority legislative approval.”

Just two years ago, 64% of voters approved this measure.  I stand with them to re-instate this measure for many years to come.  Don’t raise my taxes unless you come to me with a plan and full transparency (line item spending) for your department/program.  We then can make a decision if its useful or useless.

Romney vs Obama Debate Tonight

The time has finally come where we get to see the Romney vs Obama debate. It will be interesting for sure to see who will be the leader.  We all know Obama is a good talker and this debate may just win him the election if done right.  There are many problems he is going to have to have a response to such as both the low jobs and economy numbers.  I suspect his answer will be the typical point the finger to Bush and blaming the Republicans for holding up his proposals on the table.  As of right now, I don’t believe Romney is a very good talker so we’ll have to see how that works for him.

History has told us many elections are won or lost during the debates.  This election comes down to giving Obama another chance or letting someone new in there to see what he can do.  It’s a matter of how many people believe the excuses President Obama gives regarding his past and like I said he is a great talker.  You see Obama on talk shows like the view for example because they know talking good is one of his greatest assets.  Then as Romney mentioned in secret, that 47% of Americans are being supported by the Government so they are of course going to support Obama until the end.  Why would they change anything and vote for Romney? No way they would. Many people were easily convinced with the hopes and changes he was preaching 4 years ago and many are still on-board with the President.  It’s sort of like it doesn’t matter what he says – just how he says it (which is amazing).  I expect to see Romney start to say and support the things Obama supports to try to pull some additional votes.  We’ve seen this already with him supporting President Obama’s immigration policy.  More than 60% of voters supported Obama last time in 2008.  He will be making more and more promising trying to convince the Obama supporters to change their minds and try a new path.

If you’re watching the Romney vs Obama debate tonight you can find it on pretty much every tv channel at 6pm PST.

Over 50 million are expected to be watching the debate tonight.

Lets get it on!

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