I-912 Handed Legal Defeat, but will make ballot

Supporters of I-901, the campaign for a smoke free Washington, are close to gathering enough signatures to have the initiative make the ballot this fall.

In an email sent out to supporters this morning, Healthy Indoor Air for All of Washington stated that they were above their signatures goals for the important 4th of July weekend. However, HIAAW encouraged supporters to help get the signature total higher as to off-set any duplicate, false or illegible signatures and to finally push the Initiative over the edge and into the fall ballot.

In other Initiative news, supporters of I-912, the campaign to kill the new gas tax (which, if passed, will kill safety and any repairs to Washington state roads) had three defeats handed to them this last weekend. I-912 has largely been publicized by right wing talk radio station KVI Radio, essentially receiving free publicity and advertising by KVI's local right-wing blow-hards John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur.

The Anti-Safety, Anti-Infrastructure, Anti-Common Sense I-912 crowd reported late Wednesday that they had more than enough signatures to make the ballot this fall.

The Seattle PI applauded the recent ruling yesterday (after the jump):

In two rulings Friday, Thurston County Superior Court Judge Christopher Wickham handed gas-tax opponents three sharp and well-deserved defeats.

He refused to bar the sale of transportation project bonds underwritten by the 3-cent gas tax increase, which went into effect Friday. Wickham also insisted that the Initiative 912 campaign was not above state public disclosure laws requiring that contributors be clearly identified.

Wickham's third decision was more controversial, if no less correct, because it broached the distinction between editorial advocacy and direct campaign involvement.

The judge ruled that Fisher Broadcasting must report as a contribution the value to the I-912 campaign of the time KVI Radio talk show hosts John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur have spent promoting it on the air.

Fisher and KVI executives argued that what Carlson and Wilbur have done is no different from what broadcast pundits, newspaper columnists and editorial pages always do: discuss issues and recommend action.

But it is different when the on-air hosts are directly campaigning on their programs. They're acting as political activists, not journalists. This is not new. Wilbur co-chaired the ill-fated 2000 state Republican Party Convention. Carlson lost his KVI job in 1998 for flogging his own initiative campaign on the air. They've been active in the creation and promotion of the I-912 campaign.

Carlson and Wilbur crossed the line, not by expressing their support of a public policy issue, but by having a vested interest in it.

Local blog blatherWatch agreed:

We were heartened by last Friday's Thurston County Superior court rulings against the talk radio generated anti-road repair initiative, I-912.

...If Carlson and Wilbur had left their months of wall-to-wall daily infomercials to only "opinions on the issues," there'd be no problem. It's the organizing, strategizing, and being an on-air logistical clearing house that we always thought goes against campaign disclosure rules. We're glad the law agrees.

Make your own decision about the Anti-Smoking Initiative, but anything that will stall or kill I-912 is a good thing for this states safety and infrastructure. The new tax simply keeps with the rate of inflation and will help to fund replacing the Viaduct (TIMBER!) and the 520 Bridge, both of which are on the verge of crumbling apart and both of which are key for all residents, east and west, of Washington. The key reasons every citizen of Washington state should vehemently oppose I-912 are listed on Washington Defense's website.

Related Articles:
Seattle-PI - Gas-tax Talk: Jabber over journalism
Healthy Indoor Air for All of Washington
blatherWatch - the judge slaps 1-912, transparency, fairness wins, kvi lowers its ad rates!
Washington Defense - Anti I-912 Campaign