Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Yes on 1053 falsely claims that it has the support of WSU's student newspaper

A few months ago, when NPI launched StopGreed.org, we warned:
The corporate operatives behind Initiatives 1053, 1082, 1107, 1100, and 1105 are going to be spending a lot of money over the next few months in an attempt to purchase your vote, hoping to prey on your fears and anxieties about the economy. They’ll be running ads urging you to vote yes on their measures to save jobs and save the state money.

Don’t be fooled by their deception and their Orwellian rhetoric.
As it turns out, they're so desperate to win that Orwellian rhetoric isn't enough. We've already caught Tim Eyman and the corporate operatives running 1053 in the act of fudging electoral history. Now we've discovered that they're claiming an endorsement that they simply don't have.

On the "Endorsements" page of the "Yes on 1053" website, several newspapers are listed as having come out in favor of Tim Eyman's scheme to sabotage democracy. They include two owned by the Blethens, one owned by the Washington Post, and a couple others owned by selfish wealthy families. And then, there at the end, is the Washington State University's student newspaper, The Daily Evergreen.


When I saw that, I immediately suspected that something was wrong, because The Daily Evergreen — like the voters of Whitman County — have historically opposed Eyman initiatives. I clicked the link and landed at what looked to me like a column by a conservative writer, not an editorial. So we made an inquiry.

"The Evergreen has not endorsed I-1053," the paper's opinion editor assured NPI in an e-mail, adding that he would be contacting the AWB's operatives to have the paper's name removed from the list of endorsements.

We're very glad to have our suspicions confirmed. It would be a travesty for a student-run publication to endorse a corporate initiative that would make it all but impossible for legislators to raise new revenue to support the state's public university system. Students need to understand and appreciate the threat that I-1053, I-1082, I-1107, I-1100 and I-1105 pose to our state's future. All of these corporate initiatives are fiscally irresponsible and must be voted down if our state is to have a chance of escaping this recession.

It's no use for us to urge Tim Eyman to stop fibbing, because he's shameless, but we have some advice for the corporate operatives at the Association of Washington Business: Stop playing fast and loose with the truth, or you will continue to be embarrassed when your lies, inadvertent or not, are uncovered.

Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home