Jay Inslee releases positions on Washington’s 2011 statewide initiatives

Jay Inslee, Wash­ing­ton’s like­ly Demo­c­ra­t­ic nom­i­nee for gov­er­nor in 2012, released his posi­tions on all three of Wash­ing­ton’s 2011 statewide ini­tia­tives this after­noon, after ear­li­er tak­ing a strong stand on one of them (Tim Eyman’s I‑1125) at the Wash­ing­ton Con­ser­va­tion Vot­ers’ Break­fast of Cham­pi­ons ear­li­er this month.

Inslee oppos­es I‑1125 and Cost­co’s I‑1183, and sup­ports SEIU’s I‑1163.

His ratio­nale on I‑1183:

As a for­mer pros­e­cu­tor of many drunk dri­vers who has per­son­al­ly seen the car­nage they cause, I can­not in good con­scious sup­port a large expan­sion of hard liquor avail­abil­i­ty in our state. So while we must look for effi­cien­cies in the deliv­ery of all ser­vices, I can­not sup­port this measure.

We agree and strong­ly urge a NO vote on I‑1183 this autumn.

On I‑1163:

Giv­en the impor­tance of pro­tect­ing the least among us, I will be vot­ing in sup­port of this mea­sure. Ini­tia­tives with bud­getary impacts pose unique prob­lems, and the Leg­is­la­ture will still have to bal­ance fund­ing this with oth­er priorities.

We are also sup­port­ing I‑1163, with the same reservations.

On I‑1125:

I will be join­ing the many busi­ness own­ers, work­ers, tran­sit rid­ers and farm­ers across the state vot­ing against I‑1125 this Novem­ber for one sim­ple rea­son: it will dam­age our abil­i­ty to grow our econ­o­my and cre­ate jobs.

I‑1125 is more than just a jobs-killer. It’s a grid­lock cre­ator. If the old Ever­green Point Float­ing Bridge is dam­aged by an earth­quake or a wind­storm because our plans to replace it were sab­o­taged by I‑1125, we’ll be in a world of hurt.

The loss of either one of our float­ing bridges would have dev­as­tat­ing impacts on cross-lake com­merce. It is vital we replace the aging span built dur­ing Gov­er­nor Rosellini’s time in office half a cen­tu­ry ago.

I‑1125 also jeop­ar­dizes the Colum­bia Riv­er Cross­ing and East Link. If we don’t get those projects built, traf­fic con­ges­tion will only become worse.

We thank Jay Inslee for tak­ing a strong, coura­geous stand against I‑1125, and for join­ing us in oppos­ing I‑1183 and I‑1163 as well.