Beware the deceptive and very last minute anti-732 campaign.
Vote YES on initiative 732. The Carbon Tax is really neutral as our sales taxes and other taxes will be reduced by the amount of carbon tax collected. The big coal companies and the big environmental groups - like the Sierra Club - are both campaigning against 732. My. What more evidence do we, as conservatives or liberals, need to vote YES.
Suddenly - starting yesterday, Thursday, Nov 3 - these vaguely worded ads started appearing on websites we go to. A New York outfit is running them. We will be weeks after the election before we find out whose money funded this. Yes, our Washington Public Disclosure laws have been watered down and under funded by the legislature for 44 years until they are totally ineffective.
Why would the Sierra Club be against 732? Because 732 does not punish corporations. Uber enviros do not want to just improve our environment and make it safer - they also have an agenda to harm corporations for perceived past wrongs. 732 is a great and beautifully formulated bill that will not raise our taxes while promoting pollution cleanup - and not harm corporations or citizens or local economies. It will simply make it more expensive for the big polluters. Let them pay for their pollution. The American way to do things.
One of the most trusted voices on the environment in the Pacific Northwest, Cliff Mass, strongly endorses YES on 732. Cliff is independent in his thinking and is not easily bullied - as are some other of our community enviro voices. It is sad how many local enviro leaders are quiet on this issue.
Other enviro groups against 732 are the Washington Conservation Voters and Washington Environmental Council. What a shame, considering some of the most prominent leaders of these groups are in Bellingham. They all offer very lame excuses for being against - including trying to include a race card. They are all coming off the same talking points - and it is all fabricated to rationalize their anger that big corporations are not being punished. In truth, 732 is a very beautiful measure to help the environment in a way that everyone can vote for.
Two enviro groups who are for I-732 and encourage us to vote YES are our local Re-Sources in Bellingham and the Audubon Society of Washington. Solid support.