{"id":2247871,"date":"2024-05-19T10:07:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T14:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/opponents-of-three-initiatives-on-fall-ballot-come-out-swinging\/"},"modified":"2024-05-19T10:12:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T14:12:31","slug":"opponents-of-three-initiatives-on-fall-ballot-come-out-swinging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/opponents-of-three-initiatives-on-fall-ballot-come-out-swinging\/","title":{"rendered":"Critics launch vigorous attack on three upcoming ballot measures"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fopponents-of-three-initiatives-on-fall-ballot-come-out-swinging%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2247871&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Campaigns are underway in Washington state to dissuade voters from supporting three initiatives in the upcoming fall ballot. These initiatives aim to\u200c revoke\u200d the Climate Commitment \u200cAct, the state&#8217;s\u200b capital gains\u200c tax, and provide an option to opt out of the mandatory <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/neb-gov-ricketts-says-only-documented-workers-will-receive-vaccine\/\" title=\"Neb. Gov. Ricketts says only documented workers will receive vaccine\">long-term care<\/a> benefit \u2063program. Dueling campaigns and contrasting poll results\u2062 indicate uncertainty about the initiatives&#8217; fate. The battle is on in Washington state to sway voters against three fall ballot initiatives\u200d targeting the Climate Commitment Act, the state&#8217;s capital gains tax, and the mandatory long-term care benefit program opt-out. Conflicting campaigns and poll results cast doubt on the fate of these initiatives.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 Efforts to convince Washington state voters to reject three initiatives on the ballot this fall are in full swing.<\/p>\n<p>Initiative 2117 would repeal the state\u2019s Climate Commitment Act, Initiative 2109 would repeal the state\u2019s capital gains tax and Initiative 2124 would allow Washingtonians to opt out of the state\u2019s mandatory long-term care benefit program.<\/p>\n<p>There are individual campaigns against each measure \u2013 No on 2117, No on 2109, and No on 2124 \u2013 and a fourth campaign called Defend Washington that attacks all three.<\/p>\n<p>Defend Washington spokesperson Sandeep Kaushik says the organization\u2019s recent polling shows voters are likely to reject all three initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether it\u2019s funding to protect our air and water, or funding for schools and early learning, or long-term care for workers and seniors, that\u2019s the sort of thing people don\u2019t want to see happen in Washington state,\u201d he told The Center Square.<\/p>\n<p>A poll conducted April 11-14 involved phone and web interviews. Defend Washington reports that the sample for the poll \u201ccame from a voter file\u201d of 600 likely Washington voters, with 30% of their sample identified as conservative, 27% as liberal and 38% as moderate.<\/p>\n<p>Poll results show below 50% support for all three measures, with more voters opposed than in favor.<\/p>\n<p>Less than a quarter of voters indicated that they were \u201cdefinitely\u201d going to vote in favor of each initiative.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if people may have an initial inclination to think they are favorable to these, they see the major cuts that they would enact are a huge impediment,\u201d Kaushik said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the hundreds of thousands of voters who signed petitions to qualify the initiatives for the ballot, Kaushik noted, \u201cJust because hundreds of thousands of voters signed petitions, it does not mean they are actually popular.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He went on to say, \u201cI mean if you spend money on paid signature gatherers, you can get signatures. Brian Heywood has spent millions of dollars of his own money to get these initiatives on the ballot. I would not take that as indicative of where the electorate is in Washington more broadly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heywood is a hedge fund executive who bankrolled the ballot initiatives via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-nevada-a-corrupt-cash-for-votes-scheme-is-hiding-in-plain-sight\/\" title=\"In Nevada, A Corrupt Cash-For-Votes Scheme Is Hiding In Plain Sight\">voter advocacy group<\/a> Let\u2019s Go Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, Heywood told The Center Square that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/88-percent-of-black-marylanders-support-hogans-re-fund-the-police-initiative\/\" title=\"88 Percent of Black Marylanders Support Hogan\u2019s \u2018Re-Fund the Police\u2019 Initiative\">internal polling shows<\/a> all three measures are likely to pass.<\/p>\n<p>Heywood pointed out that the number of people who opted out of WA Cares, the state\u2019s mandatory long-term care plan, by purchasing their own plan before the deadline to do so is an indication of the plan\u2019s unpopularity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-nearly-naked-intruder-interrupts-suzanne-somers-livestream-at-home\/\" title=\"WATCH: \u2018Nearly Naked\u2019 Intruder Interrupts Suzanne Somers\u2019 Livestream At Home\">hundred thousand people<\/a> in Washington got out, and then the state said, \u2018Everybody else, you\u2019re stuck in it forever, and you can\u2019t get out,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cPart of our messaging is to say that\u2019s patently unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That figure doesn\u2019t include the people who signed the petition in favor of I-2124.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have 420,000 people who signed our initiative saying I want out, too,\u201d Heywood observed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey can try and defend the thing, and say this replaces long-term care, but it absolutely does not,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s got two or maybe three months of support and then you\u2019re done. So someone who thinks they may need long-term care and now they think I\u2019ve got this state plan that covers it, they\u2019re going to be in for this rude awakening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kaushik says despite the promising Defend Washington poll results, nothing is being taken for granted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe think these measures are really destructive and will have negative impacts on Washington state, and we\u2019re building a broad and growing coalition of opposition against these initiatives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hallie Balch, spokesperson for Let\u2019s Go Washington, disagreed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe opposition can deny the truth all they want, but the reality is that over 800,000 people signed onto these initiatives, and 57% of them were Democrats and independents,\u201d she said.\u201d The reason there\u2019s such broad support is that people are tired of paying for programs that aren\u2019t working. We\u2019re pro-environment, we\u2019re pro-education, and we\u2019re pro-long-term care for seniors \u2013 but these programs haven\u2019t done any of those things, yet we\u2019re still paying for them. That\u2019s insane.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Washington state, campaigns are intensifying to sway voters against three fall ballot initiatives. Initiative 2117 aims to repeal the Climate Commitment Act, Initiative 2109 targets the state&#8217;s capital gains tax repeal, and Initiative 2124 seeks to provide Washington residents with the choice to opt out of the mandatory long-term plan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2247872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/iStock-1401415080-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2247871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/iStock-1401415080-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2247871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2247872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2247871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2247871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2247871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}