Senate passes bill to change Electoral College process

[Chief]

http://www.komotv.com/news/local/15752747.html

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - State senators have approved a bill that would deliver the state's electoral votes to the U.S. presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote.

The bill, which passed 30-18 Monday, now heads to the House.

The bill would change Washington's current system of typically giving all of the state's electoral votes to the candidate who wins the statewide election to awarding all of the state's delegates to the national popular vote winner.

Almost every state has considered a similar bill. Maryland and New Jersey have passed such a measure.

The proposal would take effect only if enough states - those with a majority of votes in the Electoral College - agreed to it.


Wellduh!! That's exactly what we have now, and it's called the Constitutional Amendment process. It's where you get an Amendment through the US Congress, and get 3/4th of the States to agree.

This just states what should be obvious, and essentially resolves to Amend the US Constitution if the time ever comes.

Wasting time...

::)

[Waterbuffalo]

Give them at least they ACTUALLY doing some thing Chief.. At least I see them trying to do some thing other than figuring out how to waste more money on pet projects.

Did you see the two passenger ferry boats (little ones) that are going to go before ebay?

[mooney]

To those who would advocate the abolishment of the Electoral College I would suggest two things to think about.

"Be careful what you wish for because you might get it"

and

"The Tyranny of the Majority"

While it may seem a wonderful idea for one man one vote one need look no further than the tyranny of King County and the mandates and abuse of the rest of the state. Remember the Seahawk Stadium. Remember the 9 cent gasoline tax imposed with King County getting 130% to name just a couple.

Does anyone in Clark County or east of the Cascades ever hope to see a Governor or US Senator from their district regardless of their qualifications?

Far from the Electoral College being abolished Washington State residents would be better served by having a similar mechanism in place to assure that those of us outside of King County get a fair deal from state government.

Would those who support the abolishment of the Electoral College also abolish the US Senate. The whole purpose of the US Senate is for the very purpose of keeping the big states in check. With 2 Senators from Wyoming or Alaska having the same voting rights and power as those from the bigger states.

If the Electoral College were in effect abolished the populous states of New York, Texas, Pennsylvania,Florida,Ohio and California would be able to determine who the president will be. Not a good idea to my way of thinking. Our country was set up as a Republic and our forefathers created the Electoral College and the US Senate for the very purpose to protect the rights of minorities.

Mooney

[Chief]

Well said Mooney...and in case I gave the impression I approved of this, I beg your pardon, because I do not.

I was taking issue with those in Olympia who insist on attempting an end-around our Constitution, by attempting to bypass the amendment process. It's hard to do for a reason, and it's our biggest safeguard against losing oour Constitutional Rights.

This piece of legislation has no teeth, because I think it would never stand scrutiny at the Supreme Court, and that's exactly where it would end up if anyone were fool enough to try this.

[mooney]

One other point on this subject.

Linda Smith was one of the finest politicians to ever serve in the Washington State House of Representatives. She made a bid for a US Senate seat and was defeated by Patti Murray in the aftermath of the Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas debacle. Murray is widely known in the senate as Senator Dimbulb. I don't know of a single original thought she has ever advanced. Smith was in a class by herself but was defeated not because she was not the better candidate but because she wasn't from King County.

So much for representative government.

Mooney

[Chief]

OK Mooney, let me play devil's advocate for a moment...

Where is the Washington State Republican Party with a viable candidate to run agasinst America's Mom??

Where is the Clark County Republican Party with their viable candidates for any office??

On topic, it was Senator Craig Pridemore who voted for this bill, not Senator Don Benton....

We get the representation we reelect....

8)

[mooney]

Right now the pickins are pretty slim for both parties in Clark County. I don't identify myself as either Democrat or Republican. At my age, 80, I am, by nature, conservative in my views. This leads me to support Republican positions as mostly reflecting my views.

I am in the 17th district. I am disappointed in Republican Jim Dunn and will not support him with my vote in the next election. Democrat Deb Wallace has generally, but not always, shown herself capable of good decisions. She voted to reinstate Eyman's 1% property tax cap and has stated she will oppose Pridemore's SB 6900 increasing license fees based on engine displacement if it ever makes it to the house. Republican Senator Don Benton has been, I think, a good representive for our district and I will continue to support him.

You mentioned Pridemore. To my way of thinking Craig Pridemore and Jim Moeller represent all that is wrong in Washington politics. Neither of them has met a tax they didn't like. I don't know if you signed up for Eyman's program where you receive notice of bills submitted to the house and senate via email. Some of these bills are beyond comprehension in their cost and many are either submitted or supported by Pridemore and Moeller. They march in lockstep with our Governor leading a Socialist agenda assault on the taxpayers.

Mooney

[Chief]

Pridemore scares me. He's the Governor's fair-haired boy and is one of the most liberal senators in Olympia. I see today that his sales tax rebate plan for "the poor" is going to be phased in between now and 2012, and will be permanent! Guess who gets to pay for that one!

Like Don Benton told us last year, 72% of the money Olympia spends comes from residential property taxes, so do the math..,

What bothers me most about Pridemore, is that every time I see that smirking face of his, it's obvious he has plans and couldn't care one whit about what any of us think. I believe he's setting himself up for a run at the Gubnor's Office someday soon, and from there the damage he could do is almost limitless, as well as giving him a leg up to the National stage.

8)

[Waterbuffalo]

" OK Mooney, let me play devil's advocate for a moment...

Where is the Washington State Republican Party with a viable candidate to run agasinst America's Mom??

Where is the Clark County Republican Party with their viable candidates for any office??

On topic, it was Senator Craig Pridemore who voted for this bill, not Senator Don Benton....

We get the representation we reelect...."

Sorry but I just HAD to copy that one especially the besmirk of the viable candidate against America's Mom...

So my question for mooney is what does he think of Joseph James and Tim Probst running for Jim's seat? (sorry but names and typos are present for the protection of the innocent.)

[mooney]

I must confess to some ignorance of the qualifications of both 17th district candidates you mention. Tim Probst has an interesting resume. As he is a Democrat that immediately makes him suspect. I also checked out the contributions to him on the Washington State Public Disclosure website and find some interesting names which does not make me think that he won't be more of the same in local politics. However I will keep and open mind and listen to what he has to say.

Joseph James also has some interesting names in the Public Disclosure website but it appears that most of his contributions are local as opposed to Probst contributions which come from all over the west coast. I am uneasy with a candidate with such widespread contributions in what is a local race.

James is young with little political experience.

As to who is the better candidate? Don't know. More to study.

mooney

[Waterbuffalo]

A discussion I think we should have here along with numbers being that some thing Chief and I have been studying that the City of Vancouver's budget is 45 percent on property taxes.

From what I have been hearing from all three candidates (Jim Dunn has not said up or down if he is going to run.) isn't satisfying me as to which will be the best candidate.

Joseph sounds very much like a new anti-tax type crusader who wants to cut property taxes. (Though like you said, a little green horn politically.)

If you cut property taxes in any form, it either either there will be cuts at the City of Vancouver level OR some one will get the tax shift. Do any one else want that tax shift?

That is going to be one of my top concerns along with Transportation solutions that this
needs.

[mooney]

WB

I went back and looked at Tim Probst to see what I could learn about him. On the Public Disclosure page there are two names that stand out, Craig Pridemore $100 and Jim Moeller $50. So I am thinking. Do I really want another clone of Pridemore and Moeller regurgitating their own special brand of Socialism on me?

I suspect that young Joseph James will not be able to compete against a well heeled Democrat onslaught.

I know I will catch hell for saying this but all of a sudden Jim Dunn doesn't look to bad.

mooney

[Waterbuffalo]

After the one meeting I attended plus walked in and out of another one of Dunn's meetings, I can say I could even "EVER" utter the word that I would vote for that man.

I personally don't care if they're liberal or conservative. What I care about, is are they going to do some thing to fix our transportation needs here in Clark County. Some one who just sits in Olympia and cannot bring back Money, good ideas or does not even have one tenth of an iota of what is going on in this community is not going to get my vote.

Joe is very young, agree with you Mooney. He's going to need some one to mentor him and get him to stop screaming or being loud in his online videos. Have to have IDEAS on what it's going to take to fix out transportation problems. Is Joe even aware of the Regional Transportation Council and Bi-state commissions that are working on this very subject?

Not met Tim, so I would venture to guess I'm going to ask similar or the same questions I just asked about Joe. Does he really know this community? What is one thing he could tell a constituent "NO" to? Is there a special interest group in the community he can say no to? Not every piece of Clark County is going to get funded, so who is going to get the No comment?

From what I'm seeing from Olympia, who ever wins election as the second state representative, is going to have to tell a lot of his constituents, "no" there is no money for that. Both Tim and Joe need to know this. There are going to be parts of the Columbia River Crossing that this candidate will have to tell people, "No" there is no money to pay portions of a toll for this bridge. "No" we can't raise Teacher's salaries, Firefighter pension or any other of a number of groups that run to Olympia for every thing under the boat.

If Jim decided to try to get re-elected, he is going to have to face the same questions.

Now that Bill Fromhold is retiring from the Legislature, his successor is also going to have to say the same thing. Orcutt, Jamie Herrerra, Deb Wallace, and the 15th District constituents of washougal are also going to hear similar comments.

I just thought of the word Gary Locke coined more than 10 years ago. Its called government "prioritization." No we can't have another library, no we can't do this or that..

Very simple to do. Though I don't think many are willing to hear or utter such a phrase.