Mike Leita and Rand Elliott fell all over themselves scrambling to sign Eyman’s latest iniative to micro manage state government. Iniative 985 actually has some good things in it that need not be done through the iniative process. But if dealing with traffic congestion were done any other way, then there wouldn’t be any money to be made by the iniative guru. One bad item in this venture is the removal of funding for public art on highway projects. We would look like North Korea compared to all the other states around us should we defund art.
Leita and Elliott emphasized that this was their “personal endorsement” not an official act by the County. Leita justifies his action by saying the commission would be using “political office for undue influence” if they had voted on it. Ironically, Eyman wasn’t even asking for their endorsement! If they wanted to put their personal signature on the iniative they should have done so outside of a public meeting; like outside of a supermarket like most everyone else does. Their action at a public meeting violates what they are quoted as saying, using “political office for undue influence”. Advertising that they are in favor of something and then saying they don’t want to advise others to do so is disingenuous. Once again, they try and have things both ways.
You can read the Yakima Herald story here.