Comments on: What next for Referendum 71? http://blog.joemirabella.com/2009/07/29/what-next-for-referendum-71/ Progressing equality one word at a time Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:51:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Joe Mirabella http://blog.joemirabella.com/2009/07/29/what-next-for-referendum-71/comment-page-1/#comment-142 Joe Mirabella Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:43:53 +0000 http://blog.joemirabella.com/?p=336#comment-142 You are not stupid at all. This is a very confusing issue. The decline to sign effort was to prevent referendum 71 from making the ballot. Full fledged ballot campaigns are very expensive and we know that our community is struggling just like the rest of Washington so we wanted to prevent spending millions of dollars to protect our families. Furthermore, since they turned in a significant quantity of signatures the domestic partnership expansion bill is on hold until all of the signatures are counted, and if it qualifies, until after the November election. During this time period families are not getting the protection they need. We wanted to speed up the implementation of the domestic partnership expansion bill by preventing a vote on the issue.<br><br>Now the very real possibility exists that our opponents collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. They used terribly deceptive tactics to do this, including telling would be signers they were supporting equal rights. (It is legal for them to lie about petitions). Referendums are a Washington state constitutional process that gives an addition check to the people in the checks and balance systems. Like the governor can veto a bill the people can approve or reject legislation with enough support through the petition process. In our case, the bill in question is the domestic partnership expansion bill of 2009. We are being asked to approve or reject this bill. If you support fairness (and I hope you do) you will have to vote to approve the domestic partnership expansion bill of 2009 and to do that you must vote to approve referendum 71. Please let me know if you have more questions. You are not stupid at all. This is a very confusing issue. The decline to sign effort was to prevent referendum 71 from making the ballot. Full fledged ballot campaigns are very expensive and we know that our community is struggling just like the rest of Washington so we wanted to prevent spending millions of dollars to protect our families. Furthermore, since they turned in a significant quantity of signatures the domestic partnership expansion bill is on hold until all of the signatures are counted, and if it qualifies, until after the November election. During this time period families are not getting the protection they need. We wanted to speed up the implementation of the domestic partnership expansion bill by preventing a vote on the issue.

Now the very real possibility exists that our opponents collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. They used terribly deceptive tactics to do this, including telling would be signers they were supporting equal rights. (It is legal for them to lie about petitions). Referendums are a Washington state constitutional process that gives an addition check to the people in the checks and balance systems. Like the governor can veto a bill the people can approve or reject legislation with enough support through the petition process. In our case, the bill in question is the domestic partnership expansion bill of 2009. We are being asked to approve or reject this bill. If you support fairness (and I hope you do) you will have to vote to approve the domestic partnership expansion bill of 2009 and to do that you must vote to approve referendum 71. Please let me know if you have more questions.

]]> By: Joe Mirabella http://blog.joemirabella.com/2009/07/29/what-next-for-referendum-71/comment-page-1/#comment-102 Joe Mirabella Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:43:53 +0000 http://blog.joemirabella.com/?p=336#comment-102 You are not stupid at all. This is a very confusing issue. The decline to sign effort was to prevent referendum 71 from making the ballot. Full fledged ballot campaigns are very expensive and we know that our community is struggling just like the rest of Washington so we wanted to prevent spending millions of dollars to protect our families. Furthermore, since they turned in a significant quantity of signatures the domestic partnership expansion bill is on hold until all of the signatures are counted, and if it qualifies, until after the November election. During this time period families are not getting the protection they need. We wanted to speed up the implementation of the domestic partnership expansion bill by preventing a vote on the issue.<br><br>Now the very real possibility exists that our opponents collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. They used terribly deceptive tactics to do this, including telling would be signers they were supporting equal rights. (It is legal for them to lie about petitions). Referendums are a Washington state constitutional process that gives an addition check to the people in the checks and balance systems. Like the governor can veto a bill the people can approve or reject legislation with enough support through the petition process. In our case, the bill in question is the domestic partnership expansion bill of 2009. We are being asked to approve or reject this bill. If you support fairness (and I hope you do) you will have to vote to approve the domestic partnership expansion bill of 2009 and to do that you must vote to approve referendum 71. Please let me know if you have more questions. You are not stupid at all. This is a very confusing issue. The decline to sign effort was to prevent referendum 71 from making the ballot. Full fledged ballot campaigns are very expensive and we know that our community is struggling just like the rest of Washington so we wanted to prevent spending millions of dollars to protect our families. Furthermore, since they turned in a significant quantity of signatures the domestic partnership expansion bill is on hold until all of the signatures are counted, and if it qualifies, until after the November election. During this time period families are not getting the protection they need. We wanted to speed up the implementation of the domestic partnership expansion bill by preventing a vote on the issue.

Now the very real possibility exists that our opponents collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. They used terribly deceptive tactics to do this, including telling would be signers they were supporting equal rights. (It is legal for them to lie about petitions). Referendums are a Washington state constitutional process that gives an addition check to the people in the checks and balance systems. Like the governor can veto a bill the people can approve or reject legislation with enough support through the petition process. In our case, the bill in question is the domestic partnership expansion bill of 2009. We are being asked to approve or reject this bill. If you support fairness (and I hope you do) you will have to vote to approve the domestic partnership expansion bill of 2009 and to do that you must vote to approve referendum 71. Please let me know if you have more questions.

]]> By: Twitted by WAmarriage http://blog.joemirabella.com/2009/07/29/what-next-for-referendum-71/comment-page-1/#comment-100 Twitted by WAmarriage Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:44:17 +0000 http://blog.joemirabella.com/?p=336#comment-100 [...] This post was Twitted by WAmarriage [...] [...] This post was Twitted by WAmarriage [...]

]]> By: William Scarvie http://blog.joemirabella.com/2009/07/29/what-next-for-referendum-71/comment-page-1/#comment-101 William Scarvie Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:16:06 +0000 http://blog.joemirabella.com/?p=336#comment-101 They had me fooled. I could very easily fallen for this deception. I approve referendum 71 to preserve domestic partnerships. They had me fooled. I could very easily fallen for this deception. I approve referendum 71 to preserve domestic partnerships.

]]> By: Robert Herrmann http://blog.joemirabella.com/2009/07/29/what-next-for-referendum-71/comment-page-1/#comment-99 Robert Herrmann Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:35:43 +0000 http://blog.joemirabella.com/?p=336#comment-99 Call me stupid, but I am COMPLETELY confused by this turn-about!, How, after all these months of disseminating "Decline to Sign" information, is it suddenly alright to APPROVE Ref.71. Please explain as if I'm a fourth grader (despite my college education). I'm really mystified here. Call me stupid, but I am COMPLETELY confused by this turn-about!, How, after all these months of disseminating “Decline to Sign” information, is it suddenly alright to APPROVE Ref.71. Please explain as if I'm a fourth grader (despite my college education). I'm really mystified here.

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