Wednesday, September 28th, 2016

To:  Our thousands of supporters throughout the state (cc’d to the media, house & senate members, and Governor, and other candidates for office)

From:  Tim Eyman, Jack Fagan, & Mike Fagan, Fighting for Taxpayers for 17 years, 425-493-9127, [email protected],www.VotersWantMoreChoices.com

RE:  State treasurer’s race:  Duane Davidson, not Michael Waite — both are Republicans but …

I just watched the KING 5 debate between the two Republicans running for state treasurer.  Duane Davidson is a county treasurer; Michael Waite comes from the private sector.  So my instincts, of course, were to go with the private sector guy and against the government guy.

But the debate made a huge difference to me.  There’s several reasons why:

POINT 1:  Duane Davidson, the Republican county treasurer, is adamantly opposed to the state income tax and was the first candidate in the race to repudiate retiring Democrat Treasurer Jim McIntire for using his office to promote the state income tax (Davidson said that before the primary and continues to say that in the general election campaign).  Private investor Michael Waite, before the primary, said he would fight against “hurting our economy with a state income tax,” but now he’s saying he’s open to it if it helped in “creating a better education system.”  Everyone who’s for a state income tax, including the current Democrat treasurer, uses that exact same talking point.  Major red flag to me.

POINT 2:  When Duane Davidson is asked about how he’s going to “solve the McCleary court decision,” he correctly replies that it’s the legislature’s role to figure out education funding and perform other legislative functions, not the job of the treasurer.  In response, Michael Waite criticized Davidson for that position, talking incessantly about his two daughters and how he can help them get a good education by being an “advocate.”  Combine that with POINT 1, and I get a queazy feeling that Waite is gonna be just like Democrat Jim McIntire when it comes to politicizing the treasurer’s office.  And with 9 judges on the supreme court acting like super legislators, I don’t want or need a state treasurer acting like them!

POINT 3:  Being state treasurer is supposed to be a boring job — it should go to the boring guy.  Duane Davidson was reserved, controlled, and modest about the role of the office, saying the job is to provide good information so lawmakers and the public can make informed decisions.  Michael Waite came across as a know-it-all who is going to personally save Olympia with his brilliance and expertise (don’t get me wrong, I’ll vote for condescending, know-it-all candidates if it looks like they’ll be fiscally conservative — but I don’t support condescending, know-it-all candidates who flip-flop on the state income tax and say the treasurer’s role is being an advocate for education).

I have friends supporting Waite and friends supporting Davidson.  But for me, Duane Davidson is easily the better choice.  I’d be interested in your feedback and thoughts on this race.

You can count on us to fight against next year’s tax-hiking insanity.  The voters’ passage of our Initiative 1366 last year certainly shows that the people are in no mood for any tax hikes, let alone increases totaling $3.5 billion.