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Voters Deserve A Choice Initiative" Improves Transportation Without a Tax Increase NEWS RELEASE, 8/8/02 For immediate Release Thursday, August 8th, 2002 Press contact: Tim Eyman, 425-493-9127 Permanent Offense refiles transportation initiative "Transportation Choices Initiative" becomes "Voters Deserve A Choice Initiative" Mukilteo, WA Permanent Offense refiled their transportation initiative today, giving it a new name: "Voters Deserve A Choice Initiative." Their initiative improves transportation without a tax increase and provides voters with an alternative to Referendum 51, the politicians' massive transportation tax increase on the November ballot. Tim Eyman, lead spokesman for "Voters Deserve A Choice Initiative," released the following statement: "We wanted to provide voters with a choice when it came to transportation, so we naturally came up with the name 'Transportation Choices Initiative.' But apparently, our opponents got their underwear in a bunch over it so we've decided to change its name. After all, a rose by any other name is just as sweet. We passionately believe in the policies of our new transportation initiative and 70% of likely voters support them also: vehicle taxes spent for roads, transportation performance audits, and opening carpool lanes during off-peak hours. What we call our transportation initiative is not worth spending $100,000 in legal expenses fighting in federal court. Our opponents can have their name, we'll win by concentrating on the ideas contained in our transportation initiative and focusing our efforts on getting the necessary 200,000 sigs by the end of December." "By the way, since our opponents' whining necessitated a refile, we managed to fine-tune the language of our new initiative to include vehicle 'use taxes' (vehicles purchased outside the state but registered here) which allows the total dollars to be spent on road construction and maintenance to now be $760 million per year. Our previous initiative only included 'sales taxes' (vehicles purchased in-state) which totaled $630 million per year. In other words, our opponents' insistence on a name change has resulted in an additional $130 million per year being spent on road construction and maintenance by our new transportation initiative." "We also checked with the trademark office. It turns out U.S. trademarks only apply to organizations that are engaged in commerce and trade (15 U.S.C. 1125) and that sell, manufacture or provide a service for a fee. Our opponents are a political action committee and their own website says they provide free political information. They are not engaged in commerce, but they claimed they were in their Federal Trademark Application under Serial No. 78/150348. We will be seeking a dismissal of their complaint on the grounds that they are not entitled to a federal trademark and filed false information in their application." "Voters deserve a choice. Our new initiative gives voters a common sense alternative to Referendum 51, the politicians' massive transportation tax increase on the November ballot. Compared to R-51, "Voters Deserve A Choice Initiative" generates twice the tax revenue, no debt, long-overdue accountability, and better utilization of existing road capacity all without a tax increase. Polling shows that 70% of likely voters support it. Our new initiative improves transportation without a tax increase. I-266 will: · Improve transportation by requiring existing vehicle sales and use taxes be spent on road construction and maintenance. Over the years, several bills have been introduced in the Legislature to accomplish this common sense policy change. Our new initiative gives voters the choice. · Improve transportation by removing the handcuffs on our state auditor so he can do the job he's elected to do: conduct independent, comprehensive performance audits on state and local transportation agencies and programs. State Auditor Brian Sonntag has been pursuing this goal for years but has been blocked by the Legislature and the Governor. Our new initiative gives voters the choice. · Improve transportation by opening carpool lanes to all during off-peak hours. Over the years, several bills have been introduced in the Legislature to accomplish this common sense policy change. Our new initiative gives voters the choice. "Voters Deserve A Choice Initiative" is an Initiative to the Legislature and is required to submit 197,734 valid signatures by the end of December. Over the past 5 years, we have sponsored 6 initiatives (I-691, I-695, I-722, I-745, I-747, & I-776). Of those 6, we've managed to get enough signatures to qualify 5 initiatives for the ballot (I-695, I-722, I-745, I-747, & I-776) thanks to our thousands of supporters. Voters Deserve A Choice Initiative · PO Box 48271 · Spokane · WA · 99228 Ph: 425-493-8707 · FAX: 509-467-4323 · www.permanent-offense.org · info@permanent-offense.org
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