Wednesday, January 03, 2001 PORT ANGELES -- Despite strong public support, freshman Clallam County Commissioner Mike Chapman was unable to persuade his colleagues Tuesday to reverse their decision to join a class-action lawsuit opposing Initiative 722. Fifteen speakers lined up to support Chapman's effort to rescind the decision which put Democratic commissioners Steve Tharinger and Mike Doherty at odds with the majority of county voters. More than 40 people turned out for the meeting. Initiative 722, approved by more than 56 percent of
voters statewide in November, rolls back certain tax and fee
increases levied between July and December of 1999. In
Clallam County 59.4 percent of voters supported the
initiative. Last month, a Thurston County judge declared the
challenge a class action, allowing counties statewide to
join the lawsuit prior to Jan. 5. Tharinger and
Doherty voted in December to have Clallam County join the
lawsuit as a means of protecting the county from possible
lawsuits associated with the initiative. from the Peninsula Daily News.
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