I-1033

I have the honor of serving on the Board of Directors for the United Way of Grant County, the Soap Lake Food Board and the Big Bend Community College Foundation Board.

I-1033 will limit the ability of the state to provide financing for the efforts of the food board and the community college and to push more folks in need towards already stressed charitable organizations.

I understand the appeal of the initiative; lowering taxes always seems like a good idea. This one is not. Just when the food bank is trying to deal with major increases in requests for aid and when more people are turning to the community college for training or re-training we now have another one of Tim Eyman’s misguided, broad brush attempts to govern by common appeal.

The real fact of our American democracy is that it is characterized by a representative form of government. We vote for our representatives for state, county and city government and then ask them to make the often difficult balancing decisions that make this a great place to live. This type of government has often acted to protect the least powerful of us from the sometimes self-centered will of the majority.

Passage of this initiative will eventually result in reducing the ability of our state, county and city governments to provide the necessary support for education, social and cultural programs that define a modern society.

The kid of direct action that I-1033 represents takes away our rights to have our elected officials act on behalf of the entire community.

I urge everyone to read I-1033 carefully and then cast an informed vote against the measure.

Lon Topaz

Ephrata