ACLU suggestions adopted in new wording for I-1043

What the news release does not indicate is that part of the credit should be going to La Raza.   La Raza was also part of the law suite with the ACLU.  The stronger wording will enhance the Initiative. 

My thanks to the ACLU, La Raza, the Thurston County Judge and also the Washington State Attorney General for all of their continuing efforts.  A stronger initiative wording is a clearer initiative wording.

I-1043_rev_by_court_order.pdf 

******************************

Media Release

Contact:

Leon Donahue, Secretary Respect Washington
Phone: (206) 935-3505
E-Mail: info@respectWashington.us
PO Box 65488, University Place, WA 98464-1488

March 2, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACLU suggestions adopted for New-Improved “Respect for Law” Ballot Title

Today the Washington State Secretary of State issued a revised Ballot Title for Initiative to the People No. 1043. (pdf of AG’s advisory to SS attached)

To improve understanding by petition signers and voters come the November 3rd General Election, the ACLU challenged the Attorney General’s original ballot title composition. The improved wording now reads:

BALLOT TITLE

Statement of Subject: Initiative Measure No. 1043 concerns public and private enforcement of immigration laws.

Concise Description: This measure would require state and local agencies to enforce federal immigration laws and verify immigration status to issue driver’s licenses and public benefits. All employers would have to “E-Verify” employees’ immigration status.

Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

BALLOT MEASURE SUMMARY

This measure requires state and local agencies to assist in enforcing federal immigration laws. All private and public employers would be required to “E-Verify” immigration status of employees, subject to loss of licenses and other penalties. It would require verification of immigration status of applicants for many public benefits. Nonprofit organizations would be prohibited from offering employment services without proof of immigration status. Issuance of driver’s licenses would be prohibited without proof of immigration status.

I-1043 legislation differs only slighty from that also filed by Respect Washington in 2008 as I-409.

Refinement from I-409 include the requirement that Department of Licensing allow the Tribal Identification Card as an acceptable form of photo ID in drivers license applications. Also, the expiry of the Washington State Drivers Licenses must occur no later than the expiry date of any alien VISA. The need for stricter care by DoL’s was brought to light after it was learned that many of the 9-11 bombers traveled on valid state-issued drivers licenses even after their VISA’s had expired.

The four major pillars of I-409 remain in I-1043:

1. Empowerment all public employees to cooperate with Federal immigration authorities despite obstructionist “sanctuary city” polices in some local jurisdictions.

2. Empowerment of all employers (public, private and union halls) to verify work authorization through the US Government’s E-Verify online program. Over 100,000 US employers now participate in E-verify as their protection against the presentation of false identification documents. Since the 1986 Simpson-Mazzoli Amnesty ALL employers have been required to collect this same information on paper Form I-9. (“E-verify” is a taxpayer-funded Social Security Number verification tool of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services branch of the Department of Homeland Security which every employer is today encouraged to voluntarily use without charge. See www.uscis.gov)

3. Mandate to local government to verify legal presence through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program (similar to E-verify) prior to the gifting of taxpayer-funded benefits. Such public benefits would include tax rebates proposed by Governor Gregoire, lottery winnings and university education dollar grants to illegal aliens.

4. Mandate to Wash. St. Dept. of Licensing to verify legal presence through SAVE prior to driver’s license issuance. (After the Democrat-controlled Oregon Legislature and Governor outlawed issuance to undocumented aliens in 2008, Washington State remains one of the few states that still abets the presence of illegal aliens be issuing them drivers licenses.)

I-1043’s citizen sponsor is Mr. Wendell Hannigan who is a leader in the effort to restore law and order on the Yakama Reservation. In recent years Yakama Nation lands have become plagued with crime surrounding the drug trade. Mr. Hannigan expressed relief that, as of today, citizens of Washington State have a weapon in the I-1043 signature petition to fight the growing corruption.

“A combination of corrupt, willfully-ignorant and unwitting employment of illegal aliens has ballooned the population of illegal aliens inside the United States to a level where corruption has become institutionalized for pure profit and political power.”

“If we are a nation without laws, then we are a nation in chaos. Under the current chaos all future generations will suffer an environment of Third World corruption as is now murdering thousands annually in Mexico.”
Respect Washington’s goals for I-1043 are:

1. Reduce political party and government corruption now exploding under a racist spoils system.

2. Reduce the Washington State Budget Deficit by over $600 Million now taken from law-abidding taxpayers annually to subsidize that illegal presence of aliens and employers who prey upon their slave labor.

3. Protect the jobs of lawfully-present American workers.

4. Reduce mounting gang and drug violence that flourishes in partnership with human smuggling.

5. Improve educational opportunities for all citizens and lawfully-present aliens enrolled in Washington State public schools.

6. Improve the social safety net for all citizens and lawfully-present aliens.

To earn a place on the statewide November ballot I-1043 supporters must collect 241,153 signatures by July 3rd, 2009.

Signature petitions may be downloaded from or ordered through www.RespectWashington.us

####

Washington State Balanced Budget

Mr. Brad Klippert
 
I know you are extremely interested in balancing the budget.

My idea is if something is changed with the senior citizens and nursing home care provided by the state then with some other ideas the state budget can be balanced. 
 
1)  Pass I-1043 Illegal immigrants initiative to the people.  Judge just signed off with the attorneys on the final wording on Friday.  Savings is $1 Billion for the biennium.
 
2)  Cut the aide to children for medical insurance in half.  This aide has increased in recent years from $2 Billion to around over $4 Billion.  This increase is mainly from increasing the parents level of income for qualifying a child for acceptance into the program.  Cutting this number in half will save $2 Billion for the biennium.  Savings now total is $3 Billion.
 
3)  Implement all of Brian Sonntag’s, State Auditor Performance Audits.  I do not see the exact number now on the State Auditor’s website but this should be a little bit over or around $3 Billion.   Although savings may not be fully achieved until later years it is the start of the process.  The Port of Seattle has implemented some of the savings and the employee morale has increase substantially at the same time.  Total savings of around $6 Billion.
 
4)  Senior citizens pay for their own Nursing Home care.  If the senior citizens pay $2.5 Billion for nursing home care paid out of their social security checks in the amount of $150 per month starting at age 65 then this could balance the budget.  This is the area of the numbers which I am trying to gather together at the present time.  Total savings of around $8.5 Billion for the biennium. 

Oh, this balances the budget with a little bit of change.

 
Actually the idea is to help in the process to balance the budget and also start to get the state out of the business of providing free nursing home care.  The state should not be in the business of providing welfare medical coverage.  The CFP and present legal method is to have individuals who can pay to not have senior nursing home insurance but to have the money come out of current earnings.  Edward Jones security advisors say this is with an equity of $3.5 million or more for an individual.  But previously about 15 years ago I was informed that one with $300,000 to $650,000 in assets would not be able to be on the state without draining their bank accounts and assets nor be able to self finance.  This was when the high end of nursing home care was $55,000 per year.  The amount is about $8-9,000 per month at the present time.  Below this level the state would provide coverage.  The strategy for the two lower levels was to get your assets over to an irrevocable trust within 35 months of entering a nursing home or to pay for nursing home insurance for a better quality of life and nursing home care.  My idea would be to get people to pay 15% of their social security income starting at age 65.  The senior citizen recipient could opt out of the state system by paying for their own nursing home insurance.  Notifications would go out at around age 60 and once per year until age 65 to the senior citizens.  Eventually virtually no one except for the very low income senior citizen would be on state assistance.  
 
I was in your office on the Tuesday of the start of the full day the legislature with Craig Keller and Albert Pong.  You put the I-409/I-1043 information in a box of ideas to balance the budget.  How about $8.5 Billion savings for balancing the budget.  
 
**********************************************************
 
I have one idea which if put together with other ideas I have will balance the State budget.  But I need a little bit more information in order to see if my idea will be viable.  It would require changing the law though.
 
The idea which I am exploring will lessen the stress on the families of the senior citizens.
 
What I am trying to find out now is how many senior citizens there are in Washington State at or over 65 years of age.  My initial findings from the www.ssa.gov website indicate there are 34 million.  91% are receiving social security benefits.  This means that 9% are waiting to the age 70 1/2 to start withdrawing SS benefits.
 
 
While studying for the financial planner, I noticed some drastic financial mutations which have to be gone through for the retirement planning process.  I also realize the State is in a financial crisis.  Mixing my ideas together like a pencil with an eraser I have come up with another idea and one which might help in solving the budget deficit.
 
1)  How many senior citizens are there in Washington State.
2)  How much does each one receive in social security benefits on average. The ssa.gov website says $2715 per month but this number does not connect with what I have been seeing on tax returns.  For Washington State.
3)  How many senior citizens are on full state nursing home care which is subsidized by the state.
4)  How many total senior citizens are in Washington and on nursing home care.
5)  Same last two questions but related to in-home care.
6)  How much is the average cost of nursing home care for senior citizens.
7)  What is the average cost of nursing home care by the state for senior citizens.
8)  What is the average duration of care for state recipients and other private pay recipients.
9) What is the average age of the starting of nursing home care for senior citizens in Washington State. This would be for Washington State recipients and private pay recipients counted separately.
 
Thanking you in advance for your prompt and courteous response to the email.
 
Sincerely
 
Keith Ljunghammar, EA

keithlj.wordpress.com

I-409 Grassroots Volunteers

Dear Grassroots Volunteers

Below are some observations from gathering signatures. Your approaches will probably be different. If you get a signature that in itself is success. If you have suggestions or alternate or concurring observations please email or write back about your successes.

List of topics:

1) One to five volunteers

2) Banner Sings

3) Aggressive vs. Passive

4) Gun Shows vs. Non-Political Events

5) Recruitment of Extra Volunteers

6) Signature +3 or More folded petitions.

7) Craigslist and Other Lists for Recruitment

Training

9) Contributions vs. Donations

10) The Big Picture – Lower Costs to Government – Greater Revenue and Higher Wages.

1) One to Five Grassroots Volunteers

 

Seth Sundin, Laura Carter and John Moyna were each operating separately in the Greater Spokane area. Seth mentioned he would like to collect signatures with other volunteers at the same time. He was absolutely right. If you have more than one in an area then this acts as a security shield and also allows spontaneous departures for personal reasons or for lunch breaks. I always prefer a group. Greater numbers of volunteers also allow a multi-presence and thus a greater possibility of signatures. More than one also allows for one if needed to pull aside more inquisitive questioners or the recruitment of the questioners to become a volunteer.

2) Banner Sings

 

If you go to a known location or to events you should have a banner sign(s). A known location would be a Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Home Depot or Safeway. We can’t have a sign posted so a banner on an eight foot stick takes care of this problem. One person holds the sign with a passive signature board and the others collect signatures.

Some of the wording for Banner Signs might be:

Stop Illegals from Driving

Stop Social Security Fraud

In other situations two small tables stretched out may be more impressive and having eight or more signature boards. If any children are with the signature gatherers if allowed the children could be rooming and informing attendees of the availability of signing.

3) Aggressive vs. Passive

One person can be aggressive by yelling out sayings. The passive person might be just holding out the board with the petition clipped on it. Then when the aggressive gatherer is actually gathering signatures the passive gatherer would become the aggressive signature gatherer.

But let’s recognize that one’s individual talents for aggressiveness may not be someone else’s talent for aggressiveness. The collective idea is signature gathering and not displays of aggressiveness or otherwise. The means does not have to be the ends. What you are comfortable with should be the game plan.

4) Gun Shows vs. Non-Political Events.

Some individuals due to their group affiliations will be more inclined to sign than other non-group gatherings of individuals such as for shopping. Gun Shows have been shown to be our greatest for the gathering of signatures. They gather early and shop hard and fast. They are serious about their sport and thus serious about their signature.

But for the generic shoppers with some having no political affiliations or concerns this could be a tougher crowd. This is due to a need to get errands done or for picking up the kids or making sure the ice cream doesn’t melt.

As one is visibly seen continually at these locations a greater drawing for signatures is accumulated.

One can be standing around for fifteen minutes and getting no signatures. But then one person is signing and suddenly five or more signatures are gathered. This can happen also with one or two signature gatherers being present. With two gatherers the need to sign becomes more of a necessity. Increasing the number of boards on a table shows more signatures being gathered as this displaced a larger prior prominence of signatures being gathered. The group psychology intensifies and thus the need to supplying that signature increases.

 

Different approaches for different events but the continual presence at an area seems to break down resistance. Or maybe I should say continual presence accomodates the “not enough time” argument to “enough time to spare to sign”.

People at Gun Shows mentally think of themselves as perfectionists and doing thing but definitely not couch potatoes. The active approach of accomplishment translates into accomplishments of betterment fo the state through this signature accomplishment. The road to sharpshooting perfection is one bullet at a time. The same is true for the perfection of society – One signature at a time.

5) Recruitment of Extra Volunteers

Extra Volunteers are always a need for the campaign or a petition signature gathering process.

When we are gathering signatures three extra petitions should be tried to be distributed at the end of the signature. Instead of gathering just one signature this theoretically accomplishes the gathering of 31 signatures so one completed petition would bring in a potential total of 310 signatures. One hundred signatures 3100. One thousand signatures 31,000 and ten thousand signatures would bring in a completed signature petition campaign.

At the present time we have over 25,000 signatures and 45,000 petition sheets have been distributed. With 2500 sheets + completed this still shows a lot are outstanding. Keep up the good work.

Craigslist can be used in advertising for Volunteers. At the present time no funds are available for paying signature gatherers.

Locally we are using prior campaign individuals and thus you may be seeing new faces. Your own personal recruitment of volunteers will probably be the most affective though.

6) Signature +3 or More folded petitions.

Previously mentioned was an example of this effectiveness is an ICE agent cam by and we gave him 30 petitions. The 30 petitions cam back in three weeks. In this case 1 signature yielded 301 signatures. Keep track of large petition giveaways and see about recruitment as a volunteer or additional signatures.

7) Craigslist and Other Lists for Recruitment.

One of the Volunteers mentioned Craigslist as being a free source to get volunteers. A large percentage though will be asking for funds or payment for the signature gathering process. If payment does come together this will be dependant upon the availability of funds from PACs which support this project.

Currently projects include insertion of a petition into a clubs newsletter. The size of the petition is 11 X 17. If you need more for a clubs newsletter for your local area then please feel free. Please allow enough time for printing and shipping. The current clubs amount is 14,000 monthly newsletters. Theoretically this should generate 140,000 signatures. With a potential of 1/2 the total needed we cannot afford to miss this opportunity. The additional goal would be to get volunteers and donations. A secondary letter from the editor could accomplish this. At the present time funds for cost of advertising or cost of insertion is not available.

Training.

Would you need a little bit of training please request. A formal training or scripting function has not been produced but if you would need some training for volunteers, time allowing and traveling allowing we will attempt to get there.

 

A more formalized training pamphlet will be attempted to be written and inserted on the website. If enough requests are made and this becomes a necessity someone with writing skills might volunteer to do this project.

9) Contributions vs. Donations.

At the Puyallup Fairgrounds we had a jar where individuals could contribute to the cause. Every once-in-awhile someone would stick in a $1 or two. Maybe some coins. Personal information also needs to be collected for the political accounting process. Collect the name, address, city, state, zip, personal job description and the company worked for. No $ limit applies the the amount of contribution.

A donation from PACs or organizations can be collected also. Some of this is being started in Seattle.

In essence, if you spend any money, keep track of the amount. If funds are available and you have saved your receipts then reimbursement of expenses MAY happen. Depending upon the amount and the extent of expenses maybe not all expenses could be reimbursed. We all are contributing. Cost for reimbursement of petition printing will be first. Also, keep track of your mileage. Beginning, ending and total for each occurrence. Good Luck and Thanks!!

10) The Big Picture – Lower Costs to Government – Greater Revenue – Higher Wages.

When taxes are not paid by a group but services are requested this causes many things to happen:

1) Revenues are not collected which help in paying for services. Expected capital improvements to the infrastructure or improvements to schools for education are deferred. Deferment of capital improvements further reduces our capital or potential for further revenue and puts the State at a present and future competitive disadvantage with other states and countries throughout the globe. Nowadays everything is global and very little only have a local affect.

The repetitive disadvantage of lower revenues and higher expenses due to a decreased capital improvement will thus help in ensuring a lower wage. The lower wage is the offset due to the under-reliance of the capital structure which was caused by a lower revenue stream.

A sure sounding circular argument but third world countries have perfected this format.

11) “Trap-line” on a daily basis.

This I have not tried but it seems to be rather effective.

What one does is find a business or other location which would be willing to gather signatures at their place of business. They show one petition at the counter at a time. After the 10 signatures are gathered the completed petition is signed on the back and put underneath the counter. Another blank petition is inserted on the clipboard so other guests/clients/customers can sign the petition until completed. A signature gatherer comes by once a week or once a day to collect and replenish the petitions. This technique by one volunteer netted 10,000 signatures.

END

Thanks

 

 

Keith Ljunghammar

vbhoundabout@hotmail.com

206.388.9982