Issues
March 05, 2012 JBanking & Financial Services
This blog post first appeared in the NW Daily Marker.
Friday night was incredible! As the Legislature in Washington State was winding down its last few days of session, it looked like Republicans and Democrats were stalemated. The Democrats in majority in the House and Senate had finally released their budgets, but passing a responsible budget seemed out of reach. The special session late last year failed to fix the budget deficit, accomplishing little other than taking some easy, popular steps, the low hanging fruit. Despite a modest improvement in the latest estimate of spending and revenue, there was still a shortfall, which both Democratic budgets resolved by using a 25th month scheme, delaying over $400 million in payments from the last month of the 2011-2013 budget to the first month of the next.
February 14, 2012 JProperty Rights
As it turns out we could have one of the richest mineral deposits ever discovered in Washington State, right in our backyard here in Southwest Washington. Mount Margaret is located in the Saint Helens Mining District of Skamania County, about 22 miles southwest of Randle. The Mount Margaret deposit holds the potential for tremendous economic opportunity for Southwest Washington and our nation.
The process of exploring and developing a mineral deposit in an environmentally respectful manner demands a careful and deliberate process. The mining firm of Ascot Resources, Ltd is conducting tests to know if and how to move forward with a mine plan. The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service has been working closely with Ascot. There has been no imprint on the environment with this careful testing.
January 26, 2012 JProperty Rights
SEAVIEW, WA Americans for Prosperity-Washington issued the following statement in response to the Public Disclosure Commissions unanimous decision to dismiss two baseless complaints against Americans for Prosperity-Washington:
Americans for Prosperity-Washington always contended that these were baseless, frivolous complaints, and we thank the PDC for rightly dismissing them. The dismissal should have come last month based on staff recommendations, but special interests tried to politicize the process and chill speech. Americans for Prosperitys 1.9 million activists will not be silenced. Going forward, Americans for Prosperity will continue exercising its rights under the First Amendment while at the same time being compliant under the law, said AFP-Washington State Director Nansen Malin.
January 23, 2012 JProperty Rights
Due to continued emergency weather and power outages- we have canceled the Tuesday, Jan 24th 6pm Simulcast Town Hall event.
Details for a future event will be announced shortly.
December 01, 2011 JLabor, Education & Pensions
In the wake of the failure by the congressional supercommittee, vigilance seems more necessary than ever as the Obama administration continues its ongoing campaign to increase taxes on those who take on personal risk to invest in and stimulate our economy. The newest assault on the investment industrythe proposal by Pres. Barack Obama and some followers in Congress to create what is being called the Enterprise Value Tax.
Under the EVT proposal, investment management partnerships would become an unfairly singled-out target of new federal taxation, becoming the only businesses in the U.S. in which proceeds from the sale of the business would be taxed at a higher ordinary income rate instead of the growth-incentivizing lower capital gains rate.
