To: The Washington State House, The Washington State Senate, and Governor Jay Inslee
True Citizens' Initiative
Paid signature gathering should be made illegal and initiatives that reflect the actual opinions of a sufficient number of citizens be the only ones that qualify for the ballot. Too many times business interests from within and outside the State of Washington have bought their way onto the ballot, then spent large sums of money convincing the citizens to vote their way. This is retail democracy and has no place in the initiative process.
Why is this important?
It seems like many of the initiatives on our ballot have been the result of paid signature gatherers, This goes against the legitimate purpose of initiatives, which were designed to give private citizens, not corporations or the wealthy, a voice in the lawmaking process. I propose that paid signature gathering be made illegal and that initiatives that reflect the opinions of a sufficient number of citizens be the only ones that qualify for the ballot.