Here’s the email the ‘No’ Campaign sent around. The desperation is practically palpable.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Prop. 1 and how it will negatively affect regional businesses.
Prop.1, if passed in the November election, would increase the sales tax by another ½ % for expansion of Sound Transit. This would more than double Sound Transit’s share of the sales tax to pay for expanded rail lines. There is no highway or road construction included in the proposal. Over the next 45 years it would cost us over $100,000,000,000 in taxes alone. This projected cost does not include any loss in potential sales and business that may occur when sales taxes increase.
What about the cost of folks sitting in congestion? What about the activity and building that will happen around light rail stations? The $100 billion is just pulled out of thin air, using the same crappy math as last year. The number people care about: $69 per adult per year – the cost of filling up a Camry with regular unleaded – is what is on people’s mind.
The doubling of the sales tax is an embarrassing tactic. The sales tax increase is just 5.3% on what we’re already paying in sales tax, and barely a 1% increase in total taxes.
Additionally, Sound Transit’s own projections are that this measure will not alleviate traffic. Most of Sound Transit’s rail ridership is made up of commuters who switch from using buses to using the rail lines, not drivers switching to public transit. There are far better alternatives available that are more immediate, less expensive, and do not require carbon heavy construction projects.
We’ve seen repeatedly that commuters aren’t just switching from buses to rails, and even that ignores the new 16% increase in bus service. Are those people switching from one bus to another? And when people to switch from buses to rail, that lets you free up the existing bus service and put those dollars to better use.
And what are these alternatives? I haven’t heard anything but misleading ideas about “BRT”. And even that BRT talk doesn’t include a plan.
The website for the no campaign is http://www.notoprop1.org
That website is a joke, for the record. The site looks terrible and has virtually no information. The ‘Yes’ site looks better each time I visit, and has more information and is updated more often. The ‘No’ site still has that the lies about the Sierra Club endorsement. They very well know that the Sierra Club was against the roads portion of last year’s measure, and that the Sierra Club has enthusiastically endorsed this year’s plan. They’re lying because they know this year’s plan is 100% transit, that we need to act as quickly as possible to save the environment, and that they can only win by trying to convince voter’s electric rail is somehow bad for the environment. But I guess is all you have as far as endorsements are Ron Sims, the only way you can win is by trying to confuse this year’s measure with last year’s, and throw in a bunch of lies for good measure.
Now to the desperation:
We need your urgent help to ensure defeat of Prop. 1.
While we have slight lead in the polls, we do not yet have 50% percent of the vote secured and the margin of error in the poll is over 6%! We don’t need to raise millions, but we have heard that certain interests are likely to dump serious money into the race in the coming month. We can’t afford to just sit back and hope our slim margin holds. Additionally, the higher liberal turnout may help Prop. 1 pass if we don’t get our message to voters quickly.
I thought between road-warrior Kemper Freeman and Mark Baerwaldt there was enough money to go around, but I guess not. It’s pretty encouraging to see the ‘No’ Campaign scared of the Obama turn-out. The poll they are refering to showed a 47% ‘No’ vs a 45% ‘Yes’ with a 6% margin, so it’s much closer than they letting on.
They should be scared of a huge liberal turn-out. Obama has young people excited, and I expect a record turn out amoung people under 35, the people who are most likely to vote ‘yes’. Those same people are the ones least represented by phone polls like the ‘No’ Campaign’s poll.
So let me get this straight: there is going to be a huge young voter turn out, the same voters who are the most likely to vote yes, and the same voters who are least likely to have their opinion taken a phone poll, and their poll is showing a statistical tie. No surprise that they’re freaked out. I’d be freaked out, too, if I were on the ‘No’ Campaign.
We need to raise $350,000 or more in the next 5 weeks to get our message out to voters. All money raised will go directly to our radio ads. We are certain that voters will put this measure down if given the right information about what a disaster it would be for our economy and the environment.
You can give online at http://www.notoprop1.org or send checks to:
No To Prop. 1
PO Box 1115
Seattle, WA 98111
There is incredible urgency to financing our “No” campaign, as this issue is not yet on many people’s radar and we must start running radio ads in the next few weeks at a cost of $25,000 + per week.
All contributions are helpful and greatly appreciated, but please consider giving $5,000 – $20,000+ as soon as possible. We need to build our coffers quickly to get our message moving.
Please feel free to call anytime with questions and thank you for your prompt attention!
Sincerely,
Ezra Eickmeyer
NotoProp.1.org
ezra@olypen.com
360-301-1842
Please don’t send them any money. Kemper Freeman spent $100,000 last year, and Mark Baerwaldt threw in another $200,000. I guess this year they need others people to chip in and try to derail mass transit expansion.
