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Write In Protest

Mark, besides running for King Co. Director of Elections for the 2011 election, is simultaneously running as a write-in candidate for state representative in District 41, Position 2. This write-in campaign is essentially a protest campaign that, among other things, is challenging the practices in the current King Co. Elections office which declared Mark's recent petition for state representative as ineffective. Unlike the Secretary of State's Office in Olympia in a prior election, this office effectively did not allow, among other dubious practices, a count of signatures several days before the time limit expired.

The following paragraphs are issues related to the representative campaign.

The funding of the state treasury to levels that would sustain the budget calls for the state to no longer be in the business of giving tax shelters and breaks to big business. This would save millions of dollars, and possibly billions. These affluent corporations could get along just fine without shelters and breaks. Business capital gains in the 7 figure plus range should be taxed, although with plenty of breaks for small businesses.

State public works projects: the state should use funds saved from abolishing certain tax shelters and breaks for implementing public works that would build the public infrastruture of townships, towns and cities. This would assist the unemployed and newly graduated students in finding jobs and build up our waterworks projects, bridges, roads and decaying public buildings, among other infrastructure. With funding derived from these breaks, the state could also start a renewable and sustainable energy project that would start new programs and jobs to harness wind, geothermal and solar power.

Globalization Tax: the state should heavily tax all big businesses that are involved in outsourcing to the point that it wouldn't be advantageous to those that are taking advantage of the disastrous globalization trade agreements by sending jobs and manufacturing to foreign destinations. The President and Congress should immediately withdraw our nation from these trade agreements.

Not only has the government, through the globalization trade pacts, made it easier for corporations to outsource jobs to non-U.S. destinations, wherein corporations can take advantage of cheap labor. and lax environmental and labor regulations, but they are allowing H-1B visas in record numbers. because supposedly there are not enough skilled workers in our nation, which is disingenious. These corporations have to train everyone anyway, but they want the H-1B program to be expanded in the midst of severe unemployment so that their labor costs will be cheaper and they can expand their profits as a result. The H-1B program should be dramatically curtailed.

If elected, I will write a bill to mandate the labeling of genetically modified food in Washington. I will also sponsor a bill to improve recycling and to regulate retail packaging to prevent overpackaging and the overfilling of the landfills.

The environment will be one of my priorities if I am elected to the Legislature.

Washington should get out of the anachronistic institution of capital punishment like several other states have in recent years, and follow the example of those states and the European Union.

Voting rights: the legal voting age should be changed to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote, thereby spurring an interest in politics at earlier ages, and strengthening the civic and political culture in our nation.


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Copyright 2010, Party of Commons, TM

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