Camden: Time for initiative campaigns to kick it into high gear

Last week, the Association of Washington Business made a full-throated endorsement of Initiative 1608, a proposal to require state and local governments to open up the contract negotiations they have with their public employees unions so that everybody who wants could sit in.

This idea, an outgrowth of the angst Republican lawmakers and some conservative activists have about the way talks between the state unions and the governor’s office are conducted, has been batted around in the Legislature for a couple of years.

While it is sold primarily as a move toward more open and transparent government, the wholesale opening of all public employee labor contracts throughout the state is a boatload of contracts with an armada of meetings. A few of the big ones — the state and its contracts, major school districts and their teachers — could get intense scrutiny, but many others might get a sporadic look, or no attention whatsoever until something in the deal goes sour.

It might also be interesting to poll the members of AWB, which is essentially the state’s Chamber of Commerce, to ask how many of those captains of business and industry would be willing to open the contract talks they have with their unions to the public.

As someone who has been a party to contract negotiations — full disclosure, I was the newsroom’s union president for about a decade before escaping to Olympia — it seems like management was always first to call for a no-disclosure rule when talks start.

Yes but, they might say, government contracts are talking about public money. OK, then have the big firms open their contract talks to shareholders and stock analysts.

If the state is going to open the discussions for pay and benefits to its unions, shouldn’t it also open up any similar discussion with managers and department heads under the argument that this, too, is the public’s money?

Or the supporters could be upfront about the fact that this is part of the crusade against public employees unions.

Pay to play

Although it can take months to gather enough signatures with volunteers, with enough money, a campaign can collect far more than required in a few weeks.

The group that seems in the best position to buy a place on the ballot is the Yes! To Affordable Groceries campaign, which is supporting Initiative 1634, which has raised about $1.8 million and already spent about $658,000 of it on signature gathering.

Who’s going to say No! to affordable groceries, you might wonder? Remember that campaigns get to pick their names, and the title of their initiative.

I-1634 is about keeping taxes off certain consumable products. Discerning which products is easy from the list of donors: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr Pepper. While most products in the grocery aisles aren’t taxed at the checkout counter, Seattle has a soda tax and Spokane looked at it to help pay for police. Soft drink manufacturers can see the writing on the wall as governments around the country take aim at sugary libations.