Today, Republicans and Democrats sparred over rules changes in Olympia. Two very key rules were brought forth by House Republicans.
1. Pass a rule to require a 2/3rds majority to raise your taxes. This has been voted in favor of by the people of Washington and the 35th District now five different time. This last time the people of the 35th District passed it overwhelmingly with a rock solid 70% or more of the vote.
2. Pass a rule requiring the Legislature to follow the Supreme Court ruling and fund education properly, Fund Education First.
On both votes Kathy Haigh voted NO, blatantly disregarding the overwhelming voice of her constituents. On both votes our freshman Representative, Drew MacEwen voted in favor of both these rules. A move that shows that he is clearly, unlike Kathy, in touch with his district. There are many issues facing the State that require immediate attention and by looking at Kathy Haighs bill sponsorship list she addresses none of them and shows that she is basically there just to collect a pay check and go home. If she is not harrassing citizens with morass big government rhetoric in the house agriculture committee, she is ignoring constituent calls and meetings, or creating self interested bills that harm the welfare of the state and its citizens more than it helps all while ignoring the real issues.
Let me get this straight. Kathy Haigh says NO to funding education and NO to making it harder on politicians to raise taxes, but YES to increasing the size of the Dept. of Health so that we can pay Veteranarians like herself to spay and neuter cats? Im serious, this is how out of touch she really is. She could tackle any issue but decides that cats in low income families are more important than education of kids in low income families. But dont forget, shes feeding herself the bacon; recieving public funding for her private industry.

In "The Fascist Manifesto", Benito Moussolini defined fascism as the state and private industries or corporation having extremely close ties.
As House Republicans and Democrats try to work out a way to fully fund education, the fiscal note in Kathy's bill calls for almost $10,500,000 million for just a span of 2013 to 2015 for cats. Thats alot of funding we could have used for our schools, or more lunches for kids. With the threat of a new capitol gains tax from the State Senate and a plethora of taxes being mulled around in talks at the State House, and a GET program that is completely and utterly insolvent to the tune of what could be over a billion dollars if we were to end it right now, it would be mind melding to assume that it would be ok to create yet ANOTHER NEW program that will cost us big. We need to elect more fiscally aware politicians that arent hell bent on continuing down the path to the largest debt binge in U.S. history and burdening the future generation with extreme austerity. No new taxes, no new spending, no new programs, until you can properly fund education, balance the budget with out shortfalls, and go one term without a special session!
Shame on you Kathy.
- Travis Couture (Belfair)

The Mason County Republicans affirm the following:
 
The right to bear arms is a natural right, inherent to all created men and women that comes from natures God, the author of Natural Law.
The Declaration of Independence declares that to preserve such rights is the reason that all governments are instituted among men.
The Mason County Republican Central Committee shall ask our County Commission, every City Council and Mayor in this County and the Washington State Legislature to pass immediate legislation to nullify any Federal law or order that shall infringe upon this right and to instruct law enforcement to enforce such nullification by any means necessary.
Dinah Griffey
Mason County Republican Chair

I have lived in Shorecrest since 2008 and overall, the community as a whole is pretty decent. I don’t have any problems with my neighbors, and I have been a crime victim only once since moving here in 2008. That crime was the theft of some small items from my vehicle, which I had left unlocked. Most of the people that I have met in the community are decent people, but if you were considering buying or renting a home here, you wouldn’t know it. Right at the entrance to the community, the Board of Directors of the Home Owners Association has decided to put up this sign. This signage, paints a bad picture of the community here in Shorecrest. Though the message doesn’t say it directly, it indirectly, and more to the point, puts the image of a crime-ridden community into the thoughts of anyone that might be interested in purchasing or renting a home in the area. Honestly, who wants to rent or purchase a home in a community that is filled with crime, especially break-ins? I would certainly avoid it at all costs.

I am not saying that there is zero crime in Shorecrest, I am certain that there is some, but I haven’t seen it other than my car having some small mostly valueless items stolen out of it when I left it unlocked.
Apparently the Mason County Sherriff wants between $20,000 dollars to put part-time patrol in the area and $40,000 per year for a full-time patrol, which is ridiculous as that is what property taxes, etc. are supposed to support. As a homeowner, I would much prefer to see the Mason County Sherriff’s Department attacking real crime and providing patrols instead of, what I have seen them doing in my area, which is sitting on the side of the road with their lights off, looking for people speeding. There is little traffic out here, and speeding should be the least of their worries if in fact, break-ins are so prevalent in this area that it was deemed best to put up a sign about them.
HoA dues here in Shorecrest are quite low, around $200/year if I remember correctly. The Shorecrest Home Owners Association also has a surplus of cash that is not being used, and barring the Sherriff’s department providing adequate patrols with their current funding, that surplus along with a small increase in dues of approximately (in my estimation) $20-$40/yr could support a part-time or full-time patrol.
This sign, and the information on it, paints this area in a very negative light and one that will further drag down an already depressed housing market. My own home has lost (based on highest appraisal) almost $75,000 in value over the course of the last 5 years. Most of that can be attributed to a bad economy, but I fear the next assessment will be even lower as this will be considered a “high-crime” area due to an irresponsible or simply ignorant Board of Directors that understands very little.
I have demanded that the Homeowners Association remove this very negative sign and they have refused. I have also previously worked as a Board Member to attempt to implement a communications system that was both modern and available to ALL members of the Homeowners Association at no cost to them. Even though this system was very affordable, it was deemed too expensive, though with the changes and systems that I wished to implement, it would have paid for itself over the course of 1-2 years through automation and saved costs of mailing newsletters and other HoA documents.
As it stands right now, with a Board that doesn’t seem to understand how painting the community in a negative light affects every homeowner in the community, were I looking to purchase a house here, I would immediately check the entire area off of my list of possibilities just because of the irresponsible signage that indicates a high level of crime in the community even though in my own experience the crime rate here is low. Once again, I would like to suggest to the Board of Directors that they remove this sign that paints the community in a bad light, and communicate with members through the official website, and/or implement an electronic system that all members are able to access be it at the clubhouse, email or our current website.
 
Regards,
Greg Evans
Shorecrest Beach Club Resident
Shelton, WA