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RE: A King County Council Republican cuts a backroom deal with Larry Phillips, screwing us out of our $30 car tabs in exchange for a lollipop



"Whatever happened to our $30 car tabs?" We hear that all the time and it's about to get worse.



Democrats in Olympia have ignored our repeated votes for $30 car tabs and passed a bill empowering the King County Council to unilaterally jack up car tab taxes WITHOUT A VOTE OF THE PEOPLE.



But it's worse than that ... we've learned that one of the Republicans on the King County Council (Jane Hague, Kathy Lambert, Pete von Reichbauer, or Reagan Dunn) has cut a backroom deal with the Democrats (specifically Larry Phillips, the senior Democrat on the Council) and sold their vote in exchange for a lollipop in 2012 county budget (in King County parlance, a lollipop is a pet project or earmark). It's totally sleazy under any circumstances -- ignoring the voters' ballot box mandate -- but it's beyond the pale to sell a council vote in exchange for a pork barrel earmark.



All 5 Democrats on the Council (Larry Phillips, Larry Gossett, Bob Ferguson, Julia Patterson, and Joe McDermott) will vote to unilaterally jack up car tab taxes, but they need one sell-out Republican to get it passed. (After reading this: "King County Council member Larry Phillips, meanwhile, tells PubliCola he’s optimistic that the Democrats on the council will manage to sway at least one Republican vote", we did some investigating and learned about Phillips' backroom deal).



Here's the email addresses for the 4 Republicans on the King County Council. Tell them -- firmly, passionately, and professionally -- to not stick their finger in the eyes of the taxpayers. Tell them to respect our vote and most importantly, tell them to not cut a deal with Democrats by selling their vote for a lollipop. Email them right away:



jane.hague@kingcounty.gov; kathy.lambert@kingcounty.gov; pete.vonreichbauer@kingcounty.gov; reagan.dunn@kingcounty.gov; tim_eyman@comcast.net

Too often, Republicans in the minority believe they've gotta cut sleazy back-room deals with majority Democrats to get re-elected (as if selling out the taxpayers for a pork barrel project is going to be well-received by voters).



We need your help to put a bright spotlight on this potential corruption. Send them your thoughts right away BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.