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08/13/2007: "Guest Editorial"

You Gotta Love Those Spin Doctors
By Ray Bigler

Now that our County Council has hired their own Spin Doctor I guess we have officially reached the big leagues (or at least we are pretending that we have).

The most recent spin comes from the Prosecutors office, specifically the Stormwater Funding Ordinance. The issue is and has always been about the method that was chosen to fund the Stormwater Utility, not the Utility itself.

Therefore, referendum 2007-1 will ask for a vote of the citizens to repeal the entire Ordinance so that we can send it back to the County Council to rethink the funding vehicle. That is the purpose and the intent of this referendum, nothing more.

The Prosecutors Office has consistently tried to link this issue of funding as a GMA mandate from the state. There is nothing in the States mandate that requires the County to charge the taxpayers a fee/tax to fund this Ordinance.


There are many other methods of funding available for this Ordinance, such as; funding out of existing taxes or bonding through the utility districts in the activity centers where the stormwater projects are slated to be placed, or by an LID, or any combination of the above.

Shouldn’t those that are going to receive a direct benefit, not only in stormwater management but also in their increased property value, pay for that benefit?

The concern that a “third party” could file a lawsuit if the referendum should pass is really a veiled threat. A “third party” can file a lawsuit against any initiative or referendum that is passed by the voters. It is often done in King County after every election.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is already someone just waiting in the wings on this issue. Look what happened with the Guest House issue after 73% of the voters had their wishes ignored (although this was not a referendum/initiative but an advisory vote).

We live in a litigious society where if someone does not get their way they file a lawsuit. Remember the new maxim that has invaded our community, “sue thy neighbor”.

I really like the Prosecutors statement, “It makes sense that this process includes fair warning to referendum sponsors that they may have to appear in court and tell a judge why their proposal is consistent with the law”. Is this really what the founders of the Home Rule Charter had in mind when they included initiative and referendum?

Sounds like a legal threat from a public official to anyone that wants to exercise this process in the future. Challenge our decisions and we may file suit against you. Don’t forget that the language for this referendum was written by the Prosecutors Office in the first place and nothing was said at that time. A mere oversight? I don’t think so.

Our new Spin Doctor also states that this referendum is trashing many hours of work by County staff, consultation with experts etc. etc. I don’t know how many hours it took to -or how many experts were involved- in deciding how the funding was to be obtained, but there are a significant number of people in this county that think that the funding is wrong, and that preparing the Ordinance was misspent time.

This is exactly the situation that referenda are designed to address. This is a funding issue; not a GMA issue. Putting wings on a pig does not make it a bird. You can spin it any way you want but it still won’t fly.

ps: Has anyone else noticed how little attention the other local news media has given this huge issue? It has even been talked about on a major radio station in Seattle, but until this week you could barely find it in San Juan County!


Ray Bigler lives on San Juan island and is a former County Commissioner candidate)