Backers and foes ponder ill-fated meth tax
Thursday, September 22, 2005 8:21 AM PDT
By Sally Ousley
Printable version
E-mail this articleA counting of 2,100 additional ballots Wednesday didn't change voters' verdict about Cowlitz County's proposed "meth tax."
The measure, which needed a simple majority to pass, went down to defeat, nabbing only 48.7 percent of the vote. The results will be finalized by the county elections office Sept. 30.
Opponents and supporters alike attributed the measure's failure to a general distrust of government and new taxes and the struggling economy.
County commissioners had proposed an eight-year, 0.2 percent addition to the sales tax that would have raised an estimated $2.3 million a year for increased law enforcement, drug prevention and education and drug treatment.
The tax --- 2 cents on a $10 purchase ---- would have cost the average county resident $25 a year, the county estimated.
Commissioners Jeff Rasmussen and George Raiter have requested a precinct-by-precinct analysis from the elections office to evaluate how they could have pitched the proposal more effectively.
"I want to look at that and see where things could've been done differently," Rasmussen said Wednesday. "In hindsight, maybe we could've had more resources in certain areas," perhaps sending information to more rural areas.
Raiter said he doesn't believe the proposal could be changed to get more votes.
"There's no way to get the perfect proposal out," he said.
"Generally speaking, we're dealing with an area with a struggling economy and a general dislike of taxes and a general dislike of government. In spite of our best efforts, we didn't get it out to voters."
Dave Grumbois of Longview, a vocal opponent of the initiative, said although the campaign was well-organized and had media support, its failure didn't surprise him.
"This is the best orchestrated pro-sales tax campaign that's ever been run," he said Wednesday. "They had exclusive coverage from The Daily News on their side. The government and media partnered together to pass this thing, and it failed."
Cal FitzSimmons, editor of The Daily News, said the paper endorsed the proposal on its editorial page but strived to be balanced in its news coverage.
"We met with Grumbois and other opponents and gave them ample opportunity to voice their opposition in both stories and letters to the editor, so I'm really not sure what he's talking about when he says we partnered with the county," FitzSimmons said. "The very idea is absurd."
Grumbois also said commissioners lost sight of the real problem.
"I've always said meth is a symptom of a bigger problem," he said.
He said the meth problem is an offshoot of the loss of family-wage jobs in the community and that commissioners should be concentrating on bringing industry into the area and putting people back to work.
Voters don't have confidence in government-run programs, he added.
"People have lost faith in government to solve problems for them. If people want to change things, go get involved with kids. Be a mentor. Make a difference. It's as simple as that. That's more effective than any tax."
Longview resident Dick Bullock, a former state patrol district chief who failed to obtain meth crime and arrest data from the county, said he was surprised by the proposal's failure.
"I was a little surprised," he said. "Communication is the one thing. The commissioners worked hard on it, but the message they had wasn't expressed well enough."
Cowlitz County Sheriff Bill Mahoney said the initiative's rejection leaves law enforcement in a bad position.
"We still have a problem," he said Wednesday.
"We will have to re-prioritize and quit responding to certain calls. We'll review calls for service and decide which calls to respond to."
Mahoney said it's going to be tough fighting the meth problem with his office's limited resources.
"It raises the frustration level," he said.
Raiter said voters may be more receptive in a few years: "Of course, by then, the drug problem will have gotten worse, and I hate to see that happen."
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