The far-left advocates of Seattle’s Initiative 122 literally define what it means to be a liberal these days. They support the measure because it sounds good, but have no idea how serious financial concerns would be addressed.
KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz recently interviewed Sonny Nguyen, the engagement coordinator for Washington Bus—a far-left advocacy group funded by the Progress Alliance of Washington which is currently being paid by the ill-named Honest Elections Seattle to rally young voters in support of I-122. Nguyen praised I-122, claiming it would put the “power of politics back into the hands of common people.” Via MyNorthwest.com,
“And ‘big money’ is the core target for I-122. Nguyen argues the current election system allows for too much money to flood campaigns in large sums from corporations or interests groups. Therefore, drowning out the voices of average voters without the ability to spend massive amounts of money on a candidate.”
Never mind the hypocrisy that I-122 is being almost exclusively funded by a handful of rich outsiders, Rantz asked Nguyen how he expects I-122 would fund itself. Rantz,
“‘Let’s assume that 125,000 voters [use the vouchers] because that’s a low bar that’s been set,’ Rantz said noting the recent low voter turnout during the primaries; the lowest turnout since World War II.
“‘One hundred dollars per voter comes out to more than $12.5 million. So how would this project be funded?’ he asked, noting that the initiative calls for raising $30 million over 10 years, roughly amounting to $3 million raised each election year. The numbers didn’t add up for Rantz.”
The numbers, it appears, do not add up for Nguyen either. The difference is that the financial issue does not faze the far-left advocate. Nguyen told Rantz “the finance issues are beyond his position as engagement coordinator” and referred him to “campaign authorities who could dive as deep into the numbers.”
In other words, Nguyen is content to act the part of an ostrich and stick his head in the sand when it comes to dealing with reality.
