Category: Newsletter

Hello carbon tax friends! With our noses to the grindstone it can be easy to forget the big picture, so go read the New York Times editorial board commentary on I-732: “Washington State’s Ambitious Carbon Tax Proposal”. And while you’re at it read the Bloomberg View editorial about our left-wing opposition: “When Climate Campaigners Miss the Point”. And also Noah Kaufman of World Resources Institute, writing at the Huffington Post: “A Climate Change Policy that Benefits the Poor”. Also Ramez Naam, writing in The Stranger: “To Fight Climate Change and Poverty, Vote YES on Initiative 732”. And here’s our national press release on BusinessWire: “Nation’s First Carbon Tax, Initiative 732, Goes before Voters in Washington State”.

Then send these articles to all your friends, with a special note about this part from the NYT ed board: “The Washington proposal would be the first in the country and could well set an example for other states.” (!) And then encourage them all to donate to the campaign.

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It’s a trifecta! First go read the Seattle Weekly, including not just their endorsement (“Few who care about climate change deny how urgent the crisis is… [and] reducing the sales tax and funding an unfunded state tax credit is nothing to sneeze at”) but also their cover and their amazing full-page cartoon explaining I-732.

Then go read Seattleish, which is written by millennials who after starting off with: “Ok. So. This one is…tough. Though taxing carbon emissions is an effective and immediate way to take action on climate change, and waiting any longer is simply not an option.” But the conclusion is what counts: “[W]e’re going to go ahead and say vote yes.”

Then, provided you’ve got the stomach for foul language, finish with the fabulous endorsement from The Stranger. Here’s a PG-rated excerpt: “If you could do something right now to fight climate change, and that something was endorsed by more than 50 climate scientists at the University of Washington, you’d do it, right? Of course you would. You’d also do it because we told you to. But mainly, you’d do it because filling in the “yes” oval for Initiative 732 is one thing—not everything, but one important thing—that we all can do right now to keep this planet livable.”

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We can win! 

Let’s recap where we are right now – it’s late in the fourth quarter (ballots will be mailed out tomorrow!!) and the most recent October 7 KOMO-4/Strategies 360 poll showed 42% Yes, 37% No, 21% Undecided  So, the best guess is that we are down by 8 – (that’s just a touchdown and a 2 point conversation the Seahawks fans out there). We can win. Say it out loud with us “we can win”, “we can win”, “we can win”. OK, 8 points, that’s do-able but no cake-walk because the defense is good (check out the latest No on I-732 ad). But, we can win, especially because of a generous  and surprising $100,000 donation from a local economist (!) that is going straight toward our field effort for the rest of the campaign! We can win because we have a secret weapon that most campaign consultants overlook as they focus on TV ads and fancy mailers – we have a huge network of dedicated, earnest, wonderful supporters. You are our secret weapon. We need you on the field, making plays, winning votes, and helping us get to the endzone.  

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We are over TWO-THIRDS toward our match goal of $57,000 so GIVE NOW! 

We knew it would be a lift to raise $57,000 in 9 days, but we came close enough to convince the donors behind the match to give us an extension until October 9th!  We’ve raised nearly $37,000 and we need to rally another $20,000 in 5 days to take full advantage of the match. If you haven’t given recently now is the time to re-up your commitment and if you have thank you and now is the time to take to make the case to your friends that they need to join you in giving to I-732! 

Your financial support now allows us to hire the support needed to expand our field program to target swing voters and to purchase targeted advertising. 

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We are halfway to our Oct 3 match goal of $57,000 so GIVE NOW! 

Due to an amazing sell-out fundraising event with Cliff Mass last week and the ongoing generosity of our small and medium size donors across the state we have raised nearly $30,000 towards our $57,000 match! 

But we need to up our game and complete this fundraising match. We’ve racked up an unbelieveable amount of media coverage and new endorsements – we can win this campaign but we have to get our message out. Our ability to make the case for taking action on climate change now is highly dependent on our ability to raise additional funds. If you want to see I-732 succeed, the most useful thing you can do (besides volunteering your time to contact voters) is make a financial contribution to allow us to bring our message straight to the electorate. 

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