Campaign News

Last week the Elway Poll showed a “significant gain in support” for I-732. This week we’ve got a KCTS poll showing 51% Yes, 44% No, 4% Undecided. (Note that they pushed pretty hard on Undecided voters, many of whom still don’t know what I-732 is all about or or that it will be the most potent carbon tax in North America!

And in just the last few days we’ve gotten a boost from the Washington Post editorial page, from Leonardo DiCaprio (for comic relief see also this classic headline in the Tacoma News Tribune), and from the folks at Years of Living Dangerously.  (See the season premiere of Years tonight-Sunday-at 8pm on the National Geographic Channel, followed at 9pm by Leonardo DiCaprio’s climate documentary Before the Flood, which is also airing free on the web!)

And since Tuesday we’ve had 128 donations totaling $23,962 towards our final $20k matching challenge to fund the awesome “Nod Yes on 732” TV ad. (Our partners at Audubon Washington are also doing ad buys, so we’re all trying to do our part!) Thank you for your contributions, and if you haven’t yet donated you can do so here!

…but we need your help to stop fossil fuel companies from buying this election. 

The Western States Petroleum Association has stayed neutral on 732, but the DC-based American Fuel & Petroleum Manufacturers (AFPM) just dropped $250,000 into the No campaign, and coal-dependent power producer Puget Sound Energy added another $100,000… all to fund misleading nonsense like the claim (made a few days ago by Association of Washington Business President Kris Johnson in an op-ed in the Puget Sound Business Journal) that Washington State’s “carbon emissions are down 18 percent [since 1990] according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.” That’s just wrong wrong wrong.

The No campaign’s TV ad isn’t any more legitimate—a prominent national energy economist says the numbers behind it are “implausible“, and in fact they’re so exaggerated that the No campaign doesn’t even try to defend them on its own No on 732 website—-but that’s not going to stop polluters like PSE and AFPM from trying to poison the airwaves and buy this election.

Look, let me be brutally honest: If you or your rich uncle have an extra $100 (or $1,000 or $10,000 or $100,000) to donate then please do, but it’s going to take deeper pockets than ours to keep up with the No spending from King Coal and Princess Petroleum. What we can do as a campaign is get earned media: see LTEs below, plus climate scientist Richard Gammon in Yes magazine, Chris Bayley in Puget Sound Business Journal, and mentions in Politico, Reason, Audubon, the WSJ, the NYT, DailyKos, the Cliff Mass weather blog, and more!

And what we can do as a grassroots organization is organize:

• Doorbell, flyer, or phonebank. We’ve got 9 days left to make history!
• Write a Letter to The Editor (please read these guidelines and/or contact [email protected] if you need help with an LTE or when you’ve submitted one!). And congratulations and Thank You for LTEs from Kirk Rappe in the Tacoma News Tribune, from Barb Zimmer in the Kitsap Sun, from Ann Fletcher in the Issaquah Reporter, from Steve Erickson in the Everett Herald, from Bob Vreeland in the Peninsula Daily News, from Ian Crozier in the Vashon Beachcomber, from an author whose name I can’t see in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News (see also Pete Haug), and from Rob Briggs in the Lewiston Tribune.
• Call your friends and tell your neighbors about I-732. Share the news that I-732 is endorsed by 50+ UW climate scientists, and by Jim Hansen; by dozens of economists around the state; by folks on the right like Rob McKenna and Slade Gorton; by folks on the left including dozens of Democratic leaders and organizations and also The Stranger (caution: foul language) and folks like Catalytic Community (“I’m voting Yes, and will continue to work with climate justice advocates for the other things we need”) and Geov Parrish (“Climate change is too important for… internecine nonsense”); and by media sources including the Seattle Weekly (see also their cover and their I-732 cartoon featuring Melvin the melting starfish) the Washington Post, the Economist, and the Olympian.
• Share all of this online too, plus this amazing Years video. And get involved in Twitter and Facebook conversations. (Here’s a list of potential search terms: CarbonWA, Initiative 732, “I-732”, I732, #I732, #Yeson732, #YesonI732, #Noon732, #NoonI732, Nocarbontaxwa.) Thank you!

Upcoming events, including PSE protest at lunch on M Oct 31 with Greg Rock  

Executive committee rock start Greg Rock was so upset with the monopolists at Puget Sound Energy “donating” $125,000 of its customers’ money to the No on 732 campaign that he’s organized a Halloween protest at PSE headquarters in Bellevue. This is not an official campaign event—our campaign staff have their hands full for the last week of the campaign—but if you’ve got the time and energy to join Greg and other Climate Heroes for this lunchtime protest then check out the details here. And remember that PSE doesn’t have to be a monopoly forever: see Microsoft and Jefferson County and activists with Climate Action Bainbridge and elsewhere. And you can also tell PSE how you feel by emailing [email protected] or by contacting them on Facebook or on Twitter @PSETalk. Here’s an example copied to me from a 732 supporter on Mercer Island: “You say that Doing smart things for our customers and the right thing for our planet is what PSE is all about. The right thing for our planet is to reduce consumption of fossil fuels.  I-732 would do that. PSE should be in favor of a policy that puts a price on carbon, not spending large amounts of money in opposition.”)

And don’t forget the season premiere of Years of Living Dangerously tonight-Sunday—at 8pm on the National Geographic Channel, followed at 9pm by Leonardo DiCaprio’s climate documentary Before the Flood, which is also airing free on the web! And of course our election night party on T Nov 8 from 6:30-9:30pm at Peddler Brewing Company (1514 NW Leary Way, Seattle WA, 98107). If you are on Facebook, you can find the event here and invite other supporters. (A couple of logistical notes: Peddler is all ages, they serve beer and cider and soda, and the overflow space is a heated outdoor tent, so you may want to bring a jacket. Win, lose, or draw we hope you will join us for this historic night… and if coming to Seattle isn’t an option we are encouraging people to host local house parties as well!)

Let’s win!

From the whole Yes on 732 team