Political shorts

Initiative 1433 would raise the state’s minimum wage to $13.50 and require that all businesses offer health care to its employees.   Unions have been pushing the initative through a number of television commercials.  Spokesman on TV is Molly Moon who owns an ice cream shop in Seattle.  She touts the benefits of the initiative and how everyone benefits from a higher minimum wage.  What Ms. Moon doesn’t say is that she is a union shop and is exempt from Seattle’s minimum wage law.

A few years back Lacey lost fireworks in the city due to a vote of the residents.  A couple of years later, Olympia also banned fireworks by a vote of its residents.  Thurston County Commissioners looked at putting a fireworks ban on the ballot but backed off at the last minute.   Now the City of Tumater has placed a fireworks ban on the ballot in that city.  But, unlike in Lacey and Olympia – a fireworks ban in Tumwater has organized opposition.  Signs asking voters to keep Tumwater fireworks and vote No on the ban are sprouting up all over the city.

Now that Karen Fraser will no longer be a partisan elected official, it’s time to give her the recognition she deserves.   Karen was the first woman on the Lacey Planning Commission, the first woman on the Lacey City Council and the first woman mayor of Lacey.   She served as Thurston County Commissioner, as a state representative and as a state senator.  Her effort to become the first woman secretary of state fell a few votes short.  Karen has done a lot for the City of Lacey as the mayor and in her other elective offices.   It’s time for the City of Lacey to honor her.