OPINION | Multimillionaires Are Spending Big Bucks to Pass Greedy Initiatives

by Robby Stern

Four initiatives, all funded by Brian Heywood and his self-interested band of the uber rich, will appear on the ballot in the upcoming November election. Overcoming their expenditure of large sums of money and defeating all four of these initiatives will be a victory worth celebrating.

These days, as my ninth decade proceeds, I know my time is limited. I think very frequently about the future of our kids and grandkids. My wife and I live with our Seattle family: a daughter, son-in-law, and two grandkids, 7 and 3. These four initiatives, motivated by greed, privilege, opposition to government intervention into corporate behavior, and opposition to government efforts to address social needs, will have a particularly nasty impact on our Washington family and the vast majority of people in Washington. The initiatives are a serious shot over the bow aimed at all of us who are working to build a more equitable, humane, and hopeful future. 

All four of the initiatives are pernicious, but I-2109, the effort to eliminate the capital gains tax on investments exceeding $250,000, stands out for the greed and sheer lack of humanity that characterizes its wealthy sponsors. It is not just Heywood, a private equity executive who has spent $7 million on these initiatives. The other big spenders include Ken Fisher, a billionaire founder and executive chairman of Fisher Investments, who moved his company from Camas, Washington, to Texas to protest the tax. Then there is John Stanton, the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners and a billionaire businessman. An additional eight or nine people, mostly wealthy white men, are spending big bucks to eliminate the capital gains tax and other progressive changes passed by the legislature.

How much is enough for these people? The revenue they are attempting to eliminate is dedicated to fund early learning, critical child care funding, and necessary funding for our public schools. It is a direct assault on our grandson, who is a second grader, our 3-year-old granddaughter, and their parents. It is an assault on all children in our state who now attend or will attend public schools in the future, their parents, and their grandparents.

This gang of wealth has added their support to three additional initiatives that will overturn legislation that addresses major challenges in our lives.

In 2021, the legislature passed Senate Bill 5126, the Climate Commitment Act, which establishes a program to reduce carbon pollution and greenhouse gases. I-2117 would repeal that legislation. The Climate Commitment Act helps protect the air we breathe and water we drink and is a significant effort to hold accountable the large corporate emitters of carbon and other products that add to global warming. I-2117 will eliminate funding for clean energy and transportation and place responsibility for funding the responses to our growing climate disaster on our kids, grandkids, and future generations. Meanwhile, the wealthy few proponents of I-2117, who want to keep the government out of their business, are spending to protect their investments, profits, and income. These multimillionaires and billionaires do not want the government interfering in their financial interests regardless of the consequences for present and future generations. 

Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA), of which I am a member, along with many other individuals and organizations, recognize the growing crisis of families needing help with long-term care. Following the example of two other significant social insurance programs, Social Security and Medicare, we worked to pass the Long-Term Care Trust Act, which gave rise to the WA Cares Fund. Another of the wealthy gang’s initiatives, I-2124, would bankrupt the WA Cares Fund according to an analysis by the Office of the State Actuary. I-2124 was drafted to sound innocuous, but it would leave Washington families once again with only the option to purchase long-term care insurance from expensive private insurers. Typically, only the well-to-do can afford the cost of private long-term care insurance. 

Literally millions of our children and grandchildren will lose financial assistance in dealing with debilitating illness, injury, or other conditions that require long-term care. These wealthy donors who are funding I-2124 don’t have to worry about the cost of caring for a loved one who needs long-term care. They’ve got it covered, the rest of us be damned.

I-2066 was a late entry in the backward-facing initiatives. Funded and supported by the Building Industry Association of Washington (one of the most right-wing builders associations in the state), other large contractor associations, Heywood, Kemper Holdings, and even Koch Industries, the initiative would eliminate efforts by the legislature to encourage a decline in the use of natural gas. 

I used to work as a pipefitter and appliance repair person at Washington Natural Gas before it was bought by Puget Sound Energy. I was aware at the time of some of the dangers of the products of emission and worked hard to keep users safe from overexposure. I was not aware that the products of emission from natural gas are one of the largest contributors to climate warming. 

What I do know now is that climate warming is the greatest existential threat to the future of all of our loved ones in the generations behind us. Supporting policies that would help us transition from the use of fossil fuels, including natural gas, only makes sense. 

The wealthy backers of the initiative proudly state their initiative would: 1. Prohibit state and local governments from banning, restricting or discouraging the use of natural gas in new or existing homes or commercial buildings; and 2. Ensure that any gas utility will continue to provide natural gas to customers who want it. It is a prescription for misery.

Too many friends, neighbors, and community members are unaware of these initiatives and what their consequences will be. The wealthy backers of the initiatives will spend millions to get us to vote yes. While we do not have the money they have, we have the ability to organize and use our voices and our votes. Together, let’s turn back this effort to drive us backward. Let’s send a strong message to these plutocrats who derive power from their wealth that we will not be fooled. We will not turn back.

Robby Stern is the president of the PSARA Education Fund, executive board member of Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA), and chairs the Social Security Works WA Coalition. He lives in a three-generation household in the 37th Legislative District.

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