pdf of ghrw newsletter sep-oct 2010

8/8/2019 PDF of GHRW Newsletter Sep-Oct 2010

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V O L U M E X I I I , I S S U E 5

D inner / Auc t on Fundraiser

S e p/ O c t 20 10

L E T ’S RO L L -O N TO VIC TO R Y

nce a year the GigHarbor Republican

Women hold anannual Dinner/AuctionFundraiser. This year theevent will at the lovely Canterwood Golf andCountry Club, 12606 54th

Ave. NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98332 on September 11,2010.

The purpose for theauction is to help our clubgive financialcontributions to our

candidates, and to helpfinance our Caring for

America Projects: CareNet, Habitat forHumanity, Support theTroops, Dictionaries forStudents, Scholarships forStudents and for ourcandidates. The social hour begins at 6pm, with dinner

following at 7pm. Our silent auction is openduring the social hour.

September 11th

Dinner / Auction FundraiserOur monthly meeting this month is our

annual Dinner / Auction Fundraiser. Theusual procedures will be put aside to be

able to fully enjoy the food and speakers.

October 20th

GHRW Monthly Meeting11am-1pm at the Inn at Gig Harbor. One

of our newsletter features each month is

called “100 Constitutional Questions To

Ask Candidates” Our own Sharon Krey ’s

father is the author of the book these

questions come from. Sharon is

practically as passionate and almost as

knowledgeable as her dad about the US

Constitution AND is our guest speaker

this month. RSVP before October 13th to

to our 1st Vice President, Beckie Krantz,

[email protected] or 253-226-6283.

Please state whether you are ordering

the optional $11.50 buffet lunch.

Featured Speakers 9/11

Our candidates,including Dino Rossi,

Doug Cloud, Marty

McClendon, Jan Angel,

Doug Richards, Stan

Flemming, and Kent

Keel will speak duringour Fundraiser.

at the canterwood golf & country club

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Our October speaker is our own Sharon Krey, sharing her

passion and insights about the U. S. Constitution andhow to ask candidates questions about it.

Questions To Ask Candidates,

from The 5,000 Year Leap,

by W. Cleon Skousen.

Sharon Krey teaches a class called

101 Constitutional Questions To

Ask Candidates. Each newsletter

this year has included a few of them, and their answers. For this

month:

How many areas of power were

ultimately assigned to the

Federal Government?

The Constitution gives the Federal

Government twenty powere. These

are set forth in Article 1, Section 8.

What if the Federal

Government thinks it needs

more power?

The government cannot legally

exercise any powers except those

which are specifically granted to it

by the Constitution. The only way

Washington can get any additional

legitimate power is by an

amendment.

Where does it say that the

Federal Government is

specifically restricted from

exercising any power not

granted to it by the States?

The Tenth Amendment.

How did the government get

so much power? The dominating

arrogance of the Federal

Government today came about

primarily through three channels: 1 )

outright usurpation of power, 2 ) an

edict by the Supreme Court in the

Butler Case in 1936 reversing the

original meaning in the Welfare

Clause, and 3 ) distorting theCommerce Clause as the means of

shattering the restrictive chains of

the Constitution and expand in

Federal jurisdiction into hundreds

of areas never intended by the

Founders.

Beckie Kranz and her

husband, Dennis, are the

co-chairs for the Dino

Rossi campaign for the

26th Legislative District.

They coordinate volunteers,

put together phone banks,

put up signs, send out info to

volunteers, and anything else

that the Dino Rossi campaign

headquarters asks them to do

for the 26th Legislative

District.

Our own Sharon Krey is our featuredspeaker for October.

Sharon is passionate about theUnited States Constitution. You mighteven say that this passion is in her blood.

Her dad, W. Cleon Skousen, authoredthe book The 5,000 Year Leap. This isthe book the questions for eachnewsletter come out of.

If you’ve been reading the questions ineach newsletter, you can see the kind of passion for the constitution that she grew up around.

Sharon teaches a class called “101Constitutional Questions To AskCandidates.” She will be giving ushighlights and personal insights fromthis class.



From Joe Siegel:“Light Rail Isn’t What It’s Supposed To Be”

The notion of light rail(meaning urban passenger

electric or diesel trains)such as the Seattle Sounder, as apanacea for transportation andefficiency is a common belief adhered to among many.However, a key consideration forthe proponents of light rail shouldbe: Is the public better servedwhen Gig Harborites drive toFreight-house Square and takethe Sounder to work in Seattle,

drive themselves or take anexpress bus?

I recently listened to a CATOInstitute lecture by RandallO’Tool and Ron Utt, bothtransportation experts. Theirpresentation on measuring lightrail efficiency takes a contrarianview. Their basic tenant being thatlight rail, like the Seattle Sounder,

is an inefficient system that costsexcessive amounts of taxpayers’dollars. In short, costs are dividedinto two categories, capital(startup, debt service) andoperating costs (utilities, salaries,maintenance).

With all annual capital andoperating expenses accounted for,the cost per rider on the

Sounder per round trip is morethan $30,000 per year, equal incost to a top-of-the-line, taxpayer-funded new Prius per year, perrider. This is due to the very lownumber of riders in availableseats.

Common counterpoints to theabove are that there are other

transportation subsidies, that it’sbetter for the environment and

congestion, and developmentissues.

Fair enough points, and thesewere addressed:

Regarding other subsidycomparisons, light rail doesn’t doso well. Referencing just federalsubsidies, air travel is subsidizedat $4.23 per passenger, per 1,000

miles. Inner-city buses at $1.50.Light rail? $166.

Additionally, concerning thedistribution of questionabledollars, nationwide, less than 5percent of commuters use rail(even less in Seattle), meaning the$166 is being spent on less thanone-twentieth of commuters.

Also, 75 percent of all rail transitusers are concentrated in onlyseven major urban areas, furthernarrowing the recipientdistribution. Plus, three-quartersof these light rail dollars comefrom federal highway funds, soresources originally meant toimprove roads and bridges arecourtesy of those stuck ingridlocked arteries with their

engines idling, like on state Route16 before the new NarrowsBridge.

Regarding reduced fuelconsumption, in the past 40 years,about 50 light rail lines have beenbuilt, but even so, rail transit losesmore market share than it gains.

Case in point is the ChamplainFlyer in Burlington, Vt. The few

cars it took off the road burnedless fuel per passenger than thetrain because of the very lowpercentage of seats filled. Themost efficient (relatively) is theNew York City subway (and thisonly recoups 67 percent of operational — not capital — costsfrom ticket sales).

Most medium-sized cities like

Seattle won’t ever coverexpenses, so the extensionthrough Tacoma throws goodmoney after bad.

Buses are more efficient. Lowstartup costs and purchase/leaseflexibility maximize capacity,resulting in a high “seats in seats”ratio. Load up buses and run themin HOV lanes. You can reference

the Washington Policy Center fordetailed light rail vs. bus costcomparison studies.

Regarding increaseddevelopment, numerous examplesdispute the concept of transit-stimulated tax revenue as a sourceof transit funding.

In Carrolton, Texas, the city

planners’ position was thatplanned light rail would spurdevelopment of a shopping center.

However, the shopping centerwasn’t built until a parking garagewent in.

In Portland, Ore., an economicboom was promised along therail line in 1986. It never

T



Birthdays for September / October

Sharon Krey

September 4th

Jean Munday

September 12th

Carol Hall

September 20th

Pamela Abernathy

October 4th

happened. So now to spur

promised growth along the railline, tax breaks and waivers worth$2 billion are being attempted.

Also, consider that Portland railmoney reduces spending in otherareas, like demonstrably efficientinfrastructure, law enforcement ortax breaks for Portland smallbusinesses to encourage hiring.Appropriations should benefit the

most over the few.

Furthermore, studies fromthinktanks like CATO and TheHeritage Foundation show lightrail only shuffles developmentaround, and that there are nocases of light rail relievingblighted areas or spurringgenuine, non-subsidized growth.

Lastly, Administration statements

on this issue exemplify a“progressive” approach,advocating engineeredtransformation, regardless of cost,to a perceived “livabilitystandard.” This approach wouldartificially create a long marchfrom the suburbs/exurbs to thecity; for instance, from Orting toCentral Tacoma.

One example is Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’sstatement that his livabilityinitiative “is a way to coercepeople out of their cars.”

When asked if this wasgovernment intrusion intopeople’s lives, LaHoodresponded, “about everything

we do around here is

government intrusion inpeople’s lives.” (Probably asurprise to Thomas Jefferson.)

To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher:“The problem with (light rail) isthat eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

The father of modernconservatism, Edmond Burke,

referred to what passed forprogressivism in the 1700s as“radical political change drivenby abstract theory.”

The more things change, the morethey remain the same. That’s acommon belief to consider.

From Joe Siegel, continued...



We stand today at

the symbolic

crossroads of our

nation’s history.

Sarah Palin

Our Oct ober 2 0 t h Meet ing

In addition to hav ing Shar on K r ey as our guest speak er on October 20th, w e w ill hav e a chance t o do phone-bank ing by cell-phone w ith phones that w ill be pr ov ided.

T his is impor tant, as the election w ill be less than 2 w eek s aw ay . W e w ill be r eminding peop

le to v ote, and to v ote f or the

candidates w ho w ill mak e a dif f er ence f or c

itizens in the State of W ashington.

Check it out

PO Box 2683, Gig Harbor, WA 98329

gig harbor republican women

http://www.ghrwomen.net/

http://www.ghrwomen.net/

pdf of ghrw newsletter sep-oct 2010

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