death with dignity

The Catholic Church is active in every anti-choice activity it can get its hands on, but given the controversies surrounding the abuse within the Church, perhaps, for once, they ought to keep their hands off.

Dino Rossi, or at least Dino Rossi's words, can be found somewhat frequently on the internet this week in a move to solidify his support on Washington state's right flank.

The Seattle P-I's Joel Connelly reported Tuesday that Rossi has written an open letter to supporters of former presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) asking them to look further into his campaign for governor.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate also gave an interview to Red County, a popular blog that bills itself as presenting "grassroots politics from the center right."

While most polls have Washington firmly in the blue column, a strong anti-choice (for birth or death) turnout could have an effect on both the gubernatorial and the presidential election.

Initiatives are the essence of democracy because they let regular people make laws on issues that a legislature wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole (or poll).

Initiative 1000, the ballot initiative that would allow terminally ill patients the choice to seek life-ending medication, officially qualified for the November ballot Thursday when Secretary of State Sam Reed's office determined they had turned in more than the required 224,800 valid signatures from voters across the state.

"People all over Washington support death with dignity, and we're building momentum daily. We're going to go all the way," said former governor Booth Gardner.

Gardner, who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, has been the leading backer and a chief spokesman for the campaign so far.

A proposed initiative to allow smoking in certain businesses, notably private clubs and cigar bars, has fallen painfully short of the 224,800 signatures required to gain a place on the November ballot. The Olympian has a story on the ill-fated Initiative 1016, which collected more than 213,000 signatures, just over 10,000 short of the necessary amount.

The other prominent ballot initiatives to hit the magic mark were I-1000, which would permit doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients, I-985, which would change some of the priorities of the Department of Transportation in accordance with an audit completed last year, and I-1029, which would require more training for home care workers.

The AP calls it assisted suicide, but the right to die, or aid in dying, or death with dignity, ought to be a personal choice that Washingtonians make for themselves – without being told what to do by the government or by the Associated Press.

OLYMPIA -

Volunteers and staffers for the I-1000 Death with Dignity campaign gathered on the capitol steps today to turn in 320,000 signatures in support of their cause, nearly 100,000 more than the 224,800 needed to gain ballot access, more than half of which were gathered by volunteers. 170,000 of the signatures were collected for free compared to 150,000 by paid signature gatherers.

The supporters sat around 50 strong on the steps while opponents of the measure, who refer to it as assisted suicide, had a little over 30 gathered on the sidewalk below. Many of them were repeating prayers and singing songs in solidarity.

Former Gov. Booth Gardner speaks to I-1000 supporters: Politicker Photo

The deadline for turning in signatures to place an initiative on the November ballot is July 3, and three big campaigns are gearing up to take their “oughta be a law” ideas directly to the people.

Rich Roesler at the S-R has a rundown of expenditures for Washington's ballot initiatives. Initiative 1000, which would legally grant physicians the power to prescribe lethal drugs to the terminally ill, leads the charge with more than $1.2 million raised and over a million spent. Their opponents, the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide, spent about $54,000 and have a little less than $40,000 on hand.

Tim Eyman's Initiative 985 has raised $511,170 and spent $454,287, both relatively small figures compared to the amount of press the initiative receives with Eyman's promotion talents. Also of note is Initiative 1029, which would expand training and background checks for certain health care workers and has brought in $350,000 and spent $267,159.