Get Out & Vote

The election is a month away. Every day seems to bring more and more negative political TV ads and within a couple of days, our mailboxes will be full of direct mail appeals to vote for one candidate or another. At times it seems so over done and there are parts of me that can’t wait to be done with the whole thing.

On the other hand, we live in a special country with the opportunity to vote and help shape the future of our country, our states, counties and cities.

Four years ago, we had the closest gubernatorial election in Washington State history. Governor Gregoire won on the third recount by 129 votes out of millions cast so there is no question in my mind that each of our votes DO count.

I encourage each and every member of the association to study the issues on your ballot wherever you live, to carefully listen to the candidates from the top to the bottom of the ticket and get out and vote.

The NMTA has been active for many years in the political process. We have a Political Action Committee that makes contributions to candidates thanks to your generosity. The Board has endorsed candidates for statewide office in Washington State, based on surveys we have done of the members as well as input from the Government Affairs Committee and the PAC.

The objective of all this work is to support candidates who are pro-business and/or support the recreational boating industry. We also end up supporting candidates who are in leadership positions in the legislature who we hope will appreciate the concerns and challenges we face.

In 2007-2008 our PAC will have contributed a total of $49,000 to 60 different candidates on both sides of the aisle. In addition, this year the Board has endorsed four candidates for statewide office in Washington:

• Governor
  Dino Rossi
  
  
• Lt. Governor
  Brad Owen
  
  
• Attorney General
  Rob McKenna
  
  
• Commissioner of Public Lands
  Doug Sutherland

Over and above these endorsements, we have placed the voting records for the past two years of all the current members of the Washington State Legislature on our website. Click on the link below and and you will see how often a candidate voted pro-business and how many times they voted pro-labor. (The data comes from the Association of Washington Business and the Washington State Labor Council).

Ballots will be in our mailboxes in a couple of weeks. Election Day is November 4. I encourage every one of you to take advantage of this very special right and responsibility we have in this country.

With warm regards,

Michael Campbell
President

P.S. Let’s all live up to the bumper sticker, “I Boat & I Vote.”

Link: Voting Records of WA State Legislators related to whether they have voted pro-business or pro-labor.

Link: Enter your address to determine the legislators in your district.

Link: Not registered to vote? Click Here to Register today!