April 27, 2006

By CYDNEY GILLIS
Staff Reporter

Bob Baker had already delivered his petition to the printer when the Washington Association of Churches dropped a little surprise on his doorstep the evening of April 12.

It was a court petition calling for wording changes to the one-paragraph summary of the Washington Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, an initiative Baker has filed to stop undocumented immigrants from getting food stamps, medical care, welfare, or any other city or state assistance.

In the challenge, which will be heard this Friday in Thurston County Superior Court, the WAC argues that the summary of Initiative 946 shown on the petition — and ultimately on the ballot, if Baker succeeds in getting nearly 225,000 signatures by July 5 — omits some critical facts that voters ought to see up front in big type.

That includes telling voters I-946 would make everyone who applies for assistance, born here or not, prove that he or she is a citizen. And a driver’s license won’t do it.

The initiative follows Arizona’s Proposition 200, a 2004 measure that has given rise to a national Protect America Now movement and Baker’s own fledgling group, Protect Washington Now.

Baker, an Alaska Airlines pilot who lives on Mercer Island, says he believes strongly that the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed everything in America. He didn’t write the ballot summary (that’s the job of the attorney general once initiatives are filed), but, until Friday’s hearing, Baker and his signature-gathering are stuck.

That, say Baker and supporter Martin Ringhofer, who filed an initiative last year (I-343) that would have required proof of citizenship to vote, is the whole point. They call the WAC’s challenge a maneuver to stall signature gathering. Baker won’t be able to go back to the printer (who hadn’t started on his petitions) until after the ruling that’s expected in Friday’s hearing.

“ This tactic has proven successful for opponents of what the people want by making it increasingly difficult to get the signatures to get to a public vote,” Ringhofer writes in an email.

Paul Lawrence, the attorney who filed the challenge for the WAC, which is part of a pro-immigrant coalition called From Hate to Hope that formed last year to fight I-343, says the issue is fairness and disclosure.

“ We think [the summary] should be rewritten to make it clear the initiative applies to everyone who seeks benefits, not just illegal immigrants,” says Lawrence, and that “it’s a much broader initiative than described in the [current] ballot summary.”

Among other programs, Lawrence says anyone applying for child care, prenatal assistance, or certain kinds of help for the elderly or disabled would have to prove citizenship. And that could only be done with a passport or certified birth certificate.

I-946 is written that way because, in Washington, “illegals can get driver’s licenses,” Baker says.

Because such documents cost money, Lawrence says I-946 would put a huge burden on poor people.

“ This is just a punitive effort to go after a segment of the population that needs our support,” he says of immigrants, “and it’s doing it in a way that’s going to hurt a broader population of Washington citizens who are currently receiving needed benefits.”

Baker disagrees. “I think everyone who is capable of filing for benefits is also capable of getting a certified birth certificate,” he says. “In these times of terrorism, a positive ID is a very important thing.”

“ We have to close the borders and determine who is in our country,” Baker says. “We’re not talking about people coming here from Mexico, but places like Iraq and Iran that really wish us harm as Americans.”

“ I’ve read the Qu’ran,” Baker says. “I recommend every American read it and see what we’re up against.” n