KPLU Local News
(2009-08-09)
Listen Now:
null
KPLU Photo
So far -- except for $25 from a Ballard resident - every cent of the nearly $1.4 million raised by the campaign to defeat Referendum 1 comes from industry. And nearly all of that comes from the Arlington, Virginia-based American Chemistry Council. The group's members include major oil and chemical companies, as well as manufacturers of plastic bags, who stand to lose a lot of money if Referendum 1 is passed.
The "no" campaign has paid nearly $550,000 to a California firm run by the guys who created the famous "Harry and Louise" ads that helped defeat Clinton-era health care reform. Another $325,000 has gone to Seattle consulting firm of Michael D. Meyers. Among other things, that money pays for campaign spokesman Adam Parmer.
"I don't think that anybody is surprised that there are corporate interests involved here," Parmer says. "There absolutely are."
Parmer is a recent Seattle arrival whose cell phone still has the 850 area code from his previous job with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. But, he says, none of that is really the point.
"Real people in Seattle are against this issue," Parmer says. "Talking about the contributions and where that comes from doesn't change the fact that there are a lot of issues with this measure."
Parmer ticks off those issues as he sees them: It's a new tax during a tough economy. It'll hit the poor the hardest. It sets up a new bureaucracy to police something that lots of Seattleites are doing already.
"You've seen a large up-tick in the use of reusable bags," Parmer says. "And no one's trying to say reusable bags are a bad idea; they're a great idea. The point of the matter is that people ought to be able to get these other bags, and do it without having to pay a punitive tax."
But Brady Montz with the Sierra Club says disposable grocery bags - both paper and plastic -- have a wide range of environmental costs that the public ends up paying.
"When you hide those costs, when we don't look at them, we behave in wasteful ways," Montz says. "When you expose to people what the cost of something is, then very simply, very quickly, people make the rational decision about whether they want to pay it. And that is why a fee is a very simple, free-market, straightforward position."
The Sierra Club is one of a number of environmental groups that are backing Referendum 1.
Montz points out that if shoppers don't want to pay the 20 cent-per-bag fee, all they have to do is bring their own bag.
A growing number of places -- in the U.S. and abroad -- tax or outright ban disposable grocery bags. When Ireland put a 15 cent fee on plastic grocery bags, use dropped dramatically. The city of Edmonds, north of Seattle, recently banned plastic bags, joining San Francisco and nearly a dozen other American cities. The only place besides Seattle to propose taxing paper as well as plastic grocery bags is Washington, D.C. But, would Referendum 1 really make all that much difference? One economic analysis suggests it won't.
Peter Nickerson is a consultant and former economics professor at Seattle University who crunched some numbers and came to the conclusion that the measure is more symbol than substance. He says eliminating plastic grocery bags will do little to reduce waste in landfills and won't make a dent in oil consumption. He also says it's likely to lead people to buy heavier plastic bags for pet waste, trash can liners and other things they're now using left-over grocery bags for. Worse, Nickerson says, Referendum 1 could close the door on more important issues down the road.
"There's gonna be a time when we want to raise taxes to prevent people from using sorts of things on their lawn or using sorts of equipment or getting their cars to be more fuel efficient," he says. "And if we put in taxes like this that have little impact, the voters are gonna look back and go, 'Hmm Y'know, we're already being taxed too much for this."
Those arguments don't dissuade Jayron Finan. The Greenlake-area mom recently volunteered to pass out flyers to support the bag-tax with her five-month-old son Padriag in tow. Finan says that even seemingly-small actions are important.
"I think what we're learning now is that if everybody just pitches in a little bit, whether it's using a fluorescent bulb or bringing their bag into the grocery store instead of having to use a plastic bag, just every little bit makes a difference," she says. "And I think it just puts people in the mind-set that we're all in this together."
Recent polls show Referendum 1 lagging, and off-year primary ballots tend to attract older voters who are often leery of anything that looks like a tax. Organizers of the "yes" campaign hope that by mobilizing a network of green-minded volunteers like Jayron Finan, they can overcome the handicap of being out-spent 18 to 1.
Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax
Seattle Green Bag Campaign
Northwest Economic Seminar
Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission Financial Disclosure Reports
© Copyright 2012, KPLU
