Like so many Republicans nowadays, wealthy operative Brian Heywood loves trying to project his arrogance onto opponents
I’m putting this out there for a vote… Let’s give everybody a vote on these, and if they don’t pass, if I’m wrong and people don’t support these ideas, then the people have spoken.
– Brian Heywood, December 2003
Brian Heywood was wrong about the people of Washington.
The CEO of Taiyo Pacific Partners, one of the wealthiest men in the state and a top donor to the Washington State Republican Party, had watched for years as Democrats labored diligently in the statehouse to make modest progress on major challenges facing the state, from funding childcare and K‑12 education to tackling the climate crisis and the unavailability of long-term care insurance. An Ayn Rand fan, he became increasingly disgusted with Democrats’ success in passing laws vociferously opposed by Republicans in the Legislature and the Republican Party’s base.
So, he decided to attempt to qualify a slate of initiatives seeking to overturn several of the laws he disliked the most, wagering that voters would jump at the opportunity to punish Democrats for overreaching, and figuring that having right wing messaging on the ballot would juice turnout, helping Republicans finally win some statewide races.
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https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2025/02/like-so-many-republicans-nowadays-wealthy-operative-brian-heywood-loves-trying-to-project-his-arrogance-onto-his-opponents.html