As a father, Seattle School Board member, and long-time advocate for working families, I am furious that a hedge fund multi-millionaire, Brian Heywood, is trying to force a national MAGA agenda on Washington’s schools. His three initiatives on our ballots will negatively impact parents, teachers, school counselors, school sports, and of course children from pre-school through college.
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Many of you know Heywood has given millions to right-wing causes at the state and national levels, including to Donald Trump. His sidekicks include trucking heir and venture capitalist Steve Gordon, nonagenarian Lawrence “Pat” Hughes who writes checks from his seven-bedroom, $22 million palace in Medina, and now-Coloradan Phil Schlaepfer who famously gave $1 million to Trump the day after the then ex-president was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Together, through their PAC, Let’s Go Washington, they are using the MAGA playbook to distract voters from the real problems caused by MAGA politicians and CEOs, like exorbitant groceries, escalating rents, and disappearing health care.
They are spending millions to mislead voters and hide the true impacts of their initiatives. Here’s what they don’t want you to know:
IP26-645: Heywood tried to hide the true impacts of this initiative from voters, but lost. He wanted to cover up that I-645’s tax cut for himself and his buddies would result in taking away $13 billion in funding for education and child care, and eliminate free school meals for many K-12 students. Losing the revenue from the millionaires tax would also cause healthcare costs to go up (even more than they already are), increase taxes on working families and small businesses, and take away tax rebates for working families.
Heywood is pretending to care about working people. But he’s forgotten that most of us pay 3 to 4 times greater state tax rates than he and his buddies do, and I-645 will make things even worse by increasing costs for everyone.
IL26-001: Heywood doesn’t want you to know that he copied much of his initiative from Louisiana. This sloppy mess, under the guise of “parents rights,” would actually weaken parents’ rights and remove long-standing protections child abuse victims. The Washington State PTA, the state’s largest parents organization, released a lengthy statement opposing Initiative 001, and they are not alone. Law enforcement officers like former Snohomish Sheriff John Lovick have weighed in to oppose I-001 because it would “remove parents’ rights to be immediately notified if their child is the victim or target of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, or assault” at school.
Here’s the true MAGA motivation behind I-001: It forces schools to knowingly “out” vulnerable LGBTQ+ kids to abusive families, putting kids who already face adversity at greater risk of beatings and homelessness. It’s part of the right-wing agenda to take over our schools and drive LGBTQ+ kids back into hiding, where they face higher rates of self harm and suicide.
IL26-638: Commonly known as a measure to ban an estimated 5 to 10 transgender girls, out of 1.2 million students, from participating in school sports, I-638 is the most extreme MAGA initiative of its kind in the U.S. The WA State Nurses Association, League of Women Voters, WA State PTA, Planned Parenthood, teachers, parents and more than 100 family doctors and medical care providers are among nearly 1,000 groups, cities, and leaders opposing this initiative.
Here’s the secret Heywood tries to deny: I-638 requires all girls (but not boys) to be sex inspected to play sports. Requiring sex inspections of elementary, middle, and high school girls - including invasive genital exams or costly genetic or hormone testing - not only interferes with parents, doctors and their patients, it will drive girls away from sports. As a parent of three student athletes, I am horrified at the invasive reality my daughters will face next school year if this initiative passes.
Targeting female student athletics may be the whole point, since Heywood says Title IX is “brute force legislation” that “destroyed or decimated some boys sports,” a position that overlaps with the conservative Heritage Foundation’s goal of repealing Title IX.
If you need another reason to vote No on these initiatives, how about Heywood’s total disregard for political spending disclosure laws and ethical standards in campaigns. Let's Go Washington is under formal investigation by the PDC for failing to report more than $1 million in political promotion and advertising for I-638 and I-001.
The organization was also caught lying in its voter guide statement, falsely implying support from the American Academy of Pediatrics for I-638 by misrepresenting the associations’ guidelines. Conservative Blogger Benjamin Ryan revealed that the Washington Chapter of the AAP asked Let’s Go Washington to remove their name saying “the statement does not accurately portray AAP guidance regarding pre-sports participation exams.” Heywood refused.
I’m proud the Seattle School Board will vote on resolutions to oppose these harmful initiatives. We’re in good company, joining Tacoma City Council, Shoreline City Council, Mountlake Terrace City Council, MomsRising, the Washington State Labor Council and dozens of other organizations representing parents, children and workers in saying no to the MAGA millionaire agenda in Washington state.
Washington state is known for many of our progressive policies. We have one of the highest minimum wages in the country (still too low for too many to afford housing, groceries, gas and healthcare), robust protections for abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, and tax credits for working families. We were one of the first states to legalize gay marriage, and have strong protections for voting rights and equitable representation, to name just a few.
No matter what your political party affiliation is, most of us want our state to be a safe haven for people who value and respect each other, no matter where we are from, our race, religious beliefs, sexuality or gender identity. Voting no on these initiatives will powerfully refute the MAGA agenda’s attack on Washington’s way of life.
Joe Mizrahi is former Secretary-Treasurer at UFCW 3000, and currently represents District 4 as an at-large member of the Seattle School Board and lives with his wife and three children in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood.
Amy Sundberg
Andrew Villeneuve (Guest Contributor)
