Judge Price Rules on Initiative 1338 Ballot Title and Summary

A little like some race horses, we had a rough time getting out of the starting gate:

Thurston County Superior Court Judge, Erik Price, revised the ballot summary for the GMO food labeling measure, I -1338, but the Commons Party was pleased that no radical changes were made to the Attorney General's wording, which was neutral and fair, and in fact a kind of a de facto compromise from an earlier though very similar measure which was withdrawn last month.  Price made a couple of semantic changes to the summary and more than likely deflated the expectations of labeling opponents who were pushing for biased and misleading wording.  If the labeling opponents had gotten exactly the kind of language they had wanted for the title & summary, that would have deterred us from circulating 1338, but now we can begin circulating this petition with the big job of getting at least 300,000 signatures before July. 

That will not be an easy task, and no easier since some of last year's labeling leaders still seem shell-shocked from the '13 vote -- not to mention possibly inflated egos that may not care to see new leaders succeed where they didn't -- and for these reasons and others, 1338 is slow to get on the state radar screen.  "Commons," by the way, helped 522 where we could, and with more than signing petitions and voting.  Nonetheless, there is still the hope that the funders of 522 might give 1338 money, and if we received only 2% of the money that they gave 522, that would tremendously boost our efforts to get 1338 on the ballot where anything could happen if it goes to the voters, especially since 2014 will probably be a bigger mail turnout year than 2013, which should work to the advantage of the pro-labeling side. However, if we have to get on the ballot with all volunteers, then we can do that, too.

Of course, Monsanto, et al. will be waiting in the wings, if this gets on the ballot, like sharks, but we'll make this more than about the right-to-know.  This is also about fooling with Mother Nature.

[revised on 2/25/14]