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M ARCH 6, 2013
S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON
V OLUME XXXV, N O . 22
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
NELSON VAILS
Super-
Majority
Is Over
High court strikes
down major obstacle
to raising taxes
PHOTO BY CBBELL.COM
By Donna Gordon Blankenship and
Rachel La Corte
The Associated Press
American cycling legend Nelson Vails, at right, spoke on Friday, Feb. 22 at REI Seattle to celebrate diversity in
bicycling during Black History Month. The event was also held to raise money for the Cascade Bicycle Club
Education Foundation’s Major Taylor Project.
Olympic Cyclist Speaks at REI
Inspirational athlete appears in support of Major Taylor Project
By Ellans Bowen
UW News Lab
B
ack in 1984, Ed Ewing
was watching the Los
Angeles
Summer
Olympics on television when
he witnessed Nelson Vails win
the silver medal in the indi-
vidual 1,000-meter match
sprints. Vails became the first
African American to earn an
Olympic medal in bicycling.
That moment had a tremen-
dous impact on Ewing.
“You know, you talk about
what would it be like if there
were a woman president?”
said Ewing. “What would it
be like if there were an
African American president?
And you can talk about it and
you can dream about it, and
until you see it. … I mean
when you saw Obama
become president it was like
this hammer, just boom. Wow.
It happened. And it was the
same thing seeing Nelson race
in the ’84 Olympics. It had the
same effect on me. That was
like a catalyst for me.”
American cycling legend
Vails spoke on Friday, Feb. 22
at REI Seattle to celebrate
diversity in bicycling during
Black History Month. The
event was also held to raise
money for the Cascade Bicy-
cle Club Education Founda-
tion’s Major Taylor Project.
This project, named for the
first African American world
champion cyclist, is a year-
round youth development
program with after-school
clubs in South King County.
Produced by the Cascade
Bicycle Club Education
Foundation, the program
seeks to empower young peo-
ple in underserved communi-
ties by combining bicycling, a
healthy lifestyle and leader-
ship development.
Marshall “Major” Taylor
grew up on a farm in Indiana
and started racing profession-
ally in 1896, at the age of 18.
He became the first African
American to win a world title
when he became the world
sprint champion in 1899.
SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington
Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier
for the Legislature to raise taxes, ruling that
the only way to require a supermajority vote
is to enshrine it in the Constitution.
Democrats said potential taxes need to be
part of the conversation in Olympia, but
Republicans in the House and a Republican-
dominated majority in the Senate said they
would work to keep the two-thirds vote
requirement.
A divided high court ruled 6-3 that an ini-
tiative requiring a two-thirds requirement
for tax increases was in conflict with the
state Constitution and that lawmakers and
the people of Washington would need to
pass a constitutional amendment to change
from a simple majority to a supermajority.
A coalition of lawmakers and education
groups sued the state over the issue, and a
King County judge decided last spring that
the state constitution requires only a simple
majority to pass tax proposals.
Chris Korsmo, CEO of the League of
Education Voters, lead plaintiff with the
Washington Education Association, called
the decision a huge win for kids and
schools, because it could make it easier to
find money for the state to fully pay for
basic education in Washington, as required
by the Supreme Court’s ruling last year in
the McCleary case.
Democrats controlling the House have
indicated support for taxes and fees to help
balance the budget and add new money to
the state education system. However, a
Republican-dominated coalition in the state
Senate has focused its message on spending
restraint and Gov. Jay Inslee vowed during
his campaign last year to veto tax increases.
Rep. Ross Hunter, a Democratic budget
writer, said voters elected legislators to rep-
resent them.
See VAILS on page 3
See SUPERMAJORITY on page 3
INDEX
News .....................2,3,6
Calendar ....................2
Opinion .......................4
Bids/Classifieds............7
Sacramento Kings—Seattle’s New Team?
Mayor of Sacramento unveils plan to counter possible move
By Tracie Cone
The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The
wealthy investors that are partnering on a
plan to keep the Sacramento Kings from
moving to Seattle have finally been
revealed, and they’re the two almost every-
body expected — with a twist.
Mark Mastrov, founder of 24 Hour Fit-
ness, will submit a bid to buy the team to the
NBA on Friday, Sacramento Mayor Kevin
Johnson said in his State of the City address
Thursday night. While Ron Burkle, the bil-
lionaire co-owner of the NHL’s Pittsburgh
Penguins, will instead only lead the effort to
build a new downtown arena that he hopes
will also lure back a WNBA franchise.
``With all due respect to Seattle, I do hope
they get a team someday. But let me be per-
fectly clear: it is not going to be this team,’’
Johnson said. ``Not our team. No way.’’
The Associated Press and other news out-
lets have reported since Jan. 22 that Mastrov
and Burkle were working on a plan to keep
the Kings from relocating to Seattle.
Burkle, who also expressed interested in
buying the Kings two years ago, had met
See BALL on page 3