For Immediate Release:

On February 1st, 2022, that Clark County Council hastily voted 4-1 to reject a lawful and historic Mini-Initiative that collected 11,505 signatures which nearly represents 10% of the 111,000 total that voted in the last election during the collection efforts. The submitted signatures, calling the Councilors to ban all mandates that discriminate, was then certified to contained at minimum the required number of 8,311 on December 30th and was forwarded to the Council for action.

Even though the Council had 30 days to vote, Councilor Julie Olson quickly made a motion to reject which was eagerly seconded by Councilor Lentz and Medvigy. What is more outrageous is the Council voted the week before to only allow 5 minutes for the ordinance to be presented, preventing a vigorous legal presentation. Yet, on Tuesday, the Council allowed what seemed to be an unfettered amount of time for the County lawyer to give their legal opinions, coupled with a threatening letter from Governor Jay Inslee's legal counsel, and then moved immediately to a vote. Councilor Gary Medvigy boasted at the end that the petition had received a "fair hearing" which we, and most of the public who watched, disagree.

As a result, Attorney Angus Lee, was charged with writing an open letter to the Councilors and now is being released to the public. The open letter is available to download at www.ClarkCountyGroup.com.

What's at stake is not banning all mandates or vaccines or masks as Councilor Lentz erroneously misguided the public concerning the petition. The heart of the petition is who's looking out for the basic Constitutional protections from discriminatory outcomes which have been completely ignored by the Council and continue to be ignored by many that represent the people of Clark County and Washington State.

The petition efforts succeeded in all the areas that the people controlled. We gathered enough registered voter signatures, flooded the Councilors with emails, phone calls and comments and even the Clark County Republican Party sent clear and decisive support to pass the ordinance. But when it came to our elected representatives part, including 3 Republicans, they failed to address the concerns brought up by the citizens and rejected it 4-1.

Our fight does not end here but only just begins. They, the bureaucracy and elected representatives that did not support the petition are exposed, while those that petitioned for action are stronger and more united and determined to prevail.

This is just the first punch in a prize fight and the people will prevail.

Rob Anderson

Chief Petitioner

www.ClarkCountyGroup.com