What the Washington State Elections Will Do For Fruit Growers

What the Washington State Elections Will Do For Fruit Growers. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

The 2013 elections are long over but what will the fallout be for fruit producers in the State. Jon DeVaney with the Yakima Valley Grower-Shipper Association has a look.

DeVANEY: On the face of it seems fairly straight forward what the voters were saying. They like Democrats. If you look at the partisan results statewide it is very clear. president Obama won reelection in Washington State with 56% of the vote. Even though we had a competitive campaign for governor Jay Inslee won election with 51 1/2%. The Democrats picked up the Attorney Generals office that Rob McKenna had previously held so now the Democrats hold every statewide office except Secretary of State

The Democrats also maintain their partisan majority in both of the state houses of the legislature.

DeVANEY: However, if you turn to the initiative results and the ideological profile of the elected officials who won, it gets a little more muddled. On the top line issues that made national news, we look like a classic west coast state. Until you get to tax issues in Washington State. The top vote getter in Washington State was not Barak Obama. It was not Jay Inslee. It was not any of the other initiatives. The top vote getting in Washington State was Initiative 1185, reauthorizing Tim Iman’s Two-thirds limitation on tax increases requiring a super majority.

Tomorrow we will look more into what the local state election changed.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.