VOTERS SCALD LATTE TAX; BUT POT MEASURE PASSING

This is the land of Starbucks, a city where the words doubletall, skinny
and splitshot are uttered just as often as please and thank you.

It's also the home of Hempfest, a city where tens of thousands of people
are drawn to the waterfront on a summer weekend to promote liberalization
of marijuana laws.

And so, yesterday, as Seattle voters decided the fate of two measures that
seemed to define this city's free and coffee-fueled spirit, a clear message
emerged:

Leave pot smokers alone, and don't mess with our coffee.

Unofficial returns showed voters were rejecting Initiative 77, which had
become known as the latte tax, by a 2-1 ratio. By a sizable margin, voters
appeared to be on the verge of approving Initiative 75.

That measure would require the Seattle Police Department and the City
Attorney's Office to make small-scale marijuana possession -- when for
personal use by adults -- their "lowest law-enforcement priority."

The results, said Jeff Babcock, the owner of Zoka Coffee Roaster, show that
Seattleites "see what is right and wrong."

"Is it right to send people to jail for years for smoking marijuana? No. Is
it right to tax lattes? No."

In a day in which voters also decided City Council and Seattle School Board
races, the two measures evolved into those "only in Seattle" stories the
rest of the country seems to love.

The latte measure, for example, was written about in USA Today and The New
York Times; it was talked about on NPR, CBS and the BBC.

The marijuana initiative drew criticism from John Walters, director of the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, who lambasted the idea
during a recent trip to Seattle.

"If you understand substance abuse is a disease," he asked, "why would you
want to foster that disease?"

But voters thought otherwise.

"If anything, marijuana should be legal and alcohol illegal," said Shelley
Mangini, a 30-year-old waitress and bartender as she emerged from a polling
place on lower Queen Anne.

"You just don't get aggressive when you smoke pot. I think that (the
measure) is going to move us in the right direction."

'Wrong solution, right problem'

Across Seattle, Initiative 77 left voters facing a difficult proposition:
Should latte drinkers pony up an extra dime a cup to pay for child care and
preschool programs?

One voter, David Busby, entered the voting booth yesterday morning and left
without casting a vote one way or the other.

It was just too hard to decide, he said.

"I can afford 10 cents on a cup of coffee -- that's just 20 cents a day for
me," he said. "It's the wrong solution, but the right problem to tackle."

The tax, formally known as the Early Learning and Care Campaign, would have
raised money for preschool programs and continuing education for teachers.

For Seattle coffee drinkers, it would have meant an extra 10 cents on any
cappuccino, latte, iced drink or Americano sold at a cafe, restaurant or
coffee stand.

Early on, the measure was criticized by opponents, many from the coffee and
restaurant industry. They labeled it as an unfair and regressive tax on
their product.

Supporters said the money was desperately needed to ensure children are
prepared and ready to learn when they walk through the doors of kindergarten.

Last night, though, the measure appeared to be going over as well as an
iced mocha on a cold winter morning.

As the results became more and more apparent, Mike Kasprzak, a campaign
volunteer and director of the Interlake Child Care Center of Seattle,
challenged opponents to come up with a better way to pay for early
childhood care.

"It looks like it will fail and by a considerable margin," he said after
the first returns were posted.

"But that's not the end of it. (Today) we will be going to (former) Mayor
Rice, the League of Women Voters ... and the consortium of espresso shop
owners and say, 'OK, let's work together. Show us your better way.' "

And John Burbank, the head of the institute that sponsored the initiative,
said the burden was now on those who voted against the measure.

"Now it's up to them," Burbank said. "The purpose of this was not to
highlight the (tax) mechanism, but to highlight early childhood care.

"We are not going to drop the issue, which is finding money for
high-quality pre-kindergarten for the children of the city."

Opponents, though, rejoiced.

Kate Gill, an outspoken critic of the measure and the owner of Lottie
Motts, a coffee shop in Columbia City, was among them.

At Lottie Motts, two "Vote no on I-77" posters decorate the windows; two
more "vote no" posters hang behind the counter.

"If anyone voted for I-77," Gill said, "nobody would come in here and admit
it to me."

She said she supports helping those less fortunate than herself: Inside her
store, in a corner across from the counter, customers will find a
3-foot-tall barrel for food donations.

But Gill thinks the tax would have hurt small coffee vendors already
suffering in a weak economy.

Larger coffee chains sell espresso machines, coffee cups and other items.

"I just sell coffee," she said, explaining that for each drink sold, she
pockets between a nickel and a quarter -- at best.

"It's not Starbucks versus the kids," she said. "This is a nickel business."

Many owners of small espresso stands and coffee shops said they, too,
realized the importance of child care, but they said the tax was whimsical
and arbitrary.

It had no relationship to the programs it would pay for, they said. And it
would have hit smaller businesses particularly hard.

The tax would not have been levied on businesses with less than $50,000 a
year in sales.

Yesterday afternoon, sitting outside a Tully's in Pioneer Square -- across
from Zeitgeist Cafe and one block from a Starbucks -- Joe Iannarone seemed
to epitomize many of Seattle's voters.

Between drags from a cigarette, he called the initiative "ridiculous" and
cited it as another example of how this city is becoming what he called the
"People's Republic of Seattle."

'Whole drug war is nonsense'

Last night, at the Rendezvous bar in Belltown, supporters of Initiative 75
watched as the measure held a sizable lead.

Many hoped passing the measure would be the first step toward legalizing
marijuana.

"This whole drug war is nonsense," said Bethany Willford, a 23-year-old
coordinator for Hempfest who also volunteered to gather support for the
measure.

"I don't think pot is any more dangerous than alcohol or cigarettes."

Sara Longley, a former journalist who is in her first year at Seattle
University Law School, agreed.

Longley, 34, said she wasn't sure what kind of law she wanted to practice.
But this much, she said, was certain: "I certainly am not going to be
prosecuting any pot smokers."

Critics of the measure, who included City Attorney Tom Carr and police
Chief Gil Kerlikowske, argued that passing the initiative would send the
wrong message that smoking marijuana is OK.

They said that it was also misleading to argue that approving the measure
would allow the police to devote more time to tackling violent crime,
because minor marijuana possession is already a low priority.

And, they said, regardless of what voters decide, police and prosecutors
have an obligation to enforce existing drug laws. In Washington state,
possessing 40 grams or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor, punishable by no
more than 90 days in jail.

During the campaign, those who supported the measure said the law would
protect people who smoke marijuana for medical reasons.

The Sensible Seattle Coalition, which sponsored I-75, raised just over
$150,000 and sent out three voter mailings to more than 70,000 Seattle
residents, according to Dominic Holden, the coalition chairman.

No organized citizens group formed to oppose the measure, and Mayor Greg
Nickels declined to take a public position on the matter.

Last night, as the measure held a substantial lead, Kathleen Taylor,
executive director of the ACLU of Washington, talked of the broad impact a
victory would have.

"This is a part of something much bigger than Seattle," Taylor said. "There
is an effort ongoing to create some sort of reasonableness with how we deal
with drugs.

"Whatever happens tonight, this initiative could be a big part of that."