The Chronicle published two letters recently in which the authors claimed constitutional rights to make their points.
You need a little lesson on the real value of those documents.
Indeed, the first article of the Washington state Constitution does claim the power of the government derives from the consent of the governed. The U.S. Constitution’s 14th amendment is the one that is supposed to guarantee equal treatment under the law.
Your neighbors living on the north end of Sandra Avenue in Centralia get their water from a system now owned by the Thurston County Public Utility District (TPUD), a municipal corporation (a legal term for a local governing body). They bought that neighborhood’s water system in 2018 from the former H&R Water Works.
Understand, the TPUD didn’t annex our neighborhood into their district, because they can’t. The law governing such annexations forbids it because that neighborhood is not contiguous with TPUD’s existing service area. No, they didn’t annex that neighborhood, they simply bought a private water system, then told those who live there and rely on that water to do what they will be paying for their water.
The citizens served by that water system are unable to participate in elections of TPUD commissioners, the mechanism by which consent to be governed is secured. They are unable to vote in TPUD’s elections, because TPUD was unable to annex that neighborhood into their district. So much for the consent of the governed.
The first article of your state Constitution is meaningless.
Everyone else in Washington who gets their water from private water purveyors enjoy the protection of the state’s Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC), which regulates prices for utility service. And, since TPUD isn’t a private utility, the UTC washed their hands of it. So much for equal protection under the state law that established the UTC and gives it authority to regulate utilities.
That makes the 14th Amendment to our U.S. Constitution equally meaningless.
Your neighbors on Sandra Avenue live at the pleasure of the citizens of Thurston County. If TPUD decides to raise their rates, there isn’t a single thing your neighbors can do about it.
Try reporting a constitutional violation to any law enforcement agency, and they will laugh in your face. I tried it. I know. Your state attorney general did nothing about it. The only option available to citizens when a municipal corporation decides these constitutions are simply too bothersome to obey is to take the issue to court.
Your constitutions are worthless rags your local governments will ignore when they wish.
Jesse Ohlsson
Formerly of Centralia
