Gambling Commission claims another victim

Readers of this blog may recall the service of former state representative Richard Curtis (R-18) on the Washington State Gambling Commission as an ex-oficio member. Now we learn that another ex-oficio member, Geoff Simpson (D-47), is going through a nasty divorce:

State Rep. Geoff Simpson (D-47) was arrested over the weekend on a domestic violence charge.

[...]

The acrimonious nature of Simpson’s divorce is no secret, which makes this situation doubly difficult for Simpson even if he were to be completely exonerated. An outspoken progressive representing a swing district, Simpson’s reelection was never expected to be a cakewalk; his arrest will certainly make him one of the state GOP’s primary targets… assuming he continues to run for reelection.

Kids, whatever you do, don't let your parents serve on that Gambling Commission. It just leads to ruin. Maybe the state's gaming interests can form a fund that helps those who serve on the commission to recover.

17th LD Dems postpone nomination vote

The 17th LD Democrats moved up their next monthly meeting by a week, and will meet Monday, May 19th at the Waterford to accomplish two things:

1. Modify their by-laws to allow for endorsements in a primary, thus allowing the state party imposed nomination process to move forward. Many 17th LD'ers are scratching their heads and not seeing any difference between a nomination and an endorsement as the Thurston County Democrats did.

2. Nominate candidates for the state senate slot and two state representative positions.

In the event that the by-laws are not modified, the state party will step in and pick a nominee. The state party rules stipulate that nominations occur by May 23rd, hence the need to move up the 17th LD meeting.

In the case of the state representative positions, one is held by an incumbent, State Rep. Deb Wallace, and the other by well regarded Democratic activist Tim Probst, so those aren't contested. It's the state senate position where things get interesting. Martin Hash is positioned as a self-funder ready to spend significant amounts in a campaign. David Carrier, following perhaps in the footsteps of that other professor, Brian Baird, is positioning himself as the more knowledgeable candidate on the issues.

From the sound of it, there's a lot of gnashing of teeth going on about the nominating process itself, that local folks don't take too kindly to being pushed around by the state party. Given that the state party will merely pick someone anyway, it behooves the 17th LD'ers to really get to know the candidates involved and pick accordingly.

17th LD Dems to nominate state senate candidate tonight

Democratic precinct committee officers in the 17th legislative district will be selecting a nominee between David Carrier and Martin Hash ("Be a conservative in what you do!") tonight at their monthly meeting for who's better qualified to take on serial web entrepreneur Don Benton.

The Olympian has a story explaining a very similar process up in Thurston County. Although PCOs will decide on a nominee, that selection will not appear on the ballot. This is all flotsam and jetsam from the top-two primary, and The Olympian does a good job explaining the intricacies.

If you notice, you'll see that Carrier's web site states unabashedly that he's running as a Democrat in 30 point type. Hash's site? Not so much. I long ago tossed my PDC regulations guide into a drum circle fire, but I'm almost sure that you need to state the party in which you're seeking nomination.

Update: Apparently the vote will occur at next month's 17th LD meeting. As so often happens at these things, some arcana of by-laws disrupts the process. Local party organizations (at least on the Democratic side) have tended to not issue endorsements in contested primaries, and have by-laws to that effect. My understanding is that the 17th LD Democrats need to change the by-laws first, then do their nominating vote.

Gas prices hurting Escalade owners

It's getting tough out there:

With gasoline prices in Vancouver reaching new record highs every day, inflation running at a 10-year high, the local housing industry in the worst slump of the past 20 years and employment slowing to a near standstill, what good is there to say about Clark County’s first-quarter economy?

So tough in fact, that some are resorting to "creative ways" to balance their budgets:

Police are searching for three men who robbed a Hazel Dell bank Saturday afternoon.

Witnesses — two patrons and about a dozen bank employees — told police from the Clark Count Sheriff’s Office that three men in hooded sweatshirts and bandanas entered minutes before the Bank of America was scheduled to close its doors, at 1 p.m.

Their hoods up, the robbers used the main entrance, displayed their pistols and told those in the bank to lie on the floor, Sgt. Bill Roberts of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said.

“They seemed calmer than your standard bank robbers in this area,” Roberts said.

[...]

The employees and two patrons knew they could leave the vault when they heard a patron entering the bank and call out for assistance. That patron identified the getaway vehicle as a pearly white or silver Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows.

A fourth suspect, also a man, waited in the Escalade; all four were seen leaving in the car.

Perhaps the FBI needs to shake down the BIA's membership records, as the only calm, bandana wearing, Escalade owners I know of are builders.

That country music heard blaring out the windows and signature bass line from the subwoofers is a dead giveaway.

Playing the victim, with a paycheck

Jon DeVore makes his debut on HorsesAss and writes up a short piece on who the Washington Policy Center is, and why they are so concerned with LRT on the CRC:

You figure the Washington Policy Center is coming into Clark County not just to mess with us, but to mess with you? If I were them I would screw with the relatively modest Columbia River Crossing transit portion in hopes of derailing (pun intended) further light rail hopes in the Puget Sound region. Because what you may not hear up there is that the probable CRC proposal for light rail involves extending the line only about three miles, from the Portland Expo Center to Clark College.

I’m sure studies by right-wing think tanks conceived by talk radio hosts and funded by Republican millionaires are quite objective.

And poor Michael Ennis, the recipient of paychecks from the well funded WPC, responds with the usual right wing canard:

But of course, DeVore doesn't address these facts and only engages in an Ad Hominem attack. The people of Clark County deserve to know both sides of an issue when public dollars are used.

Yeah, that's funny Mr. Ennis, kind of like how both sides were represented at the recent Neighborhood Forum on Light Rail? Let's see, there was Doug Fico, CRC project head, who's a public official, and can't get into the political meat and potatoes of the issue on one side, "balanced" by yourself and a Discovery Institute shill as the anti-LRT brigade. All moderated by the ever "non-biased" Republican Mayor of Washougal, Stacee Sellars. The best Ennis can do after cashing his paycheck is to scream "Ad Hominem Attack!".

CVTV always seems to be a willing sucker for such "fair and balanced" coverage, and the community truly suffers since Clark County deserves to know both sides of an issue. What is absolutely clear is that paid staffers working for conservative think tanks will always ride roughshod over the citizenry when given the chance.

Paging David Koenig

Randy Stapilus relays a Tacoma News Tribune story on public records champion David Koenig, who sues the pants off of municipalities who don't cough up the goods during public records requests:

...it all started about a decade ago when a family member was sexually assaulted, and he asked the city of Des Moines for public records - and they were clearly public - related to that incident. He was denied. (There was, we should note, an issue here about whether the form of his request in effect identified the otherwise unnamed victim in a sexual assault.) He took his case to the Washington Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor, and ordered Des Moines to pay his (and his lawyers) $83,000.

And he's gone on to successfully sue the cities of Lakewood, Buckley and Tukwila for public records disclosures.

Closer to home of course, we have the Clark County BoCC's failure to disclose the results of a taxpayer funded study into problems at the building safety division:

Clark County will conceal the results of a $9,825 study of “lingering and on-going relationship issues” in its building safety division that surrounded the departure of a top county director. It would be “mean-spirited” to let the public see the results, board of commissioners Chairwoman Betty Sue Morris said last week.

So Mr. Koenig, care to take a little trip down I-5? We could use the help. As Stapilus writes:

We can cut to that chase right here: Unless you have a clear-cut no-question exemption in state or federal law and can point to it immediately, turn over the damn records.

Spinnsylvania

Chuck Todd makes the very salient point that there's absolutely no way that Hillary catches Obama in the delegate totals:



Reminds me of an old Modest Mouse song:

Out of gas
Out of road
Out of car
I don't know how I'm going to go and
I had a drink the other day
Opinions were like kittens
I was giving them away

Hillary's out of cash, running on fumes, but acting every bit the wrecker. The media will feed this as long as she's still "viable", whatever that means, since a "competitive" race this late in the game juices the ratings.

What's abundantly clear is that these people are not used to being sat on by party apparatchiks, as they're usually the ones doing the sitting. What a strange and wonderful surprise to see normal people out in force, demanding change, and demanding an end to twenty-eight years of either a Bush or a Clinton in the executive branch.

So about that Washington State news outlet...

State Rep. Deb Wallace makes a good observation regarding lack of basic news information in Southwest Washington, after the demise of Comcast Channel 14 and broadcast of KIRO Seattle news:

The College Bound scholarships paid for by the state Legislature should be a dream come true.

After all, up to 56,000 seventh- or eighth-grade students who sign up by June 1 will be eligible to receive free college tuition and $500 for college books when they are ready for higher education.

But Rep. Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver, was concerned to find out that just 4,000 students have signed up so far.

“People’s lives are so busy, particularly when you’re working a job or two, and it’s really difficult to get information out to people,” Wallace said. “I also think that so much of our media comes from Oregon, so information about programs like this don’t get out as they do in the Seattle area.”

That's a great point, and it reminded me of promises made to get KIRO or some other Seattle news outlet on basic cable. Why this isn't in the local franchise agreement between CVTV and Comcast is a bit odd, especially knowing the unique media condition of Clark County.

Tracie Looney at CVTV informs me that there are discussions with KIRO to get broadcast permission on to Channel 21, one of the government channels in the basic cable range. I asked her if there's a time limit for them to respond and she indicated that they'll open it up to other Seattle news stations, most likely KOMO, unless KIRO responds by this week.

Anything that preempts CVTV's constant repeats of Dinesh D'Souza would be ideal at this point.

The amazing BRAD makes predictions

Great BRAD Lothspeich quote in today's Columbian article:

Lothspeich said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling ordering a top two primary puts Brokaw at a disadvantage, since the top two primary vote-winners in the conservative north-county district might both be Republicans.

“I think she’s probably working a lot more than she was before,” he said.

BRAD has been working overtime on his signs lately, and I think the paint fumes finally got to him. You see, in a five-way race, with one bona fide Democrat, the math favors Pam Brokaw. End of story. So let the Republicans continue to live in their electoral arithmetic fantasy world. As Karl Rove said, he had "the math", until he was upended in the 2006 mid-terms. If they want to be overconfident, that's all to the better.

There's an interesting side-bar in that same story from Martyn Butler, a conservative Republican candidate running against Marc Boldt:

Butler, a self-described “conservative Republican,” said Thursday that he supports Pam Brokaw, the former chair of the county Democratic Party, in the first-district race.

“She’s just a nice lady, and she has enough knowledge of the political scene,” he said. “She’s open-minded. You can’t really pin her as a conservative or a liberal.”

So you have quotes like that, but BRAD thinks that the R's will completely shut out the D's in the First District top-two. Uh huh, sure.

And Betty Sue Lieberman continues to demean the party that got her elected in the first place:

Morris backs Lothspeich

Lothspeich, a Felida resident and former Hazel Dell fire chief who has the endorsement of the outgoing Morris, didn’t draw any donations over $500.

Observing the 18th LD Clinton sub-caucus from across the room at yesterday's convention, Betty Sue was running to move on to the Congressional District and State Convention. Is she mounting a national bid? Why would someone who's endorsing a Republican in a critical local race even be considered for such a prestigious honor? Usually, national delegates come from the ranks of those who build the party, not tear it down.

It is mistakes like these amongst the local party establishment that only make the activist base stronger. Surely there's someone far more deserving of that national delegate slot.

Clark County Democratic Convention breaks attendance records

Just got back from the Clark County Democratic Convention which had by my estimate 2,500 to 3,000 attendees.

Huge shout out to whoever organized the check in process, as that ran very smoothly.

Speech of the day clearly went to 49th LD state representative Jim Moeller for his rousing call to get out and work for Democratic victory in the fall.

After the main convention broke up into legislative district caucuses, that's when the trouble began. The number of delegates to be apportioned was incredibly slow in being announced, so the poor speakers had to try and hold the room. At one point, Clark County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris tried to called time out on the Obama speaker, at which point, the Obama flexed their political muscles and chanted "OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!". A few attendees were spotted wiping the dirt off their shoulders at that point as well.

It's all good fun, and everyone, no matter who they support for the presidential nomination, is heartened about Democratic prospects in November.

99 Problems, but a Bush ain't one

As Spencer Ackerman observes, it's "coolest subliminal cultural reference in the history of American politics":



Looks like Obama can play dog whistle politics with the best of them.

The Betty Sue Morris Light Rail Line

Aneurin recently decided to shed some winter pounds and get in shape. Blogging just isn't the strenuous exercise it used to be back in the Blizzard of Aught Three when we used to shovel coal to keep the tubes of the internet at full steam. Rather than strain knees doing road work or lift iron weights, a bicycle was purchased. And so the fun began.

Commuting from Vancouver to Portland via bicycle from the exurbs presents one of two choices: either travel to the park and ride on 99th Street and pay your $6 round trip fare for a bus with a bench seat (with few riders), or cut out C-Tran altogether and cross the derelict I-5 bridge and treacherous Marine Drive to pay the $3.50 round trip fare on a more comfortable MAX trip (with a full train) starting from the Expo Center.

So let's all give a warm round of applause to Betty Sue for making C-Tran's commuter fares so prohibitively expensive that they've priced themselves out the market altogether. Rather than provide flexible transit options, C-Tran seems to only want ridership with a monthly pass available from large employers. In the globalized world, not everyone works for those large employers, and maybe doesn't feel like taking transit every single day.

The core of the problem with C-Tran appears to be it's governance. Tri-Met is a State of Oregon chartered corporation with board members appointed by the governor. C-Tran is this itty bitty county level entity with the Board of County Commissions and the mayors of Clark County as board members. It's several orders of magnitude lower on the totem pole, and it shows. How the BoCC is able to wear both hats and devote the time necessary to real transit infrastructure planning is beyond me.

On a more positive note, the CRC folks are meeting with the Vancouver Bicycle Club on Wednesday, May 7th, 7:00 PM over at Bortolami's Pizza on 99th Street. What would be ideal is to get a handle on what improvements are planned for the bridge crossing for multi-modal transportation. It is, as Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland) says, a time to "hold the weasels accountable".

Permeable pavement, experts disagree

Yesterday:

An expanded array of natural and organic foods as well as examples of sustainable building will greet shoppers Wednesday at the grand opening of Grand Central Fred Meyer in Vancouver.

The store is like no other in the chain for its design and unique food offerings, spokeswoman Melinda Merrill said.

[...]

Sustainable building features in the store include a permeable parking lot that will filter stormwater, skylights, energy-efficient light fixtures and concrete floors that do not need chemicals for cleaning and maintenance.

Today:

Engineering techniques such as permeable pavement could hold down costs — to $54,400 for the county’s sample project, for example.

But Steve Madsen, a spokesman for the Building Industry Association of Clark County, said Monday that the porous pavement might not work.

“A lot of the low-impact development techniques … are either untested or not necessarily available in the soils around Clark County,” he said.

Unavailable? Untested? That's pretty strong language in geotechnical terms. Did the BIAW warn Fred Meyer of this? Is the BIAW saying that cars are going to sink into the ground at the new Freddies parking lot?

You see, we all need to hang on every word the BIAW says.

Durbin has trouble with big numbers

A million or a billion, who cares, right? The Spokesman-Review reported earlier on Rossi's Autobahn für Alle plan in regards to where he was going to get all that money:

Rossi notes that his plan wouldn't require a tax increase "and through the responsible use of tax dollars, we will protect education, health care, and all of the other vital services that we must continue to provide.”

But the two sales tax proposals would strip about $10 billion from the state's general fund, which pays for schools, health care and other state services. That's a huge hit, and that's why budget writers have long fended off efforts to tap the general fund for transportation work.

Durbin chimes in with this:

“We believe in transportation choices for people,’” said Aaron Toso, a spokesman for the Gregoire campaign. “What Dino’s offering up doesn’t have anything. The plan’s baloney and the math doesn’t add up. Over $10 million would be taken away from priorities the governor cares about, like education and children’s health care.”

Okay, either that's a misquote from Aaron Toso, or Durbin is playing fast and loose with a pretty large number, one that changes the entire context of the story. Rossi's gonna raid education and health care to the tune of $10 billion to pay for his concrete ribbons to nowhere, but The Columbian seems to want to hide that fact.

Issuing corrections always gets lost in the shuffle.

Update: Well dang, calling the Metrodesk has it's uses I guess. The Columbian has corrected their web edition. Hopefully the print edition is correct as well.

Local bloggers are here to help!

Is Mielke still in the race?

Here's what little we know so far in the county commissioner race:

1. BRAD put his signs up this weekend. Voters might be confused when they see Lothspeich on the ballot, but BRAD is easier to remember, and pronounce. Good move.

2. Pam Brokaw continues to gain momentum, especially with the realization that the top-two primary probably helps her. Let's see, three Republicans splitting their vote and one Democrat. Sounds like a recipe for success.

3. According to the PDC website, Mielke has raised the sum total of $100:

MIELKE THOMAS M

02/27/2008

$100.00

N

RICHTER BOB MR

RIDGEFIELD

WA

98642

Compared to the PDCs for Brokaw, Swindell, and BRAD, one has to wonder if Mielke is even campaigning at this point. Of course, Mielke's pattern is to finish at the end with overwhelming last-minute developer money, but with Swindell in the race, that might not be a possibility this time around. And judging by the last time Mielke ran for county, local developers might not be in the mood to back a losing horse.

Iraq: Not so popular, in either party

Stapilus picks up the Spokesman-Review story on the Iraq War resolution at the Spokane County Republican convention:

The Spokane County Republican Party formally rejected the Iraq policy of their current president and their party’s likely nominee, saying American troops shouldn’t be on overseas missions for more than six months without a formal declaration of war.

At a county convention that some party leaders said may have set an attendance record for Republicans in Spokane, supporters of presidential candidate Ron Paul Saturday handily defeated an attempt to scale back the platform’s stringent limitation on using American troops on foreign soil.

[...]

The platform statement on the use of troops didn’t specifically name Iraq, but County Chairman Curt Fackler and representatives of the McCain campaign agreed it was essentially a repudiation of the current war policy and the course that McCain has said he would take if elected.

That's pretty impressive for a suspended campaign.

Ron Paul did very well in Clark County Republican precinct caucuses before they uhh.... stopped counting the votes. So it will be interesting to see if the Paul organization can overwhelm the local party establishment in a similar vein at the upcoming Clark County Republican convention this coming Saturday.

For one thing, no other presidential candidate of any stripe has signs up in Clark County other than Ron Paul, so that's an indicator of local organizational strength. Large signs aren't cheap, and someone local is paying the freight.

This could also be a test of strength for the congressional bid of Michael Delavar. So far, Delavar hasn't been able to garner much in the way of earned media, but a resolution opposing Bush/McCain war conduct in Republican circles would have a "man bites dog" quality which the press would have a hard time tuning out.

If Delavar can establish his credentials on the Iraq occupation, that's bad news for Baird. Single issue voters on the left will vote for Cheryl Crist in the top-two system, then automatically switch to Delavar in the general. There's too many voters who now see the nexus between Iraq, the subprime mess, an ailing economy, and $4 a gallon gas and just cannot pull the lever for Baird at this point. The strategists at the DCCC should take pause and realize the danger that the incumbent has put them in with the potential loss of a seat in a Democratic year.

Petty Cash

So apparently the Obama campaign doesn't like the time honored "tradition" of direct cash payments to ward heelers:

Flush with payments from well-funded campaigns, the ward leaders and Democratic Party bosses typically spread out the cash in the days before the election, handing $10, $20 and $50 bills to the foot soldiers and loyalists who make up the party's workforce.

It is all legal -- but Obama's people are telling the local bosses he won't pay.

That sets up a culture clash, pitting a candidate who promises to transform American politics against the realities of a local political system important to his presidential hopes. Pennsylvania holds its primary April 22.

There's a bunch of anal retentive practices I've observed personally in the way the Obama campaign tracks cash, and it's dumb. For instance, grassroots volunteers are required to track every single $2 contribution used to defray say a room rental cost (when paid for by said volunteer), or the filling out of contribution forms when purchasing yard signs at the Obama HQ in Portland. People are more likely to contribute as long as they don't have to fill out yet another form. My FEC rulebook got recycled, but I'm not aware of the need to track every single petty cash donation.

In retail politics, there are numerous hangovers from the 19th century style of campaigning, and it might behoove the Obama campaign to "get with the times". The larger question is, do the Obama folks actually want to win these campaigns, or does everything have to tracked by the green eyeshade people?

Ministry of Silly Meetings

More details on the state Democratic party's nominating conventions:

Democratic State Chairman Dwight Pelz said the conventions are necessary because the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the state primary initiative took away the influence parties can have in naming their candidates. Democrats will try to regain some control by having precinct officers attend nominating conventions for legislative, county and congressional seats. For statewide offices, delegates to the state convention will be asked which candidate they support.

“We don’t want precinct committee officers to nominate candidates, we want the public to do that. But that’s been taken away from us,” Pelz said.

That's elected and appointed precinct committee officers by the way. So in some ways, it makes running for precinct committee officer actually worth something. At the end of the day though, the party nomination will not appear on the ballot:

Rules for the wording of party preference on the ballot are still being drafted, but they won’t include recognition that one candidate was nominated by the party and another wasn’t.

And here's where I think Pelz is being a bit disingenuous:

A candidate who wins the endorsement of a nominating convention will be eligible for money and other help from the party, and can list the endorsement on his or her campaign literature, Pelz said.

Let's envision a scenario where the HDCC backs a particular candidate prior to the nominating convention, but the PCOs go another direction, does anyone really think the HDCC will be bound by that choice? I guess time will tell.

Lastly, precinct officers will be on the hook for yet more meetings:

It does put a strain on Democratic activists, who already have at least three more meetings, a county convention, a congressional district caucus, and a state convention, between now and mid June. They will need to call precinct committee officers to a legislative district convention. They will also have to hold a separate county nominating convention or set aside time at their regular county convention at which precinct officers can vote but other elected delegates cannot. Congressional district caucuses on May 17 will also have to include a time when only the precinct officers in attendance can nominate congressional candidates.

Admittedly, the Congressional district nomination process will be a formality, but other levels could be contentious, thus making the conventions drag out even longer than they already currently do.

Normal people don't have time for all of this, and the role of precinct officer will be turned over to semi-wealthy retirees or labor activists who are reimbursed for their time. It's hard enough for regular folks to arrange for day care in order to attend even the neighborhood precinct caucuses. And the time and monetary commitment increases at each step of the way, like some Amway party gone wrong.

Scheduling more meetings means less opportunity for real voter contact and more opportunity for activist burn out. If Pelz is trying to gin up a challenge to the Supreme Court decision, this is the wrong way to do it.

Gregoire visits Vancouver to a packed house

I only caught about five to ten minutes of Chris Gregoire's speech in Vancouver at a completely packed Firefighter's Hall. What little I did catch sounded like a standard stump speech, but it played well, emphasizing fiscal accountability and efficiency in government.

There's absolutely no way that the Guv is going to under-perform in Clark County as happened in 2004. Early visits and a fired up base will guarantee a much more competitive race against Mr. "I know what it's like to sign the back of a pay check".

And to reader J., my carbon footprint in getting to this event was ZERO.

Terry Mac sends me emails

I get emails from Terry McAuliffe, since he's my BFF but hasn't gotten the news that I'm an Obama delegate:

When I turn on the TV all I hear is negative words. The news stations keep telling you that we're down and out. But that's plainly not true. I'm on the trail every day for Hillary and the crowds are bigger than ever before, and let me tell you - they are excited!

TV is sending negative vibes man! Don't believe they hype! We're getting the band back together! North American Tour with HUGE CROWDS! Terry continues:

I wanted to show you a video from a recent event with Hillary in North Carolina - you can see for yourself Hillary's packed events and enthusiastic supporters.

Hillary's new press liaison explains further:

Get your filthy paws off my Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston may have turned into a caricature later in life as the head of the NRA, but his dark work of the early 70's is beyond reproach, whether in the Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, or the Omega Man. The fact that I can rattle those films off the top of my head instantly is a testament to the influence that Heston once held. Those movies were truly scary, scarier than any horror movie, and scary in the sense of the ultimate fate of this experiment called homo sapiens.

Underneath all those films is a strong environmental message, so if anyone is to blame for the environmental Nazism purported by the BIAW, it's right wing hero Heston, as those early 70's movies had a tremendous influence on mass culture.

And Heston is due for a critical reappraisal, especially politically, with his support of civil rights causes in the 60's. While it was sad to witness his rantings during his NRA tenure, I'd like to think his earlier work outweighs that. So yeah, I'm reclaiming Heston as a liberal hero from the filthy paws of those damn right wing apes.

God speed, Charlton Heston.

Obamathon Clark County

Approximately 450 Obama supporters turned out to organize for the upcoming Legislative District / County Convention on April 19th.

This blogger is personally stunned, having never witnessed a turn out this large for a meeting organized by Obama grassroots volunteers. Congratulations to Team Obama in Clark County!

Blogging the 18th LD Meeting

It's pretty packed. Betty Sue is answering questions on the Cowlitz Tribe MOU. Cheryl Crist is due to speak.

Good to see the golf course get WiFi. I'll have much more later.

How many more?

As always, The News Hour ends their report with the photos and names of the recently fallen in Iraq, and for some reason, Durrell Bennett's death has really touched a nerve personally:

SEATTLE -- A local soldier who was set to come home in just days was killed in Iraq by enemy fire.On March 29, 22-year-old Pvt. 1st Class Durrell Bennett died in Baghdad, Iraq, under enemy fire and after a roadside explosion.

“He was a joy, he was a joy,” said Doris Bennett, Durrell’s mother.“He just loved people and he did as much for people as he could and he gave of himself,” said Doris. Durrell Bennett grew up in Spanaway. He was set to leave Iraq after a 15-month tour of duty on April 4.

[...]

At Bethel High School, Bennett excelled, said his parents. He was a member of choir dance step team, the debate team, and the football team. He also was homecoming king. Bennett's family remembers the kind-hearted soul who followed his father's footsteps into the military.

That makes this even worse, being only 4 days from leaving that miserable place. And The Seattle Times has a fuller story:

When he returned, Spc. Bennett had planned to rent an apartment, where he and brother Darnell, a senior at Bethel, could live after he graduated this year.

"He wanted to see me go to college," Darnell Bennet said. "He was going to let me stay with him and he was going to help pay for my college. He was going to get his life set and we were going to get things started together."

I've only rolled through Spanaway once, and it's a place where people deal ammunition out of the backs of their vans. In our lame ass system of an all-volunteer armed forces (and no, I'm not demeaning the troops, but the political leadership), it's the kids from Spanaway who bear the brunt of the fighting and the dying.

If you have a chance, do watch Frontline's Bad Voodoo's War report which chronicles what it's like to be part of a convoy security detachment in Iraq. Instead of some reporter given their second hand take on events, troops are given the cameras, and you get the human side of the story. The futility of what we're doing over there becomes all too apparent, whether it be the multiple deployments or the Iraqi Army checkpoints that plant the IEDs.

Meanwhile, in DC, well meaning people testify before Senate committees about our need for withdrawal, and that's all to the good. But how many more fine young men have to die for Bush's War?

Do you reject and denounce?

Goldy gets to the heart of the matter regarding the flap with the BIAW's painting of the environmental community with Nazism:

The Building Industry Association of Washington is influential. It's also looking bizarre.

In the group's March newsletter (no April Fool's prank; area blogs started picking it up last week), there's a full-page piece headlined: "Hitler's Nazi party: They were eco extremists." The writer makes a concession mid-ramble that Nazis were insanely racist but hurries to say that global environmentalism is "an amalgam of Nazism and communism." Sure.

Elsewhere, BIAW President Brad Spears tries to draw a supposedly natural tie between mainstream environmentalists and eco-terrorism, especially home burning. "The older folks in the mainstream enviro groups," he writes, "silently applaud this new and novel approach: If you build it, we will burn it." Wow.

Goldy responds:

The BIAW is “bizarre”…? Yeah, I guess. But that’s an awfully timid way to describe the BIAW’s unique brand of far-right extremist wing-nuttery hate-mongering. But at least that’s better than the Seattle Times, whose last mention of the BIAW was in a piece on the upcoming judicial races, and as usual, made them out to sound downright respectable

In this neck of the woods, the BIAW = The Republican Party, and because of that, they're given the veneer of respectability by media outlets statewide.

And Goldy wants to know why elected officials are kowtowing to Tom McCabe:

As for elected officials like Rep. Mark Ericks (D-Bothell) Rep. Doug Ericksen (R-Whatcom), whose smiling photo from a BIAW awards banquet appears in the same issue as that crazed, hate-filled anti-environmentalism rant, it is either time for them to renounce the BIAW… or it is time for voters to renounce these officials at the polls, regardless of party.

So there you have it, a statewide media establishment and elected officials willing to tolerate hate speech.

What I want to know is, if Chopp and the state's Democratic political class can't even stiff arm the likes of the BIAW, then surely the national Democratic political class will be unable to pass the much more difficult Iraq test, or the economy test. Sure, they'll do a better job than the absolutely incompetent Republicans, but we're not asking for a better managed Iraq war.

If Obama can be grilled to reject and denounce the statements of someone not even associated with his campaign, then surely the state's political leadership can follow suit and reject the hate mongering of the BIAW. But of course, rejecting and denouncing is hard to do when you're mouth is full of that steak dinner paid by BIAW lobbyists.