[EDIT 12/26/16 at 3:50 p.m.] I added an explanation of the chart and added a link to Steve Salmi’s post at Green Pages that I meant to include. Okay, so it’s true that there was more voter participation by south county voters in the last county commission election. But, I’ve have had a hard time…
Year: 2016
Well look at that, it really was a south county revolution
Back a few days after the election, Ken Balsley had this to say: I’ll be honest, I really doubted Ken’s assessment of the election of two party-independent conservative candidates over two Democratic ones. I was looking at the graph below, and I saw something totally different in the election returns: What I saw was voter…
Drive-throughs are worth it if it means doing something in Briggs Village
Something is better than nothing at all and we’ve been waiting a really long time. Update (11/22/16 (9:22 a.m.): the planning commission voted in favor of the amendment to allow drive-throughs last night. Last night the Olympia planning commission held a public hearing on allowing drive throughs inside the commercial portion of the Briggs Urban…
Four things to think about the 2016 Thurston County commission races (2014 all over again, sort of)
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been rolling over how an independent candidate with conservative values was elected in a usually safe Democratic county. Bud Blake’s win in 2014 over Karen Valenzuela took a lot of folks by surprise, so a double repeat of that victory for the other two commission seats by Gary…
The Geography of the Opportunity for Olympia loss
From what I heard, there were several reasons for Opportunity for Olympia coming to Olympia. The income tax to pay for the first year of college for Olympia high school graduates was run here because Olympia was particularly fertile ground. We had supported the last statewide attempt at an income-like tax and we have a…
Why lying is legal in politics here (or isn’t, but the courts will probably make it legal again)
One quote from the robo-call dustup made me think: You could read this (as did I) as a simple statement of “I’m telling the truth” or at least “I think I’m telling the truth,” but in Washington State that isn’t necessarily true. In Washington State, Glen Morgan and Karen Rogers could well be lying, and…
John Hutchings (yet everyone knows him as Hutch) preaches ignorantly about how Home Rule and county government works
During a recent debate with Jim Cooper, John Hutchings told a tale about why he isn’t necessarily in love with the idea of county government becoming more representative. But, he get’s most of it really really wrong. A little disclosure, I am a member of Better Thurston, which advocates for Home Rule and a charter…
Gary Edwards literally does not believe in land use regulation
Here’s Gary Edwards, candidate for Thurston County Commission, talking about his vision for land use management: I am certainly not in favor of taking through regulatory action. So, if we need to take, we need to compensate. On the other hand: You want to be able to do what you want with your land. But…
It matters that Gary Edwards cost Thurston County $500,000 in lawsuits
After his last run for sheriff 14 years ago, Gary Edwards faced a couple of lawsuits from his former opponents. Both now former sheriff deputies, they claimed that Edwards used the power of his office to discredit them during the campaign. Edwards ended up beating both of them, in the primary and then eventually in…