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Category: Thurston County Democrats (Page 2 of 10)

Should Zach Smith run for the state legislature?

December 8, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Via email this morning:

Dear friends,

As you may already know, there will be a vacancy in the 22nd District House of Representatives. Voters in our district have enjoyed a long tradition of strong representation on the hill. I am confident that with careful consideration and good planning voters will continue to elect candidates that represent and aggressively pursue issues important to our community.

I have taken the first steps to form an exploratory committee to determine my viability as a candidate and ultimately your voice for the 22nd District Washington State House of Representatives.

Please contact me with your ideas, thoughts and any input you think might be important regarding my candidacy for this position.

Sincerely,

Zach Smith
…

What I know about Zach Smith:

He’s a super involved local Democrat, serving in several capacities in the state and local Dems. He’s a pretty smart and nice guy, but when it comes down to agreeing with him on things, I usually differ.

Ok, I agree with him on the public policy issues that most Democrats agree on, unions, spending, etc. But, where we differ is in the part machinations stuff. So, on things like the Top Two primary and caucuses, he and I differ.

Which isn’t a bad thing entirely, its just how things are.

R. Scott, ILLITERATE

August 4, 2009 / / 0 Comments

R. Scott (birther and Thurston County Republican chair) can’t read. Or, when reading, can’t process information.

When he reads this:

Mah also urged the audience to consider the timing of his proposal and said that because of the slower economy, “property (for purchase) will never be cheaper.”

Thurston County Commissioner Karen Valenzuela disputed that.

Valenzuela, who attended the forum with other elected officials such as Olympia City Council members Joan Machlis, Rhenda Strub and Karen Messmer, said there might be no need to rush because the Port of Tacoma, for example, is having difficulty selling a $22 million parcel in south Thurston County’s Maytown.

Conjures up this:

…then why is Karen Valenzuela trying to purchase more parks? And why in the hell does she want to purchase them for the City of Olympia [read about it here]? She thinks they can get it cheaper, but wants to participate in the purchase.

Saying that anyone who is interested in developing an isthmus park should take their time means she wants the county to participate?

Seems more likely that she’s attended the forum because she’s a local political leader, not because she wants the county to dive into a park purchase.

On the other hand, if R. Scott had bothered to link anywhere else than the Olympian (other blogs?!?), he would have come up with something far more convincing, but still vague enough for him to twist. From Janine Gates’s Litle Hollywood:

Audience member Marie Cameron spoke next, saying she has been a resident for over 30 years and served on the Olympia Planning Commission for six years in the 1970’s and served in a variety of planning positions until her retirement. She now lives in the county, outside the city limits, and feels disenfranchised from the process, and urged the county to step up and be a partner in the portion of property tax it collects.

Thurston County Commissioner Karen Valenzuela thanked Cameron for her productive suggestion. “The problem with Mah’s proposal is that there’s only one player at the table.”

Now, you’d have to assume that Valenzuela meant the county as another player, but I’d safely assume she meant the state. But, R. Scott can believe anything he wants, especially since he can just make most of it up.

Twittering the who voted in the Library vote last February

June 10, 2009 / / 2 Comments

Mark Messinger of up Steamboat Island way had a great series of tweets last night on who voted in the library special election last February. Very interesting results?

Olympia city councilmembers Jeff Kingsbury, Joe Hyer, Rhenda Strub, and Thurston County administrator Don Krupp did not. They didn’t vote no, they didn’t turn in a ballot at all.

Councilmemembers (yeah, I guess he’s a mayor) Doug Mah, Karen Messmer, and Joan Machlis, and county commissioners Karen Valenzuela, Cathy Wolfe and Sandra Romero all turned in ballots.

Thurston County is Obama County (and what it means)

May 11, 2009 / / 0 Comments


John McCain only won 31 of the nearly 300 precincts in Thurston County.

Just a few thoughts:

1. The Republican ticket won just two precincts in urban northern Thurston County, one in Lacey and one in Tumwater. Those should be written off because between the two, McCain/Palin netted just over 50 votes, they were tiny precincts. Democrats rock urban Thurston County.

2. While Republicans dominated in the south eastern portion of Thurston County, their rural dominance isn’t repeated everywhere. The most lacking area is the northeast section, or the Thurston County portion of the 35th LD. Which is a major part of the newly interesting 3rd Thurston County Commissioner district.

3. That said, given all the red around Rochester, if a Republican can unseat a Democrat in that commissioner district, it will be from the south up.

4. In the east of Thurston County, I was surprised by how well the top of the Republican ticket did in an around Yelm. That might help explain how Randi Becker upset the lone elected Dem in the 2nd LD out there. Might also be a warning to newly elected Democratic county commissioner Sandra Romero. If the Republicans take that race seriously and put up one of their own that actually has a chance (instead of getting behind the least bad Democrat), they might have a chance out there.

Karen Valenzuela wins Democratic nomination for county commissioner

May 5, 2009 / / 0 Comments

The most interesting part of the nominating convention for the county commissioner position up for election next fall was that it was boring.

Barring Erik Landaas running into the room saying he changed his mind, no one expected anyone to challenge Karen for the nomination. This doesn’t mean a Democrat won’t end up filing against Karen (I guess one already has), but they would do so without the expressed support of the party organization.

Not that I’m saying that would matter, I think the conventions on their own are crap.

But, that nomination sure seems to matter. Jon Halvorson learned that in a much more conservative district just recently.

Local green party seen better days

March 15, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Patrick Mendendez would like to think the local Green Party is an alternative worth supporting, but they probably need something to bring them off of life support. They failed to even get a quorum to their recent organizational meeting:

NOTE — a follow-up meeting was planned in two weeks time; however, we did not achieve a quorum at that meeting and the organizers have dropped their efforts for the time being.

This is probably the worst time ever for the even-more-liberal-than-the-Democratic party in Thurston County to be falling on hard times. They have so many built in advantages, at least electorally speaking.

The Top Two primary, at least theoretically, could put them in the general election in two upcoming elections. I haven’t heard of any Republican candidate at all in the upcoming Thurston commissioner race. And, in the fall of 2010 there will be an open seat in the 22nd LD.

Erik Landaas kicks off outside the district

February 24, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Erik Landaas is running for county commissioner in the third commissioner district, but he’s starting his campaign way outside the district way over east in the Lacey Community Center.

And, his website is ugly too. Frames? Seriously?!

Here’s a short list of locations Landaas could have considered:

  • The Viewpoint room at Tugboat Annies.
  • The Black Lake Grange Hall.
  • Practically any bar, restaurant or pizza joint in Tumwater.
  • El Sarape, for example, has a big back room. Its on Capitol Way in Tumwater.
  • Ballyhoos. Nice place.
  • Erik Landaas’s house. He lives in the district!

I know, the seat is elected by the entire county in the general, but he first has to win the primary, which is elected by the district. And, at least theoretically, commissioners are elected to represent their districts. So it sends a bad message to not start running in your district.

Yes, Karen Valenzuela’s appointment by the governor was totally legal

February 4, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Twitter 1,
constitutional reference book authors/attorney general’s office/county prosecutor 0

Thanks to this, I can safely say that the intent of Amendment 52 (through Senate Joint Resolution 24) to our state’s constitution absolutely gives the governor the authority to appoint a new county commissioner, if the a new one can’t be chosen through the local level.

A twitter angel pointed me to the collection of voters pamphlets on the Secretary of State’s website. And, if you look at the pamphlet from 1968, you find a clear description of SJR 24:

Pages From Voters Pamphlet 1968 Kingco 2007 000806

Nice.

Was Amendment 52 a minor edit? No, I don’t think so. It overturned Munro v. Todd. Either way, the county commission took care of business yesterday.

Was Karen V’s appointment legal?
Trying to explain why Karen Valenzuela was legally appointed

Trying to explain why Karen Valenzuela was legally appointed

February 3, 2009 / / 0 Comments

UPDATE (Wednesday, February 4): Yes, legal.

The lawyers that can actually explain to me why this is bunk are either not explaining or haven’t gotten back to me. But, from a Socratic exchange of emails with someone who should’ve been able to supply a straight answer, I’m figuring the whole problem out.

The problem lies in trying to prove that Amendment 52 passed two years after Munro v. Todd (which said the governor has no authority to appoint a county commissioner) gave the governor the authority to usurp the authority of the county commission.

The current RCW seems to assume this authority exists. But, I can’t find any historic record that indicates that the point of Amendment 52 was to give that authority to the governor. That said, the only thing left to do is to compare the section of the state constitution before and after the Amendment to see if the changes indicate that intent.

And, by the way, in writing this out, I can pretty much say that “The Washington State Constitution, A Reference Guide” misstates it’s title. It is not a great reference guide. It makes a huge mistake in implying the governor doesn’t have the authority to name a county commissioner.

So, here is a line by line comparison of the 1956 version of Article II, Sec 15 of the state constitution and the 1968 version (that followed Munro v. Todd):

I’m not a lawyer, so I’m not confident in saying that the new paragraph inserted by a statewide vote in 1968 was aimed at solving the problem presented by Munro v. Todd. I also haven’t been able to find anything like a history or newspaper article that says that was in the intent or effect of the Amendment.

But, there it is. This settles it in my mind, but I would also like a more definitive answer by someone trained in such things like Washington State constitutional law.

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