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Category: Thurston County Democrats (Page 7 of 10)

What we should have done (sham nominating conventions)

April 24, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Instead of putting on sham nominating conventions across Washington State, we Dems should have done something different. Well, we shouldn’t have sued to overturn 872 in the first place.

But, we could have become more relevant on our own term type organizations, rather than forcing our way into relevancy. Rather than writing my point all over again, I’ll just quote myself:

The most blistering attack on the Top Two is that it hurts parties, and therefore hurts democracy. I’d agree that parties are good for Democracy, but the kinds of parties that are built for closed primaries are not the kinds of parties people are seeking to join. In essence, we need parties that are built for people that tried to get their friends to vote a certain way and put bumper stickers on their cars, but didn’t attend a political meeting.

As politics is becoming less traditional, moving out into the world of personal relationships, so do the parties (or at least the Democratic Party does, I don’t really care what the Republicans do).

I like the ideas of the Blue Tiger Democrats in this regard. They say the local parties should be as interested in civic engagement on the local level as they are with winning elections. The more people see the Democratic Party itself as a force for good, the way you see the Shriners or the Lions, and less as an organization that sues to overturn a popular initiative and win elections for the sake of winning elections, the better.

Granted, the Top Two primary is gone and was obviously unconstitutional. But, I would have loved to see the party that thrived under those conditions. How would you have built a party, with broad participation, if you had an open primary system?

An Obama alternate delegate from Thurston County wrote this blistering attack on us (political party types) after going through the caucus process:

And, more to the point, I was constantly on the verge of asking why a party that self-styles itself “Democratic” completely fails to choose its nominee in a democratic manner. The caucus system itself is already designed to disenfranchise more people than necessary. [While I acknowledge the limitations of a traditional primary vote, it at least has the advantage of not turning away those with disabilities (the caucus I attended was decidedly wheelchair-unfriendly), those with jobs that require their presence on Saturday mornings, and those who are not particularly interested in sitting around for several hours to cast a vote.]

…

But that’s the wrong impulse. The right response, after learning more about how fucked up the political system in this country, is to want to limit as much as possible the amount of sway political parties have. I want the Thurston Democrats and Republicans to have as much political power as the Thurston County Economic Development Council or the League of Women Voters. In other words, take the political parties out of politics. Let the people decide with as few or as many filters as they want.

Limit as much as possible the amount of sway political parties have. Local parties with as much power as the EDC or League of Women Voters.

This isn’t death, we can live and thrive in a world like that.

That’s what is happening anyway (see this link again) and the lawsuits against the Top Two are the reaction of an entrenched political bureaucracy against changing times.

People already are engaging in politics in ways that are contrary to how political parties operate. If we want to be relevant, we should stop trying to force people into closed primaries and meet them where they’re at.

“Nominating conventions” are baloney, B.S., horse puckey

April 23, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Thurston County Dem chair John Cusick (a great guy I don’t envy right now), explaining to one particular PCO (who passed on the email) the difference between the need to “nominate” a candidate in a contested local Dem race and why that isn’t an “endorsement.”

In reaction to the Top Two primary, the state party is forcing local organizations into a sham process so they can set up a lawsuit:

With regard to the Thurston County Democrats, this simply reaffirms our long-standing policy with regard to endorsements: we do not do them before primary elections, but we may provide campaign services support.

This does not affect the “nominating convention” meetings we have scheduled for next Monday. While endorsements are an expression of further support, nominations propose someone as a candidate. As I have continued to state, our nomination of one candidate among two we support does not in any way diminish our support of both candidates. (emphasis mine)

We must provide the name of a nominee for each county partisan position to the Washington State Democrats in order to preserve the asserted legal right of Democrats to select their nominees. If we do not do so, the State Party Chair will simply select one for us. (emphasis mine)

The candidates involved have mutually agreed to do this quickly with minimal fanfare. The nomination is simply to preserve a legal right, it will not constitute an endorsement or any other elevated form of support.

My first thought is that we don’t nominate anyone. If the state party is forcing us to make a meaningless nomination, then let them make the meaningless nomination.

These nominating conventions are a sham process to put forward an “official” Dem candidate for the ballot so we can sue to overturn Top Two after the election when that nomination was recognized.

Democratic Party Nominating Conventions in Thurston County

April 21, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Questions and Answers from Thurston County Dems on our nominating conventions (via email):

Why Are We Doing This?

In a nutshell, because we have been directed to do so by the Washington State Democrats (WSD). Following the recent US Supreme Court decision on the “top two” primary, the WSD legal team determined that all Democratic county party organizations in Washington State need to consistently identify a nominee for all partisan county positions in order for the WSD to maintain its asserted rights for Democrats to select their nominees.

In Commissioner District 1, this is unlikely to pose any particular difficulty, since we are only aware of one candidate running as a Democrat, incumbent Commissioner Cathy Wolfe. However, in Commissioner District 2, we have two candidates running as Democrats, Jon Halvorson and Sandra Romero. Since we support them both, we appealed to the WSD to be allowed to nominate two candidates in cases where we have two known qualified Democrats running for one position. We lost our appeal and are now simply complying with the legal requirements.

We believe it is best for all Democrats if this is done quickly and without fanfare. To continue to argue and debate this amongst ourselves will do nothing more than divide us and create unnecessary and unhelpful media attention.

Who Decided to Do This?

Since the US Supreme Court decision March 18, there have been many discussions and meetings among local parties and the WSD to determine what to do. Our TCD Executive Committee met to determine our best course of action following the final decision of the WSD Executive Committee April 3 that instructed all local parties with contested Democratic primary races to conduct nominating conventions prior to May 23.

After lengthy discussion and consideration of various alternatives, we decided the best course of action is to convene the PCOs in District 1 and select a nominee. Were we to fail to do so, Mr. Pelz would simply pick one for us.

What Will Be the Effect of this Nomination?

Mr. Pelz will submit the names of the nominees throughout the state to Secretary of State Reed indicating that they are the candidates who are approved Democrats for the primary ballot. We already know that Secretary Reed will not identify them as such on the ballot. The WSD will then determine whether and when to file for injunctive relief based upon the denial of its rights of association (i.e., ability to determine who represents its party). I suspect this would not occur until after the results of the general election, at earliest, and that their legal team will be seeking cases where the candidate elected was clearly not a Democrat, yet the voters thought s/he was.

In our case, the nomination will have little effect, if any.

Is this an endorsement?

No, per long-standing TCD policy, the TCD does not endorse candidates prior to primaries.

What Will We Do on the 28th?

You will each receive a ballot, the value of which is weighted by the number of precinct delegates you were eligible to elect at your precinct caucus. (This is per State Party rules with the intent to represent the varying numbers of Democratic voters in different precincts. I have attached a table of those weights.)

We only know of one Democratic candidate (Cathy Wolfe). If there are not others, Cathy may be nominated by acclimation.

If candidate speeches are necessary, they will be limited 5 minutes maximum for each candidate.

You will mark your ballot indicating one choice. (Per State Party rules, there is no vote splitting — each ballot shall be cast for one candidate only.) You will sign the back of your ballot. The ballots will be retained for 30 days in case of questions or need for review.

There will be no secondary speeches and no questions from the audience.

The votes will be tallied by a committee made up of members from other Commissioner Districts. The candidate who receives the most weighted votes, will be declared nominated and his or her name will be submitted to Mr. Pelz within 24 hours.

Will There Be Any Other Nominations on the 28th?

We will conduct a nomination for Commissioner District 2.

Legislative District 22 may also conduct nominations at a separate meeting the same night.

Again, it’s best to complete this as quickly and positively as possible, with minimal fanfare. Party unity is more important than whoever’s name ends up being forwarded as our nominee.

A couple of things I take from this:

1. There is a difference of opinion between the state and local organization (possibly more organizations? I’m sort of out of the loop lately) on the necessity and wisdom of these conventions.

2. At least in Thurston County, this is a foot dragging sort of thing and is only being done to be ok by the rules of the state party so the state organization can end up suing the state in December when the election violates the party’s right to assembly.

Basically: look we held these nominating conventions (which aren’t endorsements, btw in Thurston County) and the state still didn’t tell anyone that we nominated these guys. Talk about a violation of assembly!

Longer Sandra Romero (than the Olympian let on)

April 19, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Through the cloud of email comes a summary of what county commission candidate Sandra Romero (endorsed by me) sent to the Olympian and what the Olympian actually wrote for this article.

It was a normal side box summary of the candidate’s positions, which took some input from the candidates themselves. Apparently the nuances of Romero’s positions were muddled.

My answers to The Olympian questionnaire before they edited them.

1. Land use, hitting a balance between growth and economic development.

Growth is inevitable…. surely so here in Thurston County. We must do a much better job of guiding development. Indiscriminate ‘economic development’… indiscriminate ‘growth’… make almost all of us ‘poorer’. The community, as a whole, is unquestionably ‘the loser’ when it comes to indiscriminate ‘rapid growth’. Given Thurston County’s location, at the ever-growing southern edge of Metro Puget Sound… just any kind of growth doesn’t need to be courted here… growth is going to locate itself here, regardless of whether we court it or not. To the extent we court growth, it should be quality growth.

The challenge is for us is to retain our unique character and not become “everywhere else USA”

We need to become a community that so loves and honors what’s left of our local natural treasurers that we give ourselves a local government that will assertively, consistently, act to preserve that which cannot be replaced. Thurston County must come to grips with the vulnerability and perishability of its remaining natural environment. We can’t possibly preserve an adequate portion of natural Thurston County by simply maintaining a few County Parks and purchasing a few development rights out in the rural areas. I am a charter member of the Nisqually Land Trust and on the Advisory Council of the Capitol Land Trust and know there is not enough money to purchase all that is necessary to protect our drinking water, air quality, restore Puget Sound and protect our rivers and streams. I think we can do a better job in implementing conservation market strategies, like transfer of development rights, to preserve rural lands. We must come to realize that the only viable pathway to avoiding ‘sprawl’ and the permanent loss of irreplaceable natural settings in Thurston County… is a stand-up Thurston County government that will champion that objective, stick to that principle, and not waver in the face of short-term pressure for more tax revenues and the unrelenting pressure tactics of the “build everything everywhere right now” usually from out of county special interests. When it comes to tax burdens that result from ‘new construction’, we must require ‘new construction’ to pay for its proportionate share of increased public costs.

Olympian version:

ROMERO: Thurston County must come to grips with the vulnerability and perishability of its remaining natural environment.

I am a charter member of the Nisqually Land Trust and on the Advisory Council of the Capitol Land Trust and know there is not enough money to purchase all that is necessary to protect our drinking water, air quality, restore Puget Sound and protect our rivers and streams.

I think we can do a better job in implementing conservation market strategies, like transfer of development rights, to preserve rural lands. We must require new construction to pay for its proportionate share of increased public costs.

Romero version on county budget shortfall:

Thurston County government has some extremely serious financial problems, which are not being dealt with adequately. A really major problem is a $4.5 million budget shortfall. Not ALL of Thurston County government is in extremely serious financial shape, but certain parts of it… very vital parts… are in extremely serious financial shape. 2008 is the last ‘quiet year’ before these financial troubles become no longer postponeable.

Services that are financed by the County’s ‘general taxes’…. (the general County property tax, and the ‘general’ portions of the County sales tax)… are most certainly headed towards great financial difficulty in the years just ahead. In 2008, Thurston County government will consume several million dollars in ONE-TIME, non-replaceable reserve cash… merely in order to make it through 2008 without dramatic cutbacks. It’s possible (but not advisable) that Thurston County government could do something like that again in 2009… but doing so would be very damaging, in the long-run… because the very limited one-time cash reserves of the County are just about exhausted. Meanwhile, we hear the constant drumbeats of the needs for actually increasing&nbs p;expenditures of general taxes… primarily for the County’s Law and Justice services, which consume more than 3/4ths of total general taxes now. 2009 and 2010 will be pivotal, crucial years for Thurston County government services financed by general taxes. This community needs resolve and action now from the County Commissioners.

Amidst the difficulties, there are also opportunities. We’ve got to discover and implement every possible restructuring move that can help sustain the County government through the very tough years immediately ahead. Implementing some of the strategies of the December CTED (Dept of Community, Trade and Economic Development) report, aligning department budgets with results, enhancing budget/policy analysis capabilities, integrating budget priority settings, more frequent budget updates to the County Commissioners and a strategic plan can all help in the long run. Should cuts need to be made, they should be done with knowledge and extreme care to assure top priorities are maintained.

Olympian version:

ROMERO: Thurston County has a $4.5 million budget shortfall; 2008 is the last “quiet year” before these financial troubles become no longer postponable. We’ve got to implement every possible restructuring move to help sustain county government. Aligning department budgets with results, giving more frequent budget updates to county commissioners and having a strategic plan are several steps. Any cuts should be done to maintain top priorities.

Romero’s answer on “Public safety, crime prevention, enforcement, offender treatment.”

Thurston County government devotes every available dollar… and more… to the ongoing struggle to find money to fund the ever-increasing costs and service-levels of public safety, law and justice. For example: the County’s General Fund is tasked with financing two essential categories of public services: (1) law and justice (the sheriff, the jail, the courts), and (2) the County’s several other elected public service offices (the auditor, the assessor, the treasurer, the commissioners). However, over the past 15 years (1993 to 2008)… ALL of the County’s increases to general-tax-financed public services have gone to ONE type of Count y public service: law and justice (public safety). Thurston County’s biggest financial problem is: the inability of growth in general tax revenues to keep pace with the ever-increasing costs of the ever-expanding size of County ‘law and justice services’.

One key to this is more sensible land use policies. Our county’s development patterns have resulted in neighborhoods spread all over the County, putting a massive stress on both law enforcement and street maintenance. By concentrating this development into the urban growth area, we can cut the cost of providing infrastructure dramatically.

Olympian version:

ROMERO: In the past 15 years, all of the county’s increases to general-tax-financed public services have gone to law and justice. We can keep pace with this by concentrating development in the urban growth area to cut costs to supply public-safety services in the outlying areas.

Romero on “Roads and transportation.”

The County’s road maintenance operations are primarily financed by the Road District property tax levy, which is paid by residents of unincorporated areas. Road construction, what there is of it, is primarily financed by grants from the state and federal governments. Thurston County’s Road Department does a good job with the limited financial resources that it does have. Our local State legislators do their best to assist in funding for roads projects in Thurston County. The Department needs to redouble its efforts to leverage technology… to ensure that we get the most out of the limited financ ial resources that we have for roads and transportation.

Roads are essential to our county’s livability but we must plan carefully, design our communities to minimize the number of trips needed, and invest our limited budget in key projects that help people get from home to work, to school, to shopping, and to their other community activities.

As County Commissioner, I will promote a stronger role for the county in improving regional transportation, both within the county boundaries and between Thurston County and major destinations outside of the county, particularly to the north and the south. I’ll advocate to the state for improved freeway facilities, for more park and ride facilities, and for improved regional transit and rail opportunities.

Olympian version:

ROMERO: I would promote a stronger role for the county in improving regional transportation, both within the county boundaries and between Thurston County and major destinations outside of the county. I would advocate to the state for improved freeway facilities, for more park-and-ride facilities and for improved regional transit and rail opportunities.

Romero on :The new county jail–building, staffing and operating it. “

Among the dozens of issues facing Thurston County, it’s likely that no other issue presents the levels of difficulties, dangers and risks…. as those posed by this issue. Thurston County government does not have the financial resources to ‘operate two Jails’… doesn’t have ’em now, won’t have ’em next year, or the next. Nonetheless, the laws that require the County to incarcerate criminals make no accommodation for the ‘we can’t afford it’ problem. We must jail criminals; we have more criminals than can fit in one Jail, that’s why a second jail is being built. But the County does not have the financial capacity to operate two Jails. It’s the quintessential “rock and a hard place” situation. What Thurston County needs is a Board of County Commissioners who wi ll find the courage to make the difficult choices… choices that haven’t been made yet…. choices that must be made soon.

This problem is really emblematic of the most fundamental problem facing Washington county governments today: the missions and responsibilities of County government, long ago established and persisting to this day… are not supportable by the classic tax revenues of the County government. And Tim Eyeman’s budgeting by initiative has further aggravated the problem. Thurston County needs County Commissioners who are up to the daunting challenges and fights that lie ahead… immediately ahead. It’s going to be very tough, to get done what must be done in Thurston County government, over the next four years. The time for action has come; continued postponement will really injure the fabric of Thurston County government by deterio rating the ability of the County government to deliver needed public services.

Phasing the construction of the Accountability and Restitution Center (ARC) is a good first step. But revenues will still be needed to staff and operate the structure. All possibilities for support revenues must be put on the table for consideration or we may follow some other communities that have not been able to staff and operate their brand new facilities.

Olympian version:

ROMERO: Phasing in the construction of the Accountability and Restitution Center is a good first step. But revenues still will be needed to staff and operate the structure. All possibilities for support revenues must be put on the table for consideration, or we may follow some other communities that have not been able to staff and operate their brand-new facilities.

Culled from the herd (Or, how I learned to love descending from the pillar of power in Thurston County)

February 29, 2008 / / 0 Comments

I’m no longer a member of the Thurston County Democrats executive committee. Just as campaign season is heating up, I step back because of family commitments. I’m not looking for a slap on the back as I head to the political showers, but I did have a couple of thoughts.

Just for the folks who use me as a conduit to the insiders: I’ll be less knowledgeable for now. I’m sure you’ll find a way to deal.

I don’t like campaign season all that much. Our new 1st vice chair recently said “this is the reason we exist, to elect Democrats.” I don’t criticize her for saying this, as 1st vice, she is the supreme political operator in our operation. But, my reason for existing is to try to pull our little organization away from thinking that way.

Our reason to exist should be to give people a way to engage in the political and civic life of Thurston County. If that ends up electing Democrats, so much the better.

From Republican PCO to Democratic delegate in an afternoon

February 12, 2008 / / 0 Comments

One story from over the caucus weekend continues to intrigue me. It starts out with the crashing sounds of web servers at the Thurston County Republicans. I assume because the state party website was sending all interesting parties to county party websites for caucus locations, the Thurston Republican’s website crashed.

So, if you were an interested party on the morning of caucus Saturday, looking for your Republican location, you were sort of out of luck.

This includes on Republican Precinct Committee Officer from Olympia 15.

Now on the Democratic side, if a PCO didn’t know where his caucus was weeks before, we would be screwed. Not only did we depend on that PCO to know where the caucus would be, but to bring with him or her a manila envelop full of paperwork so he could run the caucus. No so strict on the Republican side I guess.

But, this particular Republican PCO for Olympia 15 didn’t let the failure of the internet stop him. He just went to a Democratic site and became a delegate for Obama:

I was all revved up to attend the Republican caucus as the PCO for the 215. Only I couldn’t find the place. The Thurston County Republican Party’s website was down all morning, and the information I had written down ahead of time–that I should go to the Madison Elementary School–did not appear to bear itself out in reality. I could not find the caucus’s location.

So I went with D to the Knox Administrative Center for the Democratic caucus instead.

Because there website failed, the Republicans lost a PCO who was “revved up” for the Republican caucus.

Granted, this is a guy who became a Republican PCO through the Ron Paul campaign, and then disavowed Paul because of some of the Texas Congressman’s more… uh… weird stands. Someone who probably should have been on our side anyway. But, a failure on their side nonetheless.

Fuse points the light on our bad attitude about caucuses

February 8, 2008 / / 0 Comments

One of the arguments for the caucuses back less than a year ago when we were debating which process to use was that people should get out of their houses and caucus. It wasn’t an argument about whether people would, but that it was morally better to engage in person than through a slip of paper.

Sure, I’ll agree with that. Showing up is way better in all regards of democracy. But, most folks (90 percent of voters lets say) still won’t be bothered.

But, of course everyone that voted to have the caucuses will show up, so we tend to have a holier than though attitude about this kind of stuff.

Fuse Washington shows exactly how holier than though. They put together a list of all the reasons someone can’t attend a caucus. Of course they forget about “I have to work,” but they bother to put in my wife’s reason for not going:

I don’t have childcare

Bring the kids with you! Anyone can attend the caucus (although you have to be 18 years old by election day to particpate). Then you can make them write a paper on the democratic process.

My son will be napping throughout the caucus process, so we’re under no circumstances bringing him to a crowded room full of excited Democrats. And, if we did have childcare, who do you think is providing that childcare?

Someone shut out of the caucus.

Well, I had good time at our pre-caucus forum last night

January 16, 2008 / / 0 Comments

For the second cycle in a row, the Thurston County Democrats is holding pre-caucus forums ahead of the precinct caucuses. This is basically an exercise to get people revved up for the process of writing the county platform, something that had been the domain of a party executive committee picked platform committee and the delegates that bother to come out to the county convention.

When they did this in Seattle, they called it “An experiment in open platform building.” There were a handful of areas that did this two years ago, I’m not sure if anyone else is doing it this year.

We held our first event last night at Olympia High School and will hold additional events in Yelm and Tenino.

I was surprised by the turnout, it seemed like just about 200 folks crammed into the high school commons to listen to David Domke talk about translating our beliefs into values. Domke is an interesting guy to hear, you can watch him here.

Then folks spread out into seven issue areas, crowding around lunch tables to participate in moderated open forums about what they think should be in the next platform. The topics were split by the topic headings of our last platform, so I feel very bad for Harmon Eaton, a great guy, but who moderated the “Foreign and Domestic Policy” table. Lots of people there.

Adam Wilson from the Olympian was there too, he has a report on his blog here.

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