Category: Uncategorized (Page 49 of 49)

Portland in the hunt, not in the hunt. Well I don’t care. Go Monterrey!

I guess it all depends on how you spin it:

Spun well.

Not spun.

I’m having trouble with Jim Francesconi’s candidacy for mayor. The actions of his campaign and his record as a city councilor raise doubts about his ability to be our city’s CEO.

First is his inability to collect the money owed to the city while head of the Bureau of Licensing. According to the bureau’s new director over 10,000 businesses failed to pay their city taxes and over $10 million was lost during Francesconi’s watch. That money would have done a lot to close our city’s budget shortfall.

Plus, he was given access to office space used by the Ball Janik law firm to raise funds. He first failed to report it as an in kind contribution on his campaign finance report, and when once he was caught he amended his report saying that the contribution was worth only $160.

These are the actions of a poor manager.

Humor overload, must mock… Too many jokes

“I applaud the people that are trying to save species that are endangered,” said Gretchen Borck, a lobbyist with the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. “But it might be good that we don’t have dinosaurs now. We’ve gotten oil from the dinosaurs. If we had preserved the dinosaur, we wouldn’t have that oil.”

I’m going to go out on a limb here.

Dave Ross should not run for Congress in the 8th District.

Dan almost got me with his carpet bagger logic a couple of days ago, but my reason is much more simple. We already have a decent candidate in the 8th: Alex Alben.

He’s an ex-RealMedia executive. If you haven’t noticed, we’re doing an ok job electing those types to higher office.

And, he’s already been endorsed by the entire Democratic delegation, plus the sitting Democratic gov. Now, why does the Democrat State Chairman start recruiting another candidate when all the other dems are already lining up behind the guy we already have? That’s my biggest problem with this, we already have a guy.

Two more reasons:

Who is Dave Ross? I know he’s been on the radio for a really long time, and generally agrees with most of what I believe, but there is more to being a Congressman that having decent political views.

Its May. The primary is in September and Alben has already raised $500,000. And, we’re likely facing sheriff I Caught the Green River Killer Dave Reichert in November. I think a Ross and Alben will do more damage to each other than Reichert will endure from his three primary foes. By running Ross against an already strong Dem, we’re weakening ourselves.

Tre Arrow is Not a Terrorist

Let me make one thing perfectly clear, Tre Arrow is a spoiled little brat who was always more interested in his own fame than in the movement he claimed to represent. This is a guy who used a pickup borrowed from the mother of one of his accomplices to torch some log trucks up at Eagle Creek. Plus, he just got caught in Canada trying to shoplift bolt cutters. These are not the actions of a rational decision maker.

Tre is a vandal, and he’s also an arsonist. But he’s not a terrorist. Terrorists kill people indiscriminately. Tre just burned up some equipment. Stupid? Yeah. Immature? You bet. Give the logging industry ammunition to attack environmentalists with? You better believe it. But that’s not terrorism.

Terrorism involves the indiscriminant destruction of human life. It’s about making people afraid to go about their lives because they fear for their safety. Does anyone honestly think that a bunch of big, strong, country loggers would be afraid of a skinny little hippy like Tre? Forget about it. But if you check the USA PATRIOT act for the definition of terrorism it says anyone who tries to force the government to change its policies is a terrorist. It makes no distinction between violent and non-violent force. So, according to the letter of the law, civil disobedience can be defined as terrorist activity.

So Tre gets labeled an eco-terrorist. Removing violent action from the definition of terrorism makes the concept slippery and hard to pin down. This cheapens the meaning of the term, and could turn into a situation where the war against terrorism becomes the war against anyone the government can get away with calling a terrorist.

Three quick reasons why Portland shouldn’t get the Expos

1. These noodlehead couldn’t even keep a Triple-A team running. You’re going to trust them with a major league franchise?

2. Take away from the Mariners. I love the M’s, and with Oregon, they have one of the top-10 media markets in the country, including all the way down to northern California, Alaska, and out to Montana. Take away Portland, we lose a lot.

3. Mexico deserves it. We expanded to Canada in the 60s, why has it taken so long to get into S. America? Monterey is 1,230 miles from Los Angeles and 891 miles from Phoenix (if we put the spos in the West) and only 413 miles from Houston (if they’re in the Central). By comparison, Seattle is 954 miles from LA, 680 miles from Oakland and 1683 miles from Dallas. Also, 3.6 million live in the Monterey metro area.

Thurston County Young Democrats
Local Candidates Forum
September 21, 2005

Here are my notes from the Thurston County Young Democrats local candidates’ forum. I missed some stuff, but I wrote down what I thought was pretty interesting.

I also heard tonight that the TC-Pro Net/SPEECH forum was being cancelled.

It was about 8:28 before I noticed that Sam Hunt was sitting behind me.

Brendan Williams moderates “Democracy is alive and well in Thurston County, and especially in

General question – what are young people interested in from your POV and how would you get young folks involved?

Paul Telford

Not having thought about this for several years

YP are very busy

Young people end up leaving the community, I didn’t come to any conclusions, we need a group of younger people to come up and replace us because we’re kind of busy

Ed Stanley

Housing, parks and recreation, expand job opportunities

Steve Pottle

Get involved, stay involved young

The environment, they’re interested in salmon habitat, they’re interested in cleaning up Cascade Pole. Parks a rec opportunities.

Carlos Perez – you want a place that is going to be nice, that is going to have the amenities that you want as you grow older. The port should be making money

Lacey

John Darby – while Lacey is a good community

Restore salmon habitat in Woodland, restored every salmon spawning bed in Woodland Creek.

Dick Yates – I used to see Salmon come up behind St. Martins, and I would like to see that happen again. I think it’s a great community, but I think it can be better

Continue to grow.

Olympia

Karen Messmer – volunteer, advisory board, community groups, people need to find their passion about what they want to do for the community.

Jeff Kingsbury – almost primarily because I work with young people, which make sure

I want to make sure we are conscious about leaving a legacy, that our environment is protected, a community where everyone feels welcome.

I want a community where young people want to invest in the future. This is a community for everyone who lives here

Doug Mah – environmental issues, good programs so the kids bring that home to the parents. His daughter is apparently involved in the South Sound GREEN program, an educational.

Being involved in Stream Team, People for Puget Sound, and therefore getting involved in the

Phyllis Booth – Is there more pressure to be a consumer or a citizen. One of the reasons she decided to run was to help create more pressure to be citizens.

She flubbed the JFK line but was helped out “ask not what Olympia can do for you, but what you can do for Olympia.”

A new spirit in Olympia that way

I see myself as a protector, not accepting any more than $100, because she sees young people saying that if they don’t have money, then you can’t get involved in the political process.

Andy Kapowitz – Joe is the youngest person on the city council, 32. Sustainability is the hallmark of Joe’s campaign.

Through leadership opportunities, through volunteer activities in private

Steve Klein for Yelm Mayor, the youngest manager of a fortune 50 company.

The young people of Yelm are looking for something to do, Drew Harvey theater, when are you going to give us a place to share our talents, we have no facility out there

Lightening round

Do we need a public swimming pool? Green, except Darby

Create projects that would compete with business, such as conference center? Only Hyer, Mah yes

JK no on the vote question

Should schools allow partisan political speech? All green but Yates and Telford

Did you attend public school, all but Darby

Should schools charge for extra-curricular activities? Significant reds

Increase tuition for wealthy students, so poorer students would have more scholarships? People gave up on that one

Tax deductions grants for young home ownership? All green

Have you used pubic transit recently? Split

Has there been gas price gouging? All green

Do we need public parking garages? All green but Booth

Should schools offer medically accurate sex ed? All green but Darby Yates, and Telford

Did you support gay civil rights bill? Green but for Darby Yates, Telford and Perez

Do you support the smoking ban initiative? Mostly green.

Describe yourself in three words

Darby – integrity, involved and young

Kingsbury — Enthusiastic, progressive and fair

Messmer, determined, patient and experienced

Pottle, leader, decision maker

Mah, professional balanced and active

Hyer, balanced, enthusiastic and well-prepared

Booth, integrity, dedicated and humorous,

Telford, fiscally conservative and

Yates – energetic

Perez – integrity, experience

Safe downtown, trouble bars?

Kingsbury – we have in our recent past a particular night club contributing to a real black time in our history. I think that we need to be a little more aggressive in saying that is inappropriate. There is a significant problem with that club and that club alone.

Messmer – I don’t disagree with Jeff, possibly emphasis patrols from police. From downtown residents there are noise issues.

Mah – I think we can do more, do more working with our state partners, working with the Department of corrections and the liquor control board. Work with the ODA, developing a business improvement district

Hyer – By making downtown a place where everyone wants to be. Giving support to law enforcement, this isn’t solely the city’s responsibility (depend on state), and giving incentives to developing a broader business base.

Booth – If we use our tax money responsible we won’t have to cut cops, library time and community. As far as the Bar Code, we need to hold those businesses accountable.

Permanent housing for homeless residents?

Darby – we look at is as a regional problem. Lacey will house the cold weather shelter. (comment from the crowd, 9 homeless camps, 124 homeless people). Sat down quickly after that.

Mah – We provided a lone to CCS and Bread and Roses for a shelter. Behavioral Health resources for chronically mentally ill housing in Tumwater. Continue to build partnerships. No break in

Hyer – The central role for government to provide a safety net. Joe has served as a board member for the Cold and Hungry solution, but it isn’t going to be a totally public solution. Such as providing affordable housing.

Booth – I haven’t been too impressed by the city council. Bread and Roses came to the council for a grant to continue their lease and the city declined. She reminded the failed car camping ordinances.

How to get young people involved in the political process?

Steve Klein – There is a program for high school students to audit the city council meetings.

Booth – I’m already drawing out youth, my son has already campaigned for her at Oly HS. There are boy scout troops coming into the city council and watching how it happens.

Hyer’s man – Educating youth of what the civic process is about. Attend meetings, we don’t have enough young people involved. You don’t have to have a vote to make a difference.

Mah – Get kids involved in city sponsored activities. Adding a student position to the advisory committees. Speaking to classes.

Pottle – One in four jobs is related to port jobs. Port of Tacoma has put together a program educating students about the value of ports, which he would like to modify for Olympia. Putting students on advisory committees.

Messmer – As member of planning commission, she helped develop the land-use game, which has brought land-use decisions into the classrooms.

Kingsbury – its not enough to encourage you, but you need to help bring young people involved in politics. He did a really good job making this point.

Darby – All the boards and commissions in Lacey have a voting student member. Apologized for screwing up the homeless question. Wants to waive fees for habitat for humanity homes so they can be $10,000 cheaper.

In Lace why do Lake Lois and Woodland Creek run dry?

Dick Yates – When I was a kid we used to have salmon running up behind St. Martins College. We need to have growth in there, but not necessarily

Darby – He doesn’t know. Might have something to do with an old ditch district problem. But, the city is looking into it.

In Yelm how do you balance population growth and resources?

Klein – The city needs to look at growth harder than they have been. There is also a looming water problem.

For Port commission (Stanley left early) How can Ports serve their commerce roles while minimizing impacts on local communities?

Pottle – rail instead of roads.

Teleford – Port is addressing the traffic issues in downtown Olympia.

Perez – Any time you make a decision, you need to be aware of the environmental impacts, that you have a legacy to leave. You have to live with it for… the rest of your life that the lead agency not be the port.

Do you support I-912?

Darby – I have a family with two kids, and I’m voting with my family budget and he is voting no.

Kingsbury – I don’t have a choice, I do support the gas tax, I think it’s critical for us to be prepared. I do not support the repeal.

Messmer – Doesn’t support the repeal. Its not just the gas that is costing us, the environmental impact. She does with that more of the tax was dedicated to alternatives.

Pottle – Does not support I-912, and the fact that we don’t have more roads or mass transit right now is from a lack of forethought.

Mah – Does not support repeal, it would hurt local projects.

Hyer’s man – Repealing a gas tax is not the right choice. There isn’t enough being done for alternatives.

Booth – She has mixed feelings. Why are we coming up with taxes when we still don’t plan well? Different modes of transportation, but we need to be realistic about it.

Steve Klein – doesn’t support repeal. Its time to change our thoughts about fuel.

Telford – It was very wise the way the tax was put forward. So, I’m not really sure how he’s voting.

Yates – support repeal because poor people can’t afford the new gas tax.

Perez – the infrastructure has to be paid for.

If you had a superpower what would it be?

Perez – The live 250 year or more, so he could see the growth, so he see the changes.

Yates – be able to create world peace

Telford – leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Super memory, the first was a joke.

Klein – To be able see the future.

Booth –

Hyer’s man – To be able to see the future.

Mah – Manipulate the past, so he could make up for past mistakes.

Pottle – To be able to have a super power to make a super education system.

Messmer – To save the world and save the environment, end

Kingsbury – Wishes he could be invisible, whimsically. Would like split second travel, hates being in cars. Power of compassion, power to lead.

Darby – Batman! If you look at Batman, he didn’t have superpowers, he had what he had and he still changed the world.

If you notice a difference, hell if you notice this at all, you can tell I’m snarky.

Resolution for Washington State Democratic Party

WHEREAS, the attempt to encourage non-presidential year’s caucuses by moving the meeting time from Tuesday night to Saturday daytime was not sufficient in 2006 to increase attendance, and,

WHEREAS, the Thurston County Democrats spent time and money to promote the 2006 Precinct Caucus, only to experience a low turnout.

This included:

-over $3,000 for caucus rentals,

-A minimum of 40 hours of volunteer-time from each TCD Executive Committee member,

-Thousands of individual postcards by PCOs (at their own expense) to the Democrats in their precinct.

To experience:

– Only 380 attendees – less then 8% turnout compared to 2004.

– Less then one-quarter of the 1318 allocated-delegates elected (only 296).

– 111 precincts, out of 267, with NO attendance (not even a PCO!)

WHEREAS, the informal Topic Sessions held by the Thurston County Democrats prior to the Caucuses had significant attendance, and, at lower costs.

BE IT RESOLVED, that the Thurston County Democratic Convention request the State Democratic Party cancel any plans for a 2010 non-presidential year Precinct Caucuses, allowing County Committee to plan other local events during March.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the State Democratic Party may use other means to determine non-presidential year platforms or policies (through State Committee people, PCOs, Active Democrats, or such.)

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Thurston County Democrats forward this resolution to the Resolutions Committee for the June 2006 Washington State Democrats Convention.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Thurston County Democrats requests that the TCD Executive Committee send a copy of this resolution to other County Committees for their consideration.