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Category: Washington Politics (Page 12 of 27)

Only one person from the 2nd LD has endorsed Chuck Collins

May 19, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Chuck Collins may get away with the “I’m not a carpet-bagger” line long enough to make it through the primary, but I don’t think he’ll be a very strong candidate in the general.

For example, his endorsement list (pretty short as it is) only includes one person who lives inside the 2nd LD. Mayor Pro-Tem of Mill Creek?

If you look up his endorsement list on the state voter database (I don’t like the source either, but the data is accurate), only one ends up actually living in the 2nd LD.

Now, I’m all for recruiting strong candidates. And, I’m not totally against people moving with the eye of running for office some day down the road.

But, come on. Chuck is moving to Yelm simply to run for office.

Its interesting to note that LD 2 already has a couple of Democratic candidates for that same position. One of whom criticized the state party apparatus for not sending resources down south:

District 2 is known as the “abandoned child” of the State, and it is about time someone has the courage to say so, and declare, “We deserve considerably more attention, respect, and funding!”

If the current popular consensus is that District 2, a rural district, is not that important, I would say, “Where do you think the food you are going to eat for your dinner came from? I will tell you, ‘It came from a farm or a ranch!’”

I am committed to success for District 2, and hold a strong focus for the creation of jobs, protecting the environment, pursuing alternative energy resources, encouraging economic vitality for our farmers, supporting our educators and schools, and requiring accountability for our taxpayers’ dollars.

Cheryl Crist on the nominating convention

May 18, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Via email:

Here’s a report on the nominating convention for the 3rd CD Democrats:

It was handled fairly professionally. Some of the speakers who were asked to say a few words of welcome were wearing Baird stickers on their chests and one of them was Paul Barendt, who later did the speech for Brian. So, that appeared to have been an advantage to Brian. Brian wasn’t there…he’s in the Middle East again.

Dwight led the meeting and it went smoothly. We were allowed to have two observers watch the ballot counting. One was Robert Martindale and he said sometimes things went too fast for him to really see what was happening. But in general, it looked like a fair process.

Many PCO’s that I thought would be there for me stayed away or didn’t find their way to the right room. The nominating convention was not held in the gymnasium as was indicated on the postcard that some PCO’s received. I did not receive one (I have been a PCO since January) and neither did Chris Sterns and other progressives. I know nothing about how it was determined who would be invited by postcard.

Here is the result we were given: PCO’s who voted: 83. Votes for Baird: 59 Votes for Crist: 24 The weighted total was 422 to 115.

I feel pretty good about it. It means that 29% of voting PCO’s chose me after just four months of campaigning.

The process is flawed in that no mail vote was allowed or e-mail vote. To have to travel there from Skamania County or Pacific and Wahkiakum Counties was a hardship for some PCO’s especially those who are older or frail. I would suggest a notarized ballot by mail be used in the future, if we do this again.

I feel like we are learning a lot. That was good practice for me at speaking in front of a crowd, even though it wasn’t the big 3rd CD crowd…it was just the PCO’s who knew to go to the library. During that half hour I don’t know what was going on in the gymnasium where the 3rd CD delegates were meeting.

It’s okay with me for you to share this report with anyone who is interested. Thank you for all you do!

Peace and friendship,

Cheryl

Baird is the nominee, Crist not (from what I hear)

May 18, 2008 / / 0 Comments

59 votes for Baird, 24 for Crist. Not a blowout, but not an uprising either.

Now, just saying that out of a district with a population of almost 700,000, less than 100 people get to “decide” who the congressional nominee will be for a major party? Hardly the voice of the people here. Just saying.

Well, that’s over.

Here’s some background reading:
Cosmo’s Condo: Throwing Baird Out
Dkos: Brian Baird could lose the Democratic endorsement in Napavine tomorrow
Olyblog: 3rd District (WA) Democratic Nominating Convention – Napavine
OT: Cheryl Crist making a run at Rep. Brian Baird at 3rd CD nominating convention
OT: Letter from Cheryl Crist to PCOs (nominate me, please)
OT: They kicked the PCOs out of the nominating convention/caucus?

James Yee, former Gitmo chaplain, is a national delegate for Sen. Obama

May 18, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Yup, so far the biggest new I’ve heard today, James Yee is heading to Denver:

In the 9th CD, Zach Smith was elected as a Clinton delegate, and James Yee as an Obama delegate.

And, from Yee:

Next, I am extremely humbled by the support everyone in the 9th Congressional District showed me today. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! – to all those who voted for me, and for sending me to Denver. It is an honor to be reprenting our 9th Congressional District and all of you at the national convention. You all have inspired me beyond words.

They kicked the PCOs out of the nominating convention/caucus?

May 18, 2008 / / 0 Comments

What?

I don’t know the results, as they kicked us out, and although people said that they were told they were going to take them back to count them, they did in fact get two supporters from each side to help tally the vote. After the tally started, Dwight told the PCOs to leave (I’ve got more video I’m processing) so the tally committee could count the votes. I wish I could have stayed, but now I’m also frantically searching for some indication of the results. . .

I assumed Cosmo or someone else who attended the nominating convention in Napavine would have reported the result by now, but who the hell knows.

If they’re going to kick PCOs out of the caucus before they announce the “nominee” what is the point of having these votes in the first place?

So, who knows if Brian Baird is the nominee of the party? Cheryl might have actually pulled it off.

Cheryl Crist making a run at Rep. Brian Baird at 3rd CD nominating convention

May 13, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Can you imagine a world where a sitting six term Congressman doesn’t get the nomination of his party without shooting someone? Rep. Brian Baird could lose his party’s official nod if he doesn’t turn out the troops to Napavine High School on Saturday, May 17.

His opponent, peace candidate Cheryl Crist wrote letters to the Precinct Committee Officers (I’ll scan the letter I got tomorrow) in the 3rd CD asking for their support during the upcoming nominating convention. The letters came a day before the state party’s official notification

These nominating conventions are a new addition to the state’s political scene and are part of the state party’s reaction to a legal battle over the state primary election system. They don’t like being told who is going to end up on the general election ballot, so are holding conventions to express the will of the party.

The problem (or from Crist’s point of view, the benefit) of the nominating conventions is that they express the will of a handful of PCOs, not the Democratic voting public in general. I expect Crist to get a good portion of the vote next Saturday, if not win the nomination all-together.

Recently, Baird has had a good track record of turning large anti-war crowds that are against his decision to support the Surge:

If the PCOs that can turnout to a rural high school on short notice are still anti-Baird, its likely that he won’t get the official party nod this time around.

LDs rebel and another party thought

May 6, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Amen brothers:

The 36th District Executive board met last Thursday and decided that the use of a handful of PCOs, some of whom were appointed, was too undemocratic a way to choose a party nominee when there were so many thousands of people interested in the political process this cycle.

Interesting note on the role of parties:

And state law does not allow nominations or endorsements by interest groups, political action committees, political parties, labor unions, editorial boards or other private organizations to be printed on the ballot.

Up until now, political parties have served a quasi-public role in elections. While they were private organizations with free association rights, the nominees that they chose appeared on the general election ballot. But, now the secretary of state has put them with other private organizations that are involved in elections.

Washington State DOT does not use forced labor

May 2, 2008 / / 0 Comments

I wonder whyyyyyyy Washington State can’t get such a good deal on construction projects as the People’s Republic of China?? It is simply baffling.

At least to Michael Ennis at the Washington Policy Center:


 Can someone explain why China can build a 6-lane, 22 mile bridge for $1.7 billion, but Washington leaders can’t build a 6-lane 520 span between 405 and I-5 for less than $4 billion?

I’m just going to assume that a Chinese concrete guy doesn’t make nearly as much, or enjoy the same labor protections, as a union concrete guy from Burien.

From “One Year of My Blood” Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in Beijing:

Once hired, the lives of migrant construction workers, like those of most migrant workers in Beijing, become closely tied to their employer. Employers generally house construction workers in dormitory-style dwellings on the construction site or nearby and provide meals for the workers at food canteens in exchange for a daily wage deduction of seven to 10 Yuan (US$0.93 to US$1.33). The majority of the workers we interviewed complained that the quantity and quality of the food provided by their employers was inadequate to sustain them for their daily long hours of hard physical labor.

And a press release on the report:

“[We] workers ended up with less than 20 Yuan (US$2.67) per day, and on top of that we’d be deducted eight Yuan (US$1.07) per day for living costs; how are workers supposed to survive [on such low wages]?”

That’s the ticket to our state’s transportation problem!

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