August 22, 2007 by Bravo.

The McMorris Rodgers 2008 campaign is out of the gates more than a year early this time. And she’s making full use of our tax dollars to pay for it. McMorris Rodgers visited Walla Walla on Wednesday (August 22) for a town hall meeting.

Of course meeting announcements were printed in full color and mailed on the congressional franking privilege at taxpayer expense. She brought a staff of four to the meeting (at whose expense?). The meeting was held at 1:30 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon for the convenience of workers in the area. And she took the opportunity to collect names and addresses for her monthly newsletter.

But more than 120 locals skipped work and turned out, most with some bone to pick—from vets and peace activists to medical marijuana users and reproductive rights advocates.

McMorris Rodgers took questions in writing only, so she could pick and choose which to respond to. And to her credit, she has learned to dance lightly around a number of issues with the help of Frank Luntz and his political bromides—working in references to the “death tax” and the “Healthy Forests” initiative.

And she gave us, once again, the “happy Iraq” story, praising benchmarks that have been set and met there and promising no long-term military presence.

One of the toughest questions came from a Planned Parenthood representative who asked why she had voted to cut funding for the organization. McMorris Rodgers responded that she’s pro-life and doesn’t support federal funding for these types of organizations. The questioner persisted asking where the 3,000 people who currently use Planned Parenthood services in the area were supposed to go. McMorris Rodgers just buried her head in the next card.

Posted in 2008, Walla Walla, Campaigns, Fifth CD, Cathy McMorris | 1 Comment »

June 15, 2007 by Bravo.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, apparently wants to keep the region’s veterans from getting the care they need. The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin reports that Craig is criticizing an appropriations bill that would actually fund the much-ballyhooed vets outpatient clinic at the VA in Walla Walla. Cathy McMorris Rodgers couldn’t wait to pose for photos with VA Secretary Jim Nicholson last summer when he announced plans for the clinic at a surprise visit.

But it is Sen. Patty Murray who is making the right moves for local vets. Her office is reporting passage of a $3 billion appropriation bill for VA improvements. Part of that bill will move the clinic construction project up on the list of priorities for funding in 2009.

A group of vets and community members, called the Walla Walla Community VA Taskforce, meets monthly to check on progress in restoring services that the hospital has lost in recent years. The 20-member group continues to push for 24/7 emergency services and inpatient hospital beds.

Murray’s appropriations bill next goes into House-Senate negotiations, and vets here are hopeful of a presidential signature by August.

The new director of the Walla Walla and Spokane VA hospitals, Sharon Helman, met with the taskforce Thursday to talk about upcoming plans. She reported that documents have been signed to provide local vets with VA-funded emergency hospital services at the downtown hospitals in Walla Walla. Since the VA emergency room was closed, some local vets have faced long delays and denials in getting VA benefits for emergency services at area hospitals.

The taskforce also got word today that John King, the director of Veterans Affairs for Washington State, has submitted to Congress a bill for approval of a joint effort of the state and the VA to establish an 80-patient nursing home at the VA in Walla Walla.

Vets in Southeastern Washington were promised by two VA directors that all lost services would be restored. They are still waiting for the fulfillment of that promise, especially for emergency and hospital care. Thanks to the efforts of Sen. Murray and others, they have some reason for hope.

You can bet Larry Craig and his cronies will be squealing like stuck pigs at the next vote to bring troops home from Iraq. Yet they don’t seem to want to stand and deliver when it comes to paying the real costs of Bush’s war.

Posted in Idaho, Walla Walla, Rural, Iraq, Rants, Cathy McMorris | No Comments »

June 13, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

This just in! Well not really. This news came in about two months ago, and I wasn’t blogging back then, but apparently John Ahern thinks the people of Spokane are idiots. If you read his press release from March 26th (found here), he has statements from “area residents,” who are none other then party leaders for the Spokane GOP. He mentions Curt Fackler “of Spokane” who just happens to be the Spokane County Republican Party Chair. Gee, that’s real concern in the Spokane area for Washington State’s budget, a partisan politician quoting concern from a partisan party leader. What comes next? Robin Ball, a gun store owner, who according to her employees (right before I got kicked out for mentioning Peter Goldmark) is personal friends with Cathy McMorris.

Curt Fackler, the aforementioned Spokane GOP chair, is so far out in right field that he invited the founder of the Minuteman Project, Jim Gilchrist, to Spokane for the local GOP Lincoln Day dinner. Gilchrist told local Repuglicans that “It’s OK to say ‘rapist,’ ‘robber’ and ‘murder,’ and it’s OK to say ‘illegal alien’ – not ‘undocumented worker.’” (Source: Spokesman Review). Who in their right mind tolerates this racist, hateful rhetoric?

Thanks Curt! Thanks for trying to make Spokane such a tolerant and nice place to live.

The comments Ms. Ball made however are so terribly inaccurate it’s sickening. Unfortunately, I think some of these poor folks have been so brainwashed that they can’t even form their own opinions. While Robin does mention the typical tax-and-spend Democratic mantra that Republicans love, she fails to mention that the REPUBLICANS for the last 6 years have allowed free-fall spending and budgeting in this country, putting the United States further into debt then it has ever been. So instead of “tax-and-spend Democrats” (which is a myth) we had borrow-and-spend Repuglicans.

So what do you take us for John Ahern? Idiots? Half-wits? All it takes is an occasional glance at the Spokesman Review to know who these people are. If you are trying to represent concern in the community regarding the state budget, try and use anonymous Republicans, not your own party big whigs. This will make you slightly more believable, but only slightly.

So, in the long run, which option is really better for this country?

**In an update Shannon Ball is also the former county GOP Chair, she served during the 2004 election cycle.**

Posted in Spokane GOP, Washington, Spokane, Cathy McMorris | 8 Comments »

June 12, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

I was the recipient of a pretty interesting email that was forwarded to me yesterday. Written by someone within the state Democratic party, the party official was asked about who would be running for Congress here in the Fifth. The response was that the party would be asking Chris Marr to run for Congress. If he wasn’t willing to run now then ask him to MAYBE consider running in 2010 or 2012? This is an interesting possibility and one that has definite potential.

Marr could give McMorris a definite run for her money. If Marr can get past the city slicker aura and reach out to rural communities, then this race will be as dangerous to McMorris as Bush is to the free world. He has the fundraising structure in place, more importantly, that fundraising base is centered here in Spokane. This is something recent candidates for the Fifth Congressional District have notoriously had problems with. Combine the ability to raise money in Spokane, with money that will surely flow in from the coast, and Marr will hit Cathy McMorris hard right out the gate.

Chris won’t face name recognition problems that many candidates in the past have had. Chris ran a lot of television ads in 2006 for his State Senate seat. These ads ran through almost the entire Congressional District as the Spokane television market covers from Okanogan county all the way down to Asotin county. The ads will be fresh in the minds of district residents when they start to hear his name come up as the campaign cycle kicks off.

Best of luck Chris, we know with your work ethic and your character you will do us proud!

In other news, there also seems to be some credence to the rumor that Cathy may not seek re-election after all. She may have just hired a campaign manager to keep a presence and also to meet her fundraising needs for the R.N.C.C. At this point I suspect her fundraising goals are fairly steep, considering the scramble the Republican party is in to regain power. So keep an ear to the ground and see what you hear, maybe we’ll learn that Cathy will step aside and let a more qualified individual represent our district.

Posted in Spokane, Campaigns, Fifth CD, Cathy McMorris | 9 Comments »

June 2, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

The left has never been accused of being particularly nice to Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, but we can’t help but sympathize with the situation she is presently in. She has consistently voted to cut special education spending, and put children with disabilities across the country at a disadvantage.
Cathy announced on Thursday that her son, Cole McMorris-Rodgers has been diagnosed with Down Syndrome. I truly hope that it is not a severe case and that he will grow up to lead a happy and for the most part normal life. I also hope that this will give Cathy a different perspective on one of the many social issues she has neglected during her time in public office. My thoughts are with Cathy, her husband, and most of all Cole.
However, despite giving birth a month early, and this latest revelations Cathy is still very much in the game (despite rumors to the contrary). On May 1st (just days before her son was born) Cathy’s new campaign manager arrived in Spokane, his name is Lonny (lonny@cathyforcongress.com). He has been seen at parades all around the region with Cathy’s father, Wayne McMorris. She has clearly decided that 2008 will not be a repeat of 2006 where Peter Goldmark caught her with her pants down and she had to pull out every stop in order to beat him (Tax Man anyone?). He is working 40 hours a week and attempting to develop a grass-roots network so that Cathy can glide to an easy re-election.
This serves as a warning to the residents of Eastern Washington. We may not have a candidate yet, but that sure as hell isn’t stopping Cathy from running against the Democrats in general. I would expect that Cathy will probably begin doing mailers when she is home in August, and probably doing several fundraisers (she still has around 100k in the bank from the last time round) to build her war chest and be ready to character assassinate anyone who runs against her.
On another note, I’d love to know who the Spokane County Democrats have been talking to regarding running against Cathy this time round. I know that despite popular rumor Dr. Goldmark is choosing to run for a different elected position in this cycle, one that will definitely suit him. I’ve heard rumors that Chris Marr is thinking about a run against her as he is not up for re-election until 2010 which means even if he loses to Cathy he isn’t down and out. I’d love to hear some names kicked around and maybe even a firm announcement before the end of the summer. Whoever it is will definitely be playing catch-up in the money game with Cathy starting this early.

That’s all for now folks,
Stuck in Spokane

Posted in Campaigns, Fifth CD, Cathy McMorris | 1 Comment »