December 10, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

Chris Gregoire has an important deadline coming up, a blackout period during which she cannot raise money for her re-election campaign, this is due to the legislature going into session. She has put out a plea to good Democrat’s to help her maintain her fundraising lead over Dino Rossi, and I for one intend to help her maintain that lead.

Click Here to Contribute to Chris’ Campaign

Every dollar will help her maintain a lead on the slime machine that is Dino Rossi and the state Repuglican party. We know that Chris has done great things for this state and will continue to do so in her next term, we just don’t want the start of her second to kick off on the same note as the last one. So please, everyone, donate what you can be it a dollar, five dollars, or even their maximum of 2,800 dollars!

There are many good Democrats running for other offices in the state that will not be limited by the legislature being in session, one of which is Peter Goldmark. He is running for Commissioner of Public Lands, a post that usually does not get much attention, despite how important it is to the environment around us. Peter is running to unseat 2-term incumbent Doug Sutherland, a man who has sold off our public lands to timber interests at Black Friday sale prices, and if re-elected will continue to rape our poor state to the point that we can no longer claim to live in the “Evergreen State.”

Click Here to Contribute to Peter’s Campaign

Please, do what you can to help these two worthy candidate out, they both are working to make the Washington we live in a better place to live.

Posted in Christine Gregoire, Dino Rossi, Governor, Democrats, Peter Goldmark, Elections, Commissioner of Public Lands, 2008, Washington | 1 Comment »

August 28, 2007 by Alpha.

So there’s more coming down the pike on Senator Larry Craig’s current situation.

1. Congressional Quarterly reports that Senate GOP leadership will ask the Senate Ethics Committee to open a file on Senator Craig. While I wouldn’t expect any serious repercussions, this is certainly going to keep the story circulating. It also indicates that the Republican Party has no plans to rally around Craig - it looks very much like they’re cutting him off and hoping the stink won’t spread.

2. Speaking of smelly things, Craig has resigned his post as Senate co-chair for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s Presidential race. This could be an issue going forward for Romney, as he was no doubt banking on southern Idaho’s heavy Mormon population for long-term support. Will he be able to get the backing of another major conservative leader in the west?

3. Michelle Malkin’s readers (not usually me, I swear) think Craig should get gone. Malkin herself called Craig “a supremely arrogant lying crapweasel” which may actually enter my personal lexicon. Thanks Michelle, you “supremely arrogant lying crapweasel!” Awesome.

4. Conservatives are jumping all over themselves to give Craig the hairy eyeball, from Malkin (above) to Ari Fleischer to Sam Brownback. And to think that just yesterday I was worried that Dems would look bad for piling on. Since when do Republicans do Democratic dirty work?

5. Finally, Craig on Craig: it’s the Statesman’s fault. That’s right, Senator, blame that notorious left-wing media for all of its, you know, investigative journalism.

In other news, Rep. Brian Baird threw a town hall last night. Brian’s a pretty charismatic guy, alright, but what anti-war Democrat holds a town hall the night after announcing that President Bush’s surge might be helping? Jon Soltz, of VoteVets, showed up and called Baird out on his support for a clearly failing policy.

My question is what Rep. Baird thinks he’s doing here. I’v met the man and most of his staff, and he doesn’t seem to put up with a lot of foolishness. So where’s the percentage here? He took heat for voting against the Iraq war, he took heat in the ‘06 cycle for not being anti-war enough for his more liberal constiuants, and now he’s taking heat for saying we need to give the surge another 6-12 months.

Brian, please. Pick a stance, and stay with it. And if you’re going to pick the least popular of all possible stances, do it with some finesse!

Posted in Idaho, Elections, Washington, Iraq, Campaigns | 1 Comment »

July 17, 2007 by Alpha.

Yesterday we broke the news that Dr. Peter Goldmark is will mount a campaign against incumbent Doug Sutherland (R - Lacey) for the post of Commissioner of Public Lands for the great state of Washington.

I will readily admit that until very recently I knew very little about what the Commissioner does, and even less about Mr. Sutherland. I am familiar with Dr. Goldmark’s qualifications for the job, so in an effort to paint a deeper picture of the race, I spent today in research mode.

Here’s what I’ve been able to find out about Mr. Sutherland. According to his official bio, he was born in Helena, MT then lived briefly in Vancouver, WA before settling in Spokane in 1946. In 1959, he received a B.A. in History from Central Washington University. He worked for Boeing from 1960-71, then bought up the Tacoma Tent and Awning Company, which he passed to his son in 1989.

Sutherland served on the Tacoma city council in 1980-81, before being elected Mayor of Tacoma. He held that post until the end of 1989, when he took the job of City Manager in the newly incorporated SeaTac. He was there until 1992, when he took over as Pierce County Executive. That post he held through the end of 2000, when he began his first term as Commissioner of Public Lands. In his first campaign he defeated former Governor Mike Lowry, after successfully painting Lowry as a left-wing eco-nut. I recall that election season in Eastern Washington for the great deal of hysteria about endangered owls and whether they “really mattered” to “real Washingtonians.” In 2004 Sutherland fended off a challenge from Democrat Mike Cooper.

The big confusion for me, concerning what the Commissioner of Public Lands does, precisely, was greatly clarified when I realized two things. He is (1) the manager of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and (2) the chairman of the Board of Natural Resources.

Once I rightly placed the Commissioner at the pinnacle of the DNR I realized just how tremendously important this job is, no matter where in the state you live. In fact, I grew up with a plot of DNR grazing acreage literally next door. From the same biography of Doug Sutherland, we get this: DNR oversees over 2.8 million acres of public lands, and over 2.4 million acres of “aquatic lands,” helpfully enumerated as creeks, river, shorelines, and a whole mess of “land” under Puget Sound.

I’d always known how important DNR policy was east of the Cascades, but I didn’t realize that they, well, owned the Sound. Now maybe Mr. Sutherland has done his part to keep the Sound healthy, but if the policies we’ve seen on the east side are anything to go by, we’ve all got reason for concern.

The problem isn’t that Sutherland is stupid, though I can’t vouch for his intelligence. The problem isn’t that he’s corrupt, though I can’t speak to his integrity. The problem is that he sees his job as balancing the interests of industry (particularly timber, mining and land development interests) against the understandable urge to conserve and protect our limited natural resources.

I remember toward the end of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” there’s a sequence where he discusses a relatively recent high-level conference on environmental protection. The conference banner featured an image of a scale balancing, on one side several bars of gold and on the other a nice blue-green Earth. This, sadly, is how Sutherland sees his job. He takes his task as one of extracting as much revenue as possible from Washington’s forests, mountains, rivers and pastures. The problem is that, from his past behavior, there are long-term costs that he hasn’t factored in.

What is the spotted owl worth? How much would we be willing to pay to bring back the dodo? Which is worth more: a gold mine that may produce a few tons of the stuff, or a system of lakes and streams that supply water, irrigation, habitat and recreation forever?

From the framing of those questions, I’ll bet you can see where I’m at. One last thing: I’d like to see someone ask Mr. Sutherland who he’d rather see take the position of Commissioner of Public Lands: a man with a B.A. in History and a background in municipal government, or a man with a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and a background in ecology and agriculture?

For God’s sake, Dr. Goldmark has a lab on his ranch. He grows his own strain of wheat. The guy’s what you would get if you crossed Wyatt Earp and Reed Richards.

Ask Commissioner Sutherland what he thinks. Here’s his work contact info:

Commissioner of Public Lands
Department of Natural Resources
PO Box 47001
Olympia, WA 98504-7001
Phone: 360.902.1004
Fax: 360.902.1775

[Ed. to remove even more idocy] 

Posted in 2008, Commissioner of Public Lands, Elections, Washington, Campaigns | 5 Comments »

July 16, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

As many of you have read, I met with Mary Verner shortly after I started the endeavor that is Spokompton. I did so because I had it from a source close to her, that she had filed a police report in regards to harassing email she had received. I met her at the Starbucks on 14th and Grand, and had a witness present with me for a large part of our conversation. During the course of this meeting she repeatedly insisted that she had filed a police report because she felt threatened by an emails she had received from someone other then myself, and that my blog was violating Washington States new Anti-Cyber Stalking laws, wrong Ms. Verner, it does not. I was reporting first had information of an event that you even admitted occurred.

I asked Mary repeatedly for the case number for her police report so that I could call and speak to the detective in charge of the investigation personally and set matters straight. She outright refused to provide me the case number, claiming that it was a private number and that I would be contacted (I gave her my phone number) by the detective. I was suspicious of this and gave her the benefit of the doubt, I even offered her the opportunity for an on the issues interview and that I would post information regarding her campaign, she stated that she would appreciate that. It has now been more then a month since that meeting, I have never been contacted by a police detective, and I have emailed with Ms.Verner a couple of times, only to be told that she is “to busy” to complete her position papers which she has listed on her website.

To set my suspicions aside I decided to go into the police station and find out for sure. I met with a detective who retrieved the police report. I told him that I was an interested party as Mary Verner had stated that my pseudonym was listed in the report. I gave the detective my real name, my handle, my email address and another email address that could be of interest in the case, he repeatedly told me in crystal clear tones that none of this information was contained in the report and that the report had nothing to do with Mary’s political activities and that further more it was not a criminal report, but merely an informational report.

Other sources outside of the police station told me that the report was related to her children and that she had filed it so that the police department would have record of it.

Mary, it just goes to show, lying to intimidate a poor college student doesn’t pay and that the truth shall will out. You do not deserve to be the mayor of Spokane, much less a city councilwoman, I have no doubt that the people of Spokane will tell you much the same thing in little over a month. Despite what some groups and individuals are saying you are NOT the candidate of the people, you lie and repress everyone who disagrees with you.

Once again I find myself saying this. Shame on you Mary Verner!

Stuck in Spokane

Posted in Washington, Spokane, Mayor, Campaigns | 5 Comments »

July 16, 2007 by Alpha.

I received a press release from an email list managed by Betty Fry. It is floating around the Intarwebs announcing that Dr. Peter Goldmark, rancher, former WSU regent, State Director of Agriculture and Congressional Candidate, is running for Director of State Lands.

I honestly cannot think of a better candidate for the job. Peter’s been a rancher all of his adult life, in part because he loves the land so much. He’s from Okanogan, a town (and county) that is very sensitive to the importance of protecting Washington’s resources. The last decade has been one drought year after another there, with declining snowpacks leading to ever-increasingly short supplies of water for people, livestock and crops.

I see public land use policy as an important opportunity to invest in the future. By using and maintaining our state land wisely, we can be certain that it continues to provide revenue and balance our region’s ecology. By thinking long term, we can get a win-win situation. Or we can sell off our pulic lands, license them to irresponsible logging firms and basically cash out. Sure, we might be able to forestall some budget deficits, but what are we getting in return? Increased erosion, degrading water quality and a future that looks bleaker than ever.

Dr. Goldmark’s website hasn’t been updated yet, and still wears the sad (but hopeful!) face it put on last November. Soon, no doubt, that location will be a hub of knowledge and activity around the new campaign.

Posted in 2008, Commissioner of Public Lands, Elections, Washington, Campaigns | 3 Comments »

June 29, 2007 by Alpha.

Today I caught, a little belatedly, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin’s editorial about the recent dust-up around Dino Rossi’s Forward Washington Foundation. The story, if you haven’t been reading along, is that a number of highly placed Democrats are grumbling about whether Rossi might just be, in the U-B’s words “using his nonprofit Forward Washington Foundation to finance an ongoing campaign for governor.”

Of course, Rossi has said he isn’t running for anything, and he hasn’t done anything wrong, which totally puts the issue to bed. The quote from Rossi is priceless: “Gregoire is clearly scared about something.” Yes, Dino. She’s clearly terrified that you aren’t running against her again. Yet.

The people of Washington, the U-B chides Dems, “want to know where Gregoire and Rossi (should they choose to run in 2008) stand on everything from education to corrections to tax policy.” Indeed! Washingtonians don’t have a stomach for scandals involving Republicans. Proven fact.

Now, hold the phone. Can we roll this whole thing back to the actual story, the one that underlies this editorial? You know, the story where a former gubernatorial candidate, who has been heavily rumored for either a repeat against Chris Gregoire or a US Senate run against Patty Murray, may be routinely and repeatedly misusing a non-profit that he runs? And maybe, just maybe, it’s worth noting the the only explanation that Rossi has for us is a flat denial and a refusal to hand over any real evidence that he’s running the Forward Washington Foundation above board.

Oh, yeah. One last point. You may have noticed that the URL for the Forward Washington Foundation is misspelled. I thought it interesting, so I looked it up in the OED. It turns out that just one hundred years ago it would have been totally normal to spell “www.forwardwashington.org” as “www.dinorossi.com.”

The more you know…

PS: Click here and look at the top result. Would Google lie to you?

Posted in Elections, Washington, Campaigns | No Comments »

June 25, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

I’ve had a lot of thoughts going through my mind recently as far as local politics go, but nothing in the upcoming election strikes me as terribly important. What is important is why Spokane Democrats have had so many problems being successful, and I think all signs point to an all around lack of unity. Democrats in this area are highly organized, yes, and the number of volunteers who turn out for the cause impresses me, but there is constant bickering and squabbling because of a few stubborn members of the community who refuse to pull together for the common good, or even listen to other’s opinions.

There are members of the progressive community who insist that their way is the only way, and if others don’t like it, take a hike. They take this attitude instead of being tolerant and bringing others, whose viewpoints may differ slightly, into the fold. To get past this we need to have open forums for the discussion of ideas, luckily Spokane presently has a place for that, it is called Drinking Liberally (information can be found here). Events like this allow everyone an equal voice to profess their views and to build on our shared views, rather then dividing on the few we differ on.

As Alpha pointed out, coalitions are what majorities are built on without them we would scatter to the four winds and the Republicans would once again have control. Coalitions however are not just important on the national level, they are important on all levels, and they start here on the local level. So please Spokane, put aside your differences, reach out and embrace your fellow progressives, and together we can make Eastern Washington a better place.

Posted in Washington, Spokane | No Comments »

June 22, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

I want to start this post with an apology. I realize that I haven’t properly posted a blog in a week and only two others have been posted. I’ve had some things come up this week that have kept me away from writing, but they are over now and I’m back for good.

Every year, State Reps send a “Report from the Legislature,” I’ve had the opportunity to read a few of them from the various different districts from around the area. The 4th Districts Reps stood out above the rest for their clear lack of intelligence. The fourth is represented in the State Legislature by Larry Crouse and Lynn Schindler, both of whom are members of the do nothing Republican Minority.

They gave their regular update, how it was hard for them because the big bad Democrats had control… Blah, Blah, Blah. For the most part the update has been the state Republican’s mantra for the last couple of year, that Democrats are taxing and spending this state into the stone age and that we are wasting money.

On page three however, it starts getting juicy, Crouse and Schindler really start showing their true colors with articles with titles like “Alert to parents: state-mandated sex education on the way!” and “Mandatory paid family leave.” Oh my god, I think these must be some of the scariest things Republican’s have ever heard in their life. That their children might have to learn about safe sex, so that when the inevitable happens they know how to use a condom, and you know, maybe prevent a teen pregnancy or two. Unfortunately Repuglicans think of this as “graphically sexual” education. I’m sorry Lynn, Larry but this just doesn’t cut it, read the numbers, check your facts, “abstinence only” education does absolutely nothing, except increase the likelihood that teenagers will have unprotected and unsafe sex. Thanks for working to increase teen pregnancy!

The two Repuglican’s don’t stop there, they prove not only do they want more kids on the street, but that also hate families. They complain that a bill passed by the legislature forces companies to provide five weeks of paid leave when a family has a child or adopts, at $250 a week. It doesn’t stop there though, it forces the company to hold their job open for them. That’s a hardship right? Forcing the good companies of Washington to keep jobs open for those evil little family loving people? Schlindler and Crouse go on to talk about how this is a “very expensive plan that only benefits relatively few workers.” Wait, families don’t work? How do they support their families? The only people I don’t see this benefiting are CEOs who will have to pay out $1250 for a kid and leave a job open so the family can continue to support the child. Lynn, Larry, I don’t know where you guys stashed your mother ship, but you might want to just head back to Pluto.

Posted in 4th LD, Spokane GOP, Washington, Spokane | 2 Comments »

June 14, 2007 by Alpha.

Stuck’s last post mentioned a personal hero of mine: Jim Gilchrist. What a great American! In spite of all of the evidence, both statistical and ethical, that his stance is wrong, he goes right on ahead “defending our borders.” With guns and white supremacists. Who but a giant among men could stand in the face of all things that are good and say “No more! I’ve had it with all these brown people!”

A new poll from the LA Times that has been making the rounds (ah, that ‘new poll’ smell!) shows that 63% of Americans and 65% of Republicans (!) support a path to citizenship including the standard set of hurdles: fines, learning English, and “other requirements.” You know, all that stuff that us natural-born types had to do to be citizens.

The issue of immigration reform hits me close to home. Well, it hits in my home. My mother is foreign-born, but moved to the United States at the age of 16. Earlier this year, after living (legally) in this country for more than 40 consecutive years, she finally got to take her oath as a citizen.

She did it the way you’re supposed to. She got her green card when her family moved to the US and she renewed it as required. In early 2006 she was finally persuaded it was time for her to start speaking her mind, and making her voice count. She wanted to vote.

The processing of her paperwork took some 14 months. The various fees cost her in excess of $4,000. Her husband, children, in-laws, nieces, nephews, colleagues and friends (mostly) are all American citizens. If that makes me one of those awful “anchor babies” Mr. Limbaugh talks about, then I’m damn proud to be one.

Now maybe my mom isn’t a fair test case. After all, she’s fair-skinned and is a native speaker of English with advanced degrees and a good income and a strong set of professional and personal resources. She’s not a Guatemalan single mother of two who doesn’t speak English well enough to get directions to a bus stop. Does that mean that my mom is worth more to America than our fictional Guatemalan family? For that matter, why aren’t we asking which of these two women value America more?

Simply put, it is because this debate isn’t about the preservation of the inherent value of American citizenship, as Rep. Tancredo would have us think. It’s about the preservation of the inherent value of people.

63% support Bush’s plan. 63% support a plan that requires people to pay an unspecified fine to clear their illegal status, return to their countries of origin, learn to speak English, then come back to the US and get in the back of the citizenship line, all for the privilege of paying thousands of dollars to become an American.

How many currently illegal immigrants have legal access to that kind of money? We’re talking about at least $4,000 per person before the fines and costs of returning to their native countries. This path to citizenship is a largely impractical carrot at the end of a relativistically long stick.

So what happens in the interim? Mr. Bush’s wonderfully creative Guest Worker Program! Under this program, illegal immigrants would get to apply for a special new kind of work visa. What’s special about it? How about being put to work at a job where getting fired means getting kicked out of the country? How about being required to pay unspecified fines before entering the program?

So where are all of these illegal immigrants going to come up with the kind of money they’ll need to get into either one of these programs? Especially with all of those undoubtedly hefty unspecified fines running around! They won’t. These folks are mostly working for little more than subsistence, and I anticipate that most of them won’t be able to raise the funds they would need to “go legit.”

So what happens when you offer 12 million undocumented workers access to programs they can’t afford to get into? Nothing. Nothing changes. Whether or not a deal can be struck to pass this so-called “immigration reform” we’re still going to have 12 million undocumented workers.

But if immigration reform really does blow your skirt up, I have two ideas. First, a huge number of illegal immigrants are actually paying tax on their income. These taxes go to Social Security and other social welfare programs, which non-citizens do not benefit from. I propose that all of these payments be credited against the cost of entering either one of Mr. Bush’s programs. Not only would doing so eliminate one of the most fundamentally unfair conditions imposed upon the undocumented worker (taxation without representation?!) but it might also drive up the number of people seeking legal status.

Second, and this one seems like a no-brainer, enforce the law as it stands concerning the employment of persons lacking legal authorization to be employed. Specifically, reinstitute the IRS worker status verification system, which simply looked at how many hours a week a given Social Security Number was taxed for and flagged anomalous ones. “574-10-2405 was taxed for 200 hours of work last week? Better talk to the employers.” Then, fine the shoes off of anyone who knowingly employs someone without status.

Alright, folks. I must have made someone out there in Blogistan angry. Let’s hear it.

Posted in Washington, Rural, Presidential, National, Rants | 1 Comment »

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 »