endorsements for the 2012 general election

the nic endorsement memo fall 2012

the chill is in the air, the pumpkin spice drinks are at starbucks, must be time to vote again.  as usual i am finding that there is a lot more stuff on the ballot than i realized.  based on the TV ads i thought i would only be voting to get rid of the kenyan born muslim atheist anti-christ socialist president who has wreaked havoc on everything that god-fearin’ ‘mericans hold dear.  but it turns out that a few other issues and candidates have snuck themselves onto my ballot.

 

going straight down the ballot here is what i am endorsing and voting for:

 

washington state

initiative 1185:  no (frikkin way).  it appears that the citizens of the evergreen state will never tire of voting on the brain farts of one tim eyman.  yet again we are asked to effectively overthrow the concept of majority rule when it comes to taxes and allow 1/3 + 1 vote in the legislature block any tax or fee increase (or even get rid of a single tax break or loophole no matter how ill-conceived or flawed).  the sole purpose of this nonsense is to make our state ungovernable and for the republicans to effectively control state government even though they cannot win an election.  the fact that our state universities budgets are being gutted making college education more and more unaffordable by the year is a direct result of this bullshit and we all need to vote no every time this comes up.  it will no doubt pass and then people will all grumble that politicians in olympia cannot get anything done.

 

initiative 1240: no.  i am all for positive effective school reforms, but allowing charter schools is not a panacea for anything (except providing a way to siphon public school dollars into for-profit companies).  my reasons are simple: 1) the data (even that provided by proponents of charters) shows that while a few charter schools out-perform public schools – mostly they under-perform, kids on average get a worse education than in public schools, 2) the initiative sets up the schools as non-profits (as has been done in many states) but does not prevent the ‘non-profits’ from simply sub-contracting everything to large for-profit companies once again, as has been done in many other states.  personally i trust government more than large corporations whose primary goal is shareholder profits not into education.

 

referendum 74: hell yes approved. it is not often that we get to vote on basic human rights, but when we do it is as crystal clear an issue as there can be.  do we chose to legislate discrimination or not?  allowing bigots and religious zealots to tell us that we need to outlaw gay marriage because they personally believe in ‘traditional marriage’.  this country and state pretends to have a separation of church and state so the matter of what various religions believe really should not matter and even if it did it is abundantly clear from the old testament that marriage was not at that time ‘between one man and one woman’ as we are told.  Polygamy appears to have been the norm. http://www.rickbeckman.org/men-of-the-bible-with-multiple-wives/ .  we live in the 21^st century and need to have laws that reflect our society today and outlawing gay marriage is no more acceptable than outlawing interracial marriage was 60 years ago.

 

initiative 502: yes.  the everyone gets to be a stoner initiative.  prohibition of alcohol was a dismal failure as is the current prohibition of marijuana and other drugs  and pot is demonstrably less dangerous than alcohol.  personally i think it smells and tastes like fermented skunk oil and people who are stoned on it generally act dumb and think they are having the most profound insights into the world ever while they are actually just sitting around eating bags of doritos, but whatever, there are a hell of a lot more harmful things they could be doing with their lives.

 

engrossed senate joint resolution 8221:  rejected.  as i understand this the state wants to legally mandate that it can borrow less money.  austerity is all the rage these days, but we only have to look as far as greece, spain, portugal, ireland and britain to see that government austerity in times of recession only drives you further into recession and massively increases unemployment while removing the social safety net.  this is a horrible idea, which is why it will probably pass.

 

engrossed senate joint resolution 8223: rejected.  while on the face of it this appears to create more money for the universities, it actually takes their funds and allows someone to take them to the casino that is the stock market.  i believe there are some places where safe low-risk investments are appropriate and keeping public funds in public bonds is a good idea.  let us not forget that eager state officials told us that they would make money for the state on GET program, but now the program is running in the red.  the stock market is not a magic place that automatically grows your money, it is a form of poorly regulated gambling.  if people want to play it with their own cash, more power to them, however this looks like the sort of risk that will have us all wondering in a few years where the billions of dollars disappeared to. 

 

advisory vote 1 engrossed senate bill 6635: maintained. this must rank as one of the all time most confusing issues ever on a ballot and in the end the vote is purely advisory so the legislature will ignore whatever we say.  increasing taxes on financial institutions sounds good to me though, even if the list of people not getting a b&o tax break does not include structural engineers.

 

advisory vote 2 substitute house bill 2590: maintained.   tax increases on petroleum products, always a good idea (unless you think pollution is good and global warming is a hoax).

 

king county

proposition 1 tax levy:  approved.  automated fingerprint blah blah blah, i generally hate cops but recognize that having these sorts of systems in place is for the public benefit.

 

federal

presidente and presidente of vice of the untied states: obama-biden.  after some consideration i am casting my vote with the democrats, even though i am personally more aligned with stein-honkala of the green party, i know they will never come close to a  single electoral vote and my vote would effectively be for the catastrophe in waiting known as rmoney-ryan of the plutocratic party who rank behind: obama-biden (democratic party), stein-honkala (green party),  anderson-rodriguez (justice party), lindsay-osorio (socialism and liberation party), harris-kennedy (socialist workers party), johnson-gray (libertarian party), goode-clymer (lunatic-fascist-tea-constitution party) and a poke in the eye with a sharp stick (still better than the republican party). 

 

us senator: maria cantwell.  i have heard a rumor that there is a republican running even though he is apparently not campaigning anywhere within a 50 mile radius of seattle or a TV camera.  i understand that baumgartner is mainly campaigning on an anti-war platform, which is fabulous and i am all for anti-war candidates and as we all know that other than a couple of minor actions like iraq (twice), afghanistan, grenada, panama….. the republican party has never ever ever started a war in recent history.  cantwell works hard and generally makes the right calls (wars excepted).

 

us representative congressional district 7: gentleman jim congressman for life mcdermott is consistently in line with his constituency.  you could vote for some idiot called ron bemis who apparently prefers the republican party and has zero qualifications for office.

 

state

governor:  jay inslee.  one of the easiest calls ever, mckenna is a fake moderate and generally snarky little shit.  jay is hard working, thoughtful and willing to take on the challenges of our state in this fiscal times we live in.  i think he will be trusted by the legislature and that will be critical in getting through the next few budget cycles.  jay is un-flashy, but has an amazing record of good calls, even when it is not the way his party is voting.

 

lieutenant governor: bill finkbeiner (republican).  i cannot actually believe this guy ‘prefers republican party’  he does not seem to hold the views of a neanderthal and if that were not enough, his opponent the lonnnnnng term incumbent democrat brad owen is possibly the biggest idiot ever elected to statewide office anywhere in the universe.  i know that this is essentially a symbolic office, but if our governor were to die in office this moron would become governor.  owen can continue to pursue his dream of rock and roll stardom singing anti-drug ballads on his own time.

 

secretary of state: kathleen drew.  i strongly believe that this office should be non-partisan (and not party partisans pretending to be non-partisan, but actually people from outside the two parties).  we might get lucky and kim wyman might turn out to be a moderate republican like the last 156 republicans who have held this office, but frankly with the wide-spread voter suppression around the country led by the republican party, that is not a risk i want to take

 

state treasurer: jim mcintire might possibly be the most boring man in politics, but that might go along with being treasurer.  he seems to love the job and be good at it, no reason to vote him out.  i think he has an opponent, but there is no reason to.

 

state auditor: troy kelley.  this position should be filled by someone with an impeccable record.  sadly the incumbent is stepping down so that is not an option.  james watkins is a tea party moron who would use the office to try and destroy government from within.  kelly has a checkered past and i can only hope that he will do an adequate job, but even a shitty performance will be better than his opponents best efforts.

 

attorney general: bob ferguson.  is possibly the most hard working politician ever (i think he actually virtually knocked on every door in his district the year he was first elected to the county council and the districts here are massive), not only that, he is smart and usually pretty ok politically on most issues.  his opponent is a thuggish lazy jerk named reagan dunn.

 

commissioner of public lands: peter goldmark.  the incumbent has fought for the protection of the environment (pretty much the whole purpose of the office).  his opponent clint didier thinks the role of the office is to auction off public lands and assets to the lowest bidder and stop president obama imposing sharia law and blue-helmeted un troops on the US.  i am not making this up, he is a nut-job who should not have a driver’s license let alone be elected to state wide office.

 

insurance commissioner: mike kreidler is an excellent incumbent and exactly the sort of person we need to have in this office as obamacare gets implemented and the insurance companies try to find ways to exploit things to their personal gain.

 

legislative district 46

state senator: david frockt. is unopposed and is ok.

 

representative position 1: gerry pollet.  is the incumbent by appointment and an excellent state rep.  nice guy and one of the great environmentalists of our state.

 

representative position 2:  sarajane siegfriedt.  this open seat seems to have two good candidates.  i am inclined to reward the one who has spent years fighting for what she believes in and will be a fearsome state rep.

 

county

sheriff:  john urquhart.  it is so strange that we elect sheriffs.  having heard both of the candidates speak on the radio, i like the sound of urquhart a lot better than incumbent steve strachan.  in addition i find it really troubling that strachan was picked by his predecessor sue rahr who was picked by her predecessor dave reichert.  no organization can stay healthy if leaders pick their replacements, it is a formula for corruption and it is no surprise that the king county sheriff’s department is having issues.

 

state supreme court

justice position 2: susan owens, unopposed and deserving her position

 

justice position 8: steve gonzalez, unopposed (fortunately after beating out his grossly unqualified opponent in the primary).

 

justice position 9: sheryl gordon mccloud deserves election over her opponent richard sanders who was a justice and wants to be again after electoral defeat.  sanders is really strong on most civil liberties, but is a racist, hates gays and abortion rights.  sanders real hypocrisy comes on the gay marriage issue, where he believes in upholding ‘traditional marriage’ while engaged in a polyamorous relationship himself.  mccloud seems strong on all the right issues without the bizarre sanders baggage.

 

court of appeals division 1 district 1

judge position 4: ronald cox, unopposed strong incumbent deserving reelection.

judge position 7: marlin applewick, same as above, a good guy, just the sort of person who should be a judge.

 

superior court

judge position 42: christopher washington is the incumbent and is hated by prosecutors, because he seems to have a conscience and tries to give reasonable sentences.  his opponent seems decent, but given the campaign by prosecutors to unseat him, i am more inclined to keep him and have her run again for another seat.  a justice system that is controlled by prosecutors is inherently problematic.

 

district court

judge position 1: johanna bender, was appointed to her postion and seems like a smart judge deserving reelection.

 

city of seattle

proposition no. 1: approved.  this is for a shitload of money, $290m, but replacing the alaskan way seawall is a critical infrastructure project (as opposed to building a new basketball arena so that billionaires can get richer quicker).

 

i think this is all that was on the ballot, damn it was a long one.

 

vote early and often and sent mittens back to his 12 houses that are not the whitehouse.  

class warfare

i was pretty bemused to read the syndicated column by Froma Harrop yesterday that proposed closing the 'mortgage-deduction loophole'.  while it might be intellectually pure (and in her opinion brave) to propose that we should immediately start treating home purchase the same way in the tax code that we treat cars and other physical items that we purchase, her assertion that doing this in some amorphous gradual way will have no effect on the wealth of the middle class or the housing market makes me think that she must have been in some sort of sleeping beauty dream state since 2007.  i totally agree that our tax code is humongous mess, but simply picking this one deduction (and labeling it a loophole) when it is one of the only deductions available to the middle class bespeaks an attitude that the actual loopholes that heavily favor the wealthy and ultra-wealthy will be left untouched.  the elimination of the mortgage interest deduction even over a period of years will have the effect of depressing house prices for many many years to come.  this is probably great news for new home buyers and for wealthy real estate investors looking to find bargains but it will likely destroy the little wealth that the US's middle class has left after the recession and it will almost certainly wipe out the hope that the construction, architecture and engineering professions can recover after what has been a devastating body blow far beyond the general employment numbers, even in Seattle where we are actually seeing a sort of construction recovery the employment numbers in the industry are still a fraction of the pre-recession days.    

responsible comprehensive tax-reform is a great idea, but eliminating the one deduction that helps the middle class (vs the loopholes that allow millionaires and billionaires to pay lower rates than most of us) is what some of us might call 'class warfare'.

http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019160279_harropcolumnmortgagedeductionxml.html

Chick-fil-A the perfect restaurant, if you like crappy food sold by bigoted assholes, served in the company of dumb rednecks.

primary election endorsements

august primary election endorsements

here is my latest election cheat sheet .  i have been doing these since the BM era (Before jim McDermott was the 7^th district representative, yes for those of you too young to recall, there was a time back around the civil war when a man named Mike Lowery was our representative in congress).  for reasons that i can only assume have something to do with hoping that no one actually votes in this primary, the state decided not to print a voter's pamphlet for this election.  fortunately king county decided to go ahead and print one, so there are some clues who people like pidgeon, didier, goodspaceguy, stocky stockwell actually are rather than just a name on the ballot.

in general i am listing these in the order they appear on the ballot EXCEPT for the one state supreme court race, because you absolutely must vote in this one as it is going to be decided in the primary, it will not beon the general election ballot, so the 12 people who vote in the primaries will make the decision AND we have a choice between a really good sitting justice and crazy wingnut crackpot stark raving loony.

state supreme court – justice position 8: steve gonzalez – absolutely do not cast a vote for his opponent – he would be wrong in every way

king county proposition 1 (children and family services center capital levy): yes.  based on the title you would not realize you were voting to build a new prison for kids, but that's what it is.  much as i would like us to not be incarcerating juveniles, i cannot wave a wand to stop them committing crimes or change how society deals with the issues that lead to the conditions that lead to the crime rate or how the legal system punishes them.  when we do imprison kids they should be housed in a decent building.  the current facility is decrepit and awful, making their time there more dangerous than it needs to be.

united states senator: maria, maria a girl named maria cantwell.  i could nitpick her record, but other than mike the mover, she does not face a serious opponent.  despite stocky stockwell's very relevant experience as a former ritzville city council member, i have to go with the incumbent.  if we suffer the worst catastrophe since the earth was hit by an asteroid and the dinosaurs and mittens becomes president in November we will need people like cantwell to stop the insanity. 

united states representative, congressional district 7: gentleman jim mcdermott.  it is interesting that the seattle times chose to make no endorsement in this race.  it really stuck in their craw that mcdermott pretty much perfectly reflects seattle's political beliefs, whereas the editorial board of the times is pretty much opposed to everything that we as a community believe in.  they seem to have gone more tea party by the day over the last three years.  if you want to cast a fun opposition vote to jim, vote goodspaceguy.  he apparently inherited a bunch and is trying to use it up running for office trying to get people to colonize space.

state of washington governor:  jay inslee – and i don't just say that because he will run us over with a bulldozer if we don't vote for him, or because my dear son george is working 3 days a week on his campaign.  no, jay is a really good politician, he has voted the right way on a lot of things for many years, he works hard and will do a great job for the state in really tough budgetary times.  mckenna is a faux moderate, if elected he is going to go back to his hard right wing positions that he held years ago when he was on the king county council, he is absolutely not to be trusted.

lieutenant governor: dave t summner IV. this is the hardest race for me.  the long term democratic incumbent is a monumental jerk who really really should not hold this office.  he did not bother to attend the democratic convention this summer and his name was never mentioned when they were making endorsements for the elections.  he is frankly a dull, boring embarrassment for the democratic party and the state, but like a weird relative, no one can bring themselves to tell him that no one wants him to come to christmas so he is there year after year making people feel awkward.  it would be a disaster for the state if our governor died and this moron took over.  his life's passion is singing crappy rock songs about the dangers of marijuana (the demon weed is destroying the world in his mind).  the republican bill finkbeiner is a slick conservative who i would not buy a used car from.  i wish there was a real liberal/progressive running.  instead there are a couple of lefty-slightly whacky dudes and a fluoride conspiracy theorist.  in the end i went with the neopoulist sumner who actually sounds like he is aware of and cares about the real issues of the day (not just being a just-say-no to drugs warrior, or saving the world from the dangers on healthy teeth.)

secretary of state:  greg nickels.  i know that our former mayor has not exactly ignited a firestorm of support from the left, but i had a really great email exchange with greg back when he was first considering running and i was really moved by his passion for the office and the role of being in charge of elections and the state archives.  personally i think that this office should be a non-partisan one, it troubles me deeply that the person in charge of administering elections fairly is a standard bearer for a political party.  that is partly why i would pick greg over the democratic party darling kathleen drew.  he will be non-partisan and fair.  whatever criticism i might have of his tenure as mayor, he is completely trustworthy and perfect for this behind the scenes position.

state treasurer: jim mcintire, is unopposed and deserves to continue on.  sounds like a horrendously boring position, and i am glad there are people like him who want to do it!

state auditor:  craig pridemore seems to have the passion and bulldoggeness that a good auditor needs.

attorney general: bob ferguson.  it was a tough choice, on the one hand bob ferguson, the most hard working guy on the king county council, smart legal mind, calm and with good political instincts.  on the other hand, stephen pidgeon who talked on KUOW recently about how crucial it was to stop Obama from imposing sharia law on the united states by 2015 as he promised to do when talking to the Islamic botherhood in egypt.  he has good points to make, clearly obama is a radical moslem from kenya and can easily overturn and modify the US constitution whenever he pleases.  i flipped a coin and ferguson won over pidgeon.  oh yeah there is some buffoon named reagan dunn also running, but i automatically discount anyone called reagan.

commissioner of public lands: peter goldmark.  it is very important that we do not allow clint didier to win election.  despite his insistence to the contrary he is actually an elite french intellectual, not a redneck asshole moron who will do everything he can to destroy our public land as he insists.  just joking, he is not french, he is all the things he claims to be and worse.  goldmark is the incumbent and has been a great environmentalist despite the quirks of his office that make it hard to be that way.

superintendent of public instruction: randy dorn.  the incumbent is not exactly an exciting guy and he does not really have any great ideas about what to do about public education, but none of his opponents really sound like they have anything they would do different and none have raised a penny for the election so do not seem like they think they have a chance..  lets stick with the devil we know.

insurance commissioner:  mike kreidler is the incumbent and is actually one of the unspoken great public servants in the state.  This is not a high profile position, but it is a crucial one in protecting the public from one of the most evil forces in society, insurance companies.  especially in the era of obamacare we need to have someone like mike who is willing to take on and stand firm against the money grubbing soulless dementors of geico, state farm, premera and the likes.  we absolutely cannot have one of right wing opponents who are all friends of the insurance companies in this office, particularly with the possibility that rob mckenna could win the governor’s office.

washington state legislative district 46 (my district) it is interesting that the republicans are not even bothering to run a single candidate in the district, I mean seriously, you cannot muster a single sheep for the slaughter?  What fun is that, who would go to a boxing match where the winner simply punches spars against an imaginary opponent “air boxing for 15 rounds”?

state senator: david frockt seems to be doing a good job since he replaced scott white after scott’s unexpected and untimely death last year.  david did not draw a single opponent and that is a sign that he has earned a full four year term.

representative poison 1: gerry pollet was appointed to replace david frockt when he stepped up to fill scott white’s position.  gerry is really really good, one of the environmental heroes of the state – fighting over hanford pollution as long as i can remember.  we are very fortunate to have him as a representative.  vote gerry as often as you can.  

representative position 2: sarajane siegfiedt is a hard working progressive who absolutely will fulfill the legacy of phyllis gutiérrez kenney the district for many years.

state supreme court

position 2:  susan owens is the incumbent and deserves reelection.  we really do not need to have her replaced by either of her middle aged white guy opponents.

position 8: steve gonzalez, steve gonzalez, steve gonzalez, steve gonzalez, steve gonzalez, steve gonzalez, steve gonzalez, steve gonzalez, steve gonzalez, steve gonzalez, need I say more?

position 9: bruce hilyer is the best choice here, despite his undeniable status as a middle aged white guy.  richard sanders is trying to get back on the court and while he was a pretty consistent strong civil libertarian voice on the court (not to mention the only openly polyamorous justice), his whacky racist second amendment loving side rather outweighs his good side.  mccloud seems well intentioned, but i think hilyer will be a lot more effective.  ladenburg is a great choice if you are one of the nations 5 remaining moderate republicans.

court of appeals, division 1, district 1

position 4: ronald e cox is the unopposed incumbent and deserves to be reelected.

position 7: marlin applewick (ditto from above).  i know him from when he was the 46^th district state representative and he is thoughtful and liberal, everything i would want in a judge.

superior court:  (i must admit i leaned on the stranger for these ones but found nothing to disagree with.)

position 25: elizabeth berns.

position 29: sean o’donnell.

position 30: doug north

position 42: sue parisien (much as i hate to think of booting anyone from a secure job in this crummy jobs economy, it sounds like the incumbent chris washington really is not cutting it in the judging part of his job, which is kind of a big part of the job description.  

position 46: judy ramseyer.

city of seattle proposition 1 (library levy): yes with a small y.  i kind of agree with the anti- leader on this campaign chris leman: why the fuck are libararies not part of our city’s basic budget?  it really is fucked up.  but voting no is not going to spur the city council to redoing the budget, we will just have fewer and fewer days and hours when the libraries are open.

that is all from me.  sorry this is so late, i have actually been swamped with work the last few months, more so that since 2007 and earlier.  hopefully all this construction actually means a turn around in the economy.  As always, VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN

Frankly I am sick of watching the US turn to fascism in reaction to the very moderate Obama presidency.  I lived in a fascist country for my first 21 years, I think that is enough for any lifetime.  Seeing the rise of the christian taliban is exhausting, but I do not intend to tolerate it or move again, I will resist in every possible way.

sarah, sarah, oh sarah, how could you abandon us at a time like this?

NBC, msnbc.com and news services

updated 6 minutes ago

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BREAKING NEWS

Sarah Palin is not running for president, a source close to Palin confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday.

Palin earlier announced her intentions on a conservative radio show.

In a statement she issued to the Mark Lewvin Show and read by Levin on the air, Palin said:

"After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided not to run for the presidency of the United States.  I will not be seeking the GOP nomination for the presidency.  Every time I asked God He would guffaw like a hyena and when He composed Himself He would say that He would be answering Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann's prayers if He told me to jump in the race - they have been hoping to be eclipsed as the biggest morons in the race.  But honestly it was not the migraine I was getting from the constant laughing and shouting voices in my head, it was that I was getting pesky frown lines from all the serious consideration business."

"By working together we can to completely fuck this country up — and as I've always said, one doesn't need a title to help do it," she said.

"It's not about me, it's about all of us who are trying to put America to sleep."

She added that she will "help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President with a criminally insane religious fanatic, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House for large oil companies."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.