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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