What is Wrong With This Picture?

In my view, both the local Democratic and Republican parties should be throughly embarrassed they could not field any better quality candidates than we are now stuck with. Although the county is made up of primarily centrists, we get to choose between the radical activist fringes Josh Brown and Jack Hamilton each represent because their respective parties are controlled by extremists to whom ideological purity is more important than consensus and pragmatism.

Local Democrats march to the drum of a shrill, vocal, and uncompromising, radical environmentalist agenda personified by Beth Wilson, Tom Donnelly, Gene Bullock, et. al. Centrist Democrats who challenge the greenies do not even stand a chance of even being heard — much less getting to run for office.

Republicans on the other hand have to swear allegiance to an ultra-conservative version of God, George Bush, country, unrestricted property rights, and also please Lois McMahan and her minions, while promising to oppose the right to choose, before they can be “blessed” to run.

What is wrong with this picture?

It is also a very sad commentary on the state of the Kitsap County Republican Party that they could not even find candidates for — much less get someone elected to — the $100,000+ jobs of County Auditor, Clerk and Treasurer. Could it be that moderate, centrist Republicans cannot — or refuse to — deal with the unrealistic crap demanded by the ultra-conservative leadership of the party? You almost have to feel sorry for party chair Matt Cleverley, who is actually more of a centrist than the redical right wing nut job he has been portrayed as, and takes his marching orders from the likes of Shirley Brown, Lois McMahan, Willis Papillion, et. al.

Cleverley is going to take the heat for this debacle no matter what happens — but especially if Josh Brown is elected commissioner — and should do himself a huge favor and resign while he still has the opportunity.

But what baffles me, is why, since they are outnumbered — especially in North Kitsap — everyday Republicans don't take back control of their party back from the ultra-conservatives and religious right, who are actually in the minority. They have the most to gain by doing so. There are literally thousands of moderate and conservative Democrats who are fed up with the elitist, ultra-liberal politics of their own local party, and could possibly be convinced to switch if the leadership of the local GOP changed and moved the party back towards the center. You would also see more moderate Republicans actually getting involved as well.

The question is, will anyone actually step up and do anything to make that happen?

No Suprises In Primary Results

I was only mildly surprised Jack Hamilton upset Patty Lent. I have to wonder if many hardcore Democrats voted Republican believing Hamilton would be easier to defeat than Lent.

There’s no question there was a backlash over her Critical Areas Ordinance vote. To many Republicans, it was the ultimate betrayal. I believe Lent and her supporters seriously underestimated the level of grassroots anger over the CAO. Also, I am not certain Lent ever understood exactly what that vote meant in terms of damage that will never be undone.

Either way, I believed it would be very close, but Lent would prevail. The Democrats could live with Lent since she votes with Chris Endresen more often than Jan Angel. But in the end it was her own Republicans who couldn’t.

As for the other results, if you scroll down a few posts, you will see we are batting 1000 on the results we predicted.

C.H.E.C.K.'s Bogus NASCAR Poll

CHECK, the group heading up opposition to the proposed NASCAR track, has released the results of its so-called poll. It shows that 57 percent of the 500 respondents contacted stated they oppose the track.

But as they say, the devil is in the details. The results are obviously bogus, and the poll results have little or no credibility. When you look at the questions respondents were asked, and the way they were phrased, it is a no-brainer to see they were designed to elicit the exact response the poll got. Frankly, I am surprised that the number was as low as 57 percent, given the bias of the questions - which I think bodes well for proponents of the track.

This is the same poll as you may recall, that CHECK originally denied was being conducted when a number of residents contacted authorities thinking it was some kind of scam.

Many of the questions revolved around the subject of Public Financing - the issue the systematic misinformation machine run by opponents have seized on as the way to turn residents who don't understand the proposal, against it. Once again, there is NO Public Financing involved in the proposal. Read the Berk Report for yourself, and see. Personally, I too am opposed to public financing - I just see any in the proposal.

Also, something else I find quite interesting is that a full 44 percent of the respondents were from the 23rd Legislative District - Bainbridge Island and North Kitsap - NOT the 26th District, where the track will actually be located.

The poll was conducted by someone named Allison Peters - a name I am not familiar with and no one I have talked to about this has ever heard of either. I did hear something on KIRO News this morning saying that she has done work for the Democratic Party. Gee, what a shocker that was! As I recall, the local Democratic Party - which is controlled with an iron fist by the local environmentalist elitists - has made no bones about its hard core opposition to the track. Does she live in McCormick Woods as well?

For anyone to give the CHECK poll any credibility says they are either uninformed or incapable of thinking for themselves. The results of the poll being conducted for Kitsap County by highly regarded pollster Stuart Elway will be out momentarily. You may recall that Elway does a lot of polling for politicians - of both parties - and is considered the best and most accurate in the state.

I believe the timing of the release of the results of the CHECK poll was intentional - with the goal of confusing residents. All I can say is don't buy into their BS. Wait for the results of the Elway poll - they will have actual credibility and be a MUCH more accurate read on the feelings of the citizens.

Queen Christine Attempting To Subvert Supreme Court Races

Queen Christine, AKA Governor Christine Gregoire, recently announced she'll be dialing for dollars - which is a polite way of saying twisting the financial arms of her numerous favorite liberal political action committees - in an attempt to subvert the outcome of the upcoming Supreme Court elections. She has raised in excess of $100,000 so far with some individual contributions in the $20,000-$30,000 range, which is far above the $1,400 individual per candidate contribution limit.

Meanwhile, Democrats are whining like spoiled children about the amount of money the powerful Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) is pouring into John Grohn's Supreme Court race against ultra-liberal incumbent Justice Susan Owens.

Ironically, on May 1, of this year, the Queen gave a speech at a Law Day dinner hosted by the Trial Lawyers, proclaiming that large contributions to judicial campaigns threaten an independent judiciary and stating that judgeships should not be for sale.

Talk about blatant hypocrisy...

There is an excellent article written by Justice Richard Sanders and published in the Spokane Spokesman-Review that takes Queen Christine to task for her unethical and hypocritical behavior. You can read it here.