Observations On The Upcoming Commissioner's Race

This election cycle has brought us two very distinct and different candidates: Ultra-liberal Democrat Josh Brown and conservative Republican Jack Hamilton.

Patty Lent gave Democrats a panic attack because her defeat of Tim Botkin was a clear indication the liberal policies of the environmental mafia ruling the courthouse were wearing thin with voters, and no one knew for certain what to expect. Had she governed as the moderate Republican most voters thought they elected in 2002, Lent would have probably cruised her way to a second term. However, I do not believe she ever grasped the impact her deciding Critical Areas Ordinance vote would have on her immediate political future.

Enter Brown, a political neophyte with absolutely nothing to recommend him except a massive ego and a “D” behind his name. I believe it is a clear demonstration of just how much is at stake, and exactly how desperate the Democrats are to hold on to the courthouse for them to have rolled out the big gun — Congressman Norm Dicks — to help elect an inexperienced, unemployed, and unqualified 25-year old to one of the most powerful positions in the county.

Why?

Because it means losing control of all the decision-making and patronage machinery at the courthouse for at least two years, and longer if Jan Angel wins re-election in 2008. The fact all the department heads and many employees they now control will change is not lost on the Democrats. They also fear Hamilton’s stubborn conservatism — especially on land use and property rights issues — although I suspect the realities of the job will force him to temper much of that. Hamilton is principled, but also pragmatic.

However, electing Brown assures that Chris Endresen consolidates her authority, essentially getting two votes on every single issue. Quite simply, she will become the single, most powerful person in this county.

I have personally moderated three candidate forums and participated in two other closed-door interviews with both candidates. Hamilton is decisive and clear in his answers, even when they disagree with the group he hopes to impress. But you know where he stands. In contrast, I have never heard Josh Brown actually answer a question. His non-answers are tailored to appease whichever group he is talking to at the moment. For example, he flatly opposes NASCAR with environmentalists but claims to be open-minded about its economic development prospects in front of business groups. Which is it Josh?

I personally witnessed him tell one group the Critical Areas Ordinance does not go far enough, and NASCAR has no business in Kitsap County, but when confronted with those statements in front of a pro-business group, he flatly denied making them — a bald faced lie.

Josh Brown has been coached, and packaged for "sale" to the voters extremely well, mastering the ability to stay on message and avoid anything controversial. However, there is almost no substance behind the facade.

Jack Hamilton is experienced and well-qualified, but loosens the bowels of Democrats because he refuses to be intimidated by Endresen, understands the power of the office at least as well as she does (and certainly more than Patty Lent ever did), and is not afraid to make a command decision. With he and Angel in the majority, things will happen quicker and much more decisively. I expect the long-standing problems at DCD will finally be rectified because measurable results will be demanded, and “process” will become unacceptable as an excuse or delaying tactic.

If Brown is elected, I expect Jan Angel will retire rather than face another term being treated as disrespectfully as she was with Endresen and Botkin at the helm. Meanwhile, thanks to their ongoing dysfunctionality, the Republicans have absolutely no credible candidates in the wings. Inept Port Orchard Mayor Kim Abel - a liberal Democrat - is rumored to be salivating at the prospect of challenging Angel. But if Hamilton is elected, I believe Angel will run again and win as decisively as she did last time.

Make no mistake — Josh Brown will not be a friend to business. He will kiss the liberal and environmentalist asses that engineered and financed his “sale” to the voters, and be little more than Endresen’s lap dog. Look for them to implement higher property taxes if given the opportunity by the courts and the legislature, raise impact fees, and promote even more restrictive land use rules.

Hamilton, along with Angel, will certainly be business-friendly and should run the county more efficiently and business-like than it is now. Both have the financial background and experience to streamline operations and deal with the budget challenges facing the county. Hopefully, they will also have the common sense not to allow unrestricted, irresponsible development and to not unwisely challenge the state over environmental issues they will most likely lose. Remember, under Russ Hague, county lawyers are batting something like 0 for 25 against the state.

But what really bothers me most is how we got into the predicament of having to choose between these two polar opposites — a know-nothing, unqualified, unemployed 25-year old and a highly qualified, arch-conservative with a reputation as a hard-headed, take no prisoners, property rights advocate. There is no centrist candidate to represent all of us here in the political middle. That is what really sucks...

Can’t we do better? Don’t we deserve better? I believe so. But I also believe both the Democrats and Republicans alike have failed us — again.

Back In The Saddle...

Please accept my humble "Thank You" to all of you who called and wrote after learning I was temporarily taking some forced R & R. I am fully recovered after that slight bit of unpleasentness and back to work.

Thank you for your patience and understanding...

Silence

I have received a number of inquiries as to why there have not been any updates here for awhile.

The answer is simple... I recently spent five days as a guest at the Harrison Medical Resort in picturesque East Bremerton. Without going into a lot of detail at this time, I have been at home recovering after nearly dying as a result of what can only be termed a very unexpected and "bizarre" chain of events.

Even as a professional wordsmith, I do not know how to express the gratitude both myself and my family feel towards the the Firefighter/EMTs of South Kitsap Fire-Rescue. Quite simply, I owe my life to their quick response and great training. How do you say "Thank You" adequately to the people who gave you back your life?

Thanx for your patience and understanding. More soon...

LFC

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.

Primary Election Predictions

Well, the ballots are in the mail, so this is where is where the rubber meets the road...

There has been a lot of talk about voters from each party taking ballots for the other party to try and skew the results so their party candidate can face the weakest opponent in November. Frankly, with so many primary challenges in so many important races, I just don't see that happening. But here’s how I do see the outcome. Let me make it very clear this is not meant as an endorsement for any candidate, just my unscientific predictions of the results in contested races only.

Commissioner — Republican: Patty Lent. I believe in spite of the backlash against Lent by her own party over her Critical Areas Ordinance vote, she will prevail. But in spite of how much money Lent has raised, this could be a lot closer than most people think. The Democrats can live with Lent - she votes with Chris Endresen more often than Jan Angel - and they know they will have a difficult time electing Josh Brown who is wet behind the ears and has yet to have an original thought.

I believe a lot of people in this county would like to see Jack Hamilton elected commissioner, because he is a pretty straight shooter when it comes to standing up for what he believes in. However, on the off chance he actually beats Lent, the Democrats will pull out all the stops against him because they are afraid of him, knowing he is conservative on issues - especially environmental regulation - he is not the least bit intimiated by Chris Endresen, and that he is not afraid to make the hard choices that Patty Lent does not have the stomach for. And it is also no secret those choices do not usually agree with the liberal positions of the elitists that control the local Democratic Party.

Commissioner — Democrat: Josh Brown. Brown should beat Wally Carlson, who simply got started way too late, and isn't up to speed on the issues. Neither is Brown actually, he just tries to make you believe he is. And finally, no one is going to elect a guy county commissioner who steadfastly refuses to wear a suit, opting for overalls instead. Carlson, a genuine nice guy who is sincere in his beliefs and is running for all the right reasons, has engaged some first-class campaign help, but it may be too little, too late.

26th District House — Republican: Could go either way. Ron Boehme has more money, and presents himself well, but his right-wing religious beliefs scare people. Trent England is easily the most knowledgeable of all candidates - from either party - where the issues are concerned. He is sincere, earnest, thoughtful, and pretty impressive when you talk to him one-on-one. The problem is, he is also somewhat shy, and just needs to get a lot more comfortable pressing the flesh at every opportunity. While he would, in my view, probably make a better state representative than Boehme - or Democrat Larry Seaquist - his limited comfort zone with strangers is a major handicap to getting elected. Because of those shortcomings, coupled with Boehme and his fanatical right wing religious views making many voters uncomfortable, I believe this could go either way - although if England actually talks to enough people, he could prevail.

26th District Senate — Republican: A toss up. But I give Jim Hines a slight edge. Perennial candidate Lois McMahan has been running for well over a year, but enraged the party leadership in both Kitsap and Pierce counties - not to mention at the state level - by openly insulting retiring Senator Bob Oke by announcing for his seat right after he had been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer - and pissing off a fair number of people by doing that. She still may pull it out - but it will be close if she does. I have to concur with Republican leadership in its belief that McMahan is a polorizing figure who has proven she is not electable over the long term, and that if she wins this primary, will most likely hand that seat to popular Democrat Derek Kilmer for as long as he wants it. The Kilmer campaign is salivating at the prospect of another run against McMahan (he beat her two years ago for the House seat he now occupies), but isn't very prepared for Hines. Hines is vastly more qualified for the office in terms of practical business and financial experience than McMahan, and has the support of Oke and the backing of the party in both both counties - and at the state level. However, McMahan has raised a lot more money, owns the religious conservative vote, and really does work hard. If McMahan loses, hopefully this will be her swan song, and she will retire from politics - and finally stop hamstringing her party from fielding truly electable candidates.

35th District Senate — Democrat: Tim Sheldon. The party’s bitter, all out war against Sheldon will backfire. Kyle Taylor Lucas is a carpetbagger and party lap dog — and voters in the 35th know it. She doesn't even live in the district. She rented a Shelton address from Rep. Kathy Haigh just so she could run. The Democratic Party hates Sheldon because he votes for the best interests of his district - NOT how the party demands he vote. That means he has been on the wrong side of most tax-and-spend issues - and there is no worse sin than voting against a tax if you are a Democrat.

Kitsap County Assessor: Jim Avery. This Republican-only (the Democrats have not fielded a candidate) race will be decided in the primary. Avery has name recognition, experience both in the job and in the real estate industry, and the power of incumbency. Challenger Kris Danielson has none of these and is an opportunist who sees our recently released and highly increased property tax assessments as a chance to get a $100,000 a year job. In spite of her campaign rhetoric, assessment calculations are governed by state law, and would have been the same whether Danielson was Assessor or not. Informed people understand that.

Kitsap County Sheriff: Steve Boyer: This is another race that will be decided in the primary since there is no Republican opposition. Jim Rye, the Kitsap County Deputy Sheriff's Guild-backed candidate challenging incumbent Boyer, is afraid to debate his boss, and has relied on the union to do his dirty work. Rye publicly announced he will make Guild President Mike Rodrique Undersheriff — which is second in command at the cop shop. So the election comes down to this: Do citizens of Kitsap County want the police union in charge of law local enforcement, or a proven Sheriff whose policies have measurably reduced the crime rate? The answer is a no-brainer in my opinion.

"Reprisals" Are a LAME Excuse to Duck a Debate

Jim Rye, the Kitsap County Deputy Sheriff's Guild-backed candidate challenging incumbent Sheriff Steve Boyer, has said he is afraid of "reprisals" if he debates his boss.

Gimme a break! That is about the most lame and pathetic excuse I have ever heard. Rye has openly challenged Boyer to an election for crying out loud. Why is he suddenly afraid of a simple debate?

Frankly, I think Rye is scared to debate Boyer because he knows Boyer has done a good job, is very well liked by the people of Kitsap County, and knows he will get his ass kicked from Port Orchard to Bainbridge Island and back again when actual facts are being debated, not innuendo, accusations and rumors. The differences in their personal styles and the likeability factor will also become extremely transparent in a public setting. Rye can't risk that. But as long as he can hide out and lob cheap shots at Boyer from behind the union’s "blue wall," rather than face him in public, he isn't accountable either.

Rye brags he has been with the department for 30+ years. You have to wonder why he never advanced beyond the rank of Patrolman. The answer is because you have to pass the Sergeant’s exam to do so, and Rye has failed it — more than once.

In my view, Rye is actually a stand-in for Guild President Mike Rodrique, who really wants to be Sheriff, but probably couldn't get elected. But if Rye wins, look for Rodrique to be named Undersheriff — which is second in command at the cop shop.

The issue facing the voters is really pretty simple: Do the citizens of Kitsap County want the police union in charge of law local enforcement, or do they want a proven Sheriff who isn't afraid of a simple public debate? The answer is a no-brainer in my opinion. Boyer deserves to be re-elected. Hopefully, a large margin of victory will send a message to the union. Unfortunately, I’m not sure the leadership wants to hear it.

Does Partisan Politics Get ANY Sleazier Than This?

The recent lawsuit filed against Senate Candidate Mike McGavick, stinks worse than Liberty Bay after one of its infamous sewer line breaks.

A Safeco Insurance shareholder, 27-year old Emma Schwartzman, a distant relative of Safeco's founders who inherited a small number of shares of the insurance company, has filed a lawsuit accusing McGavick of malfeasance and "looting" the company. Never mind the company was on the verge of bankruptcy when McGavick took over and turned it around. Makes you wonder what Schwartzman's stock would have been worth without McGavick.

Schwartzman and her attorney, Knoll Lowney, actually say with a straight face that the suit isn't politically motivated. We have a name for that kind of thing where I come from — it's what comes out of the northern end of a southbound bull.

McGavick received $28 million in a severance package approved by Safeco's board of directors. It's my understanding that $20+ million of that was in stock options — not cash. That board includes former Governor Gary Locke, as well as Kerry Killinger, head of Washington Mutual, Robert Cline, retired CEO of Airborne Freight, Joshua Green III, head of Bainbridge Island-based Sage Fly Rods, and Judith Runstad, of the law firm of Foster Pepper, among others. Runstad is also a director of Wells Fargo and Potlatch Corp, and most other members serve on other corporate boards — including those of Paccar, MBIA Insurance, Esterline Technologies, Delta Airlines, CNET Networks, Nike and Coke.

Like Locke, more than one of those board members are Democrats. This is a pretty high-powered, financially savvy group of folks who aren't about to let Safeco — which is doing quite well these days thanks to McGavick — do anything fiscally irresponsible.

Rather than belabor just how underhanded and squalid this is — other than to say it's about as low and sleazy as hardball partisan politics gets — and a true measure of exactly how desperate the Democrats and incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell must be, I'll just let KING 5's Robert Mak tell the story.