While no longer a Republican (I can hear the snickering already, but it's true) I have a history with them that goes back a long way.
While I have a degree in Government (the rest of the world would call it political science) my first political involvement was when I actually put up a Carlson sign back in the halcyon days when I lived in the 49th... back when a guy named Fishback (I think that's how it's spelled) was the city manager of Sodom on the Columbia... and, of course, before I discovered that any resemblance between Carlson and Republicanism was purely coincidental.
That was around 20 years or so ago... maybe a little more... maybe a little less.
I began to volunteer. I had no political plans... I had no idea that volunteerism would lead me to where I am today.
I volunteered for Bob Smith and Linda Smith's congressional campaigns. Ultimately, I became a 6 year staffer in the legislature... and ultimately, worked in the position of Executive Director for the State GOP.
The things I saw there began to sour me on political parties generally. The agendas of individuals... what jobs they could get... what appointments in the Administration... the turf wars, the manipulation... all of those things being much more important then the stated purpose of the party: to elect Republicans.
State party board members filled with hate, violating every political rule in the book when bent on revenge. Many with complaints... but none... NONE with the courage to face me.
The idiotic lawsuit to get rid of the blanket primary was the pinnacle of their stupidity. In the beginning, this was driven by the state democrats. Then a moronic GOP county chair PUBLICLY threatened to fund the democrat's lawsuit if we didn't join it.
There were other, equally asinine issues... we are, for example, one of two states in this country that doesn't have their headquarters in the state capital. But the conclusion was clear: these clowns were much more interested in the various ways they could feather their own nest... or which appointment they could scam... which convention.
Others... the consultants and the lawyers... they're in it for the billables.
At the local level, I set about to throw a cancerous state executive board member out, and that went precisely to plan... and we were better off for her exit from the scene.
Local party politics were no better. A county executive board member who was paid by democrats while we were attempting to elect Republicans; a moronic Republican PCO who endorsed every democrat he could, now, thankfully, gone from our ranks... but no action taken when I brought the information to my fellow board members.
These types of things, and more, have caused me to leave party politics.
Now, I work for the person. Now, I support someone based not only on what they say, but what they've done and who they are.
That's why I can support a democrat like Brian Sonntag, while I can oppose a Republican like Jamie Herrera or Jon Russell... because frankly, I know far too much about them to ever be able to support them.
Part of that is, well, that frequently, political parties can be astoundingly stupid in their dealings with the people. And this whiny, idiotic lawsuit is a case in point.
What the main party hierarchies don't get is that we have it the way we want it. We arrived here through the initiative process, and clearly, the idiots running the parties failed to grasp this situation and they quite apparently lack the vision or the capabilities to embrace this new system and to take advantage of the opportunities the new system presents.
Instead, they are determined to alienate the people by jamming a stick in our eye by ratcheting us back to the day of yester-year, and ignoring the expressed will of the people... people who will not take kindly to party interference in our political system.
Yes, yes... I know the arguments. But I warned everyone that the people view this franchise as a cherished institution and that the people would not brook this assault on our system.
No one listened. And here we are.
But what the idiots in charge don't get is this: If they keep pushing this, the parties WILL see the first non-partisan legislature in the United States. In fact, they will see that every office that CAN become non-partisan, WILL become non-partisan.
Do the parties believe that the people supporting the top-two primary are just going to stay home and twiddle their thumbs while they screw that up?
Keep it up, guys. You'll find yourself having to pick up the tab for the kind of primary YOU want, and thousands who have donated in the past will keep their wallets in their pockets when YOU need funding for your campaigns.
Why the hell should we give money to an organization who's design is to attack the will of the people of this state?
Stupidity. Idiocy. You think you hate what we have now... you have no idea how bad it can get.
Parties continue to challenge Washington primary
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A federal judge in Seattle has refused to dismiss a legal challenge to Washington's top-two primary system.
Secretary of State Sam Reed had asked the court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties.
Even though the state's top-two primary was upheld last year by the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge John Coughenour (COON'-our) ruled Thursday the parties can continue to challenge how the primary is conducted.
The secretary of state's office says the ruling means a new round of litigation that could change how candidates are listed on the ballot or in the voters' pamphlet.
State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz said the ruling means the state will have to amend the current law.
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