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Note: Please read the retraction located above.
Attendance was a little down last night (65 people, maybe) at what I respectfully refer to as the political "Harney Hoedown," the solid job of vetting done by the local We The People group here in Vancouver.
One thing: You've kind of got to show up to BE "vetted."
Anthony Bittner and Richard Carson, running as an independent, didn't.
Bittner called ahead at the last second (I'm told) to let them know he wasn't showing up, due to some unspecified "family issue."
Carson? By the time I'd left (shortly after 8:00) he had not showed up or contacted them.
With Bittner, this points to one of his main issues: a failure to understand that absent a death in the family, he MUST keep his commitments to appear in public. Providing no plausible explanation leads to visions of being grounded; or behind on a term paper, or having to do the dishes or some such.
Bittner will not be able to raise money; he has certainly had his 15 minutes... he simply cannot afford to blow off opportunities like this in addition to his other campaign weaknesses.
At the function last night, I was asked point blank: do we really want an 18 year old as a state representative when he can't even show up for this?
Carson's campaign has, essentially, gone black. I've heard nothing from or about him for months; his signature issue; a lack of response over BPA lines coming through Hockinson vaporized about the day after he announced when the BPA took the Hockinson route off the table.
One wonders: will he even file?
Carson's confirmed disrespect of the We The People group, as illustrated by his failure to even show up isn't really a great indication of his respect level for the electorate.
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I would like you to print a correction. Thomas Niewulis with We The People will be glad to confirm that it was his mistake and not mine that resulted in my not being at the May 18th meeting. I was at the Church of Proebstel talking to the Proebstel Neighborhood Association that night. Mr. Niewulis had an email about this and apparently didn’t read it. He has apologized for his mistake and has scheduled me for May 25th. His email says “Sorry. I got conflicted. We will have you on for the 5/25.” I can send you the email if you want to document it. Or you can email Thomas at tomn@wethepeople-washington.org. - Rich Carson
ReplyDeleteThis is Tom Niewulis and will concur with Rich that we had a scheduling error on my part. I missed the communication cycle to our web site, news letter and schedule at the meeting. When I looked back at the email chain, Rich is scheduled for May 25th.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies to all.
We continue to make every effort to make the Vetting Process a positive process for the electorate and the candidates.
Please join us this Tuesday since we have a full Slate.
Unfortunately we will be ending the process as of June 1st.
Thank you
Please see the retraction.
ReplyDeletehttp://clarkcountypolitics.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-keeping-with-my-policy-of-correcting.html