Revisionist History and Betty Sue Morris on the Herrera appointment.

Imagine my surprise when I was treading the latest BJ from the democratian for Jaime Herrera, and I stumbled across this babble:

Morris also was impressed with Herrera Beutler during that appointment process. Morris was one of the county commissioners who decided to appoint Herrera Beutler to replace Curtis in the 18th Legislative District. 

“As I recall, the other two commissioners from Clark County favored someone else,” said Morris, who also had served as a state representative in the 18th. “But I was a really strong supporter of Jaime. She interviewed really well. She was in tune with her district.”

I have known Betty Sue Morris for a long time.  Never have I known her to lie like this.

As a reminder to Ms. Morris, here's what actually happened.

18th District seat filled by young conservative

Friday, November 30, 2007

BY MICHAEL ANDERSEN, Columbian staff writer

A young "family values" conservative with a glowing résumé was named Thursday to succeed former Rep. Richard Curtis in Washington's 18th Legislative District.

Four of the six commissioners in Clark and Cowlitz counties voted to appoint Jaime Herrera, 29, a Prairie High School graduate working as a legislative aide for U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Colville.

"Every step I have taken since high school has been preparing me for this," she said at Thursday's hearing, her voice cracking slightly. "There is not a job in the world I would rather have."  (Except, of course, Congress.... right? -ed) 

Herrera, who said she has always kept her official residence at her parents' Ridgefield home, had also been the top choice of her district's Republican precinct officers. She will represent the west and north part of both counties, including every city in Clark County except Vancouver.

She will be one of just 35 Republicans in Washington's 98-member House of Representatives.

Commissioners passed over the district's second and third choices, Camas city councilman Scott Higgins and La Center political consultant Ann Rivers.

Each received one vote from the commissioners' panel: Higgins from Clark Commissioner Steve Stuart, and Rivers from Cowlitz Commissioner Kathleen Johnson.

Rivers said Thursday evening she hadn't ruled out running for Herrera's seat when Curtis' term expires in 2008. Higgins said he would not do so.

Herrera said she decided she was a Republican after leaving home to attend the University of Washington and reflecting on the values she said she'd learned in her small-town family of six children.

"I do believe in smaller government, less government at every possible turn," said the former White House and legislative intern. "People in Olympia have really good ideas. All the time, they have really good ideas. But good ideas aren't always really what we need."

She told commissioners that she opposes almost all abortion rights, that she preferred a 60-percent supermajority rule for school levies and would have opposed last year's law extending legal partnerships to some same-sex couples.

Schools, she said, should "refocus on basic education" instead of following the "latest and greatest" recommendations from Olympia.

She said she supports "common-sense" measures to fight global warming, but wouldn't make them a priority.

"I spend my time on education and health," she said. "Social services. That's where my heart is."

Standing before the group of five Democrats and one Republican Thursday, Herrera occasionally sounded like a Democrat.

She said she would support a gas tax hike if there was a "consensus" that it would be needed for a new bridge over the Columbia River. 

The sister of a would-be electrician, she said she would "work to be a friend" to organized labor.

And Herrera, who said her parents adopted three of her cousins as their own after the cousins' lives were "impacted by" methamphetamine, touted the benefits of treatment for drug addicts, as opposed to tougher law enforcement.

"Neither political party has all the answers," she said. "My ear is open and my heart is open to both Republicans and Democrats."

Herrera's father is of Mexican descent. She will be among a handful of Washington legislators with Latino backgrounds, and the only one from Clark County.

Herrera's predecessor, La Center Republican Richard Curtis, resigned Oct. 31 under pressure from GOP leaders after a police account of his tryst with a male porn model during a Spokane legislative retreat was made public.

The man, Cody Castagna, told police that Curtis offered him $1,000 for unprotected sex. Paying for sex is a misdemeanor under state law. Curtis, however, said he offered Castagna only $100 for gas money and has denied doing anything illegal.

All commissioners had praise for Herrera during Thursday's six hours of interview and deliberation.

"We are going to need a person who will work with the other side of the aisle," said Commissioner Marc Boldt, the panel's lone Republican.

Commissioner Betty Sue Morris said Herrera reminded her of herself.

"What I saw you do today was be pleasant and politic and then suddenly hold your ground very well," she told Herrera.

Cowlitz County Commissioner Axel Swanson, a Democrat, said he felt odd to be asked to choose the best Republican for a political job. But he decided to follow the opposing party's preference.

"That's what I would want someone to do if the shoe were on the other foot," he said.

Kelly Hinton, 52, a Hockinson Republican, said he'd driven up to Kelso to oppose Herrera. He said she didn't seem to know much about local issues.

"She doesn't have an apartment," he said. "She doesn't have a house. What she has is a voter registration card."

Several times during Thursday's interview, Herrera confessed ignorance of various issues, saying for example that she hadn't known that Cowlitz County is not subject to the state's Growth Management Act.

Like the other two candidates, she struggled to name every city in the legislative district in response to a pop quiz from Morris - though Rivers forgot only Ridgefield.

"I have a lot to learn in life as in the legislative process," Herrera said. "But I believe I am as well-prepared as anyone I know."

After the Thursday afternoon vote, Cowlitz County Auditor Kristina Swanson immediately swore Herrera into office. Herrera then raced to Olympia, where legislators were already meeting in special session.

At the Capitol, Herrera was swept into a meeting with House Republican leader Richard DeBolt for a quick tutorial on a bill to provide property tax deferrals to moderate-income homeowners. Republican lawmakers were uniformly opposed to the Senate bill.

Herrera was greeted with hugs by staff members who had worked with her during her internship with Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield.

"I'm excited," said Herrera, who admitted that she had not eaten all day. "I'm ready to get to work."

Gotta wonder: when is she going to get off that wide-glide and start?

Now, that's the fantasy newspaper version: here's what really happened.

Jaime Herrera has no practical experience of any kind. She has never worked in the private sector, has taken credit for issues that were not hers (such as raising $2 million for Bush in a Washington State fundraiser back in August 04… a fundraiser where she worked… as an intern.) knows practically nothing about the district (she hadn’t lived here for the 11 years prior; has no apartment or house here) When she was appointed to take over the seat in the 18th District, her only connection to the area for the prior decade had been her absentee voter registration. She knew nothing about the issues confronting us; she lied about her experience (still does) had done nothing and knew nothing that qualified her to represent me in the 18th District or any other district.

Her lackluster performance since her arrival has shown her lack of intelligence and her lack of chops needed to actually get the job done.  Her cowardice on the matter of town hall meetings is inexplicable.

Herrera had no intention of running against even a weakened Baird, and yet she needed to lie about "being recruited for 6 months" to run against Baird. Had Baird not bailed out, we wouldn't have heard of her this time around. 

Now, McMorris-Rogers sees a political vacuum in Washington State. She sees herself as a latter-day Jennifer Dunn.... or more. She picks up the phone and calls Marc Boldt and sets up the deal.  Boldt and McMorris were tight in the legislature... something of a crush situation there.

So, there’s a full court press on the PCO’s. Some state and local heavyweights go to work on these fine folks, who cave to the pressure. Twenty-five of them list Herrera as first choice. 

They list a girl they’ve never heard of. With no private job experience. With no business experience. A girl so ignorant she has no idea about the local megacasino issue or impacts, even going so far as to believe there had been a vote on the issue, a girl with no home here of any kind and that hasn’t lived here for eleven years. 

I can’t deny the effectiveness of the program... unfortunately I’m still in the dark as to what methods they used to pull it off. But I wish I knew, because selling her to 25 out of 40 was an exceptional feat. 

But all of that begs the issue: why? This girl is NOT the second coming of John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, De Tocqueville, Jefferson, Lincoln or Madison. Why the flexing of political muscle for someone on the other side of the state from her own district, and for someone with a minor staff position in DC? (Jaime's false claims of having held the position of "Senior Legislative Aide" are just that: false.) 

So, when she stood there in front of the commissioners and told then, with a straight face, that "there is not a job in the world I would rather have," knowing that she had been parachuted in to this position specifically for a run against Baird, that became yet another of the many reasons to take the position that she is unfit to serve in government in any capacity. 

So… Why did McMorris-Rogers do this to us? Why does she feel so compelled that she has to interfere in an area that is none of her fricking business? Have we reached the point where, because Doc Hastings HAS risen to his nadir, Cathy has decided in the sense that both politics and nature abhor a vacuum, that she, therefore, is going to fill it? 

I will serve as a voice of opposition to Jaime Herrera's and McMorris-Roger's efforts to corrupt the system, as they corrupted it before for her initial appointment, to manipulate her ascension to Congress. I don't believe her cult of personality will be enough. 

Surrounding herself with Rossi's people and having every thought in her head placed there by McMorris Rogers, Vander Stoop and the rest of the Rossi crew doesn't qualify her to be my Congresswoman. 

And as this election continues, you will all come to know everything that I know about her... and in time, arrive at the same conclusion I have: ANYONE else seriously running for this position would be a much better choice. 

The agony of Jaime Herrera's worthless "representation" started because of the deals between Boldt and McMorris, and the subsequent deal between Boldt, Axel Swanson and the other male democrat Cowlitz Commissioner. 

No Boldt equals no Herrera.  That is why she was moronic enough to endorse Boldt in the last election, a slap in the face to the entire GOP of this county.   

Swanson, subsequently, lost his re-election effort as a Cowlitz County Commissioner.  Not surprisingly, Boldt hired him as a result of the quid pro quo.

So no, Ms. Morris, you were not the only vote for Ridgefield Barbie.  And in hindsight, Barbie was the LEAST qualified for the job, and her tenure has been one disaster after another where she throws her constituency and this country under the bus, every hour, on the hour.  No democrat would have voted differently on the issues that really matter.

In short, Herrera has become Marc Boldt... much like the GOP House "leadership."  She, too, should be kicked out and left to fend for herself, as she has done absolutely nothing to stop the infection of the CRC, for example, except to SAY she is opposed to it... and she lacks even the guts to hold town hall meetings.

Without action, her so-called "opposition" is an utterly worthless utterance.

Until she actually stops the federal funding for this rip off, she's just beating her gums and lying.  Because, in reality, she supports the entirety of this massive, $10 billion rip off.

Does anyone reading this article believe this newspaper, which has trashed anyone wise enough to even mention opposition to this rip off, treats Herrera with a fragility like she'll break if they go after her for her frequently stated, but never executed opposition to this theft?

That, of course, explains the constant stream of drivel from her pet mouth piece.... her rank cowardice notwithstanding.

Remember, Betty Sue: Marc set the deal up and you went along with it.  You really didn't care, because then as now, the 18th is Republican country.  So, in reality... what you "recall" is, of course, flat wrong.

But then, you knew that, right?