Tuesday, August 19, 2014

A conversation about the Charter.


·        David Dansky For many reasons when looked at on a cost benefit analysis basis there are more reasons to adopt than to deny. I had wished all seats would have been by district, but it is time to come into the 21st century. Either way I suspect the Columbia River will continue to flow by our county.
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K.j. Hinton Sorry, David, but not getting your own way is no justification for changing the structure of government.

The answer will be an overwhelming "no."

Think it terms of light rail and the CRC getting crushed.
17 hours ago · Like · 2
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David Dansky K.j.Hinton, you were right about the CRC and you could be right again. The joker in this is the fact that many independents find the actions of Madore and Meilke to be repugnant. I know many of Liz' supporters find the Columbian too liberal while others find it too anti-union and too conservative. I am sure the Columbian will endorse Liz; I hope they do. It will be interesting to see if the Columbian endorses the proposed changes in our county form of government. I for one would like to see a lot of the offices become non-partisan ( I want the best sheriff, not caring if he or she is GOP or Dem or Lib; ditto assessor etc. ) In many ways this vote will be a referendum on these two commissioners. If this were a presidential election year, I think it would have a good chance to pass; in this off year cycle I would not bet on it. Weren't these so-called Freeholders elected and didn't they pass by a rather overwhelming vote the final proposal? We are a purple county, so this will be fascinating to see how it plays out. By the way I am so glad John Ley made the race and I hope he runs again. I thought getting more than a quarter of the vote for the first time was very good. Hope it is not the kiss of death, but I really liked him and was happy to have his sign on my property.
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K.j. Hinton Like everyone driven by hatred of Madore to change the county government structure, of course the Lazy C will endorse this charter. But so what?

If the Columbian had any throw weight, we'd have Commissioner Boldt and Commissioner Tanner.

The problem the pro-Charter side has is that every major backer has a proven record of not caring what the people think or want. Every major backer of the charter supported the CRC. None of the major backers ever voted for Madore in the first place. And it's just too easy to prove that hatred is what's driving this, bumper sticker sloganeering (it is time to come into the 21st century) notwithstanding.

The hypocrisy of Betty Sue Morris will be a HUGE, self-imposed barrier to overcome. The major group behind this effort is the same people who reek with vitriol against Madore on the C3G2 site for all to see. And in the end, your admission that this is about Madore dooms it's passage.

It's an anti-charter campaign that writes itself.

It's the best evidence I've seen yet, in fact: because the gapping maw of a weakness that supporters cannot overcome is this: if this were the right thing to do... it would be the right thing to do if we had never heard of Madore. And we both know that if democrats still controlled the commission, this would not only not be on the ballot... this wouldn't even be a topic of conversation.

And partisan hatred is no justification for changing our form of government.

If those on the left don't like Madore, then they will have to do what the GOP tried to do back in 2012 when it came to Obama: vote him out.

But to suggest that this legalized coup attempt is based on anything BUT partisan hatred is either self-delusional or an outright lie.
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David Dansky K.J. while I would eschew words like every and none in some of your descriptions (because they are too absolute and you only need one counter example to attack the validity...but that is nitpicking), I don't disagree with the basic thesis that this movement arose because of the dissatisfaction ( I know folks who disagree with the M and M boys but who do NOT hate them) with the current county commissioner majority. Right or wrong, the final blow was the method employed in the appointment of Don Benton to his current county job. It will be a very interesting referendum and I predict it will be close...maybe within the margin of Benton's 74 vote victory in the last election. People can disagree without hating and without vitriol and without ad hominem attacks...unfortunately this kind of political discourse is becoming rarer and rarer. I think it will be the most interesting political contest in our county come November and would imagine a lot of money will be raised and spent trying to sway voters either way. Certainly Madore will make sure his side of the argument is well articulated and disseminated.
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K.j. Hinton Spend some time on C3G2. It's all hate, all the time.

And hate is no reason to change our governmental structure... nor is disagreement with the completely legal and frequently used by other democrat commissioners system in the past to hire Benton (Again, if a democrat had been hired... say, Jim Moeller... would we even be having this discussion?) and the basic flaw in the argument is simple: the entire basis for this action is partisanship... and our governmental system should not be changed merely because a group of people don't like the outcomes.

The fact of the matter is this: the vast majority of those whining the loudest refused to vote for either Boldt OR Madore. To that end, they've got no one to blame but themselves... the 35,000 or so undervotes tell the tale.

And those behind this getting butthurt because their side lost control of the commission and because the guy who DID get elected was instrumental in killing the CRC... which is the REAL reason for this idiocy... (Benton is just an excuse... a hypocritical excuse to be sure... but an excuse nonetheless) in no way equates to an adequate justification for changing our county system of government. If, in fact, since this system was good enough for both Betty Sue AND Pridemore when they were on the commission without uttering complaint one or making any effort to change one wit of the current governmental structure, then it's good enough for us now. 

In the end, most everyone involved in this rip off and most everyone financing it were rabid supporters of the CRC Scam. And the people of this county, countywide, loath both the CRC/Loot Rail scam and those behind it/supporting it. And they will know this in November.

Even now, Pridemore is DOA: he's the wrong party, he's one of the fathers of the CRC Scam, and he's up to his eyeballs in this coup attempt. And more's to the point, those behind this effort already know it. He's a "Stuart" democrat, a guy who made it clear that what the people wanted didn't matter to him one wit.

And he's going up against a warrior for the people, a woman who fought tooth and nail to give the people a voice that every one of those behind this scam ignored... insulted... belittled... attacked... and degraded.

And as much as I appreciate your spin on the hatred issue, the facts... and the words... speak for themselves. Brancaccio's hatred of Madore for wrecking his CRC dream is legendary. Ed Barnes' hatred of Madore for wrecking the CRC scam is legendary. As it is for Pollard, as is for almost every outspoken democrat... as is almost every leftist babbling on the C3G2 hate site.

And yes, their obsession is based on partisan hatred. If it weren't, then neither myself, nor Robert Dean nor Lew Waters nor commissioner Madore himself would be banned from that emotional and political black hole.

At the end of the day, all they've got is lies for their true motivations. And the people are generally pretty smart about being lied to. And when these guys lie for the next three months?

This November, they're gonna wish they hadn't.

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