So, who to vote for in the upcoming election?

Well, as a Republican, I will only vote Republican.  That may not necessarily mean voting for the Republican running or the Republican incumbent, but each and every vote I take will be a Republican vote.

Feel free to vote for the candidates that suits you.

Generally speaking for me, the safest bet is to oppose anyone the local democratian endorses.  They only endorse democrats or RINOs, in this case, for example, they have not endorsed a single candidate who didn't buy into their CRC/Loot Rail resurrection scam and no conservative would ever do that. Think of it as the perfect litmus test for candidates.

The rag could care less about you or this community: they've proven it year after year with their lies, exaggerations and personal attacks against political opponents.

With, for example, their endorsement of Scott Weber for county clerk, they even showed they knew he was a liar and endorsed him anyway.

There's no excuse for that.  But then, the rag has never been real big on integrity.

So, without further ado...

Crain's RINO and non-Republican endorsement list

US Senate: Doesn't matter

Sadly, Maria Cantwell will easily win reelection.  That said the rabid support by local conservative haters like Carolyn Crain simply disqualifies Hutchinson from my endorsement.

Crain is the main thug behind the lie-filled letters attacking conservative PCO's in the PCO elections and, of course, is best known for her fake GOP PAC's support, both in 2015 and this year, of non-Republican Marc Boldt.

That is also something many past RINO party chairs engaged in, with 5 of them endorsing Boldt against a GOP candidate (Rep. Liz Pike) in 2015 and 3 of them endorsing Boldt against the only Republican on the ballot in this primary election, who also happened to be a conservative. (Eileen Quiring)

Is that hatred of conservatives, or what?

Congress:  Writing in Sen. Ann "Gas Tax - Property Tax" Rivers.

Regular readers already know of the disdain I have for our local congresswoman... and Rivers, as far as that goes.

Of Herrera's many betrayals and her total failure to accomplish anything related to our cross-river transportation issues (Which are ENTIRELY Federal in nature due to the fact the river is a state line) her decision to vote AGAINST the repeal of Obamacare stands as the worst possible of those betrayals.

Additionally, Herrera also joined with the democrats in trashing then Candidate Trump and, to the left's delight, joined with them in her condemnation of Mr. Trump which resulted in her subsequent decision to write in Paul Ryan for President.

Further, this idiot isn't even all that sure how'd she'd vote if it came to a Trump impeachment.

Well, fair's fair.  I've always thought of Herrera as a politically clueless sockpuppet of Cathy McMorris, even from the days she was parachuted in here to run against Brian Baird over ten years ago.  Since Herrera set the example back then with her vote for president, I simply cannot ignore that and I will use my write-in capability for another Republican just like Herrera, and that is Rivers.

Rivers, best known for yoking the people of Clark County with $700 million in additional gas taxes... which has led to the price we pay for fuel to be the second highest in the entire United States... and her efforts to appease the WEA by adding several billion to our state's budget, causing our property taxes to explode...  has long wanted to be congresswoman.  Until she screwed the pooch with the Republican budget that she crafted to screw us back in 2017, she had a great chance... but now?  Not so much.

She's the perfect foil for Herrera, and the local GOP's COMPLETE lack of accountability for her actions merely serves to accentuate their RINO underpinnings.

So, I might just be the only vote she EVER gets for Congress.

County offices.

Treasurer: Robert Hinds

One of the many stupid things the local GOP failed to do... of the many stupid things they failed to do... is to make sure that EVERY available seat was covered by a candidate to run, including County Treasurer who the clueless moron running the local GOP was sure was a Republican until after I used this blog to slap him around a couple of times and get him to change the listing.

Screen capture of the former GOP candidate page

The result is that when Lasher surprised everyone (except Van Nortwick) and announced he wasn't running for reelection, the local GOP had no one available to run for that seat.  They were caught COMPLETELY by surprise.

Again.

The same thing applied to the two House seats in the 49th, where the incumbents ran unopposed.  That meant the democrats could use those two seats to launder money to other democrat candidates... for example, Stonier's $40,000 to the House Democrat Campaign Committee.

Of course, the PDC fine she had to pay also came from her campaign funds as did her legal fees, but hey, it's not like she needed them to campaign or anything, right?

Topper is a downtown mafia democrat.  She ran for state representative in 2016 and lost, despite raising the most money in the 49th and having the Cowlitz launder almost $30,000 through a Dave Barnett PAC.

Treasurer is a non-partisan position but by dumping her fringe-left roots, Topper hides her true politics and she will do everything she can to weaponize the position for the left.

Hinds is perfectly capable of running that office. But as always, the GOP has shown an inability to line people up to take over.  This instance is yet another example of the many where the incompetence of the local GOP cannot be overstated.

Frequently, the GOP has shown an ability to GET power... but not much of an ability to KEEP it.

County Auditor: Tiffany Couch

Couch is the forensic accountant who's work illustrated the depths of the corruption, mismanagement and policies that were deliberately designed to keep the public out of the downtown mafia's efforts to ram this multi-billion dollar waste of money known as the CRC/Loot Rail scam that would have resulted in a $100,000,000 hit to the county's disposable income by a commuting public working in Oregon.

Many in the Establishment have problems with Tiffany. But the fact is, without her efforts that horrific, inexplicable waste of our money would be in the process of being built right now.

The incumbent, Greg Kimsey, is a RINO extraordinaire and he fully supported the CRC rip off scam.

He, no doubt, supports the hated resurrection of that same scam that every local government has seemed to show themselves incapable of listening to their constituents by endorsing this same, sorry effort... as if the reasons to kill it back then have somehow changed now.

County Assessor:  Given history, I was prepared to vote for Wertz.  But after giving this race some thought, I have determined that I'll vote for Van Nortwick.

When Peter first ran, the local daily democrat did their best to trash him.  Their scumbag former editor, Lefty Lou Brancaccio, did everything he could to humiliate the man, including endorsing his opponent, even though she had never bothered to vote in the entirety of her life.

I beat on Lefty like a drum.  He came back at me, using his column like a club... as if it ever mattered.  And, of course, Van Nortwick won.

Both candidates claim to be Republicans.  Van Nortwick, for his part, has been endorsed by the local GOP (but is that reason to vote for him... or against him?) but he has also endorsed the democrat running for County Treasurer.

Balancing that, Van Nortwick was pivotal in trying to warn us that the budget crafted by Wilson, Rivers and Paul Harris in the House would cause our property taxes to explode in the face of the assurances of Wilson and Rivers that our property taxes were going down THIS year.  Rivers, who bears a huge responsibility for this property tax mess, actually blamed Van Nortwick for our property tax explosion.

And how'd that work out for us?

County Clerk:  Writing in Bain Wilson.

Sadly, Scott Weber felt compelled to lie to get elected the first time he ran.  That he won is meaningless: that he lied about that means he could lie about anything.

Bain is Weber's deputy.  She ran for the office the term before Scott.  She can do the job and likely is, for the most part, anyway.

As the rag put it when they endorsed Weber (Which automatically makes him suspect)

In 2010, as a political novice, Weber ran for the office with the platform of abolishing it. For that election, he wrote in the voters’ pamphlet: “We need to manage our public money better. One way to do that is to eliminate elected offices that have very limited functions. … If elected I will work to eliminate the office which will save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. While I work to phase the office out, I will do everything I can to save taxpayer money.”

Now Weber has a different view of the job, which has an annual salary of $114,509. 

For $114K, who wouldn't?

Don't misunderstand me: I don't care if the office is elected or not.  I do care that someone would lie about what they will do once elected... only to fail to follow through.

Haven't you had enough of that?

County Council

Chair:  Eileen Quiring.

This wasn't a slam dunk for me by any means but the reality is that Eric Holt has merely devolved into a poster-child for every leftist theme and cause known to politics.

I had supported him in the past when he ran against "Gas Tax, Property Tax" Rivers because I will never support a liar with the exception of using her name to stay Republican in the Congressional race.

I've learned my lesson and it's all Republican, all the time for me now.

The Olson/Green interchangeability index

Council District Two: Elisabeth Veneman

This is no contest.  Julie Olson has done an absolutely horrific job as counselor, representing the downtown leftists far more than either the Republican Party or her district.

In fact, had her opponent back in 2015 (Chuckie Green, owner of the fringe-left hate site "Clark County Leftists for Good Leftist Government) actually won, his voting record would have been the same as Olson's now.

If there are any differences between the two, I don't see it.

Look at this dual endorsement of yet another RINO/Leftist, John Blom.  It certainly speaks to Olson's fake GOP veneer as well as Blom's.

Olson, for her part, represents the special interests of downtown Vancouver.

Veneman will listen to and represent the people of her district.

Because any politician supporting the CRC scam is damned sure NOT supporting the people of Clark County.

Council District One: Writing in Anson Service

Look, I think that Temple Lentz is a hoot.

Telling Lefty Lou Brancaccio to go fuck himself a few years back after she was Tim "The Liar" Leave-it's campaign manager back in, oh. 2011 or so shows she's not the run-of-the-mill leftist whack-job.  But she had no problem working with that lying scumbag Jimmy Mains who absolutely... and falsely... claimed to the world back in 2012 that the reason I opposed Marc Boldt, my brother-in-law, for reelection to the county commission was because I was being paid by David Madore to do so.

I'm pretty sure the technical term for that is defamation.... or libel.... or slander.... or something like that...

...since it was 1000% untrue.

That she'd work with scum like Mains is enough to prove, IMHO, that's she's unfit for any elected position, but that's just me.

Stuart, for her part, has mainly been a disappointment since she helped Boldt roll back most every tax and fee restriction that David Madore put into place.

That means she's been instrumental in jacking up our taxes and fees in a big way... hardly standard Republican fare.

OTOH, she's continued to stand steadfast against that horrific scam that the other 4 councilors have indicated support for: the resurrection of the CRC/Loot Rail scam.

I appreciate that.

But I also know of her part in the 2015 election designed not to win, but to keep David Madore from winning by getting her name on the ballot and splitting the vote.  She did that out of her intense dislike for Madore... and that's her privilege.  It certainly was her privilege then just like my writing in former candidate in the 49th Ansen Service for her spot is my privilege now.

The end result of her action was the enabling of the 3 years of agony inflicted on this county by Boldt.

And that simply cannot be forgiven.

Service, for his part, ran a strong campaign in the Vancouver Soviet for Representative a few years back.  He would do a great job as a county councilor.

State Representative: District 18 Seat One - Writing in John Ley

Over the years, John Ley forgets more about the issues confronting the people of the 18th District before 9 a.m. than Brandon Vick actually knows.

Vick barely defeated someone in the primary that no one had ever heard of (51.8% to 48%) even though he had every advantage, from money to a 4 year incumbency.

Where Vick screwed up... badly... is he sold us out on his vote to resurrect the CRC/Loot Rail scam.

The people of this county do not want the I-5 bridge replaced with the 4 decades of horrifically expensive, ever-increasing tolls and lack of impact that light rail project would cost the 75,000 or so commuters of the voting public.

His support of that scam is exactly the same as that of his democrat opponent.  So why vote fake democrat when you can get the real thing?

The failure of Vick to vote conservative in arguably one of the most conservative districts in the state caused conservatives to simply blow his race off.

Ley could easily do a better job and his early reaction supporting "Gas Tax - Property Tax" Rivers efforts that have helped make our gasoline among the most expensive in the country aside, Ley buries himself in the most critical elements of transportation policy and history that Vick simply cannot grasp.

18th District - Seat 2: Writing in Liz Pike

The hand-picked RINO, Larry Hoff, was humiliated in the primary, where, oddly enough, it would appear that roughly 1400 people voted for Vick... only to turn around and vote AGAINST Hoff.

Everything about Hoff's campaign has been wrong. He was picked and endorsed by almost every RINO in politics around here, including a couple who have no business getting involved in this district (Kim Wyman, Secretary of State (Does she really think her endorsement matters?  Because it CLEARLY didn't matter here, did it?) and Jaime Herrera, who is many things but conservative certainly isn't on the list)

He's surrounded himself with ignorant RINO's such as the Wilsons, Steve Nelson, and others who simply don't know the district or the people.

This seat... both of these seats... have been a lock.  The performance of both of these seats in the primary has been miserable; the worst in, perhaps, the last 20 years.

They should get a message from that.  Nothing I've seen indicates that such message has been received and they are both at risk.

If/when they lose?

They'll have no one to blame but themselves... and in Hoff's case, the bad advice he got from the Wilson crew.

17th District - Seat 1: Vicki Kraft

Kraft takes stands and votes the establishment and downtown mafia, hate.  She puts the R in representative, more so than any other representative running in SW Washington.

And to me, that is THE critical element in the job, which is SUPPOSED to be, "representation" after all.

17th District - Seat 2: Writing in Don Benton

Harris sold us out on the budget scam that caused our property taxes to explode.

For example, the WEA REALLY, REALLY liked his betrayal of his district:

See, when you sell out your party and your people, you get a WEA cookie.

Paul's democrat opponent, Damion Jiles, Jr, was recently outed for a domestic violence issue.

Given democrat hypocrisy about how women are treated, unsurprisingly, it appears that Jiles is still endorsed by the local democrat party.

Color me surprised.

For his part, Benton is... Benton.  Hated by the democrats and the RINO establishment types alike, our differences notwithstanding, he'd be far superior to Harris.

Now a member of the Trump Administration as Director of the Selective Service, Benton would be a welcome change.  (And yeah, I know about the rules concerning holding these two jobs at the same time.)

Public Utilities Commissioner: Jim Malinowski.

Is that even a question?

Initiatives:

Following the lead of the Republican Women (where I proudly claim an associate membership, which I immediately made with the departure of Jesser) I agree with all of their positions on these initiatives.

I-940: handcuffs law enforcement - NO

I-1631: Inslee's wet dream to jack up our taxes another mile - NO

I-1634: A reaction to Seattle's idiotic soda tax that let Starbucks off the hook, this gets rid of that and keeps other greedy local governments from doing the same on that or any other food item. - YES

I-1639:  The gun-grabber/California initiative. - NO

Why would you rather dive into a pool of boiling lava than vote for your brother-in-law, Marc Boldt?

I get asked that frequently.

After all, he hired you as his legislative assistant for 6 years when he was a state representative, didn't he?  You roomed with him for 5 years or so, didn't you?  You put in countless hours in damage control and explaining his bizarre behavior, didn't you?

So.... what happened?

What happened was rather simple: the man became completely co-opted by the left once he became a county commissioner (although now, his full support of the LBTGQ+ agenda, posted on Eric Holt's facebook page and his endorsement by the local Young Democrats when he first ran for council chair now illustrates how far left he's gone) but even that didn't do it.

His decision to ignore my warnings that the "yes" vote he took on an unconstitutional county ordinance that would have allowed the county to confiscate our weapons in the event of a declared emergency didn't even do it, although it should have.

Here's what did it:  The man lied to my face.

That's right.  He became just another political scumbag, just another liar.

And here's the story on the end of my support of my brother-in-law and my strident opposition to even allowing this lying psycho to be in government.

Remember, Marc?  I get all this "But he's your BROTHER-IN-LAW!  He's FAMILY!" a great deal.

That never seems to bother Marc.  Why should it bother me?

Marc, of course, had Jimmy Mains spread the lie that David Madore was paying me to oppose him. And I've got to tell you, if that's true, I'm still waiting on the check after almost 8 years.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Well, I guess I was mistaken when Marc Boldt told me he would do an advisory vote.

On March 20, while at the GOP Convention, I discussed the bridge situation with Marc Boldt, my brother-in-law and county commissioner.

As a result of that discussion, I posted the following: Saturday, March 20, 2010

Boldt/Mielke to support Bridge/Loot Rail advisory vote.

As our local government clowns have wasted 10's of millions of dollars; as our despicable rag of a paper has attempted to jam this thing down our throats as those who've lied to us (Tim "The Liar" Leavitt) and those corrupted (Steve "Cold hard cash, Mr. Barnett" Stuart) have taken it upon themselves to ram all of this down our throats without our say.

Well, this November, we will get out chance.

I directly discussed this situation with Clark County Commissioner Marc Boldt and he agreed to put a non-binding, county-wide advisory vote on the ballot this November as part of the general election.

This is great for two huge reasons: first and foremost is that the people... the people who will actually pay the bills, will FINALLY get a say.

But second: every candidate and incumbent running this November (You listening, Steve "Unmarked bills, Mr. Barnett" Stuart?) will have to take and defend a position that so far, they haven't had to take or defend.

I look forward to the reaction from the various people who, while not having to pay the tolls this project will bring, want to ram this down our throats and the throats of the 65,000 commuters who WILL have to pay this price. I'm sure it will be classic.

Well, this IS classic, just not as I expected.

I got a call from my wife at work, warning me that things weren't going exactly the way I had been led to believe.

And, so, what's the story?

County Commissioner Marc Boldt, a fellow Republican who previously served with Mielke in the state Legislature, said he’s not inclined to support an advisory vote now.

“Once you go down that path, your ballot could be full of advisory votes,” Boldt said.

Exclusive of the absurdity of such an observation (It really doesn't matter if there are 50 advisory votes on the ballot or none, I would submit that any time there is a multi-billion dollar project that will cost 65,000 or more Clark County commuters $100,000,000 a year, blowing a hole in both family AND county budgets, there should, at a minimum, be an advisory vote) Marc looked me in the eye and promised me that such a vote, a non-binding advisory vote, would take place.

Apparently, it isn't.

I, of course, felt just the tiniest bit slighted considering what Marc had told me.

To my face.

So, I asked a couple of questions via email:

Marc,

The up or down vote on light rail will only apply to operation of light rail, not if either the bridge or light rail will be built. If the bridge is to be built, it must have light rail infrastructure on it. Since the only reason to replace a 6 lane bridge with a 6 lane bridge is to bring light rail into Vancouver, there is absolutely zero chance to build it without light rail.

If there is an advisory vote on the bridge there will be no light rail vote because when the people vote this down, and they will, any chance of one dime of federal money will vaporize.

The light rail/CTran people don’t need to make a sub district; they can just use the one they have now. Meanwhile, the people of this county will pay the bill, even though, once again, no one will ask us. Further, when the light rail operations vote goes against them, they could just make their sub district THEN, using THOSE results. In short, an advisory vote that will likely kill this deal cannot stand as an excuse to not hold this vote because CTran might use the outcome as some sort of template for a sub district.

Clearly, they will do that ANYWAY, since that’s what they did with the CTran vote where 10’s of thousands of us were excluded from the vote, but not excluded from paying the tax. No matter what the outcome of such a vote would be, CTran will keep trying until they get what they want.

Kill this bridge through an advisory vote, and there won’t be any light rail operations vote.

Failing to do this will result in a minimum of 65,000 commuters and their families being highly upset because one, the toll is going to vacuum $1300 or so per year out of each of their pockets (of which the county will not get one dime of revenue) and two, you will be held responsible for not allowing them any say.

As for an advisory vote, the assistant director of elections for the secretary of state said in the article that

State law does not explicitly prohibit advisory votes, according to state elections officials.

“There’s nothing that says they couldn’t,” said Katie Blinn, assistant director of elections for Secretary of State Sam Reed. “This whole animal of advisory votes is simply advisory. The process is not spelled out in state law, so there aren’t black and white parameters around it.”

Thus, there are no legal reasons not to hold such a vote, Potter’s babble notwithstanding; and anyone telling you different is lying.

The directive to Potter shouldn’t be “find a way to keep us from doing this.” Instead, it should be, “Find a way to make this happen or we will replace you with someone who will.”

Potter is, of course, dead wrong on his positions concerning advisory votes. Advisory votes by their very nature have precisely zero effect or authority or legal requirement to make any alteration of any kind on any issue.

Unless he can find a LAW that EXPLICITLY makes such advisory votes illegal (And the secretary of state’s office has indicated that he cannot) then he is flat wrong. And Stuart’s moronic idea of a “scientifically valid survey” will cost a hell of a lot more than $3000 and supersede the BEST survey: the results at the ballot box, which transcends any other type of survey in its inclusion and accuracy.

Marc, I get that you don’t want to take flack over allowing the people to have a say. But in this instance, giving the people a voice is the right thing to do for two reasons:

First, on a project of this magnitude with the horrific impacts that will result on family budgets across this county, the people deserve a say.

Second, you promised me that an advisory vote would be held.

I recognize that I’m a nobody relative to Steve Stuart or the unions. But someone, somewhere, has to care about what the PEOPLE want.

An advisory vote will provide that opportunity.

The comments on the article in question were generally supportive of such a vote, save for the usual fringe-leftist scum and union hacks who think we owe them a job and who certainly don't want a little thing like the will of the people to get in their way.

One particularly moronic slimeball commented that those of us who want to determine the will of the people on this issue should move to Somalia.

Well, it's a lesson learned. About politics, about what's important, and about my brother-in-law.

He had the opportunity to do something for the people of this county; to provide them with a voice... to make up for his support of Tim "The Liar" Leavitt, who, as I warned, scammed people into actually believing he was opposed to tolls.

And he did nothing.

I will remember. 2012 isn't that far away.

________________________________________________

Boldt has gone on to engage in various psychotic activities since then.  I had to block that clown from texting me it got so bad; he frequently referred to female politicians I know as "girl friends" (of mine) and he expresses a level of private arrogance that is sickening.

As I pointed out, Boldt has expressed complete agreement with the leftist FLASH education program and the LBGQT+ agenda on another candidate's facebook page.  Now, why he would comment on another candidate's facebook page when that candidate is running for the same job that Boldt already has is a mystery to me.  And, of course, Boldt's endorsement of the LBGQT+ agenda won't impact the RINO vote one way or the other.

But what Marc did with $5000 he ripped off from his 2012 campaign is also a mystery to me.

What ISN'T a mystery is why he has been restricted from running his own campaign finances by the Public Disclosure Commission or why he has that leftist whack job Jimmy Mains handling that for him.

No, the reasons for that are obvious.

What IS a mystery is how anyone voting for him could do so knowing the state had determined he was too incompetent to run his OWN campaign finances but believe he was on the ball enough to run the finances of this county.

I could put up with a great many political disagreements with the man who, when I was working for him, was actually a conservative Republican with principles and integrity.

Both those circumstances are long since a distant memory.  I could only take so much and like every other politician I go after who lies, cheats, steals or is incompetent, I simply refused to give him a pass just because of the fallacious claim that he's "family."

His claim that I was being paid... by ANYONE... to go after him is as psychotic as he is.  I have no reason to be paid to go after those I despise politically, who are far more interested in doing TO us instead of doing FOR us... and Boldt has long since dropped that "Servant Leader" crap he used to use to get elected in the past.

"People over politics?" indeed.

Feel free to comment with any other questions you may have.

Facing the loss of $110 million in revenue... how is Oregon going to deal with the Cowlitz Casino plague?

So, the economic casino black hole, designed to suck hundreds of millions of dollars out of the local economies around here and send them to the Mohegan Gaming Authority in Connecticut (Primary financiers of this project and 49.15% owners) the 240 member Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians in California (Buyers of part of a 43% share owned by David Barnett) and David Barnett's pockets and the Mohegan Tribe itself, which owns 7.85%... is opening their rip off.

It goes without saying that this will suck dollars out of our county even worse than the CRC/Loot Rail scam the local RINO contingent is attempting to resurrect.

But we're not the only victims.

Oregon is going to get hit even harder:

State officials have been bracing themselves for Ilani's impact. The Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, which prepares budget forecasts, expects the new casino to slash lottery revenues by $110 million a year, about 12 percent of the current total. Oregon Lottery dollars go to fund education, parks and economic development.

And the Grande Rhonde Tribe also estimates huge losses.

The tribe contends the Cowlitz casino will cause a loss of just over $100 million of the Grand Ronde's estimated $244 million annual revenue stream, which is generated largely by Spirit Mountain Casino. Martin said the tribe arrived at the estimate by using a market projection based on distance from market and estimated drive time.

Now, all is not sweetness and light in Paskenta land:

Tribal Embezzlement Suit Stayed For Criminal Case
By Christine Powell 

Law360, New York (April 21, 2017, 5:13 PM EDT) -- A California federal judge hit pause Thursday on the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians’ lawsuit accusing former tribal officials of a wide-reaching, multimillion-dollar embezzlement scheme while new, related criminal charges against some of the ex-officials play out, with a few exceptions. 

U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. mostly granted the former tribal officials’ motion to stay the tribe’s case alleging they violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act while parallel criminal proceedings go forward against some of them for their alleged role in embezzling... 

And given David Barnett's rather interesting legal record... that's oddly not surprising.

That said, the question is simple: what does Oregon do about the revenue loss?

Well, there doesn't appear to be all that many options.

They do nothing.

And how likely is that?  How does the State of Oregon make up for a big hit like that?  Raise taxes on an already overburdened taxpaying population?

"Doing nothing" is their least likely option.

Increases taxes to make up for the shortfall.

You already pay horrific taxes if you live or work in Oregon.  How palatable is it going to be to the taxpayers of Oregon if their government looks at them and says, in effect, "gee, another Tribe set up shop in Washington State and they're killing our lottery revenue... which YOU now have to help make up."

I can already envision heads exploding all over the state.

Allow the Grande Rhonde to set up shop not unlike the Cowlitz have.

Except have them agree to make up the massive shortfall of revenue caused by the Cowlitz scam.  After all, the Mohegan Tribe is required to pay $400 million or so per year to Connecticut every year, while the Cowlitz are required to pay.... absolutely nothing to the State of Washington.

As to the state's (Connecticut's) agreements with the Tribes, the MOUs authorize the operation of video facsimile games, particularly slot machines, at the tribal casinos in Ledyard and Uncasville, as long as the Tribes pay the State 25 percent of the gross operating revenues from video facsimile machines. 

Last year, these payments totaled over $411 million. These payments continue "so long as no change in State law is enacted to permit the operation of video facsimiles or other commercial casino games by any other person and no other person within the State lawfully operates video facsimiles or other commercial casino games." 

Connecticut currently has two Indian casinos (Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun). The Foxwoods Casino operates under federal procedures; the Mohegan Sun Casino operates under a tribal-state compact. The federal procedures and tribal-state compact have the same legal effect and force under federal law. Under separate memorandum of understandings (MOU), the tribes have the exclusive right to operate slot machines and commercial casino games in the state. In return, each tribe must contribute 25% of its gross slot machine revenue to the state monthly. If either tribe's contribution falls below $80 million in any year, its rate increases to 30%.

Obviously, such an agreement can be worked out with the GR.  It would make up for.. and possibly exceed... the amount of revenue lost to Oregon as a result of the successful Cowlitz Casino scam.

Such an agreement SHOULD have been worked out with the Cowlitz, but the Native American lobby in Olympia owns the democrats even more than the WEA... so it's not surprising that tribal casinos get away with what amounts to financial murder in this state.

Revisit the effort to change the Oregon Constitution to allow non-tribal gaming.

The Grande Rhonde solution wouldn't be a piece of cake.

Under the arcane laws concerning "initial reservations," such as the one the Cowlitz lied themselves into with the behest of Barrack Obama, there is no test for negative financial impacts on other Tribes.

The governing law here is known as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.  Buried within that Act is Section 20.  And if a Tribe's reservation is designated an "initial reservation," then a critical part of the law does not apply to the Tribe in question, in this case, the Cowlitz.

And that part of the law is referred to as Section 20, Subpart C and D: the "detrimental to the surrounding community" part of the test.

Perhaps more controversial are the criteria for evaluating tribal applications for a two-part determination made by the Secretary under 25 U.S.C. § 2719(b)(1)(A), which criteria are found in Subpart C. Under this exception, gaming may occur on off-reservation trust lands if the Secretary, after consultation with appropriate state and local officials, including officials of nearby tribes, makes a determination that a gaming establishment would be (1) in the best interest of the applicant tribe and its members and (2) would not be detrimental to the surrounding community. The regulations clarify that a governor in an affected state must concur in any Secretarial two-part determination, set forth how consultation with local officials and nearby tribes will be conducted, and articulate the factors that Interior will consider in making the two-part determination. Under the regulations, an affected governor has up to one year to concur from the date of the Secretarial two-part determination, with an additional 180-day extension at the request of either the governor or the applicant tribe. 

Subpart D of the Section 20 regulations clarifies that the regulations do not disturb existing decisions made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or by the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Although the Cowlitz initial application for recognition, granted in 2000, claimed that their southern border was, effectively, the northern border of Longview, (Historically and factually, the Reservation where the Casino scam has been set up was NEVER a part of Cowlitz Tribal Lands) the availability of large tracts of land zoned agricultural next to the I-5 freeway here locally (Reservation shopping at its finest) along with willing sellers at highly inflated prices made the reservation shopping scam ideal.

That said, while the Cowlitz did NOT have to contend with the two-part test... the Grande Rhonde most likely WOULD be required to contend with that test, since any such construction in the Portland area would be viewed as "detrimental" to the Cowlitz casino, now part of the "surrounding community."

Thus, there would be a great likelihood that such an effort would be challenged in federal court if they attempted to build a Vegas-style casino complex to actually compete with the Cowlitz/Mohegan/Paskenta/Barnett project.

This brings us to the 4th possibility:

Revisiting the question of non-tribal gaming.

Currently, most non-tribal gambling is prohibited under the Oregon Constitution.

An effort was made... and crushed... a few years ago to modify that part of the Oregon Constitution to enable non-tribal gaming at Portland Meadows.  Those behind that effort pledged to give the state of Oregon 25% of their take, an amount estimated at the time to cover the amount NOW anticipated to be sucked out of Oregon revenues by the Cowlitz Scam.

At the time, there was no known looming threat to the revenues of Oregon.

But, as they say, that was then and this is now.

The advantages are obvious: no net loss in state revenue.  No tax dollars would be required for construction.  Increasing amounts of revenue if properly negotiated.

Gambling licenses could be awarded through a bidding process, with the minimum bid required to be in at least an amount needed to cover the revenue losses caused by the Cowlitz.

Given the choice between paying even HIGHER taxes and allowing a limited number of and location(s) for Class 3 gambling to actually become realized, it's likely that such a vote would pass... PARTICULARLY if the Grande Rhonde were heavily involved... just not in a way that would trip the Bureau of Indian Affairs/IGRA Section 20 involvement.

These are but a few of the options available.  But starting today, the Cowlitz are not only going to be screwing the people of Clark County sideways... they'll also be bending the people of an entire state directly over and blowing a hole in their collective wallet.

And THAT is GOING to sting.

Governor Brown, the ball is in your court and the legislature is in session.

What are you planning on doing about it?

If you think the Cowlitz Mafia Casino is going to do us any good... think again.

As I have been saying, the rip off of the Cowlitz casino scam is going to blow a huge hole in our local economy, not to mention a passel of other problems that come with it.

Here's an article from The Atlantic Magazine that gives the reader a snapshot of the damage yet to be inflicted on our local community because of the Cowlitz Scam.

A Good Way to Wreck a Local Economy: Build Casinos

No one should look to the gambling industry to revive cities, “because that’s not what casinos do.”

Steve Marcus/Reuters

David Frum Aug 7, 2014

Baltimore is a troubled city, as you know from The Wire. Like many troubled cities, Baltimore has turned to casino gambling as its solution. On August 26, a new Caesar’s casino will open on the site of an old chemical factory, a little more than 2 miles from the famous Inner Harbor and Camden Yards baseball stadium. Yet there’s already reason to expect the casino to disappoint everyone involved: the city looking for tax revenues, the workers hoping for jobs, the investors expecting hefty returns. 

Outside of Las Vegas—now home to only 20 percent of the nation’s casino industry—casino gambling has evolved into a downscale business. Affluent and educated people visit casinos less often than poorer people do for the same reasons that they smoke less and drink less and weigh less. 

Unfortunately for the casino industry’s growth hopes, downscale America has less money to spend today than it did before 2007. Nor is downscale America sharing much in the post-2009 recovery. From a news report on the troubles of a recently opened Ohio casino: 

Ameet Patel, general manager of the property, says the softness in casino revenue that he and other operators have seen has been driven by a key demographic: women older than 50 who used to bet $50 to $75 per visit. The weak recovery has squeezed their gambling budgets, and their trips to casinos are fewer, he says. 

What’s true in Ohio applies nationwide. Casino revenues had still not recovered their 2007 peaks as of the spring of 2014, when again they went into reverse in most jurisdictions. Moody’s now projects that casino revenues will drop through the rest of 2014 and all of 2015, slicing industry earnings by as much as 7.5 percent.  

More:

For those who see some sort of "boom" here in Clark County because the Cowlitz/Mohegan/Paskenta/Barnett successfully ran their scam, you have deluded yourself into believing this because you support the idea of a casino like this so you won't be troubled to go elsewhere for your gaming fix.

The impact of casinos on neighboring property values is “unambiguously negative,” according to the economists at the National Association of Realtors. Casinos don’t encourage non-gaming businesses to open nearby, because the people who most often visit casinos do not wander out to visit other shops and businesses. A casino is not like a movie theater or a sports stadium, offering a time-limited amusement. It is designed to be an all-absorbing environment that does not release its customers until they have exhausted their money.

Just a few weeks ago, I went to Las Vegas for the NASCAR race, which was a great experience.

But little else was, and I don't see myself ever going back.

Vegas is absurdly, outrageously expensive; homelessness is an obvious, quite visual problem; and I went into a 7-11 store that was, in effect, a slum.

This county will see a massive net loss in dollars.  We will be forced to pay more for less in taxes and support services, not to mention infrastructure and the fall out of this monstrosity.  Thanks to Sen. Ann "Gas Tax" Rivers, we're already on the hook for $700 million before the tribal scammers open their doors.

The tribe has already shown that they will buy local government like we buy a loaf of bread.

Our indefinite future is one of paying expenses caused directly or indirectly by the casino rip off.

And the irony?

The Mohegan Tribe, which financed most of this scam, is required to pay the state of Connecticut $400 million per year as a cost of doing business.

The Cowlitz Tribe is required to pay the State of Washington not one red cent.

Genius, isn't it?

Our indefinite future is one where local government, which already ignores us on so many issues, will now be PAID to ignore us individually as the tribe launders money to support candidates they see as pliable and willing to work for them... at OUR expense.

Just ask Alisha Topper.

This is what our future looks like.

Hundreds of millions of dollars taken from Clark County and sent to the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut, the Paskenta Apache Tribe in California and David Barnett.

And precious little of it staying here.

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Enjoy your buffet.

Meet the Casino - the New Politics of Clark County

I've noticed some rather strange reactions to the fact that our community lost and the Cowlitz Mafia won.

There are going to be a great many changes here... changes that most reading this haven't even begun to consider.

You will, however.

For us directly, this is the final act of Obama screwing this area individually.  Issues of costs to us (the taxpayers) how the tribe doesn't live here and won't have to suffer the impacts of what they're going to do to us; the traffic nightmare, the social service nightmare, the school nightmare, the housing nightmare, the law enforcement nightmare.

With what amounts to unlimited money, the tribe will be buying local government.

They have been making that effort for at least 13 years, starting with the effort to buy Pam Brokaw in the 18th District Curtis-Brokaw race... then the purchase of Steve Stuart back in the commissioner days... then another late effort to buy Brokaw in her race against Mielke for county commissioner... then laundering money for Tim "The Liar" Leavitt... all at the behest of tribal shill Dave Barnett... not to mention AM-O's $32,000 laundered by the same people.

Again, when traced... it appears to have originated in Seattle.

You know... right around where Barnett lives?

Some have indicated some rather bizarre ideas about what this rip off is going to mean to this community in terms of the non-existent generosity of the scammers who made this happen.

So, here's a few words about the uglier face of this effort.

It started back in 2004, when David Barnett laundered $25,000 through the Washington Conservation Voters (like most leftist outfits, they can be bought, so he bought them) to attack Richard Curtis, then candidate for state representative, over his support of a bill that would have expanded non-tribal gambling.

How's that for irony?

Next up, was Steve Stuart.

Having been found out locally about his underhanded efforts to buy politicians, Barnett proceeded to launder $100,000 through Progressive Majority for Stuart.

At the time, it was much more difficult to follow the money when it is routed from in-state to out of state to back in-state.

That resulted in a series of bogus, but effective, mailers that ultimately enabled "I only represent Steve" Stuart to get elected over Tom Mielke.

Next up was his old buddy Brokaw again.  Brokaw was the recipient of a very effective independent expenditure campaign that went up on TV.

She panicked and went back to her check-book buddy, Barnett, who dutifully forked over some $75,000 that was dumped in during the last 5 days of her campaign.

Too late.  She lost.

Most recently (2016), Barnett made a semi-serious effort to buy Alicia Topper as a state representative:

He laundered $29,400 through a PAC where he was the only donor and her campaign was the only effort.

I think all that money is illegal, given that a PAC requires what, ten donors to actually donate?

Not my circus, however... not my monkeys.

So, Republicans, when casino interests pliability becomes the defacto requirement to get elected around here... and the only requirement of these people is to do what they tell you, party or philosophy notwithstanding... you'll know why.

So, look forward to the corruption and the massive problems this insanity is going to cause.

And those of you who actually go there?

Enjoy.

The bad of the primary election

For me, there are three major areas of concern over this outcome.

1.  This shows that when properly coordinated, any conservative can be culled from the herd and, at a minimum, be replaced by a left-leaning RINO.

2.  Local RINOs would sell their own children to resume power in the local GOP.  They're so focused on being in control that they're too stupid to understand how they're being used.  And, as they go along and remove conservatives from elected positions, when the democrats come after them... and they will... they'll be whining and sniveling that they're not getting any support.

3.  The Cowlitz will be attempting to take over government using their checkbooks... much like they've done in the past.

4.  Trunout

The worst outcome here wasn't necessarily the defeat of David Madore.  I support Madore because the alternatives... a RINO named Blom and the success of the democrat strategy (Divide and conquer at its finest) were unthinkable.

There have been times when I've taken Madore to task on this blog.  But the mistakes he made were not the variety which were based on anything but good intentions.

The problem here is that we all know what the road to hell is paved with; and this is an example of that.

The RINOs hooked up with the democrats and their money to take Madore out.  We all remember that interesting picture of Lying Lefty Lou and Brent "RINO" Boger at the coordinating RINO/democratian barbeque, for example.  A few years back, Lefty was going to roll over Boger in an editorial until his fellow leftists, BS Morris and Craig Pridemore smacked Lefty around to get him to leave poor little Brent alone.

The democratian provided the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars in anti-Madore political advertising in the form of incessant character assassination and the RINOs added their money to that of democrat philanthropist David Nirenberg, who has been extremely helpful in the divide and conquer strategy obviously at play here... with the ultimate goal of the removal of local Republicans from elective office generally... and conservatives particularly, an act area RINOs are all too happy to assist.

Madore, for his part, engaged in the most lackluster campaign I've ever seen around here considering the assets he had available.  For my part, I advised him not to run when I saw him at the local GOP convention before he got up and announced his candidacy.  I told him that the only thing worse than him losing would be him winning... because as bad as it's been for him, his life would become a living hell if he ran.

There would be, I told him, no lie about him, no exaggeration about him, no twisting of the facts they wouldn't use: RINOs for their hatred of being out of power and democrats for the part Madore played in killing their idiotic CRC/Loot Rail scam.

Leftists and RINOs, such as my moronic brother-in-law, Marc Boldt, are convinced that I was somehow involved in Madore's campaign.

Well, my only involvement was voting for him to try and keep that body-stepper Blom from launching his political career on our backs.

I was not involved in ANY campaign this cycle.  I have retired from all of that and will never, ever engage in that sort of thing again.

What this is, then, was a coordinated effort to single out one person... Madore... focus everything on him... and the purpose of that was to silence his supporters and defeat any other conservative running.

Boger, for example, stupidly tried to drum up opposition to what he referred to as "Madore/insurgents" which was anyone that may have been a recipient of anything that even looked like Madore's support.

Of the 6 races he babbled about, the hated "Madore/Insurgent" made it through to the general in 4 of them.  Four of Brent's pet RINOs were defeated.

Blom's win is a loss for us all.  He's an arrogant, ambitious, "smartest-guy-in-the-room" type who will blend seamlessly in with the 3 Stooges as he uses this as a platform for his political career, no matter how many bodies he steps on in the process.

Think of him as a brand new Second Lieutenant with a hero complex.

He won't answer questions that he doesn't like.  He is, in fact, all about him... and screw us.

He represents the worst in politics.  And I will never vote for him or anyone like him.

Local RINOs simply don't get how they're being used in this cycle as they were used in the last cycle.

In time, it will become clear to them... but it's obvious to anyone with a political brain of a gnat that what's happening here is that the Bogers of the world are being manipulated by those MUCH smarter than they are and, as a result, we will all suffer for it.

Every time the Stooges pass a tax increase... or a fee increase... or increase our regulatory burden... those foolish enough to have supported Boldt or Blom, for example, will bear as much responsibility for that outcome as those who cast the votes that screwed us.

It makes it easy to clean up my "I ain't votin' for them" list.

Unfortunately, it's a list that gets bigger by the day.

And, as I've pointed out in the past, the Cowlitz will become the biggest players of all down here in a county where none of them even live.

David Barnett, for example, lives a little bit north of here.  He lives in Shoreline... 178 miles from where I sit.

But his money will live down here.  And he's already spreading it around like cancer.

And I will never vote for anyone taking any tribal money.

In the past, Barnett has spent tens of thousands of dollars in local races, supporting Steve Stuart and Pam Brokaw, twice... once against Tom Mielke and once against Richard Curtis.

Upcoming races will be no different as the Cowlitz mafia types do their best to get the best government their money can buy.  And we will pick up the tab for the inevitable increases for social services in everything from school expansion to massive increases of I-5 traffic from Portland to low income housing to major increases in gambling addiction/embezzlement issues... because the Cowlitz don't have to pay for any of it.

When people become concerned about the low turnout, as I already pointed out, it's because people have come to believe that what they want doesn't matter... that, in fact, voting has become a waste of time and that those in office don't listen to us... so why bother.

For me, turnout is just a number.

Yes, it was pretty pathetic.

Yet, are the votes of 100,000 uninformed, ignorant partisan hacks more important than the votes of 10,000 people who have looked into the issues, have a basic knowledge of the candidates (to the extent that candidates tell them anything about what they plan) and are willing to take the time to put a ballot together?

I know where I stand on that.  Where you stand is up to you.

I'm hearing that people still do not understand my opposition to Ann Rivers. Let me try and explain it to you.

Ann Rivers and I go way back... back to the Curtis campaign in the 18th District in 2004.

(And no, neither of us were aware of his issues.)

There is no question that she is very bright.  She had a background on several campaigns as well as working on democrat staff in Alaska in their legislature as a legislative assistant.

Shortly after the successful conclusion of the Curtis campaign wherein we neutralized David Barnett's efforts to buy that election as he later bought Steve Stuart's election against Tom Mielke by laundering money through buying Washington Conservation Voters' efforts against Curtis... and then attempting to buy Pam Brokaw's election, also against Tom Mielke... a total effort that expended around $275,000, if memory serves... we went into business together.

Yes, the same David Barnett buying politicians here locally now for the Cowlitz Casino scam.

That lasted a  few years... Ann and her husband, Fred, became close family friends... attending our wedding, for example; vacationing with us and the like.

As Lefty Lou Brancaccio began to use the rag he runs as a club against me, I repeatedly told Ann that if she needed to throw me under a bus, she was welcome to do so.

Ultimately back then, Curtis chose to resign after he ran into rather public "difficulties."  That left a vacancy that someone I had never heard of... someone who had not even lived here for over a decade... was parachuted back in by Cathy McMorris and dealt into Curtis's now vacant seat by a deal made between Marc Boldt and the two democrat commissioners in Cowlitz... one of whom later, after having been tossed out of office when he ran for reelection... received a rather nice, $80K per year or so gig working for Clark County at the behest of, you guessed it, Marc Boldt.  (The name "Axel Swanson" ring any bells?)

Strange how that stuff works out, ain't it?

Meanwhile, the cardboard cutout of a worthless state representative who routinely voted with the democrats in Olympia to screw us on a wide variety of issues, got the gig in Congress by getting shoved into the seat to be McMorris's puppet, giving WA05 TWO congressional seats and our district, WA03, none.

Herrera has, of course, been as utterly worthless in Congress as she was in the state house.  Like her time in Olympia, Herrera, you guessed it, routinely votes with the democrats in DC to screw us on a wide variety of issues... against the repeal of Obamacare and against the Wall, for example.

Rivers took a hard swing at getting named Curtis's replacement through appointment.  But Boldt had the fix in for his buddy from state House days, McMorris, and an ignorant twit who knew nothing about the 18th District since she hadn't bothered to live in it for the prior ten years or so got the appointment, exactly as  McMorris planned it... positioning her perfectly to run for Congress against Baird.

Ultimately, Rivers cemented her decision to run for the State House around the time that Herrera had her decision made for her (Remember, if you will, that Herrera at first announced, then it took it back for a brief time, then was all in after a few hours or a couple of days) to run for Congress... about 10 minutes after Baird announced he wasn't running for reelection.

I fully supported Rivers' election in every way possible.  I found her to be an honorable, intelligent, visionary person who would keep her word, act as a populist and remain honorable to the constituency she would represent.

Ultimately, she defeated all 6 of the other Republicans in the primary, including such luminaries as Jon Russell.  No mention was made of her strong support for massive increases in the gas tax or tab fees or, as it turns out, her unbelievable support for exploding property taxes.

During the time of her House campaign, we had many discussions about how she would be "different."  About how she would separate herself out of the herd by keeping her word and being someone who's promise could be taken to the bank... unlike most in the political realm.

My job developed during these discussions.  You see, Congress was/is also looming on Rivers' horizon as well.  Ultimately, that is the next step for her, and had, for whatever the reason, Herrera done the honorable thing and announced she wasn't going to run for reelection, Ann Rivers absolutely was.

And, it goes without saying that she would NOT run for Congress unless I agreed to go to DC and work with her there, as well.

She said.

I was, you see, specifically to keep her "grounded."  In this case, "grounded" meant keeping her from becoming the very thing she has morphed in to.  And in this case, I completely admit to my failure in that regard and I humbly apologize.

I suppose that job offer is no longer open... not that I would take it if it were... since DC seems to draw far too many people of the Rivers ilk to it's power base.

That said, Rivers' star skyrocketed.  Recognized as an up and comer, she gave the response to the Governor's Address at the beginning of her first term, for example.

She had a great freshman run... and then the allure of making bank off pot growing lights took our esteemed Senator, Joe Zarelli, away from us... and Rivers was appointed for the remainder of his term.

Rivers was then elected against essentially non-existent opposition (much like she faces now) and she continued to be well thought of, doing admirable battle against the downtown mafia on the CRC scam.  In the senate, both Rivers and Benton fought the battle, ultimately successful, to kill off the scam... using a great deal of information provided by our local forensic accountant, and we all know who was primarily responsible for that, right?

And, of course, I'm sure that the hatred aimed at Madore has NOTHING to do with the destruction of the downtown mafia's CRC scam.  Does it?

Rivers continued to rise in the public's estimation, achieving the most votes by several hundred of any of those running for charter freeholder, which were in excess of over 100 or 105 candidates, if memory serves.

And, of course, Rivers would have been, up to this point, the perfect choice for County Chair; a position she announced for having met with myself, Brent Boger and a few others.

Then session started in 2015.

And something happened.

Something changed.  Something was ... "different."  And it's never been the same since.

The first sign to me was the skulduggery of the GOP-controlled Senate.

They implemented a rule that required a 60% majority vote to increases taxes.  It got a great deal of media coverage.

Later on, when the gas tax scam came up, suddenly, out of nowhere, the president of the Senate, Lt. Gov Brad Owen declared the rule in question to  be "unconstitutional."

That's not a ruling he can make, of course: that's limited to a ruling by a judge.

That said, Senate Rules allow for any member to challenge any ruling from the President by a simple majority vote.

Then I was struck by the fact that the GOP didn't immediately demand a Point of Order, citing Rule 35, which states this:

Rule 35.

1. The permanent senate rules adopted at the first regular session during a legislative biennium shall govern any session subsequently convened during the same legislative biennium. Adoption of permanent rules may be by majority of the senate without notice and a majority of the senate may change a permanent rule without notice at the beginning of any session, as determined pursuant to Article 2, Section 12 of the State Constitution. No permanent rule or order of the senate shall be rescinded or changed without a majority vote of the members, and one day's notice of the motion. 

2. A permanent rule or order may be temporarily suspended for a special purpose by a vote of two-thirds of the members present unless otherwise specified herein. When the suspension of a rule is called, and after due notice from the president no objection is offered, the president may announce the rule suspended, and the senate may proceed accordingly. Motion for suspension of the rules shall not be debatable, except, the mover of the motion may briefly explain the purpose of the motion and at the discretion of the president a rebuttal may be allowed.

Far be it from me to suggest that the GOP WANTED this rule thrown out without a vote.  I mean, they'd never engage in that kind of subterfuge, would they?

I mean, if they DIDN'T want this rule thrown out, then why didn't they challenge the decision?

Rule 32.

Every decision of points of order by the president shall be subject to appeal by any senator, and discussion of a question of order shall be allowed. In all cases of appeal the question shall be: "Shall the decision of the president stand as the judgment of the senate?"

Imagine if they had done that.  Then imagine the roll-call vote on the appeal.

There was no "one day warning."  I waited for someone... ANYONE... to stand up and make the challenge.  "Anyone" also included my Senator, Ann Rivers.

No one moved.  "No one" included my Senator, Ann Rivers.

The fix was in.

And my Senator was a part of it.

Then, all of a sudden, I was told she was going to withdraw from the election for county chair, for the lamest of reasons: she didn't want people to do what people were doing now: talking to her everywhere she went, including grocery stores, about their issues confronting them.

That, of course, made zero sense.  But it was the only explanation/excuse I ever got.  And that's when the sinking feeling really took hold.

THEN, it became clear that she was, in fact, going to violate her written pledge, used to get elected, and vote for the very legislation she swore she would oppose... the gas tax and tab fee increases... also to get elected.

She had SAID, "the people have spoken and I have listened."

John Ley later posted his observations of a town hall meeting wherein Rivers had discussed her decision.  I missed the meeting, knowing that I would have spent most of it taking her to task for lying to us.

In Ley's thread, I proceeded to remind her of her very public pledge to oppose the very thing she now planned to vote for, the ONLY GOP legislator to do so.

Not long afterwards, her husband Fred, who I had considered to be something of a brother, texted my wife to tell her that a planned dinner out at their house in LaCenter was canceled.

He also offered up the observation that I was now going to go after Ann like I had Marc Boldt.  Of course, had she not acted like Boldt, I wouldn't have had any reason to "go after" her at all.

That was in... February of last year (2015) or so?

I haven't heard from my "brother," since.

Last January, she and Brandon Vick, who ALSO voted against the gas tax/tab fee increase, held a town hall meeting.

At the end, this is what happened.

Oddly, Rivers' expressed no remorse for lying to us; instead expressing remorse for making the promise in the first place.  She then goes on to tell us that it was a "business decision," which begs the issue as to why we even need a legislature when a committee of accountants would do just as well for a lot less; and she then follows up with the astounding lie that if she had voted "no" on the tax increase, like every other Republican legislator in Clark County had done, instead of the acknowledged $700 MILLION bill hung around our necks, the number would have been $7 BILLION.

With a "B".

As I stated, that's a lie, of course.  The bill would have passed even if Rivers HAD voted "no."  They had the votes... and it passed with two votes to spare, 27 to 22.

The question is why?  Why did she break her pledge?

Her answer was that it gave Battle Ground a few million for their projects, and it wasted $100 million replacing the Mill Plain and I-5 interchange which, of course, does not NEED to be replaced.

The county is spending $500 million on King County after getting $200 million to waste down here.

There were a few other minor projects... but none of them individually nor none of them combined equaled a reason or justification for Rivers to betray the people of this county and the people of her district to break her pledge.  And when the gas tax advisory took place last November? 

Over 70 percent of the 18th District voted "no."

Rivers has long since refused to communicate with me, understandably, perhaps, given her lies.

But she is MY Senator and she has a DUTY to communicate with ME.

And, of course, if that duty is too much of a burden to bear, she can always resign.

That, however, is the gist of it.  That's what happened.

Meanwhile, with practically no warning or fanfare, in time for the general fund budget consideration, the formerly "unconstitutionally ruled rule" of Brad Owen suddenly became constitutional again.

It was a legislative miracle.

When they needed it to go away, they made up a lie about it being unconstitutional.

When they needed it to come back, suddenly, miraculously, back it came.

Of course, the GOP-controlled Senate had already voted the gas tax out, so certainly no reconsideration of their scam was in order.

And there you have it.

Republican corruption aided and abetted by the democrats.

Not unlike, come to think of it, the corruption going on around here as Crain/Boger/Rivers and the rest of the RINOs coalesce around their efforts to destroy anyone who disagrees with their plan to retake control over the local party and to silence conservatives who have a different view.

The leftists are doing the right thing: Rule One in politics is that when your political opponents are bound and determined to commit political suicide, your job is to help them achieve it any way you can.  That, of course, is why scum like Jim Mains is involved in this sewage... and why democrats are writing checks for this effort.

As a result, my friendship with the Rivers has withered on the vine of their cancer, their lies, their exaggerations and their corruption.

And this is why I currently and permanently oppose my former friend... considering all I and my wife have done for them on both the political and personal level... to be betrayed like this?

A former conservative accuses me of taking my orders from Madore.  That's a crock and he knows it, but they've got nothing else... and, of course, anyone opposing their corruption MUST be doing so ONLY because Madore is telling them to do so.

The idea that they might be opposed because they are WRONG simply has no place in their discussion.

As I pointed out, this individual whines and snivels about his allegations that Madore allegedly "stabbed him in the back."

But Ann Rivers stabbed us ALL in the back.  And it's a blade that will be stuck in the backs of hundreds of thousands as we pay off the bill she yoked us with like the 13th Amendment was never passed.

She does all that without peep one from this former conservative, now reduced to a useless tool to those who kiss his ass every hour on the hour to use him like a rented mule.

But that's his privilege, you see.  He's entitled to his own opinion, but he's not entitled to his own facts.

Meanwhile, the mystery remained.  Who got to her?  With what?  About what?  What happened to the shining star, the one who was going to be "different?"

And in the future, how are we going to know when she's lying to us again?  I mean her campaign website for this cycle promises nothing... and I get that: if you promise nothing, you can't be held accountable for anything and look at all the freedom you have to again ignore the suckers who elected you!

It's the Herrera formula personified.

In the voter's pamphlet this year, she wrote "As a result of listening to your priorities..." blah, blah, blah; blah blah.

What's the difference between "As a result of listening to your priorities..." and "The people have spoken and I have listened?"

None that *I* can see.

So, by all means, vote for her.  Just don't be surprised when she bends us over and rams it in again... and again... and again.

Because it's kinda hard to do the first time.  But after that lying becomes second nature,

Right, Ann?

The Columbian checks in: why did you close your blog down?

Imagine my surprise when I read this email:

RE: This is the most recent conversation I had with the Exec Dir of the PDC. 
Lauren Dake [Lauren.Dake@columbian.com]
To:  K.J. Hinton
_____________________________________________________________

Why did you quit your blog?

Lauren Dake

Politics reporter, The Columbian

Office: 360-735-4534

Cell: 541-554-1162

Twitter  | Facebook

So, I briefly considered telling her the truth: that my clients are in fear of suffering harm, directly or indirectly, because I pissed off Rivers and Boldt.  Not to mention the fact that the same people have absolutely no problem trampling my First Amendment rights.

But what makes it problematic is a telling the truth here would likely lead to repercussions, such as a Boldt effort to remove the County from the federal lawsuit, as well as other negative actions on the part of Rivers, who is now acting like David Barnett's got his hand up her ass to tell her what to do and how to do it.

I will always put the clients first. My hobby, such as it is; can never be the cause of harm to those who have stood by me since for over a decade.

That Boldt and Rivers are capable of harming my clients is a given, as they have attempted to harm me personally through my clients, by virtue of calling them earlier in an effort to get me fired… All based on what I've written on the CCP blog.

That Rivers has tried by approaching Boldt to peel the county off the federal lawsuit is a fact.

That at this point, I can neither tell anyone nor do anything about it is also fact.

I keep reminding myself that essentially there's little difference between me and anybody else out there save two minor details: I know what I know and I commit it to a written form.

There was a book I read long ago, I think it might've been Winds of War by Herman Wouk, within which the observation was made… And I don't even remember the context… By a British army officer in talking to somebody about something who said "the Nazis only claim to be the master race."

Ultimately my travels in the political realm which have gone on so long, and so painfully, have taught me that integrity and honor is not assigned merely because of a letter after your name.

LaBrandt's mailer pegs the hypocrisy meter.

Totally bizarre mailer hit:

Labrant, recently exposed as accepting tens of thousands of dollars from out of state (Californian, to be exact) fringe-left nutberger billionaire Tom Steyer, most recently famous in Washington State political circles for wasting $3 million in an abortive effort to buy the state senate for his fellow leftists... and he was unsuccessful in every race last cycle... attacks his opponent when HE claims that his opponent has "benefited from thousands of dollars in campaign spending by oil companies."

Kind of like how LaBrandt's benefactor, Steyer, who he ISN'T talking about, made his hundreds of millions off of coal.

Then, like a clueless idiot, he holds up the local leftist voodoo doll, David Madore, gives out "high paying jobs and large campaign donations to those who do his bidding."

So.  Steyer isn't dropping bank on LaBrandt because HE, LaBrandt, "won't do STEYER'S bidding?"

Look, I get that political mercenaries like the leftist front Washington Conversation Voters (Who were bought by David Barnett as part of his campaign against a state representative candidate over the Cowlitz Casino Scam) use a criminal outfit like Moxie Media to shill for these kind of scum.

But this ripe, rank hypocrisy by LaBrandt has an odor that exceeds Eu d' Jantzen Beach these days.

It's like some moron in the Reflector, using a "nom de plume," calling me out for using a "nom de plume."

Here's the thing: I want the terminal built.  I want hypocrites like LaBrandt and all of his fellow travelers to suffer every time they see it.

I want the jobs.  I want our community to benefit.  I want hypocrites like Steyer to lose his shirt.  I want Lying Lefty Lou to vaporlock.

But most of all, I don't want someone like LaBrandt, who slings mud against others for doing the exact same thing HE's doing in their campaign... anywhere in my government... owned by an out-of-state, answer-to-no-one whack job like Steyer.

Note from election night, 2008. How'd I do?

The following was my first knee-jerk analysis of the 2008 general election.

How'd I do?

Thoughts on a dismal night.

It’s 4 a.m. as I write this. This country in its infinite wisdom has accomplished two things tonight: we’ve elected the worst possible choice for president and we’ve set the tone for decades to come for most all upcoming elections.

And it’s hard to tell which is worse at this point.

“Change” is what was offered. “Change,” to a greater or lesser degree, is what we’re gonna get. Change to what remains to be seen, but it doesn’t look like any positive view that I can see.

I’m not going to replay the many valid arguments against electing Obama. The cult of personality has achieved the impossible in the face of a wide variety of common-sense reasons why he should not have made this happen. Stupidity, ignorance, and hatred on a wide scale have won out. In the words of then local Congresswoman Jolene Unseold upon the stunning Republican tide of 1994 (and her removal from office by a write-in candidate, Linda Smith) “The winds of hate have swept the land,” she told us.

The very real and negative impacts to this country will, ultimately, have to be experienced to be believed.

The primary problem is this: will they be believed, even when they happen; or will a mass media, having set itself up as Obama’s PR arm, continue to violate the public trust by acting to spin, to mitigate, to censor their own information to re-enforce him has “the one?”

The mainstream media colluded to achieve Obama’s election. By any statistical or other summary, any pretense of fairness or objectivity was never present when they reported. Issues that would have destroyed any other candidacy were ignored, belittled, censored or swept under the rug. As a result, this country has elected a man to the most powerful office on the planet when he otherwise would be disqualified from holding high security clearances because of his relationship with at least one known terrorist.

The mainstream media has a vested outcome in Obama’s success. Were he to fail or be anything but an outstanding, at-least-as-good-as-Lincoln president, then the mainstream media’s undeniable culpability in his elevation would be too obvious to be denied. In short, Obama is a creation of the MSM, lacking any other substance, and the people of this country have bought into his packaging… packaging accomplished by a less than fair media. Essentially, they own him. And since they own him, his continued popularity is their number one concern.

None other than Chris Matthews rammed the above observation home:

Journalist Chris Matthews Will Do Everything in His Power to Make Obama's Presidency Successful

Were you still debating whether Chris Matthews is in the tank for Barack Obama? Then find a new hobby, because the writing's on the stall. But then Matthews went overboard this morning, on colleague Joe Scarborough's Morning Joe, and pretty much nominated himself the new president's press secretary.

"The worst thing you can do in journalism is try to figure out motive. There's no way to determine it," Matthews said. Not only is this statement patently false — figuring out motive is pretty important, like George Bush's motives for invading Iraq — but Matthews followed it up with this: "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work … this new presidency work." Yes, that is Matthews the journalist speaking.

CM: I want to do everything I can to make this thing work … this new presidency work.

JS: Is that your job?

CM: Yeah that's my job.

JS: Your job as a journalist is to make this presidency work?

CM: To make this work successfully, because this country needs a successful presidency more than anything right now.

[...]

CM: How can you not route for the success of the new president?

JS: As Americans, Chris Matthews, we're all rooting for the success of Barack Obama … But you just talked about being a journalist and your job as a journalist is not to question motives, and then two seconds later you said your job is to make this presidency a success … I just think that's curious.

From my perspective, this means that Matthews has a vested interest in positive outcome for Mr. Obama. In addition, that means he’s going to tank his coverage to something much less than journalism… and more like advocacy. This is the final, telling blow for journalism in this country.

This is not to absolve Senator McCain from his own responsibility in this matter. This was arguably one of the least strategic campaigns ever for the presidency… reminiscent of Dole in ’96. Poorly conceived and terribly executed, McCain acted more like he had been bought than someone who actually wanted to be president.

I could write pages on missed opportunities, failures in proper translation of events, failures to engage in strategic messaging, failures to follow the path set up by the later part of the Clinton campaign; failure to use both Clinton and Biden video to drive home the point that Obama is not ready to govern. However, adding to the cacophony of others will not solve any of these issues.

Essentially, this was a campaign that wrote itself… but McCain never got the script.

Addendum from a few days later.

Now at the state level, the outcomes have been astounding, considering the supposed height of the Obama Tsunami wave. Here in Clark County, for example, Mr. Obama took 52% of the vote, while Mr. McCain took 46%.

We had, essentially, two close races here locally: Benton/Carrier in the 17th and Mielke/Brokaw in the Commissioner 1 race.

In the former, Benton was down 150 on election night. He’s now up 1300 or so.

Mielke, on the other hand, was down 4282 election night. As I write this, he’s up 78… or a 4360 vote swing from the late ballots.

I believe that this is a direct result of David Barnett getting caught interfering in yet another election. Like a serial killer, where arrogance is frequently their downfall, an arrogance that grows as they get away with it more and more. In this instance, he tried to nuke the election late because he was wrongly informed that the Grande Ronde were playing in this race.

Steve Horenstein lied to Joe King, telling him as late as the 30th that Barnett was out. Moreover, Barnett then dumped so much money in, so fast, that we didn’t get the hit pieces until late Tuesday night from our PO Box, which meant we received them that day, since we had picked up the mail the day before.

Up to this point, Barnett has seemingly grown a Teflon skin. But with this election, he’s been caught interfering… and he’s been caught dead to rights. And this time, the media actually covered it. And this time, the people appear to have swung hard right as they exercised their ballot as a protest… because the ballots swinging right for Mielke are doing so at a much harder rate than I have ever seen anywhere… even harder than the Smith congressional race in ‘96 when she made up a 2300 or so vote deficit to beat Baird by around 850… with a nine county or so area to cover.

Barnett has threatened to spend as much as $2.5 million dollars to unseat Snohomish County Commissioner Dave Somers, a democrat opposed to yet another massive Barnett project just north of Seattle. This outcome might force him to back off. Somers is apparently up in ’09. We have the option of consulting with him to help him get ready to nail Barnett and increase the resentment factor in the upcoming election.

While I know that Somers is a democrat, anyone running against him that would have a chance would do so counting on Barnett’s now proven-to-be-there support. We have the opportunity to cripple Barnett politically if we can continue to cast him in the political role of pariah.

At this point, it is difficult to arrive at any other conclusion: The overly hard-right swing for Mielke has a major-resentment-towards-Barnett factor built in. We should capitalize on that on every opportunity and tie anyone supportive in government of the megacasino project directly to Barnett.

At the state level, the legislative results defy belief. No one that I know, including myself, believed that we would end this with at least plus one in the Senate or the House, but that seems to be the way it’s shaping up.

This tends to reinforce the idea that local politics were more competently executed than state or national… that local GOP’ers were more in touch with their constituencies than those at the state or national level.

In the Mielke race, the WSRP stepped in and they’ve stepped it up, keeping the local Rossi HQ going with their communications system still up and running to assist us in “curing” ballots. For that, Sen. Esser gets kudos.

That said, we need to press for internal WSRP changes.

In no particular order:

Get over losing control over the primary.

If the parties insist on fighting the top two decision, then the next step will be that taken in King County on 4 November: Expect the Grange and the Farm Bureau to eliminate the parties altogether by going to the people and getting them to agree to make all legislative and local seats to be non-partisan.

Luke… THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN. LEAVE IT ALONE. The independent segment determines elections anyway, and your continuing efforts to interfere with the will of the people will not do anything positive for the state or the system. And the blowback may become catastrophic to the entire party system.

Implement a year around minority outreach office.

WSRP needs a full time, year-round, minority outreach program. When the WSRP inevitably attempts to make some minority contacts a few months before the election, the leftists rightfully respond by saying, "they only give a damn about you when they want your vote."

Full-time program. Full-time minority staffing. Full-time recruitment efforts. Full-time minority public relations efforts.

Continuing to ignore the minority community for 21 months every cycle is NEVER going to get it done. And why the WSRP insists on taking that tack is inexplicable.

Will these things happen? I see no sign of them.

And until they do, issues of "message" and "nuance" and the like will make little difference.

Fix the infrastructure.

One thing that Comrade Pelz said has the ring of truth to it: “they (Republicans) do NOT have a bench... they've got McKenna.”

Here in Clark County, the GOP has done a terrible job of candidate development and recruitment.

The democrats in the 17th are vulnerable. Deb Wallace has wasted $93 million for an unneeded, unwanted and unbuildable I-5 Bridge replacement that is expected to cost $4 Billion that no one has... all so they can get light rail across the river and in to Vancouver.

The GOP ran some nice, well-meaning people down here that didn't have a clue or a dime. They lost badly in both open seats (Of course, one of those seats was in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Vancouver) but they were forced to run, for example, a write-in candidate against Pridemore, an independent against Comrade Jim "For election week make my middle name 'Hussein'" Moeller and did they even run anyone against Jacks?

VETTED candidate recruitment (Joseph James? Please.) and development. A short, medium and long-term strategy. Competency in organization. Motivation and a plan, not to mention funding.

It took several years to dive into this toilet. They're not going to get out over night. But if they don't take these basic steps, they're not going anywhere.

We cannot continue to ignore the issues that loom larger with each and every election. Things will get much worse if we do.

I think I was pretty close, actually.