The inevitable happens: fringe leftist Craig Pridemore is out.

.
The following was posted on the ubiquitous Horse's Ass:

Pridemore to withdraw from WA-03 congressional race
by Goldy, 06/01/2010, 11:55 AM

According to sources close to the campaign, Democratic state Sen. Craig Pridemore will announce today that he is withdrawing from the race to replace Rep. Brain Baird in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, leaving fellow Democrat Denny Heck with a sure path to the November ballot.

With a slew of establishment endorsements and a $250,000 infusion of his own money, Heck became the early Democratic favorite, an advantage Pridemore, a strong, populist-minded campaigner, simply wasn’t able to overcome, especially as he continued to be locked up in an endless, special legislative session. Pridemore had intended to run an energetic, grassroots primary campaign, a strategy that depended on strong support from labor organizations like the Washington State Labor Council and the Washington Education Association. And while he recently secured the endorsement of the former, word leaked over the weekend that the WEA would be endorsing Heck, largely based on his fundraising lead and frontrunner status. (I don’t think teachers have a bigger champion in the Senate than Pridemore.)

Pridemore’s withdrawal is of course a blow to progressives like me who saw him as the better choice of the two Dems. Whether it’s a blow to Republicans, who wouldn’t have minded a Democratic cat fight in the primary, remains to be seen. In this anti-incumbency year, my gut told me that the more populist Pridemore had the better shot in November than the more establishment Heck.

But here’s hoping the Democratic establishment proves me wrong.

The delusion of the left never ceases to amuse:

With a slew of establishment endorsements and a $250,000 infusion of his own money, Heck became the early Democratic favorite, an advantage Pridemore, a strong, populist-minded campaigner, simply wasn’t able to overcome, especially as he continued to be locked up in an endless, special legislative session.

It really sucks to find out how unpopular and out of anything approaching the mainstream your politics are, as Pridemore has so brilliantly done. Using session is a pathetic excuse, given that dozens of state representatives around the country have managed to get past their "endless special legislative sessions" to campaign.

Even Ridgefield Barbie managed to pull it off, though it was a combination of McMorris arranging for her cash and her decision to ditch us and leave the floor for hours at a time to fundraise during session that made the difference.

But here's a clue for the clueless left: Your message sucks. The people don't want to hear it. And that's why Pridemore's campaign was an abysmal failure.

Blaming it on session is just pathetic. A competent campaign with a solid message would have found a way to make it happen.

Pridemore could not. The end. Stop making excuses for him.

Fellow fringe-left nutters will, of course, go into mourning but the democrat brand is so screwed up and in such horrific shape that no democrat stands much of a chance to win in the 3rd this time around anyway, let along an uber fringe-leftist nutter like Pridemore.

As I have been pointing out, his exit was inevitable to any political pragmatist.

Hopefully, he'll get the message and just continue to represent the Soviet Socialist Republic of Vancouver.

The irony in all of this is Pridemore's statement:

A factor in his decision, he said, was that he learned over the weekend that the Washington Education Association will endorse Heck. “That was a critical part of our base,” he said.

It was the WEA ditching of then Sen. Don Carlson, a Republican retired teacher who had carried the WEA's water like Gunga Din to endorse Pridemore because he was a democrat and if the democrats won, they would take control of the Senate; that likely got Pridemore elected (it was a very close election) and now, they've bailed on Pridemore because even they realize that a fringer can't win in the 03.

Pridemore has discovered the joys of union loyalty... a hard-learned lesson to be sure. But it's a lesson most not cemented to the left already knew.
.

A brief reminder of Craig Pridemore's corruption that the Columbian doesn't care about:

Here's a close look at Sen. Craig Pridemore's previous efforts at campaign reform from a few years back... it's a moldy oldy, but much closer to his reality.

So now we get the first in the series of Columbian campaign pieces for Stuart

Their editorial today proves beyond doubt that the Columbian has joined the campaign organization of Steve Stuart.

Well, here's ANOTHER perception that they haven't talked about:

Bill exempts urban candidates

Funding cap on campaigns doesn't apply to a few major counties, ports

KENNETH P. VOGEL; The News Tribune - Apr 19, 2005

But Stuart's friend and predecessor as Clark County commissioner, Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-Vancouver), made sure that wouldn't happen.

Pridemore removed a provision from a bill that would have limited contributions to candidates running for county offices in Pierce, Clark and Spokane counties as well as the ports of Tacoma and Seattle.
....

For Stuart, who received four $10,000 contributions this year for his special election in November, the original bill would either require him to spend or return at least $37,300, the amount that's in excess of the proposed $675-per-election limit.

Stuart was appointed in December to the Board of Clark County Commissioners to fill a seat vacated by Pridemore, who left the three-member panel when he was elected to the Senate.

Stuart's only declared opponent, Republican Tom Mielke, said Pridemores amendment smacks of special-interest lawmaking.

Stuart said he talked to Pridemore about the bill, but didn't ask him to propose the amendment, which was added earlier this month in the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee.

(THEN WHY DID HE TALK TO PRIDEMORE ABOUT THE BILL?)

And Pridemore said the amendment wasn't about Stuart, whom he recommended for the $93,000-a-year county post.

(RIGHT. IT WAS SHEER COINCIDENCE THAT STUART TALKED TO PRIDEMORE ABOUT THE BILL, IT WOULD COST STUART $40,000 IF IT PASSED, AND PRIDEMORE KILLED THE BILL. NONE OF THOSE THINGS HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH STUART'S CONVERSATION WITH PRIDEMORE.)

"I know it would have effected him," Pridemore said, but he added "my concern with it was a generic thing. Very frequently, having some large donors is a good thing."

(ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE OF YOUR BUDS BENEFITS, RIGHT, CRAIG?)

More...

Pridemore, of course, claims his move wasn't about Stuart. Pridemore is a liar. The article speaks for itself.

I actually do agree with the Columbian on this much, though: the perception DOES count. And in the midst of this blatant power-play, where Stuart let the money of his multi-$10,000 donors talk, what perception are we to gain from this effort?

Stuart sees Pridemore. Pridemore removes provision of bill that would have cost his buddy Stuart $40,000. The perception of that is this: Stuart is all about the money and screw the people.

In the interest of fairness, I'm wondering when we're going to see the Columbian's editorial about THIS? When hell freezes over?

Will done, Steve. I hope you choke on it. But don't expect us to buy into any idea that you're some kind of paragon of virtue, because you ain't.

And the Columbian's bogus crap about a bus tour... A BUS TOUR... doesn't provide you with any cover. Their bizarre editorial was done entirely to pump you up while they slam Boldt.

If environmental groups want to put on a bus tour, then they, the environmental groups, should organize it, just like the BIA organized theirs.
____________________

Yeah, the selective memory of the democratian is a thing to behold.

Pridemore's campaign bill is kind of strange, considering his history. (Originally posted October 4, 2005)

.
Here's a close look at Sen. Criag Pridemore's previous efforts at campaign reform from a few years back... it's a moldy oldy, but much closer to his reality.

So now we get the first in the series of Columbian campaign pieces for Stuart

Their editorial today proves beyond doubt that the Columbian has joined the campaign organization of Steve Stuart.

Well, here's ANOTHER perception that they haven't talked about:

Bill exempts urban candidates

Funding cap on campaigns doesn't apply to a few major counties, ports

KENNETH P. VOGEL; The News Tribune - Apr 19, 2005

But Stuart's friend and predecessor as Clark County commissioner, Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-Vancouver), made sure that wouldn't happen.

Pridemore removed a provision from a bill that would have limited contributions to candidates running for county offices in Pierce, Clark and Spokane counties as well as the ports of Tacoma and Seattle.
....

For Stuart, who received four $10,000 contributions this year for his special election in November, the original bill would either require him to spend or return at least $37,300, the amount that's in excess of the proposed $675-per-election limit.

Stuart was appointed in December to the Board of Clark County Commissioners to fill a seat vacated by Pridemore, who left the three-member panel when he was elected to the Senate.

Stuart's only declared opponent, Republican Tom Mielke, said Pridemores amendment smacks of special-interest lawmaking.

Stuart said he talked to Pridemore about the bill, but didn't ask him to propose the amendment, which was added earlier this month in the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee.

(THEN WHY DID HE TALK TO PRIDEMORE ABOUT THE BILL?)

And Pridemore said the amendment wasn't about Stuart, whom he recommended for the $93,000-a-year county post.

(RIGHT. IT WAS SHEER COINCIDENCE THAT STUART TALKED TO PRIDEMORE ABOUT THE BILL, IT WOULD COST STUART $40,000 IF IT PASSED, AND PRIDEMORE KILLED THE BILL. NONE OF THOSE THINGS HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH STUART'S CONVERSATION WITH PRIDEMORE.)

"I know it would have effected him," Pridemore said, but he added "my concern with it was a generic thing. Very frequently, having some large donors is a good thing."

(ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE OF YOUR BUDS BENEFITS, RIGHT, CRAIG?)

More...

Pridemore, of course, claims his move wasn't about Stuart. Pridemore is a liar. The article speaks for itself.

I actually do agree with the Columbian on this much, though: the perception DOES count. And in the midst of this blatant power-play, where Stuart let the money of his multi-$10,000 donors talk, what perception are we to gain from this effort?

Stuart sees Pridemore. Pridemore removes provision of bill that would have cost his buddy Stuart $40,000. The perception of that is this: Stuart is all about the money and screw the people.

In the interest of fairness, I'm wondering when we're going to see the Columbian's editorial about THIS? When hell freezes over?

Will done, Steve. I hope you choke on it. But don't expect us to buy into any idea that you're some kind of paragon of virtue, because you ain't.

And the Columbian's bogus crap about a bus tour... A BUS TOUR... doesn't provide you with any cover. Their bizarre editorial was done entirely to pump you up while they slam Boldt.

If environmental groups want to put on a bus tour, then they, the environmental groups, should organize it, just like the BIA organized theirs.
____________________

Yeah, the selective memory of the democratian is a thing to behold.
.

So now we get the first in the series of Columbian campaign pieces for Stuart

Their editorial today proves beyond doubt that the Columbian has joined the campaign organization of Steve Stuart.

Well, here's ANOTHER perception that they haven't talked about:

Bill exempts urban candidates
Funding cap on campaigns doesn't apply to a few major counties, ports
KENNETH P. VOGEL; The News Tribune - Apr 19, 2005

Steve Stuart probably would have been required to give back most, if not all, of $40,000 in campaign contributions under a bill being considered in the Legislature.

But Stuart's friend and predecessor as Clark County commissioner, Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-Vancouver), made sure that wouldn't happen.

Pridemore removed a provision from a bill that would have limited contributions to candidates running for county offices in Pierce, Clark and Spokane counties as well as the ports of Tacoma and Seattle.

....

For Stuart, who received four $10,000 contributions this year for his special election in November, the original bill would either require him to spend or return at least $37,300, the amount that's in excess of the proposed $675-per-election limit.

Stuart was appointed in December to the Board of Clark County Commissioners to fill a seat vacated by Pridemore, who left the three-member panel when he was elected to the Senate.

Stuart's only declared opponent, Republican Tom Mielke, said Pridemores amendment smacks of special-interest lawmaking.

Stuart said he talked to Pridemore about the bill, but didn't ask him to propose the amendment, which was added earlier this month in the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee.

(THEN WHY DID HE TALK TOP PRIDEMORE ABOUT THE BILL?)

And Pridemore said the amendment wasn't about Stuart, whom he recommended for the $93,000-a-year county post.

(RIGHT. IT WAS SHEER COINCIDENCE THAT STUART TALKED TO PRIDEMORE ABOUT THE BILL, IT WOULD COST STUART $40,000 IF IT PASSED, AND PRIDEMORE KILLED THE BILL. NONE OF THOSE THINGS HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH STUART'S CONVERSATION WITH PRIDEMORE.)

"I know it would have effected him," Pridemore said, but he added "my concern with it was a generic thing. Very frequently, having some large donors is a good thing."

(ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE OF YOUR BUDDIES BENEFITS, RIGHT, CRAIG?)

More...

Pridemore, of course, claims his move wasn't about Stuart. Pridemore is a liar. The article speaks for itself.

I actually do agree with the Columbian on this much, though: the perception DOES count. And in the midst of this blatant power-play, where Stuart let the money of his multi-$10,000 donors talk, what perception are we to gain from this effort?

Stuart sees Pridemore. Pridemore removes provision of bill that would have cost his buddy Stuart $40,000. The perception of that is this: Stuart is all about the money and screw the people.

In the interest of fairness, I'm wondering when we're going to see the Columbian's editorial about THIS? When hell freezes over?

Will done, Steve. I hope you choke on it. But don't expect us to buy into any idea that you're some kind of paragon of virtue, because you ain't.

And the Columbian's bogus crap about a bus tour... A BUS TOUR... doesn't provide you with any cover. Their bizarre editorial was done entirely to pump you up while they slam Boldt. If Environmental groups want to put on a bus tour, then they, the environmental groups, should organize it, just like the BIA organized theirs.

Steve Stuart’s corruption - democrat business as usual.

See, Steve got this killed… NOT because killing it was the RIGHT THING TO DO… BUT BECAUSE IT WOULD EFFECT HIM PERSONALLY.

So now, not only is Pridemore (Who called Stuart a sellout) not only guilty of voting FOR a budget HE believes is "balanced on the backs of the powerless and poor," he's guilty of allowing a democrat buddy of his, who would be personally effected by this legislation, to talk him out of it.

How about it, Steve… putting the needs of the people ahead of your own should be your NUMBER ONE JOB. One can only wonder what the next issue will be when Stuart sells us out.

Bill exempts urban candidates
Funding cap on campaigns doesn’t apply to a few major counties, ports

KENNETH P. VOGEL; The News Tribune

Steve Stuart probably would have been required to give back most, if not all, of $40,000 in campaign contributions under a bill being considered in the Legislature.But Stuart’s friend and predecessor as Clark County commissioner, Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-Vancouver), made sure that wouldn’t happen.

Pridemore removed a provision from a bill that would have limited contributions to candidates running for county offices in Pierce, Clark and Spokane counties as well as the ports of Tacoma and Seattle.

Big donors influence politics in Pierce County and other counties and port districts. But groups representing counties and ports supported Pridemore’s amendment because they contend it’s hard to raise awareness and money for local races.

The bill, House Bill 1226, also would limit the amounts of campaign contributions that could be given to candidates running for state Supreme Court and appeals court. It would require candidates running for the affected offices to return contributions exceeding the proposed limits or spend them by the time bill is signed. It’s unclear, though, whether they’d have to give back the entire contribution or just the amount that exceeds the limit.

For Stuart, who received four $10,000 contributions this year for his special election in November, the original bill would either require him to spend or return at least $37,300 – the amount that’s in excess of the proposed $675-per-election limit.

Stuart was appointed in December to the Board of Clark County Commissioners to fill a seat vacated by Pridemore, who left the three-member panel when he was elected to the Senate.

Stuart’s only declared opponent, Republican Tom Mielke, said Pridemore’s amendment smacks of special-interest lawmaking.

Stuart said he talked to Pridemore about the bill, but didn’t ask him to propose the amendment, which was added earlier this month in the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee. And Pridemore said the amendment wasn’t about Stuart, whom he recommended for the $93,000-a-year county post.

“I know it would have effected him,” Pridemore said, but he added “my concern with it was a generic thing. Very frequently, having some large donors is a good thing.”

Big donations give challengers a chance to defeat entrenched incumbents like Pridemore did in his first election to the board in 1998. A local investor gave him $5,000, Pridemore said, adding “if I had not gotten that contribution, I could not have won that race.”

HB 1226 would apply the contribution limits now in place for statewide executive races such as governor – $1,350 for the primary and $1,350 for the general – to candidates running for state Supreme Court and appeals court. And in its original form, it would have applied the campaign contribution limits now in place for state legislative races – $675 each for the primary and the general – in races for county offices and port districts in which there are more than 200,000 registered voters.

Without the Pridemore amendment, three candidates running for the Seattle Port Commission this year also would have been required to spend or return contributions that exceeded the proposed limits.

In Pierce County last year, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the Master Builders Association of Pierce County and the political action committee for the Pierce County Professional Firefighters gave contributions to Pierce County candidates that exceeded the limits proposed by the original bill.

Though Pridemore said he opposes limits in judicial races, his amendment left those in the bill, which is awaiting action in the Senate.

The Senate committee chairman, Sen. Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup) called the 200,000-voter threshold “arbitrary.”

“We need to look at standards other than those that just identify two or three or maybe three or four of the larger counties and that’s it,” he said. There’s probably more need for limits in some smaller counties, he said.

The most pressing need, though, is in judicial races, he said.

Last fall, the Building Industry Association of Washington, a conservative trade group, contributed $232,000 to the successful state Supreme Court campaign of Jim Johnson. That accounted for more than 25 percent of the money given to Johnson, who previously worked on high profile legal issues for the group.

Though judges are nonpartisan offices, the BIAW is a prominent player in Republican politics. Republican lawmakers have griped that HB 1226 is retribution.

The bill passed the House and Kastama’s committee largely along party lines, with most Republicans voting against it.

But the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Shay Schual-Berke (D-Normandy Park), said “I did not introduce this bill in a partisan way, and I think with only judicial candidates regulated that might appear to be the case.”

Though the bill missed a key deadline to pass the Senate on Friday, lawmakers could revive it this week because money to implement it is included in the House budget proposal. If the bill is revived this session or next, Schual-Berke said she’d push to re-insert county and port candidates.

“I’m hopeful to get the bill made whole again,” she said.

7.5 minutes of Pridemore's idiocy at the dem goat rope (Barnes looks better all the time.)

Craig Pridemore apparently forgot Rule One for his speech to the communist party faithful:

If you have to lie to get elected... you shouldn't BE elected.

I found it odd that the only guy to be allowed to speak off the list submitted to Commissioners Madore and Mielke happened to be Craig "I've raised a whole $250 for my campaign - I cut Stuart a huge deal on campaign finance while I was in the legislature" Pridemore.

The transition from Pridemore's tenure to Stuart's was seamless.  Neither one of them give a damn what the people want; both of them speak only for themselves and neither one of them are going to be commissioners in 2 months.

So, here it is: 7.5 minutes of lies, distortions, whining, sniveling, moaning and complaining... and not one second on how he'd do better than the two we have in the job right now.



This speech cements Pridemore into the nearest local dictionary as the picture of the word "hypocrite."

First, he got crushed running for Congress.  Then, he got hammered running for state auditor.  Now, he's deigning to go to his 3rd choice: temporary county commissioner... and he's not likely to even get that gig.

He babbles about "setting aside differences to work together."

He fails to mention where, for example, any of his fellow CRC Scammers set aside THEIR differences with opponents to "work together," which naturally means that when decoded, the phrase uttered by any democrat, let along Pridemore: "...set aside differences to work together," means "doing it the democrats way."

That the current commissioners DO work together is the thing: leftists just hate that they're not calling that particular set of shots.  So, Pridemore and Pollard... the P.P. Boyz, set out to start a bogus recall campaign against the people and the commissioners.

How's that working out for you, Craig?

Then, of course, Pridemore goes on to babble about his fellow democrats:

"Where would we be today, if rather than working together, they'd spent their time mocking each other, insulting each other, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on political campaigns designed mostly to sow discord, distrust and disinformation."

Good question, Craig.  So why do you fringe-left whack jobs keep doing all of those things?

And that's where the rank, stinking hypocrisy of Craig Pridemore and his fellow fringers comes in.

He discovered he can't get elected dog-catcher outside the Vancouver Soviet (Like he won't next November, either, come to think of it) so he's come back down here... his third choice... to try and get back into the game.

"And still strive for that bygone era" when the democrats ran everything and their incessant whining was but a murmur.

Yes, this is the same Craig Pridemore that helped Betty Sue sell us out to the Cowlitz... The same Craig Pridemore that made the deal with Steve Stuart that allowed him to keep something on the order of $60,000 in campaign donations that would have gone away if Pridemore's campaign finance bill hadn't been "amended" after Steve and Craig had a little chat while Craig was in the Senate.

The EXACT same Craig Pridemore who, after giving a floor speech proclaiming that the first budget he was ever going to vote on was "balanced on the backs of the poor and the powerless..." RIGHT before he voted FOR it.

And then, Pridemore segues into full on lie mode:

"It's only recently that a new tide has grown.  One that believes that community is an evil thing... that dreams and vision for the future are to be avoided at all costs.  That working respectfully with others is the road to ruin."

Oh.  So Craig HAS watched Punch (No Choice Royce) and Judy (Ed Barnes) at commission meetings?  He HAS checked out C3G2... or read Lefty Lou Brancaccio's columns or those of the pit yorkie who coined the phrase "cockroach" for those smart enough to oppose their scam.

And then, Craig throws a mini-fit because his cherished, incestuous downtown mafia scammers get called on the carpet for their efforts to rape us all.

Clearly, if Pridemore had any say, he'd just bend us over and give them whatever they wanted... at OUR expense, of course.

Then, Pridemore PSYCHOTICALLY lies about the CRC Scam and calls those of us who opposed it something akin to evil morons... something like "tools" because we didn't go along with the fringe-left sectors, program.

All under the guise of "working together," no doubt.

"We've had a few bad years.  Working together, across party lines, across public, private and not-for profit sectors in our community, we strived to achieve the single greatest economic development investment in the history of our community.

And the people who were smart enough to oppose their idiocy both Praise God every day for your defeat AND find themselves mocked, despised and ridiculed as a result of that opposition.

But we also find ourselves victorious.

"Through a well-funded campaign of misinformation and deception, this community had the torch of history knocked out of it's hands."

Thank God.

There was "misinformation" all right: lie after lie after lie spewed from the mouth of those like Paul Montague who ran Identity Vancouver before he got fired.

"We've been chastened.  We've been humbled.  We've been mocked, despised and ridiculed."

We've been repeatedly called "cockroaches" by a scumbag editorial page editor, right you fricking hack?  And what about your fellow leftist scum on C3G2?

"We've been dealt (?) low."

Then, the biggest lie he uttered on that stage:

"In the wake of our failure, a new tide of leaders has emerged, who say there must not be ANY community leadership.  Not public or private.  That we as a community must not vision, that we must obsess over our differences..."

You mean like you "obsessed over our differences" in this speech, you arrogant jerk?

"... rather then set them aside to work together."

You mean like: "No light rail... no bridge?"  Like that, you fricking idiot?

"That we must not even try to build a brighter future for those who will follow us."

Kinda like candidates who "must not even try" to be truthful in their speeches, eh?

Craig Pridemore: lying scumbag.

And then, I literally threw up on my keyboard.  This slimeball ACTUALLY said:

"We do not intend to surrender the future vitality of this community to those who believe that the only people in this county who have integrity are those who agree with them."

Seriously?  Did this rank, fringe-left wing nut REALLY say that after attacking and vilifying those smart enough to oppose his scams because WE don't agree with HIM?  After all the garbage that he has spewed along with the fringe-left scum that are doing everything they can to depose the two conservative commissioners because they're pissed off they don't have any control?

"Hypocrite" really doesn't quite cover it.

Democrats around here are not happy.  They're also not galvanized, not excited and not activated.

Monetarily, they've abandoned all of their challenge candidates from Congress on down.  Their candidates are bitter, whiny and arrogant.  None of them, including the moron in the video above, have told anyone what they want to do and how, specifically, they intend to make it all better... in fact, they typically have no answers at all.

And for the left?  That ain't lookin' real good.

BS rides to the rescue! Local View: Pridemore view on growth plan wrong

I was a bit torn when I read the obviously stung musings of Commissioner B.S. Morris in response to former Commissioner, now State Senator “Balanced the state budget on the backs of the poor and powerless while I voted yes” Craig Pridemore’s (D-Vancouver) detailed indictment of Morris and her erstwhile young protégé’, appointed Commissioner Steve Stuart.

For those of you who may not recall, Sen. Pridemore portrayed, accurately, as it turns out, both Stuart and Morris as developer sellouts.

Well, we all know Morris is in the developer’s pockets… they own her, lock, stock and barrel.

Stuart, on the other hand, was alleged to be quite the environmentalist+… until it was discovered that fully 7/8’s of his campaign fund has been directly provided by developers or their allies.

This, of course, is where the accuracy of the sellout description cannot be denied. B.S., however, must engage in damage control by attempting to spin her efforts along with those of Stuart’s to kill the Pridemore-Stanton crafted GMA plan.

Look, I’ll be the first to admit that the PS plan was bogus from the beginning, wholly unrealistic and using assumptions that a blind man would know in a minute to be a crock. But that’s not really the point, is it? The point is that Stuart was alleged to be a heavyweight enviro type. Now? Well, now, this particular emperor seems to be without clothes… and no amount of spin by B.S. Morris will get this guy a new wardrobe.



Local View: Pridemore view on growth plan wrong
Sunday, July 3, 2005
By Betty Sue Morris

Former county commissioner and current State Sen. Craig Pridemore wrote a recent guest column for The Columbian that sharply criticized the new Board of County Commissioners' intent to re-do the county comprehensive plan.

Pridemore, no doubt, has pride of authorship in the existing plan and is angry and frustrated to see it undone. I understand how he feels. I felt the same way in 1995 when the new majority in the Legislature gutted the 1994 state Health Care Reform package I had spent four years helping develop. Pridemore's sense of being powerless in his new role as senator probably compounds those feelings.

Though I might have expected Pridemore's rude comments about me from a campaign opponent rather than a fellow elected Democrat, I've grown used to his volatility and outbursts. It was Commissioner Steve Stuart to whom Pridemore did the real disservice.

More...

Local democrats have such a sense of humor about their endorsements.

.
Big article today (would you expect anything less from our local democrat paper?) blabbing about endorsements for Wallace and Pridemore... as if anyone cared, or as if they made any difference.

The "yuk-yuk" moment?

Describing Val Ogden as "moderate." It's kind of like calling the Columbian "unbiased..." a lie on it's face.

17th District leftists endorsed a 17th District House member who has no chance because she is responsible for the waste of 10's of millions of tax payer dollars and demanding the imposition of hundreds of millions of dollars of tolls in the midst of our recession, and the waste of billions for a bridge we don't want.

Big deal



49th District leftists endorsed Pridemore, responsible for gerrymandering a tax district to keep tens of thousands of us from voting on loot rail operations... but not from paying the taxes he wants to rip out of our pockets. Responsible for voting "yes" for a budget that even HE claimed was "balanced ... on the backs of the poor and the powerless." The stupidity of a Moeller endorsement in a swing district is self-evident. Steve "The Tribe Bought Me" Stuart's endorsement? As bad as, if not worse than, Moellers.

Was it all that long ago that Pridemore was calling Stuart a "sell out?"

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Democrat State Senator Pridemore gets it: Steve Stuart's a sellout.

You’ve got to love it. Pridemore’s got Stuart figured out, but the idjits like the “progressives” and the rest of the “environmentally aware” leftist fringe? Why, they don’t have a clue.

Pridemore, a legendary hypocrite who just this past session voted FOR a state democrat budget that even HE said was “balanced on the backs of the poor and the powerless,” has finally said what needed to be said about Steve Stuart.

Pridemore nails it when he tells us that Stuart’s a sellout: “Morris has set a deadline of finishing her work before the November election when Commissioner Steve Stuart, the only commissioner who sought to defend the existing plan, will be on the ballot. I believe that if Stuart doesn't do as Morris commands him, her friends with the homebuilders will pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign against him. It's little wonder that he's slow to speak out against something he should know is ethically wrong and legally indefensible.”

Pridemore goes on to tell us that he is ”disgusted and appalled by what” Stuart is doing to “our community’s future.”

Time, apparently, does heal all wounds.

Something of a quid-pro-quo, considering Pridemore's efforts to keep 10's of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions around for "Easy Money" Stuart.

We will see frequent articles lacking in any news value about these two, neither one of whom stand a chance of winning; and one of whom having a great deal of difficulty raising money.

But these endorsements?

Meaningless, except in a negative sense. Partisan endorsements typically are.
.

A moment with Craig (Pridemore) originally posted on April 23, 2005

Yesterday, Saturday, April 23, Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-49) was a coward.

He voted against his own principles as well as the alleged principles of his Party.

They’re not his Party’s principles, of course. They no more care about the poor and the powerless then they do about doing the right thing for the gas tax vote in the House.

No, the cowardice of Sen. Pridemore had more to do with the fact that he not only voted against his own principles… he admitted it, and vote against them anyway!

Legislature: Pridemore reluctantly casts key tax vote

Sunday, April 24, 2005

By DON JENKINS, Columbian staff writer

OLYMPIA -- State lawmakers appear ready to end the 2005 session today, though for about one minute a Vancouver Democrat had the session derailed.

To protest higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, Sen. Craig Pridemore on Friday night originally voted against a $263 million revenue package that supports a two-year spending plan agreed to by House and Senate leaders.

Without Pridemore's vote, the package was one vote short of passing.

Pridemore, however, changed his vote to yes at the end of the roll call and immediately left the floor of the Senate, unhappy with what he helped approve.

"I think the Senate has balanced the budget on the backs of the poor and powerless," he said.

So, let’s vote for the budget ANYWAY! SCREW the “poor and powerless.” After all, they ARE “poor,” and they ARE “powerless,” and what Pridemore’s democrat masters in the senate or back in Clark County happen to want is FAR more important then the “poor and powerless,” right, Senator?

Would it have killed you to do the right thing? Would it have killed you to vote to PROTECT the “poor and powerless?”

You’re a coward, Senator. You ought to resign.

You won’t, of course, because, after all, you fit in with all the rest of the cowards of your party SO WELL.

At the end of the day, Senator Pridemore, a “reluctant yes” doesn't count any differently then a full-throated, totally supportive “yes.”

You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

DeVore at HA: Pridemore to run for Congress - Announce W/I 24 hours.

.
Hope springing eternally from the leftest breast, Senator Craig Pridemore (D-Soviet Socialist Republic of Vancouver) will, to hear Jon DeVore tell it, "announce within 24 hours."

Now, I get that many democrats want this job, but all of them wear the I-5 bridge anchor around their necks, and as a result, I tell you now: ANY candidate supporting the waste of $4 BILLION and the imposition of another $1300 fee for our commuting citizens to go to work in the Portland metro area along with jamming unwanted and unneeded loot rail down our throats will lose.

For Pridemore, the other candidates can feel free to play whack-a-mole with his despicable gerrymandering bill that he and Wallace supported to get us to pay for loot rail. Combined with Pridemore's bill to take care of Commissioner Steve "Barnett Owns Me" Stuart's campaign contributions and Pridemore will be hard pressed to get past the corruption issues.

So far, Pridemore is best known for getting tossed off of Appropriations after his abortive coup attempt against the chair, one Sen. Margarita Prentice. His legislative philosophy is best summed up thusly:

“I think that we have balanced the budget on the backs of the poor and the powerless,” Senator Pridemore said, before voting “yes” on that same budget (2005 budget vote.)

That means that when it comes to that vision thing.... Pridemore can SEE what's wrong... he just lacks the testicles to do anything about it once he figures it out. That, of course, will make him just a tool for the moron running the House, Nancy "Plastic" Pelosi... and that means that neither Pridemore nor any other democrat has a serious chance of winning this thing.... particularly when you combine that the wreckage that is the democrat brand.

.

Craig Pridemore: Senator Slime.

.
Look, I admit it. I've got problems with Pridemore.

I've got problems with someone who would condemn a budget as being "balanced on the backs of the poor and the powerless," right before voting "yes" for that same budget.

I've got problems with someone who would pass a bill to gerrymander the CTrans district lines to exclude 10's of thousands of "no" votes on his loot rail tax increase.

I've got problems with someone ethically challenged enough to amend his own campaign finance bill to allow Steve "Easy Money" Stuart to keep 10's of thousands in campaign donations for his commissioner election.

I've got problems wit someone so out of touch that he told the people of the 3rd Congressional District, who voted in favor of I-960 to get stuffed when he voted to get rid of it.

Those things trouble me.

Pridemore has as much trouble raising money as he does being ethical. But this kind of crap is close to the top of the list of reasons why he's unfit for elective office:

Underdog Democrat Pridemore Says Polling Has Him Ahead of Party Rival Heck

But Pridemore, a liberal who supports a carbon fee to fight global warming, a constitutional amendment that says corporations do not have First Amendment rights, a single-payer health care system—and who marched against the Iraq War—says he has polling that shows he’s ahead of Heck.

“We have done one poll,” Pridemore says, “and we’re encouraged by the results. We are definitely ahead in name recognition, in votes, in favorability.”

Asked if we could see the poll, Pridemore was sheepish, saying he was going to get in trouble with his campaign for talking about it. He did say that it was a robopoll.

Now, you've got to be delusional to be a fringe leftist like Pridemore under any circumstances. He has absolutely zero chance of getting elected to Congress from this district: moronic positions on global warming like cap and swindle; pro socialist Obama care... No chance. None.

But to put out this crap?

Desperation. There is no such poll, save for that ruminating around Pridemore's head. The cutesy way he shilled it tells anyone that.

Senator Slime strikes again. Well done, CP.
.

MORE Democratic cowardice – Sen. Craig Pridemore.

Yesterday, Saturday, April 23, Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-49) was a coward.

He voted against his own principles as well as the alleged principles of his Party.

They’re not his Party’s principles, of course. They no more care about the poor and defenseless then they do about doing the right thing for the gas tax vote in the House.

No, the cowardice of Sen. Pridemore had more to do with the fact that he not only voted against his own principles… he admitted it, and vote against them anyway!



Legislature: Pridemore reluctantly casts key tax vote
Sunday, April 24, 2005

By DON JENKINS, Columbian staff writer

OLYMPIA -- State lawmakers appear ready to end the 2005 session today, though for about one minute a Vancouver Democrat had the session derailed.

To protest higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, Sen. Craig Pridemore on Friday night originally voted against a $263 million revenue package that supports a two-year spending plan agreed to by House and Senate leaders.

Without Pridemore's vote, the package was one vote short of passing.

Pridemore, however, changed his vote to yes at the end of the roll call and immediately left the floor of the Senate, unhappy with what he helped approve.

"I think the Senate has balanced the budget on the backs of the poor and powerless," he said.

So, let’s vote for the budget ANYWAY! SCREW the “poor and powerless.” After all, they ARE “poor,” and they ARE “powerless,” and what Pridemore’s democrat masters in the senate or back in Clark County happen to want is FAR more important then the “poor and powerless,” right, Senator?

Would it have killed you to do the right thing? Would it have killed you to vote to PROTECT the “poor and powerless?”

You’re a coward, Senator. You ought to resign.

You won’t, of course, because, after all, you fit in with all the rest of the cowards of your party SO WELL.

At the end of the day, Senator Pridemore, a “reluctant yes” doesn’t count any differently then a full-throated, totally supportive “yes.”

You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Pridemore and the other Reagan Dunn-style democrats screw the people on the gay rip off vote: deny Benton's effort at a referendum amendment.

Obeying his masters, Craig Pridemore (Communist-49) today rammed the gay marriage scam through committee, denying all amendments to allow the people to have any say on this issue because the fringe-left whack jobs wanting this scam definitely don't want the people to have any say... although the subsequent initiative will certainly provide that say anyway.

Pridemore, as we all know, is ditching the legislature in an effort to get a better-paying gig.  He's got his retirement to worry about, after all.  But like his buddy Reagan Dunn, RINO Republican and King County Councilman, he believes that getting this notch on his crank is what he needs to do get elected.

With Dunn, it's clear his abandonment of principle is politically motivated.  But unlike Dunn, the question remains: does Pridemore HAVE Any character?

From his first session in the Senate:

Legislature: Pridemore reluctantly casts key tax vote

Sunday, April 24, 2005

By DON JENKINS, Columbian staff writer

OLYMPIA -- State lawmakers appear ready to end the 2005 session today, though for about one minute a Vancouver Democrat had the session derailed.

To protest higher taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, Sen. Craig Pridemore on Friday night originally voted against a $263 million revenue package that supports a two-year spending plan agreed to by House and Senate leaders.

Without Pridemore's vote, the package was one vote short of passing.

Pridemore, however, changed his vote to yes at the end of the roll call and immediately left the floor of the Senate, unhappy with what he helped approve.

"I think the Senate has balanced the budget on the backs of the poor and powerless," he said

So, after bitching about the budget and who is tasked with balancing it, what does the little slimeball do?

Votes "yes," anyway.  Character?  WHAT character?

There are other little episodes, of course, that show he can be bought.  But his gay marriage jihad and that of his fellow fringe-left nutters like Dunn and Moeller are the result of political deals where the main concern isn't integrity, character, or the will of the people:

It's getting elected... start to finish.

Good luck with that to the both of you.

As for me, I am opposed to gay-rights nonsense; the idea that anyone should be accorded any special treatment or status because of their sexual practices, one way or the other, is absurd.

But it would at least be palatable if the fringe-leftists so rabidly pursuing this idiocy would at least have the decency to allow the people to have a say.

Because if this was, ultimately, the will of the people of this state, I could more easily live with it... except the fear-driven left has shown in everything from the CRC to this nonsense that what the people they would govern want is totally unimportant.

And frankly, I don't recall any of this clowns outside the gay caballeros ever running on a pro-gay marriage ticket.  But that's just me.

Herrera supporters confuse me; Castillo calls nailing Barbie bad, bad; RNCC calls nailing Pridemore good, good.

.
Lately, there's been a massive brouhaha by Herrera's Kool Aid drinkers over the word-for-word accurate robo-call used by David Castillo to tell the 3rd Congressional District about our session-ditching, SEIU supporting, someone-else-voting-for her-while-shes-gone, slurping-at-the-DC-special-interest-trough-during-session-HERE, Ridgefield Barbie.

Man, the outrage, the over-the-top responses, the out and out lies and exaggerations Barbie supporters engaged in as a result of these calls... unbelievable.

As I pointed out with a word-by-word analysis, everything the calls said is true. Of major interest to me is the approach to their commentary.

Where this site, who opposes this cardboard cut out of a representative, questions the zombie-like response of the Herrera Herd, I did so actually posting the "offending" call in question.

Where the Herd bleated its faux anger, I was unable to find any of them who posted the call, and then disputed its contents. There's something quite sickening about that.

And here's where my confusion comes into play.

Apparently, Craig Pridemore's local political deathwish is to be an Obamaton.

That, of course, is his privilege.

Between his corrupt politics, his support of the horrific project known as the I-5 Bridge/Loot rail, his vote to trash I-960, and apparently being a complete Obama tool for health care, including the communistic public option, Pridemore has no chance. None.

To date, he hasn't been able to raise money, and the local fringe whack jobs supporting him, like the fringe whack jobs on the right supporting Herrera, tend to show proof of doom in the primary.

I get that he wants to lock down the fringe left. But to the 80% of the voters to Pridemore's right, positions like these:

"Let me be clear: I believe that Democrats in Congress should pass the bill, include a public option, and if necessary, use the reconciliation process to get it done," he said.

are simply out of the main stream. This sentiment serves to bury Pridemore and his fellow fringers even farther behind any chance of winning the seat.

Of course, if the GOP still had control of Congress and this was on a bill Pridemore didn't like, he'd be bitching like a cut cat if the Republicans were planning to do the same thing... and we can be sure his opposition to such a maneuver would be EVER so principled.

But not even THAT is the point. Pridemore's campaign will collapse soon enough without any particular help from me.

The point is that the Herrera Herd was positively GIDDY over the RNCC calls blasting the positions of the two leading democrats. Major tweeting, re-tweeting, etc.

And that's where I'm confused.

As I said, I posted the "offending" Castillo robo-call, in its entirety. I did that to show that everything in the call was completely factual. I pointed out where members of the Herrera Herd have lied and exaggerated about it's contents, and even have gone so far as attack those wise enough to agree with the contents of the call... which are, after all, completely factual.

So, Castillo does a robo-call, factual in every way. The Herrera Herd wants to draw and quarter him as a result.

The RNCC does a robo-call, apparently not so factual, having rightly indicated that Heck is, apparently, "undecided" (which is a euphemism for being too cowardly to take a position on the issue, given its level of radioactivity in this area and his party's moronic support of the bill) while wrongly indicating the Pridemore was "undecided" in the face of his left-of-Lenin position on the matter.

The result?

The Herrera Herd dances around a rhetorical bonfire the size of Pittsburgh.

So, let me get this straight:

Castillo is savaged for doing a factual call accurately attacking Ridgefield Barbie.

The RNCC is applauded, cheered and generally worshiped for attacking Barbie's presumed democrat competition?

So, it's bad when some people do it, but good when others engage in the process?

So, I admit it. The Herrera Herd confuses me.

Crossposted at Jaime Herrera Watch.
.

Paging Craig Pridemore or Pat Jollota; paging Craig Pridemore or Pat Jollota: please pick up the yellow hypocrisy phone....

It is the curse of our community that leftists here set the bar on rank hypocrisy.  Pat Jollata, Nelson Holmberg, Craig Pridemore and Betty Sue Morris are among those setting that example.

Back in 2010, Lefty Lou Brancaccio began to act like he'd lost his mind.  His hatred, his petulance, his arrogance began to reach what has now become an all time high.

He stupidly began to use his bully pulpit as what he believed it to be: a hammer... a weapon against those wise enough to both oppose his idiocy and to stand up to his fringe-left allegiance.

The editorial page became nothing more than a democrat outreach tool... and a weapon used to attack the GOP... every day, all day.

The left drew... and draws... a complete pass.  And the attacks on some of us became personal, and were designed to personally and professionally injure us.

For WHATEVER the reason, Lefty felt compelled to ratchet up his stupidity on a man that the left considers to be one of their own.  The result was a backlash against the slimeball editor of the daily cancer, who, rather stupidly for him, had tipped his hand about attacking the following week.

Both Craig Pridemore and Pat Jollota fired back at Lefty publicly for what his was going to write.  Lefty, finally getting pushback from his own side of the spectrum for attacking someone they believed to be one of them, showed his lack of testicles and bailed out on the planned attack.  Rightfully, it never materialized.

But I was struck by this just this morning:  clearly, the divide isn't party: after all, Brent Boger had even been the county GOP party chair.

The divide is between liberal and conservative.

This is further illustrated by the in-crowd leftists' support of Marc Boldt, who had long since ceased even resembling a conservative and had that same crowd's hate-based support in the last cycle... and their equally hate-filled opposition to Commissioner's Madore and Mielke now.

It even illustrates the dichotomy of the CRC: most conservatives opposed it, most liberals loved it; conservatives wanted a vote to do the will of the people, liberals would sell their own children into slavery to keep the people silent and unheeded to get that rip off built and as a result, conservatives became an article of hatred for our local left.  It provided them with an excuse, with a focal point, a blinding ability to assume the values of the organization to the exclusion of human decency and fairness.

Think in terms of concentration camp guards and their ability to not view people in terms of actually being people.

None of those lusting after Madore or Mielke's blood, political or otherwise, would dream of treating their internecine differences with others inside their group the way they're attacking these two.

They have managed to become everything the claim to despise.  The only thing that is ever "right" is what they want: anyone standing in their way is subjected to the kind of hatred, scorn, attacks, lies, smearing and the like that Craig Pridemore, Pat Jollata, Lou Brancaccio, John Lard and that ilk have engaged in since the words "David Madore" were first ever uttered in our community.

It is a blind, unreasoning hatred, rife with collateral damage that has caused nothing but an even deeper divide and distrust within our community; acts on one side of the political spectrum based entirely and only on their leftist political bigotry.

There is no altruistic motive here.  This is about hatred and power.  The local left simply cannot stand that they've lost political power.  This is certainly illustrated by the left's sudden, Madore-driven epiphany and flip on the matter of the county charter, a concept that former leftist democratian editorial page editor and current county democrat party chair Mike Heywood wrote:

They hope to give rural interests dominance over urban values. They suppose they can make it harder for county government to raise and spend money on social problems and infrastructure capital.  

Odd that they've long since ceased expressing that concern during the efforts to overturn the last election, isn't it?   A few short years ago, their fake worries were all that and a bag of chips.  Naturally, Lefty mirrored the concerns of his party, doing what he could to trash the effort... and democrats Stuart and Boldt obliged.

But now?  All of that is long forgotten as the hatred of the left has caused them to set aside their rank fear of the people, and replace it with the rank hypocrisy of their hatred.

Almost 4 years ago, when the attack was going to be on Boger, this was their response:  (click to enlarge - Thanks to Lew Waters for these pictures.)

These same leftists who so condemned  Brancaccio... rightfully, then... remain not only silent now... but are active participants in his jihad against two men that Pridemore had once claimed merely by "stepping up to serve is entitled to a basic, human level of respect."

Well, where's their complaints now?   Back in 2010, Pridemore wrote 

"This was the nastiest, rudest, most mudslinging campaign season I've ever seen and it keeps getting worse.  In my opinion, The Columbian should model better behavior."

But not now, right, Craig?  Not when the targets are conservatives.  Not when you believe you can benefit personally.

Now, they can unload their... and your... manure by the truck load and you just stand by and applaud, maintaining your silence as the rag does YOUR bidding.

And the same for Jollota, who roundly condemned Brancaccio's treatment of Boger but who roundly supports Brancaccio's treatment of Madore and Mielke. 

Pat, fortunately, is no longer in elective office.  Pridemore, however, wants to be, and he wants it in the worst possible way.  And that's how he and his fellow hypocrites intend to give it to him: in the worst... possible... hypocritical... way.

Democratian wears our more kneepads for a leftist: Soon to be unemployed Craig "Loser" Pridemore.

Here's the deal: when you're a hardcore, left or right hack, you shouldn't expect the political mainstream to support you.

That's why 71% of his commissioner district voted against Commissioner Marc Boldt in the primary.

And that's why 79% of the state voted against Pridemore.

Pridemore, who never had a chance of winning this or any other statewide election due to his partisan hackery, met my every expectation by getting hammered in the auditor primary.

Naturally, the leftists at the democratian are going to leave out many of the inconvenient truths in Pridemore's job application they just sent out in the form of a blog post.

They neglected to mention that it was his legislation that has allowed the gerrymandered CTran taxing district that is screwing tens of thousands of us out of the right to vote on CTran scams while we're not exempted from paying the taxes.

They completely left out the sweet little amendment he put together at Steve Stuart's request to exempt HIS campaign donations from Pridemore's campaign finance bill that now.... NOW... requires commissioner candidates to live with what had formally been just legislative limits.

And, of course, the best show of integrity... the one where he stands up on the floor of the Senate before his first budget vote and complains that he "fears this budget was balanced on the backs of the poor and the powerlesss" which he THEN PROCEEDS TO VOTE FOR KNOWING IT WOULD HURT "THE POOR AND THE POWERLESS."

And, no mention of his incredibly lame congressional run..... wayyyyy back in 2010.  Why not?

It takes a SPECIAL legislator to do that.

But, like the cover the democratian provides for Jim "Candy Man" Moeller's moronic "what is, what isn't" candy tax to fund his pet projects... a moronic bill so far out of the mainstream that his own district voted overwhelmingly to repeal it... there's no way they'd remind the readers of those efforts by Pridemore.

So now, having done his damage to the people of Clark County, Pridemore is, finally (and hopefully permanently) out of the political scene.

Now, it's just a matter of time until he's hired at an outrageous salary by someone like CTran... someone he's carried the water for like Gunga Din.

After all, the left takes care of their own.

Democrat State Senator Pridemore gets it: Steve Stuart's a sellout.

You’ve got to love it. Pridemore’s got Stuart figured out, but the idjits like the “progressives” and the rest of the “environmentally aware” leftist fringe? Why, they don’t have a clue.

Pridemore, a legendary hypocrite who just this past session voted FOR a state democrat budget that even HE said was “balanced on the backs of the poor and the powerless,” has finally said what needed to be said about Steve Stuart.

Pridemore nails it when he tells us that Stuart’s a sellout:

“Morris has set a deadline of finishing her work before the November election when Commissioner Steve Stuart, the only commissioner who sought to defend the existing plan, will be on the ballot. I believe that if Stuart doesn't do as Morris commands him, her friends with the homebuilders will pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign against him. It's little wonder that he's slow to speak out against something he should
know is ethically wrong and legally indefensible.”

Pridemore goes on to tell us that he is

"disgusted and appalled by what" Stuart is doing to "our community’s future."

That won’t matter to the majority of mindless automatons on the Left that would vote for Stuart if he were guilty of armed robbery since he’s a democrat. But to people in the main stream and on the right… this guy is a sellout and he’s toast.

The Leftist Fringe thinks he’s a bright boy… an up and comer. The problem is that he’d sell his environmental background, and, possibly, his own mother, to get elected to this position.

Don’t believe it? His donor list speaks for itself.

Happy motoring this next election, democrats. Expect to see Sen. Pridemore’s words of wisdom about Commissioner Steve Stuart a great deal. I’m sure you won’t mind.



Local View: Commissioners sell out to developers

Sunday, June 19, 2005
By Craig Pridemore

The tighter urban growth boundary that former Clark County Commissioner Judie Stanton and I adopted last year when we were county commissioners is working just like we said it would. Thousands of acres of farmland, environmentally sensitive lands, and open space that would otherwise have fallen beneath residential sprawl have been spared.

Land inside urban growth boundaries is being put to higher and better uses. This increases the value of that land, generating more tax dollars to pay for schools, parks and public services, with minimal increases in expenses to pay for them. That lightens the tax burden on all of us.

Urban decay that afflicted many cities has been stopped and is being reversed. Public and private investment that would have gone to subsidize growth on suburban fringes is instead revitalizing downtowns and preserving neighborhoods.

More...

Craig Pridemore: CRC Revisionist and liar. (Lied to the editorial board. Is it even possible Lefty Lou didn't know?)

So, who do we believe?

In response to a question from Lefty Lou, specifically: "It has to do with whether or not today, we should be focusing on a replacement I-5 Bridge, not a CRC proposal, more likely a proposal that might not have any immediate, uh, uh, access to light rail, might not even have any high tolls, uh, should we be focusing on that or focusing on the East County bridge, which is presently being pushed by county commissioner David Madore.

So, that's the question.  Where should our priorities lie?"

(Since we were told repeatedly throughout the CRC process that the commissioners would have no impact on that project and since the vast majority of this county opposes that idiocy, I have to wonder why Lefty Lou set Pridemore up to take it in the chops over this... but, whatever.)

Well, do we take Pridemore's word for it?




Or do we take the Oregon Supreme Court's word for it?

February 29th, 2012 NIGEL JAQUISS | News Stories

The $2.5 Billion Bribe

Oregon’s Supreme Court says light-rail politics drove plans for a new I-5 bridge.

ILLUSTRATIONS: nickstokesdesign.com

      

Tags: i-5 bridge, light rail, Columbia River Crossing

The Oregon Supreme Court has succeeded in doing what scores of public meetings, thousands of pages of reports, and endless public relations spin could not: Give us the original rationale behind the proposed $3.5 billion Columbia River Crossing.

(And please note: that rational had absolutely nothing to do with Pridemore's lies... nor was it the result of his lie that "every option was considered.")

 

The answer, according to the court: The massive Interstate 5 bridge and freeway project is a “political necessity” to persuade Clark County residents to accept something they previously didn’t want—a MAX light-rail line from Portland to Vancouver. (To read the Feb. 16, 2012 Oregon Supreme Court decision regarding the Columbia River Crossing Project, click here (PDF, 18 pages))

Project opponents filed a legal challenge to the way Metro, the regional planning agency, granted sweeping land-use approval to the project. The Oregon Supreme Court sided mostly with Metro.

But Chief Justice Paul De Muniz, writing for the majority, highlighted an inconvenient set of facts for CRC backers.

He wrote in the Feb. 16 opinion that most of the project—namely the 10-lane freeway bridge and new interchanges—was put forward to get Clark County to agree to the light-rail line.

De Muniz cited statements that Metro made in the land-use process and Metro’s lawyer repeated before his court. 

“It was politically impossible for the light rail project to proceed without also building new interstate bridges across the Columbia River,” De Muniz wrote. 

“Or as Metro later summarized it: ‘There is no light rail without the freeway bridge[s] being replaced.’”

Backers have cited traffic and safety issues as the top reasons to build the CRC. But the court ruling means those and other justifications were created after officials decided to give a sop to Clark County, now worth $2.5 billion.

Metro had used a law originally intended to site light-rail lines to justify the project. (Only 27 percent of the project’s cost—or about $950 million—will go to building the light-rail portion of the CRC.) Metro won every legal challenge, including at the state Supreme Court.

De Muniz highlighted Metro’s land-use decision. In it, the regional agency explains the freeway bridge and associated improvements were necessary to get the light-rail line built after Clark County voters in 1995 overwhelmingly rejected funding for a new light-rail line. 

Supporters of the bridge project acknowledged the new freeway bridge and $1 billion in interchanges were necessary to sway Clark County to go for the deal.

“To get light rail built, we need to have some highway improvements associated with it,” Mark Greenfield, an attorney for Metro and TriMet, told the Supreme Court in December.

Mike Lilly, a lawyer for Plaid Pantry, a losing petitioner in the Supreme Court case, says the ruling exposes an expensive truth about the CRC.

“We are stuck paying for a huge highway bridge and interchanges as an inducement to get Vancouver to accept light rail,” he says. 

CRC spokeswoman Anne Pressentin says the courts have established that Metro followed the law properly when it granted the CRC’s land-use approvals.

Pressentin also says how the new freeway bridge and interchanges got on the drawing board in the first place no longer matters—the CRC project has proven the region needs both the freeway improvements and light rail.

“There are a lot of things that happened along the way,” she says. “There’s no inconsistency here.”

SOURCES: CRC, Oregon Department of Transportation.

Of COURSE Pridemore is going to lie about this: what would his chances be if he manned up and told the truth?

The fact is clear: these carefully selected people who bent us over on the CRC Scam, including Pridemore himself, NEVER INTENDED THAT ANY OTHER OPTION BE CONSIDERED.

And as for Lefty Lou?

There is no way, even in your fantasy world, that the I-5 Bridge will EVER be built without loot rail.

It's just a shame that when Pridemore lied to you... you let him get away with it.

But then, Pridemore's a democrat and that's what you do for them, right, Lefty?