Hey Doc, Let's Debate!

Here's the letter Jay sent, via email and certified mail, to Rep. Hastings yesterday:

Dear Congressman Hastings,

In the past decade, never has there been an election year with such strong public sentiment for accountability from those who represent the citizens of the United States of America. You yourself characterized this race after the primary as a "choice" for the voters of Central Washington. We owe it to those voters to give them as clear a picture of that choice as possible.

I have secured three venues for a series of debates across the district. The organizer of the Wenatchee Valley Community College candidate forum has offered to bill the October 12th forum as a debate between you and I. The Benton PUD auditorium has been reserved for October 15th from 7-9pm for the same purpose. The North First Street conference room in Yakima has been reserved on October 22nd, from 7-9pm as well.

I understand, as a working man, how difficult it can be to balance campaigning with other obligations. With that in mind, these dates were specifically chosen to allow you to fulfill your congressional duties. If you wish to augment or amend these three dates, I invite you to do so. We have no greater duty in this election than to educate the voters across Central Washington, and to that end I will meet you for debate anywhere, any time.

I look forward to receiving your confirmation for these dates, or your changes if necessary. I look forward as well to a spirited, open, and honest debate on the important issues facing our district, our state, and our nation today.

Sincerely,

Jay Clough.

Jay needs our help to ensure that at least ONE of these debates takes place. Please take a moment to call Congressman Hastings' office at (509) 736-1510, email hime at info@dochastings.com or send him a letter, PO Box 2926, Pasco, WA 99302.

You could also write a letter to the editor of the Enterprise or Sentinel, publically encouraging Rep. Hastings to debate Jay.

We need to put as much pressure on Mr. Hastings as possible. He does not get to slide by unchallenged as he has in years past. Please help Jay show the voters of Central Washington what the choice they have this year looks like.

Restoring Honor: Look in the Mirror

After all the hoopla this weekend about Glenn Beck's rally in DC, the calls for restoring honor seem a little shallow. We've seen improved relations in the world since the administration changed, though those who seem to think we should reverse gear make us look a little crazy again...here is some food for thought from a fellow blogger in another state on what is honorable, and what is not.

In less than two short years, much has been accomplished, without ANY help from the party of NO. The hole dug by policies of the last decade will take years to climb out of. We cannot go backwards. It won't be easy in our county to overcome the demographics that bode success for the Republican candidates. But it CAN be done. Klickitat County was the only county east of the Cascades to put Obama in the WIN column. Please do not sit out this election. Do your homework, attend Candidates Nights, meet the Candidates and talk with them about your concerns.

The next opportunity to meet Democratic Candidates will be the Huckleberry Festival. Stop by the Klickitat Democrats booth there for more information, and visit our website regularly, and if you are on Facebook, become a fan of Klickitat Democrats.

Klickitat County Fair

Don't forget to swing by your Klickitat County Democrats booth while visiting the Klickitat County Fair in Goldendale!

This is also a great opportunity to meet the democratic candidates. Tom Silva, running for State Representative for LD 15, stopped by this morning and we are expecting many others through Sunday.

Also, a big thank you to Bob Hansen and Rosemary Hoyt who set-up our booth. And, thank you Mary Pierce who has been busy organizing and recruiting for this years fair.

We have staff at the booth today thru Sunday and the fair runs 8 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Thanks but NoThanks

Guess what some local Democrats found in their email today? Invitations to Tea!

You are invited to attend the Gorge Constitutional Tea Party at the Maryhill Winery Amphitheater on September 12, 2010 from approximately 2 pm to 4pm. Lars Larsen will be our keynote speaker and we can accommodate up to 4,000 patriots from all over Washington and Oregon.

I don't know about you, but there is NO amount of Maryhill wine that would make me listen to Lars Larson (the email spelled his name wrong). Warning: if you click this link, be prepared to be appalled at the anti-Obama visuals.The invite included a huge photo of Maryhill Winery's amphitheater showing throngs of people. It was OBVIOUSLY not a Tea Party gathering. Wonder if they'll use it in their post event press? Keep an eye on it...You can check it out on their new website, gorgepatriot.com

The other thing that I really object to is the implication that if you are a patriot, you will go to this event. In my warped mind, Tea Party gatherings have been anything BUT patriotic.

The Gorge Constitutional Tea Party which is a non-partisan group of people who are dissatisfied with the direction our elected representatives are taking our country. At our last Tea Party on May 15, 2010 and we featured speakers ranging from Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders to Dave Hendricks running for Congress in District 3 to Tom Hann from We the People and more. We also had a roving mike that allowed between 700 and 1000 people from all over Klickitat County, Skamania County, Wasco County, Hood River County and beyond to share their concerns about the transgressions against our constitutional rights. We received excellent coverage on our event in all of our local papers as well as on Oregon Public Broadcasting radio.

I don't see nonpartisan here in any of the speakers...except a strong right wing Republican and Constitution Party lovefest. Does inviting Democrats and mentioning coverage by OPB make it so?

We hope that our events will help educate, motivate and spread our message to the people in our area.

Educate???? Really????

Now, you might wonder who is behind this Tea Party extravaganza, which follows on the heels of the well signed May event in Dallesport. Key word. Signs. Someone must have stock in a sign company....Have you guessed? None other than Assessor Candidate Darlene Johnson. The woman who stood at a recent candidates night telling us disingenuously that she wasn't political. The same one that has been pushing misleading statistics on a state report to further her campaign.

She asked for an rsvp so I had to send regrets.

Thanks but No Thanks.

No thanks because I strongly feel there is nothing constructive about the Tea Party. It is a vehicle to anger, inflame and divide, and the results of all this 'pot stirring' are far from Patriotic.

There seems to be very little (non)partisan* about The Tea Party except to join together rightwing Republicans and the Constitution Party. There is no hint of compassion, respect for diversity, for our President or our shared responsibility as Americans for The Common Good, in Tea Party gatherings. That doesn't look like Patriotism to me. One need only look at your speakers representing far right Republicans and the Constitution Party. My time is too precious to spend a second of it listening to Lars Larson and his ilk.

Thanks , because I am more inspired and energized than ever to work for and elect/reelect hard working, forward thinking (and patriotic) Democratic Candidates from the top of the ballot on down.

Lorrie DeKay
Klickitat County State Committeewoman
N. Fruit Valley PCO
Patriot

*had to fix a typo...had put bipartisan when I should have put non-partisan. Forgive me.

One last thing. If I find out that Maryhill is sponsoring this event by not charging a normal fee for use of the grounds, I will boycott their wine and their events from now on, and urge other like minded folk to do the same. There's a lot of other great wine in the Gorge.

UPDATE: Due to a "scheduling conflict" the tea party event will be held at the Dallesport Airport instead of Maryhill. What a relief. I have no reason to ever go to Dallesport Airport.

Wiggins for Supreme Court Race

This just in from the Wiggins campaign:

As ballots arrived late last week, Republicans and Democrats heard very different stories from embattled Justice Richard Sanders—now employing a duplicitous strategy to try and win at all costs on August 17 and avoid a November runoff.

While Democrats received campaign and fundraising mailings touting Sanders as a champion of civil liberties and claiming widespread Democratic support, Republican inboxes received breathless support from ultra-conservative minister Joe Fuiten. Conservative mailboxes were also filled with a letter from controversial State Representative Matt Shea from Spokane, extolling Sanders first speech as a Justice to an anti-abortion rights rally, and praising him as the “deciding vote” in the 5-4 Anderson decision that denied same sex couple the rights of marriage equality.

Despite claiming support from— and support for— Democrats and issues associated with progressive causes, the Shea letter (which has a portrait of Sanders and was issued by his campaign) attacks Charlie Wiggins as a “liberal Democrat” while the mailing to Democrats casually omits that Sanders is endorsed by the State Republican Party, while Wiggins is endorsed by the State Democratic Party and the Democratic parties of a number of counties and many legislative districts (as well as GOP and Democratic prosecutors, and many political leaders).

So… is Sanders the quirky Libertarian he portrays to the press, or simply a conservative opportunist telling different things to different constituencies? Certainly Democrats would appreciate knowing that he is boasting about his opposition to reproductive freedom and marriage equality? (Apparently, defense of civil liberties do not extend to the realm of personal privacy)

Richard Sanders is hoping Democrats and Progressive voters aren’t paying attention and he can win it all on August 17.

Don’t let him! Vote Charlie Wiggins for Justice.

Fan Mail from Some Flounder?

With apologies to Boris and Natasha, here's a message from our CD4 Fear(ing)less Leader. Highlights pertain to our ballot.

Central Washington colleagues:

Primary ballots have arrived throughout central Washington. Best wishes to our candidate, Jay Clough, and to other Democratic candidates in central Washington: United States Senator Patty Murray; Carol Moser, candidate in the 8^th Legislative District; Ed Lisowski, candidate in the 14^th Legislative District; Paul Spencer candidate in the 15^th Legislative District; Tom Silva, candidate in the 15^th Legislative District; Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Andy Miller; Douglas County Auditor Thad Duvall; Franklin County Treasurer Tiffany Coffland; Franklin County Auditor Zona Lenhart; Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Lowe; Franklin County Clerk Mike Killian; Kittitas County Treasurer Jerry Pettit; and Skamania County Commissioner Jamie Tolfree.

Jay Clough travels to the other Washington this week to raise money and introduce himself to his new home.

A curious Washington statute reads that, if a candidate for judicial office receives more than fifty percent of the vote in a primary election, the candidate gains the judicial seat without the need of a general election. Therefore, votes in the primary for judicial positions are critical.

Judicial seats are nonpartisan. Nevertheless the Building Industry Association of Washington, through donations and seven-figure ad campaigns, has purchased two seats on the Washington Supreme Court. The two seats are held by Judges Richard Sanders and Jim Johnson. Sanders and Johnson routinely decide important cases on the side for which BIAW files amicus briefs. Both are respectively challenged by fair minded, ethical judicial candidates, Charlie Wiggins and Stan Rumbaugh. Please encourage your friends and neighbors to vote for Rumbaugh and Wiggins.

George Fearing, 4th CD Chairman