Former Sen. Slade Gorton told some great stories at tonight's 43rd District Republican meeting about his time in the legislature back in the 1950s and 1960s. Did you know that the 43rd District used to be the most solidly Republican part of the state? Hard to believe today. Part of his explanation for this is that the Republicans used to be the upper income party, but now the Democrats are the party of the very poor and the very rich, while the Republicans are the party of the middle class and Seattle has the Democrat extremes of wealth. How can Republicans regain support in Seattle, a member of the audience asked? "There are still a lot of people here who are conservative culturally, socially and fiscally. Try to find the people who already agree with you, but don't necessarily realize it yet"
Gorton also said that he's quite optimistic about the election contest, especailly in light of the revelations out of the King County Elections in the last week. I asked him to elaborate on his statement a couple of weeks ago that "King County has the worst elections administration of any county in the United States of America." He was specifically referring to King County's inability to account for its ballots and to verify whether the ballots that were counted came from actual voters. Nothing this bad has ever come to light, not in any of the recent controversies in Wisconsin, Ohio or Florida. He also hinted that Dean Logan might have made some interesting admissions under deposition this week. My favorite line: "Be nice to Dean Logan. He's the best witness we have".
Which brings me to my favorite line from Chris Vance's talk at the Downtown Republican Club on Monday: "We should have this whole thing wrapped up by July 4. Then they'll come and move Christine Gregoire out of the Governor's Mansion, and I'll be standing across the street waving"
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 19, 2005 11:24 PM | Email ThisIt would be fun to have a big block party down there. Big tent, music, BBQ, etc. Have lunch on the lawn while the band plays in a gazebo. Games for the kids. Patriotic talks. Homemade ice cream. Honor the vets. Prayer for the country.
One thing that has bothered me about this mess is that it has all the signs of being the product of a junior varsity group of players, but it's actually the Dem A list. Pretty sad if you think about it. What would Scoop and some of the others that served with integrity say about it? Think orange, most likely.
Thanks for the update.
Posted by: scott158 on April 19, 2005 11:47 PMJuly 4 would be a perfect day for an inaugeration and to celebrate God, country and Rossi.
Posted by: Cheryl on April 19, 2005 11:53 PMI want to read what Dean Logan has to say to a court of law instead of his glib answers to concerned citizens at his faux appeasement town hall meetings.
Looking forward to a great summer.
Posted by: Jeff B. on April 19, 2005 11:53 PMNice to see from you. I'm sure you are neck deep and KC just keeps on shoveling, but I want you to know you are appreciated. You have done a good thing, m Man.
Posted by: Splatter on April 19, 2005 11:56 PMI am reminded of the WA DC get out of Mr. Chenney's house chants.
Before we get all warm and cozy, we need to remember that it will be an extremely ugly November election campaign. The Dem's will throw every piece of mud they can get their hands on. They have found the taste of power to be intoxicating.
I would like to suggest that there needs to be some mass organization to purge voter rolls prior to the November election. I am not sure if Sam Reed can be counted on to get his data base in place and counties to get the deed done in time. I also will not trust King County to run an election unless it is under the supervision of judges.
Posted by: Bob on April 20, 2005 12:26 AMIt would be nice to know if Rossi can un-do the horrific damage the Democrats with Gregoire have done since January!
I have a laundry list for him...
1. Veto the Democrats attempt to raise our taxes.
2. Veto the Democrats repeal of initiative 601.
3. Veto the whimpy election reform package the Democrats shoved through and adopt the Republican package.
4. Veto the option to go to an all mail voting system.
5. Change King County elections department to become uniform with the other counties in the state.
6. Call for a federal investigation into the state elections over the past 10 years.
7. Call for an investigation into the CAO.
8. Call for a citizens vote on the CAO.
I could go on and on......
Posted by: Deborah on April 20, 2005 12:27 AMUnfortunately we will have to wait until 2007 to undo anything signed by Gre-Gore. Even though she will be shown to be illegitimately elected, our constitution still recognizes her election until it is voided.
Its just too bad it will take until July. If the case had gone faster we might have had a chance to head off the cancellation of I-601 (which by the way expires in 2007) and the tax increases this session wouldn't have been possible.
At least we won't see any more tax increases in the next session with Rossi in the Governor's mansion.
Posted by: DeadWood on April 20, 2005 12:45 AMFollowing the thread: Queen Chris is out, Judge Bridges has said he can invalidate the election but not order a new one. Therefore the scenario looks like this. Brad Owen steps in as acting Gov. until the Nov. election. (Will Dean still be running KC elections then?) For the Nov. election do we also redo the primaries? Is a completely new race for Gov. or a re-run?
If it's a completely new election, with new primaries what are Gregoire's chance of being the Dem's candidate?
Everything I have seen so far focuses on tossing the Queen. Being overly optimistic and given what's public knowledge, and the Dems reactions to all this I am assuming a Republican / Rossi win in the election challenge. Has anybody really examined the fallout and ramification of a win.
I don't want to see Republican standing around on July 5th with the "we won, now what" look.
This going to be so much fun!!!
Posted by: JCM on April 20, 2005 06:20 AMRossi hq says the Logan deposition will be public record when the opening gavel is struck. There are several of us at Free Republic.com working to get a copy so we can compare it with any testimony he gives. The depo itself may open the doors to a criminal investigation.
OH - WOW >>> THIS JUST IN!
Christine Gregoire has issued an official proclaimation stating that Jefferson County will herein after be recognized as being named after George Jefferson. In a statement Gregoire said, "George was the inspirational head of, 'the Jeffersons' who were the subject of a popular ethnic situational program in the 80's which portrayed the struggles of a black family as they 'moved on up' inspite of evil right wing efforts to deny their place in society."
Posted by: Baynative on April 20, 2005 06:58 AMAnd I thought if Rossi won the court case, he would push for a new election. There was speculation he said he wouldn't accept the court's reversal, but demand another election.
I certainly hope that is still true.
Posted by: swatter on April 20, 2005 07:23 AMThe Dems are hoping that we have short memories and by the time the challenge is over, by the time a new election is run, Nov. or sooner. By then we will have forgetten all about this session the arrogance of the Dems.
I seriously doubt a specail elections will take place, a special election would be right thing to do, but I expect Nov. gubenatorial election.
Posted by: JCM on April 20, 2005 07:38 AMHeadlice - Glad to see you still around and insane. Always look forward to the next bizarre thing you have to utter.
Just watch out for the guys in the butterfly nets.....
They haven't stopped feeding you since your brain stopped working?
Posted by: Larry on April 20, 2005 08:44 AMFinally! A troll that says something that makes some sense. Are you starting to figure it out?
Posted by: smoke on April 20, 2005 09:16 AMMy commitment to Dino still stands, when the time comes, College Republicans will personally help him move into the governor's mansion.
We'll also be in Chelan for "vacation" right around the end of May. People, its a beautiful time of year in Chelan; won't you please join us?
Blessed Be The Name Of Our Lord
Posted by: Patrick E. Bell on April 20, 2005 09:40 AMThis is very true. I worked with someone that lives in Seattle who when asked where he was in the political spectrum replied that he was very liberal. However, upon comparing beliefs (i.e. taxes, immigration, etc.), we were astonished to find that he was actually more conservative than liberal. He refused to believe that he was even remotely 'conservative'. He fully believed that he was a liberal. Unfortunately, I think he still think's he's a liberal and votes the Dem party line. Sad really.
Posted by: Mikey on April 20, 2005 10:01 AMIt's statements like that that I think cloud the fact that there are real problems to fix here. Why do we need to draw a comparison with Ohio, Florida, or whereever? It's obvious that major problems exist in numerous counties and they can be different (it's easy to verify, count, and tabulate votes when a significant number of voters stay home because they don't want to wait several hours to vote.)
We can focus on the facts and the goal that most of us can get behind regardless of party: account for every single vote and do not rely on statistical inferences for voter intentions.
Gordon's making that comment was stupid--it's comparing apples to oranges, and I think it makes a difficult road to reform even more difficult. Plus when you pit Weird Al against Skeletor, people are going to side with Weird Al.
Posted by: ChrisW on April 20, 2005 10:30 AMSo let us abolish all laws (and forsake the constitution that specifically states the government's role is security), and just let the free market decide!
Posted by: Fred on April 20, 2005 11:36 AMI do like George Jefferson though.
A real Capitalist...thru & thru.
And his lovely wife Weazie...wonderful lady
Didn't George have a geeky whiteguy brother-in-law??