November 07, 2005
Ugly tactics

Another local blog, with which many of you may be familiar, has, with typically foul-mouthed aplomb, accused the campaign of Snohomish County Councilman Jeff Sax of gay-baiting. Specifically, his campaign is accused of posting "Gay endorsed" stickers on his opponent, Jeff Somers' signs, presumably in an effort to turn off those who are turned off by such things. If indeed they did such a thing, that would be despicable. The Sax campaign, though, has told me that they had absolutely nothing to do with the signs.

In fact, they suspect the Somers campaign, or someone friendly, of putting it there themselves, noting that over 2,000 yard Sax signs have been stolen over the course of the campaign, plus the defacement of dozens more larger ones. And, even in a rural area such as much of Sax's district, Washington is still a very tolerant place, and where that tolerance doesn't extend to homosexuality, it is unlikely to extend to dirty tricks, either. I can't see why someone who supposedly finds nothing wrong with homosexuality would raise such a hue and cry over vandalism that is more likely to garner votes for Somers than his opponent.

Additionally, plastering such stickers over someone else's signs is far more of a Democratic tactic than a Republican one (despite accusations on yet another blog that Repyblicans are trained in them by the College Republicans, which I am pleased to say was untrue at my chapter). Just a few weeks ago I peeled a very slick looking, professionally-made sticker off of a large sign endorsing Social Security reform put up by the Washington Conservative PAC. The huge bright yellow sticker said "brought to you by your friends the NAZIS!" Charming folk, aren't they?

We'll see tommorow if the ugly thing, regardless of who it was performed by, paid off for Somers.

Posted by Timothy Goddard at November 07, 2005 11:13 PM | Email This
Comments
1. Clearly freedom of speech only applys to liberals.

During my campaign my opponent and I showed a great deal of respect for each other, building a relationship that will last long after the race is over.

However the same cannot be said of some of his supporters that feel that stealing (or destroying) my signs is a worthy use of their time.

The stories are endless but all have one thing in common... they show a hatred of those they don't agree with.

Sad, very sad

Posted by: Steven Pyeatt on November 8, 2005 12:02 AM
2. torridjoe writes at the open blog:
Clownstein? How the less-than-mighty have fallen. Coming on someone else’s site to call them names–especially when people can’t even call your judgement to account on your own site, without being banned. I suppose that’s why SoundPolitics has lost 63% of its audience since January–they recognize that the site is no longer (and really never was) the least bit credible. And you have the nerve to mock the newspapers for losing 6-10% of their subscription rates. Your site is FREE, and you’re hemmorhaging readers!

Comment by torridjoe— 11/7/05 @ 9:37 pm

SS, (funny coincidence about the initials isn't it) the 'great condescender'

Posted by: ChimpPatrol on November 8, 2005 04:03 AM
3. The Dave Somers I know would not have done that.

Posted by: swatter on November 8, 2005 08:10 AM
4. It's the kind of thing that comes from having to live in a mailbox, I guess.

Posted by: starboardhelm on November 8, 2005 09:04 AM
5. Timothy - Listen to yourself: "In fact, they suspect the Somers campaign, or someone friendly, of putting it there themselves"

Did you really believe the Sax campaign would simply tell you they were behind this? Don't be so naive.

Posted by: Daniel K on November 8, 2005 09:16 AM
6. Anybody who thinks Sax would do this is off their rocker or a hopeless partisan. I've met Sax, and know a couple of his campaign consultants well. He's a great guy, and even if he was a complete a$$, he's far too smart then to do something like that.

Anyhow, this is clearly a sign of desparation on the part of the D's. I don't know if it'll work, but it's clear they don't want to wait till 2007 to get the Sno Co Majority Back (they will, there is no doubt about that, because Gary Nelson is retiring, and he's only there because he's been around since the dawn of time), and they are pulling out all the stops to do it.

I sure hope it doesn't work.

Posted by: Cliff Smith on November 8, 2005 09:23 AM
7. I guess I need to add, "The Jeff Sax I know wouldn't do such a thing."

Posted by: swatter on November 8, 2005 09:24 AM
8. I doubt either Somers or Sax had anything to do with it. I wouldn't be surprised if someone friendly to (or antagonistic to, depending) either one of them did it. I suspect someone did it to help Somers, though, for the reasons I noted. It would be significantly smarter for Somers supporters to do such a thing than Sax supporters.

And, Daniel K, Sax has been accused of a lot of things, among those being too honest, but not dishonest.

Posted by: Timothy on November 8, 2005 09:53 AM
9. I know Jeff Sax did not put up the Gay Endorsed signs. However on a side note the Jeff Sax signs were attacked with the same stickers this morning saying big development endorsed.

Posted by: Teri Jo Countryman on November 8, 2005 09:55 AM
10. What's with all these Endorsed By signs?

I thought the funniest was Fine, running for Court of Appeals, had a sign "Endorsed by the Herald". For those of you in King County, that endorsement would be like Endorsed by the Stranger or other second rate liberal rag.

Posted by: swatter on November 8, 2005 10:40 AM
11. Hey, Tim. You said:

The Sax campaign, though, has told me that they had absolutely anything to do with the signs.

Maybe you meant to say "...they had nothing to do..."?

Posted by: C. Oh on November 8, 2005 10:53 AM
12. Thanks. This is what happens when I try editing a post at 11 pm. I'm better off just posting them as I write them at that point.

Posted by: Timothy on November 8, 2005 11:17 AM
13. Maybe the "gay endorsed" sticker is why some kid was kicking the hell out of a sign on Maltby Road over the weekend. It seems like everyone has every endorsement known...

I do know this...there are a lot of people doing a lot of work to add stuff to signs up here, knocking on doors. GOTV is HOT in SnoCo. Thanks to all the volunteers and others in the poli world up here for making a difference. Even if I don't vote for your candidate, I appreciate all the work you do. At the very least, it keeps it interesting!

Posted by: SnoCo Voter on November 8, 2005 11:20 AM
14. This is not at all surprising. Democrats are doing the same sort of thing in the KC executive race and the KC sheriff's race. Sims and Rahr have tried to paint their opponents of being guilty of domestic abuse. In the case of Rahr vs. Schmidt, it is particularly vile because in reality Schmidt was attacked by his wife, but the gender feminist controlled DV machine actually prosecuted him for, I guess, being alive.

Posted by: BananaLand on November 8, 2005 11:43 AM
15. Maybe the "gay endorsed" sticker is why some kid was kicking the hell out of a sign on Maltby Road over the weekend.

Maybe, but there's a good chance he would have been doing that anyway. As I noted, thousands of Sax signs have been stolen or destroyed in the past months. Many have been defaced, some pornographically. Unlike some other bloggers (cough), I'm not going to blame it on Somers--but it doesn't reflect well on Democrats in general. It's all pretty disgusting.

Posted by: Timothy on November 8, 2005 01:49 PM
16. This is so insane!! I hope they catch the piece of work that did this!!

Posted by: Laurie on November 8, 2005 02:46 PM
17. -The Sax campaign, though, has told me that they had absolutely nothing to do with the signs.

In fact, they suspect the Somers campaign, or someone friendly, of putting it there themselves-

Sorry, kids. Those KKKarl Rove tactics don't work very well any more. You may have better luck blaming the victim in some third world state, like Texas.

Posted by: AmazedByRightWingHate on November 9, 2005 03:19 AM
Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember info?