Yesterday's AP report: "Democrats turn their back on senator"
The party endorsed Kyle Taylor Lucas in the Democratic primary for the 35th District, saying longtime Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, was a DINO -- Democrat in Name Only.The Dems claim that Sheldon "no longer represents the party". Sheldon, on the other hand, makes a better case that he represents the voters. He's been elected to the legslature as a Democrat 7 times since 1990 . He also lives in the district, which is a bit of a stretch for Kyle Taylor Lucas to claim.
This is one of the main races to watch this September. Sen. Tim Sheldon is a popular moderate Democrat, Lucas has issues. The best mainstream media backgrounder on this race so far is the online chat with the two candidates at The Olympian.
I spoke with Sen. Sheldon on Tuesday. I also tried to reach Lucas, but her campaign didn't return my call. Here are some of the more interesting things I've learned.
* Sen. Sheldon definitely considers himself a Democrat even though he doesn't always follow the party line. He calls himself a "ticket-splitter". In 2004 he voted to re-elect both President Bush and Senator Patty Murray.
* He thinks his party is most upset about his votes against the "Gay Civil Rights" and Mrs. Gregoire's latest budget. He wasn't the only Democrat Senator to vote against these bills. Jim Hargrove also voted against Gay Civil Rights and Jim Kastama voted against the supplemental operating budget.
* Kyle Taylor Lucas sounds like a real piece of work. According to state voter records, she was registered to vote in Thurston County since at least February 1996, most recently in Tumwater, in the 22nd District. She was last registered at 1841 Trosper Rd SW, #4, a double-wide manufactured home, which she has owned since 1996. (The legal owner is still listed as Carol Anne Boysen, which is Lucas' former legal name, and the name under which she unsuccessfully ran for Thurston County Commission in 1992). Lucas is delinquent in her property taxes on the Trosper Rd. home.
Suddenly, on March 31, 2006, Lucas made some interesting changes to her life. She changed her voter registration to the 35th District, 211 SE Stotsbery Rd. Shelton, a home owned by none other than Rep. Kathy Haigh (D-35). On the same day that Lucas claims to have moved 25 miles from Tumwater to Shelton, she also registered a business, The Lucas Group, LLC, at her home on Trosper Rd, Tumwater. Only 11 days later, Lucas accepted the first contributions for her Senate campaign.
On May 16 she made a campaign contribution to Rep. Brendan Williams (D-22) ... listing her address as Trosper Rd, Tumwater.
* Those who must know Taylor best apparently prefer Sheldon. Taylor is a member and former official of the Tulalip Tribes and was Executive Director of Gov. Locke's Office of Indian Affairs. Sheldon has received tribal contributions and endorsements. Lucas has not.
* Lucas invites comparison to the last candidate whom the Democratic Party establishment picked to run against Sheldon in a Primary -- Lena Swanson, a Washington Department of Veterans Affairs caseworker, who was later convicted in federal court and sentenced to imprisonment for soliciting kickbacks from the former POWs she was supposed to be helping.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 31, 2006 05:19 PM | Email ThisGo Cannibal team D! Go Lucas!
Posted by: Andy on August 31, 2006 05:19 PMHang in there, Tim. Your constituents -- Democrat AND Republican -- know who you are and who you represent: ALL of the people of the 35th.
As we have observed with the President's reluctance to veto anything (campaign 'reform' anyone?), bad things can happen when we let things slip by, expecting someone else to clean up the mess.
Posted by: mark on August 31, 2006 07:17 PMIf I lived in Sheldon's district, I would vote for him. Unless there is good reason not to, I urge all republicans in the area to do that very thing.
Posted by: Misty on August 31, 2006 08:47 PMAre you blaming the president? And what exactly does the president have to do with the 35th distict senate race?
Keep up the good work D's, it escapes me now, but which animal eats it's own?
Posted by: Chris on August 31, 2006 09:07 PMDo you know the GOP candidate in this case? Representing a district and fundraising are two different things.
Posted by: Andy on August 31, 2006 09:39 PMAny day I will take and support reasonable democrats like Tim Sheldon and Joe Lieberman especially when they are being abandoned by the group of people like Dwight who have their head stuffed up their liberal ass most of the times.
As far as my allusion to the President, whom I respect and admire in many regards, I cannot hold either him or the congress entirely blameless for the hash that has been styled "campaign finance reform". (Apologies to all for neglecting "finance" in my previous.)
Obviously from purely partisan considerations, the weaker the Democrat nominee, the more likely the Republican to prevail. My not being familiar with Mr Shattuck at all, I cannot comment on his seriousness as a candidate (though in general I more trust the Republicans to nominate people deserving of public office.)
Posted by: mark on September 1, 2006 02:04 AMWhen asked to talk about Lucas, all she would say is that she was a native american, a mother and had a couple abusive marraiges in her past, which is why she changed her name.
The 35th GOP chair called in and stated that Lucas didn't even live in the district to which the reply was that Lucas pays rent at Haigh's house, which makes it legal and besides, she plans to sell her house and move into the district.
It reminds me of many years ago in Spokane when a State Representative got caught using as his address a camper sitting at the state park in the district he was representing and not the big home he had in the city.
Posted by: Ken on September 1, 2006 07:40 AM(I've known Tim Sheldon for years and consider him to be a friend - so please don't consider my comment to be cheerleading)
Posted by: jimg on September 1, 2006 08:15 AMMark Shattuck for State Senate.
Tim Sheldon is a Republican who has cost us committee assignments several times by sitting in the Democratic caucs. Furthermore, he double dips from the public coffers as an Independent Mason County Commissioner and a Democratic State Senator. I hope Republicans in the 35th vote on the Republican ballot and let Democrats fix their own mess. If they are dumb enough to vote for Kyle Taylor whatever her name is, that is their own damn problem.
Posted by: Mathew on September 1, 2006 10:53 AMLast week for county commisioner here in Thurston there was a character assassination attempt on O'Sullivan (the GOP candidate). It was complete BS, but the net effect was to divert the public attention away from real issues so the dem candidate didn't have to answer questions on his record.
At the end of the day- being a Senator or Rep is a pretty lousy job, the real question for me is WHY they want the thankless position to serve and what position they take on key issues.
I'm pretty concerned about candidates, including Republicans, who go out and drum up 200-300k. This is essentially prostitution. Either a candidate is in touch with their district or they aren't.
Remember some politicians are better at hiding their warts than others. There's a Spokane Mayor that comes to mind...
Posted by: Andy on September 1, 2006 04:30 PM