Is Dow Constantine Having a “David Letterman” Moment?

Okay, wow. When I called Dow Constantine a smarmy politician I was just referring to his apparent level of comfort with lying about Council colleague Kathy Lambert. It appears there’s so much more. Allegations have surfaced that Constantine has been accused of sexually harassing a County employee, as Mark Griswold writes about at Sound Politics.

Rumors of Dow Constantine’s inappropriate behavior have been swirling around the political cocktail circuit since his days in Olympia but until now they haven’t gotten much traction. Fair enough. As Baz Lurhmann says, “politicians will always philander.”

But now it seems that Constantine’s work place advances may be catching up with him.

I, along with Keith Ervin of The Seattle Times, was recently tipped off about a story involving a county employee and some of this inappropriate behavior. When Mr. Ervin filed a public records request all he was given was a restraining order between Ms. Jane Doe and King County, mentioning she feared for her job security should the information contained within documents related to the public records request be released.

So Keith Ervin filed a public records request with King County and got a copy of a restraining order for his trouble. That in itself seems like a story to me but not to Ervin, who suffers from what would seem to be a career-killing lack of curiosity for a reporter. Ervin is the same reporter who apparently didn’t find it particularly disturbing that Constantine’s campaign treasurer is also the treasurer for Citizens to Uphold the Constitution, a “non-partisan” group that funded robo-calls against Susan Hutchison.

I wonder how Jane Doe knew about Ervin’s request in time to file this restraining order. Would it be standard practice to notify all interested parties when a records request is received? If not, how did Jane Doe know about the request? Does she really fear the loss of her job if this information is made public? If so, what does that say about the employment environment at King County? Is she cooperating in protecting Constantine? If so, why? Was she pressured into doing so?

So many questions but one thing seems clear: if there were no truth to the allegation about a sexual harassment complaint, Ervin’s request would not have resulted in a restraining order being filed. And how convenient that the order will be in effect until after the ballot deadline.

Update 1: Speaking on the Kirby Wilbur Show, Mark Griswold states that the attorney who filed the restraining order, Tyler Firkins, has a track record of filing restraining orders on “behalf” of plaintiffs without their knowledge. So a new question arises: Who hired Firkins? Was it Jane Doe? A union interested in Constantine becoming King County Executive? Firkins’ old law school chum, Dow Constantine?

Update 2: The Seattle Times felt that the information contained in private documents relating to Susan Hutchison and KIRO TV was so vital, they sued to have them released, but apparently the public information concerning a possible sexual harassment claim against Dow Constantine is, you know, not that big of a deal. Yawn.

Update 3: Rumor has it that the Seattle Times did in fact receive numerous documents in response to Keith Ervin’s request prior to the restraining order being filed, but that Ervin is sitting on the story.

More on this story from Bryan Myrick at Red County.

Smarmy Politician, Lying Loser Or Both?

Smarmy politician? Lying loser?

The Seattle Times hosted an online Q&A session yesterday with King County Executive candidate, Dow Constantine. I’ll admit that the question I most wanted to ask was, “Why are you such a smarmy jerk,” but the site cautioned that personal attacks weren’t allowed. Today’s news (here, here and here), however, raises the question again.

Why smarmy? How else do you describe someone who’s willing to cover his own sorry rear end by lying about a colleague? How else do you describe someone who’s willing to risk lives and property for the sake of a ferry district that serves primarily his own constituents? I mean, what’s it to him? His district isn’t in much danger of flooding.

More importantly, does a guy who’s willing to strong arm his colleagues on the King County Council  over a questionable issue such as the Vashon Island foot ferry have the temperament to lead King County through a budget minefield largely of his own making?

Random thought: Constantine has “denied” the charges of vote trading, but he has not “refuted” them. If it’s true that the e-mail in question “was one line in many, many e-mails and it was just between me and one of my staff people in a moment of frustration,” then he should release the many, many e-mails that paint a clearer picture of his support for the flood district. Not that it would actually prove anything; one hardly needs to exercise one’s imagination to picture a politician who’s willing to sacrifice a worthy project on the altar of a pet project.

Considering that three other Council members have corroborated Lambert’s contention, it’s highly unlikely that Constantine can get himself off the hook. Facts: hard to refute.

Experience Is As Experience Does

In the King County Executive race, you might think that one area where Dow Constantine would have a clear advantage over his opponent, Susan Hutchison, would be real world, county government experience. Instead, Hutchison and her allies have turned a negative into a positive by going on the offensive against Constantine.

Watch this ad; it’s a marvel of factual correctness, it’s humorous and it shreds Constantine’s experience as worse than worthless.

This brings up the question, if Constantine has any answers, where’s he been hiding them since 2002?

I Heart NewsFifty

Yes. Yes, I do.

One of the biggest challenges I face as a blogger isn’t that I lack access to news sources; the internet puts ample information at my fingertips. It seems as though it would be a simple matter to subscribe to the RSS news feeds of your preferred sources and you’d be home free. The reality is that it’s not that simple – especially if you’re blogging local issues where the quality and flexibility of the feeds vary widely from source to source. It’s a real frustration, not to mention a time waster, to sort through mountains of information to find the significant stories as you’re force fed recipes, gossip and high school sports.

Enter NewsFifty.  Don’t be tempted to write it off as “just another Drudge knock off.” For starters, they recently unveiled a new look that’s modern, clean and easy to read. I especially like the nifty ticker at the top that scrolls through top headlines from each of the 50 states but what really sets NewsFifty apart from other news aggregation sites is the map on the upper left-hand side. Click any state to view all the top headlines, as well as listings of news links and blogs, specific to that state. If NewsFifty is a handy resource for bloggers, it’s invaluable for busy people who don’t live and breathe news yet want desperately to stay informed and don’t have time to sit down in the evening and spend an hour or two leafing through the local paper.

NewsFifty doesn’t completely replace digging through local news sources, but it’s a good starting point. Check it out.

Why Bother With Secret Ballots?

I find myself in the rare and awkward position of agreeing with Danny Westneat. Yeah, I said it was a rare thing, right? Today in his column, Westneat makes the case that publishing the names of petition signers serves no purpose other than to expose them to possible harassment.

The organization that sued, Washington Families Standing Together, says they want to be able to independently verify the validity of the petition signatures that placed Referendum 71 on the November ballot. I have no reason to doubt their motives, but what about other groups or individuals whose motives, as Westneat says, might not be so pure?

There is no point to knowing who signed these petitions. Other than to try to “out” them, as some gay-rights groups say they want to do to the 138,000 people who signed to put Referendum 71 up for a Nov. 3 vote.

Especially in the aftermath of California’s Proposition 8 ugliness, I think it was prudent of the lower court judges to carefully consider the unintended consequences of overturning a long-standing legal precedent. It’s a bit of a given in our society that we can keep our political beliefs to ourselves. In fact, I would say it’s a foundational component of the success of our political system. It would be foolish to throw that away in a snit over a single issue.

In Memory Of Specialist Joe White

The video speaks for itself.

My prayers are with Specialist White’s family, for comfort in their time of loss. Joe, rest in peace.

A Time For Choosing In Snohomish County

It appears that California isn’t the only state where farm land is taking a beating in the push to restore wildlife habitat. Right here in Snohomish County, bureaucrats and environmentalists are teaming up to return prime agricultural land to marsh land. To add to the insanity, at the same time the County is shelling out taxpayer dollars to remove land from cultivation, it’s also expending taxpayer dollars to prevent the loss of – get this – farm land. Huh?

If you find that confusing, congratulations on having the common sense you were born with. Snohomish County Council candidate Steve Dana explains the financial side of the situation in more detail on his blog, No Loss for Words. (Amazing choice of a name for a blog, don’t you think?)

Leaving aside the sheer madness of using taxpayer funds to finance opposing goals, here’s my question: who’s in line to be hurt the most by the (hopefully) unintended consequences of the County’s actions as the utilities’ costs are passed onto consumers and the supply of fresh, local produce is reduced? Poor families? Seniors?

Everyone is interested in protecting the environment but as I wrote here, environmental benefits have to be weighed against costs. In the case of dishwasher detergent, the human costs are negligible; mere inconvenience. In the case of farm land, the human costs are potentially enormous, yet there seems to be a disturbing trend to disregard them in the face of environmental concerns.

Here in Snohomish County, we can do our part to reverse that trend by carefully considering the candidates for County Council. The Council is currently controlled by Democrats; we have money being spent on both sides of this issue and who knows how many others? We have unintended consequences to the tune of $27 million in costs to public utilities and it may be impossible to calculate the enormity of the loss of our farm lands. Choose wisely.

“why i shouldn’t vote for patty murray”

Volume I

I was checking my blog stats and happened to notice that someone had stumbled across It’s Only Words after searching for “why i shouldn’t vote for patty murray.” I figure, Hey! If people are asking, I should make it as easy as possible for them to find out!

Yes. I’m just that helpful.

Here are a few old posts from this blog to get things rolling:

Is Patty Murray Really Pro-Choice? in which I take the Senator to task for valuing the rights of women seeking abortions over those of health care professionals who have moral objections to participating in abortion procedures.

Patty Murray, Hypocrite First Class in which I take the Senator to task for threatening AIG bonus recipients with an unconstitutional bill of attainder. (If you believe those AIG employees had it coming, please read this for another perspective.)

Where’s the Outrage, Senator? in which I take the Senator to task for failing to treat the news of Chrysler’s taxpayer-provided funds being used to pay lobbyists with the same outrage she managed to work up over the AIG bonuses.

Not to mention that Senator Murray is one of the most – if not the most – liberal members of Congress. That’s fine if you’re a died-in-the-wool progressive but if you value moderation at all…in anything…ever…well, you get my point.  Check out her ratings.

At the National Taxpayer’s Union, Murray always fails to make the grade. Seriously. She’s received an “F” every year she’s been in the Senate. What, exactly does that mean?

The Taxpayer Score measures the strength of support for reducing spending and opposing higher taxes. In general, a higher score is better because it means a member of Congress voted to spend less money.

The Taxpayer Score can range between zero and 100. We do not expect anyone to score a 100, nor has any legislator ever scored a perfect 100 in the multi-year history of the comprehensive NTU scoring system. A high score does not mean that the member of Congress was opposed to all spending or all programs. High-scoring members have indicated that they would vote for many programs if the amount of spending were lower or if the budget were balanced. A member who wants to increase spending on some programs can achieve a high score if he or she votes for offsetting cuts in other programs. A zero score would indicate that the member of Congress approved every spending proposal and opposed every pro-taxpayer reform….

A score significantly below average qualifies for a grade of “F.” This failing grade places the member into the “Big Spender” category.

(Read more…)

Uh-huh. It means Senator Murray is the quintessential tax-and-spend Democrat. Never met a tax she didn’t like. Really. Never.

Check out The American Conservative Union ratings, where Murray has earned a lifetime rating of just a 2.91. Yes. That’s out of 100. That’s a lower score than Senators Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, Dianne Feinstein, Chris Dodd…yeah. Lower than everyone except the late Ted Kennedy.

The American Conservative Union tracks a wide range of issues before Congress to determine which issues and votes serve as a dividing line to help separate those Members of the U.S. House and Senate who protect liberty as conservatives and those who are truly liberal.

As a result, the ACU Ratings of Congress has throughout its 38 Editions included a wide variety of issues covering votes on taxes, wasteful government spending, cultural issues, defense and foreign policy.

And that’s a wrap for the first volume of “why i shouldn’t vote for patty murray.” Check back soon; I hope to make this a regular feature.

Officially A Possibility?

Rumor has it that Chris Widener will announce in the next few days that he’s forming an exploratory committee to determine the feasibility of a run against Patty Murray in 2010. As I outlined here, Chris is the founder of Positively Republican, a group that educates voters about the positive benefits of conservatism for people in every station of life.

From the Positively Republican Facebook page:

We will articulate and promote a positive vision for:

• Living the American Dream
• National Security
• Government Reform and Efficiency
• Economic Vitality and Growth
• Leadership in Moral/Social Issues
• Energy Independence
• Responsible Protection of the Environment
• Affordable Quality Health Care
• Excellence in Education

Our core values:

• Integrity
• Positive and Optimistic Attitude
• Servant Leadership
• Standards of Excellence

New poll results out today from SurveyUSA should help hurry his decision along; Murray’s job approval rating stands at 48%. Historically, Murray’s rating has stood well over 50%.

Calling St. George

Wow, it feels like years ago that I wrote these words rather than a matter of months.

Chuck DeVore may look like your run of the mill Assemblyman from California, but I assure you, he has the heart of a dragon-slayer. Chuck has chosen to take on the daunting task of defeating Barbara Boxer in 2010 and giving conservative Californians a voice in the U.S. Senate…If you’re at all interested in politics, you probably know that Washington’s own Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray, is also up for re-election in 2010 and I’m left wondering, where’s our dragon-slayer?

Here in Washington, we’ve been waiting patiently for St. George. It’s not that we have a shortage of candidates and potential candidates as Michelle Dupler writes in the Tri-Cities Herald.

Candidates who want to block a fourth Murray term include Seattle chiropractor Sean Salazar, who has family in Pasco and Kennewick, and former Tri-Citian Craig Williams, who ran for Congress against Democrat Jay Inslee in 1994 while Inslee represented central Washington and the Tri-Cities.

Add to the mix Clint Didier, a native of Eltopia and current Connell High School football coach, who announced at a recent Tea Party event that he’s forming an exploratory committee to study the feasibility of running against Murray.

A fourth opponent, Rodney Rieger, is from Marysville.

(A fifth candidate, Wayne Glover, of Spokane Valley, was not mentioned in the Herald article.)

Five men, all lacking one or more of the elements that would comprise a successful candidate. Last December, I wrote:

To mount a serious challenge to an entrenched incumbent like Patty Murray, a Republican challenger will need to be well-organized, well-financed and well-known. By starting now, that challenger could build grassroots support and momentum to carry into the campaign cycle. I don’t know who that challenger will be, I just know – we need a hero.

So I’ve been waiting…and waiting…and now, apparently, I’m not the only one who is tired of waiting. Andre Van de Hert has launched a Chris Widener for Senate 2010 campaign on Facebook.

I admit, Chris Widener may not be a household name yet, but the organization he founded, Positively Republican, has gained over 150,000 Facebook followers in just ten months. That tells me there’s an audience for the upbeat conservatism he’s promoting.

What’s more, his background as a speaker and author will go a long way towards getting that message out there in a way that the average voter can understand, as well providing him with a ready-made, well-developed network of potential supporters.

I think this is an excellent development that represents the first real opportunity to stop Patty Murray from winning a fourth term as Senator from the State of Washington. If you’re interested in supporting a strong, viable challenge to Patty Murray in 2010, I’d encourage you to stop by Chris Widener for Senate 2010 and join the group to encourage Widener to run.

I hope he likes the role of hero.