Tag Archives: 46th District Democrats

46th District Democrats Make Primary Endorsements

The 46th District Democrats met last week and made their endorsements for the upcoming August 16, 2011 Primary Election. Endorsements required a 60% approval vote. Here are the results:

Seattle City Council – Position 1 – Bobby Forch & Jean Godden – dual endorsement

Seattle City Council Position 3 – Bruce Harrell

Seattle City Council Position 5 – Tom Rasmussen

Seattle City Council Position 7 – Tim Burgess

Seattle City Council 9 – Sally Clark

Seattle School Board – District 1 – Peter Maier

Seattle  School Board – District 3 – Michele Buetow

King County Assessor – Lloyd Hara

King County Director of Elections – Sherril Huff

King County Council Position 2 – Larry Gossett

King County Council Position 4 – Larry Phillips

Seattle Port Commissioner – Dean Willard

Seattle Port Commissioner – Gail Tarleton

Seattle Referendum 1 – Tunnel – yes

Families and Education Levy – yes

Veterans and Human Services Levy – yes

 

What Congressman Inslee Thinks about the Republican Plan to Privatize Medicare

Congressman Jay Inslee thinks the Republican plan to privatize Medicare is a bad idea. The Republican proposal by Republican Congressman Ryan would basically shift the burden of paying for Medicare from the nonprofit public sector onto seniors. The costs would increase dramatically over time to seniors as the voucher proposal is static and would not increase over time.

In addition as medical costs increase, seniors would be asked to pay these increased costs as well as salary increases for private health care administrators, financial returns to investors and shareholders and rising costs due to inflation.

As noted in a recent press release from the Center for Economic and Policy Research:

“The Ryan plan does nothing to control private-sector waste in health care costs,” said David Rosnick, an author of the report. “As a result of the waste in the private system, beneficiaries will end up paying substantially more for Medicare, in effect paying a hefty new tax on their health care.”
The report, “Representative Ryan’s $30 Trillion Medicare Waste Tax, documents the potential effects of replacing Medicare with a system of vouchers or premium supports and raising the age of eligibility from 65 to 67 as suggested in the Ryan plan, which was passed by the House of Representatives with almost unanimous support from Republicans and no votes from Democrats. The authors note that each voucher under the plan will initially be worth $6,600, but would be frozen at this amount over the program’s 75-year planning window, paying less and less of a beneficiary’s health care costs over time.
In addition to comparing the costs of Medicare to the government under the current system and under the Ryan plan, the authors also show the effects of raising the age of Medicare eligibility. The paper also demonstrates that while Ryan shifts $4.9 trillion in health care costs from the government to Medicare beneficiaries, this number is dwarfed by a $34 trillion increase in overall costs to beneficiaries that is projected based on the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis”.

The following is an email sent out by Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee stating how he feels about this Republican plan and urges you to sign a petition opposing this blatant effort to end Medicare as we know it and shift the costs unto seniors instead:

 

Lesson number one for any elected official worth their salt is that you can’t outrun the public record. But that’s exactly what many members of the GOP are trying to do. As public opposition to their Medicare privatization plan mounts, they’re doing everything they can to run away — despite overwhelmingly supporting it in the House as part of Rep. Paul Ryan’s extremist budget.Here’s the truth: Rep. Ryan’s budget plan ends Medicare as we know it. It forces seniors into the private insurance market where they’ll pay far more and get far less.The good news is our efforts to show how much people oppose their privatization scheme are having an effect. The privatizers are on the defensive, and if we can keep the pressure on, we stand a good chance of stopping this in the Senate when it comes to a vote next week.Join me and thousands of others who are already speaking out — urge the Senate to oppose this Medicare privatization scheme!Supporters of this plan have made a big show of claiming that it will bring costs down, but they’re not being honest. It doesn’t bring medical costs down — it just shifts them onto the backs of America’s seniors.No one is trying to hide from the fact that we need to seek out creative and comprehensive solutions to fix our long-term deficit. But trying to do that by telling Americans who’ve paid for Medicare throughout their careers that they’re on their own is unfair and wrong.We can win and protect Medicare, but to do it we need everyone who supports preserving this program to stand up and fight back. Can you help?Urge the Senate to oppose this Medicare privatization scheme!Thanks so much for your help.Very truly yours,Jay Inslee      

Tell the Senate: Oppose Medicare Privatization

Democrats in Congress Act to Reduce Student Loan Costs and Save Taxpayer Dollars

Contrary to Republican goals of doing nothing, Democrats in Congress are moving forward addressing the nation’s problems without Republicans. As part of the recently passed Health Care Reform Legislation, Democrats added a rider to also reform the student-loan program. This is a major reform that will lower the interest rate college students pay, extend their repayment time and save $67 billion  according to an column by Froma Harrop in the Seattle Times entitled “Student-loan companies don’t need welfare

As Harrop notes, “…when corporations get taxpayer handouts, that’s not welfare in the GOP book of rhetoric. Take away a company’s subsidy, and you have a “government takeover”. Such is the Republican stance on Democratic plans to remove the corporate middleman from the federal student-loan program, included in the recently passed House  health care reform bill”

President Obama’s weeekly address on March 27, 2010 addressed the student loan issue. The White House press release notes that “These reforms save the taxpayers $68 billion over the next decade by ending the subsidies given to banks and middlemen who handle student loans. The money saved will help expand and strengthen the federal Pell Grant program. The reforms will also cap college graduates’ annual student loan repayments at 10% of their income, revitalize community colleges, and increase support for Minority Serving Institutions.

You can read his full comments by clicking on the link above, hear audio or watch video.

The Democrats are acting to address our nation’s future.  The Republican’s are gungho to go back to our past. They are continuing to try to obstruct Congress and the President from passing needed legislation.

If the public has any reason to be upset at Congress, it is because of the Republican Party of No has made a concerted coordinated effort to prevent  Congress from moving forward and addressing our nations critical concerns in a constructive and meaningful way. It’s time to boot the obstructionist Republicans out of office.

Democrats need to re-engage in the political process and work to turn our voters out in the coming elections.  It’s not enough to just about bemoan and complain about the Republicans negative and obstructionist tactics and point fingers.

No one ever said change would be easy.  The big mistake many of  those wanting change made was assuming that electing Obama was the end of their need to stay engaged. It’s time to re-energize and get back to work.

46th District Democrats Make Primary Endorsements

The 46th District Democrats had a long meeting last night at Olympic View Elementary School in North Seattle. Some surprises emerged as the endorsement process in some races took 3 ballots to reach a final outcome. To receive endorsement, a candidate had to receive a 2/3 vote of members voting.

The Seattle Mayor’s race saw Joe Mallahan receive strong support, with incumbent Greg Nickels coming in second. Here are the vote totals for nominated candidates, who had to declare they were Democrats and file a questionaire with the King County Democrats:

Jan Drago 16
Joe Mallahan 46
Michael McGinn 25
Greg Nickels 31
Norm Sigler 8
no endorsement 3

On the second ballot between the top two votes, Mallahan almost received the 2/3 vote necessary for endorsement but came up short.

Joe Mallahan 76
Greg Nickels 39
no endorsement 8

Some controversy continued over the fact that the rules said the second vote should have only been between the top two votes and not included a vote on no endorsement. By the time the issue was revisited at the end of the meeting the body decided not to revote because some of those who voted earlier had left, believing the vote was final.

The end result was that no candidate was endorsed for Mayor.

Seattle City Council Position 4

Three candidates were nominated. The first vote was:

Sally Bagshaw 37
David Bloom 72
Dorsal Plants 14
no endorsement 1

David Bloom won the second vote and was endorsed:

Sally Bagshaw 37
David Bloom 85

Seattle City Council Position 6

The first vote:

Jessie Israel 35
Martin Kaplan 7
Nick Licata 79

Nick Licata received the endorsement on the second vote.

Jessie Israel 32
Nick Licata 87

Seattle City Council Position 8

Six candidates were running for Position 8

The first vote was:

Bobby Forch 17
David Miller 51
Michael O’Brien 16
Robert Rosencrantz 12
Jordan Royer 11
Rusty Williams 6
no endorsement 2

The second vote saw David Miller come within 1 vote of winning the 2/3 needed.

Bobby Forch 34
David Miller 67

The group then voted for a dual endorsement for Bobby Forch and David Miller.

King County Executive

Only two candidates were nominated for endorsement;

Dow Constantine 58
Larry Phillips 50
no endorsement 4

The second vote saw the numbers switch by not significantly.

Dow Constantine 47
Larry Phillips 56

A vote was then taken and passed for a dual endorsement for Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips.

Port Commissioner Position 3

Rob Holland received the 2/3 necessary on the first vote and was endorsed.

Rob Holland 83
Al Yuen 13

Port Commissioner Position 4

Max Vekich was the only candidate nominated and received the necessary 2/3 vote on a show of hands.

Referendum 1 -regarding a 20 cent fee on disposal shopping bags.

Referendum 1 received the necessary 2/3 vote for approval on the first vote by a counted show of hands.

approve 64
reject 21
no endorsement 1

Eight Washington State Legislators Retiring from House

Washington State House of Representatives Appropriations Chair Helen Sommers leads the list of state legislators retiring this year. Sommers is currently the longest serving State Legislator in Olympia, having served for 36 years in the House.

She has held an iron fist over the budget writing Appropriations Committee for many years, irritating at times various factions in the state. For the last 10 years she has been either the Chair or Co-Chair of the committee. Two years ago she fought and won a high spending primary challenge by Alice Woldt who was backed by the SEIU.

As the Seattle Times reports:

There’s already speculation about who will succeed Sommers as chair of the House Appropriations Committee, one of the most influential positions in the Legislature.

Rep. Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, said she’s going for the job. “I think I have as good a shot as anybody. I’m pretty optimistic,” she said.

Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, is vice chairman of the committee and often mentioned as a possible successor to Sommers. Dunshee said he’s interested in the job but wouldn’t say much else.

“We should do this in a way that gives [Sommers] the most grace and dignity,” he said. “It seems unseemly to be ripping her name plate off the door already.”

Sommers currently represents the 36th LD in Seattle. Two Democratic candidates, aware of rumors of her pending retirement, now confirmed, are charging out of the gate. John Burbank, the executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute in Seattle is already doorbelling according to an e-mail I received yesterday. The other Democrat running is Reuven Caryle, a former legislative aide.

Reports filed with the Washington Public Disclosure reports that John Burbank has raised $15,161. Reuven M Carlyle filed earlier and has raised $52,810.

Also not running against for the Legislature is Jim McIntire of the 46th L.D. in North Seattle. McIntire is running for Washington State Treasurer. Two Democrats have announced they are running for the McIntire’s old vacant seat.

Scott White, former Chair of the 46Th District Democrats, was the first candidate to announce for the seat and has raised some $28,564, with $15,643 still on hand. Gerald Pollet, a lawyer and the Executive Director of the public interest group Heart of America has also announced he is running. As of March 5, 2008 he had raised $2280.

Also stepping down this year are Reps. Bill Eickmeyer, D-Belfair, Mason County; Bill Fromhold, D-Vancouver; Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor; Joyce McDonald, R-Puyallup; Lynn Schindler, R-Spokane Valley; and Bob Sump, R-Republic, Ferry County.

Democrat Bill Eickmeyer represented the 35th L.D. Two Republicans and one Democrat are running to replace him. Democrat Daryl Daugs of Belfair will be running in November against either Republican Herb Baze of Shelton or Republican Randy S Neatherlin of Belfair.

No candidates have yet filed with the PDC to run for the 49th LD seat being vacated by Democrat Bill Fromhold of Vancouver.

Democrat Bruce F Dammeier of Puyallup is running for the 25th LD seat being vacated by Republican Joyce McDonald of Puyallup.

Democrat Allister H O’Brien of Montlake Terrace is running for the seat being vacated by Democrat Pat Lantz in the 1st LD.

Republican Lynn Schinder is vacating her 4th LD seat. Two Republicans, Ray G Deonier of Spokane Valley and Matt T Shea are competing for the seat.

Republican Bob Sump of Ferry County is vacating his 7th LD seat. Two Republicans, Peter B Davenport of Harrington and Sue Lani W Madsen of Edwall and Democrat Kelly D White of Kettle Fall are running for the seat.

March 14, 2008 update: Joe Turner at Political Buzz adds a ninth state Legislator retiring – Representative Shay Schual Burke a Democrat from Normandy Park representing the 33rd LD in South King County. Turner notes that Rep Joyce McDonald is leaving the Legislature to run for Pierce County Council and that Rep Fromhold is leaving to take a different job.

March 28, 2008 update: Joe Turner at Political Buzz says Democratic Senator Harriet Spanel of Bellingham has told local Democrats she is not re-running.

Are Democrats Next to be Banned from Texting by Verizon?

The headline on an article in the New Times today reads, “Verizon Rejects Text Messaging From an Abortion Rights Group.” Verizon has teamed up with the political philosophy of the Chinese Government in saying it has the right to block “controversial or unsavory text messages”.

Verizon has rejected a request by Naral Pro-Choice America to allow its customers to sign up to receive text messages. The New Times notes that the other major wireless carriers have allowed their customers to sign up to receive text messages.

Verizon, by refusing the request to set up the text messaging program, prevents all messaging by Naral – including those that for example ask someone to contact their US Senator to oppose pharmacists refusing to provide US approved birth control or opposing Bush’s global gag rule against birth control for the world’s poorest women.

What wasn’t clear from the article was how Verizon arrived at its decision that the Naral text messages were controversial. Does Verizon, or would it, also ban text messages from any Pro Life group then as a result of this decision? It was a blanket denial for Naral.

By its action Verizon is saying it has the right to censor any group it deems controversial. I wonder if Verizon had existed in the South in 1860 if they would have banned texting by any group opposing Slavery as this was surely controversial.

Or would they if they had existed in 1890 have opposed any groups advocating for the Right of Women to Vote as this was surely controversial then.

Entering the world of corporate censorship is pretty scary to say the least. It puts Verizon in the category of the form of censorship that China does, prohibiting the free exchange of ideas. Some of this censorship is self imposed by business like Goggle so they can do business in China. For example Goggle Blogoscoped found about 9% of a list of 10,000 commonly used words were self censored by Goggle from the Chinese, including words like democracy, democrat, democratic, political, politics, rights and repression.

Is the issue of gun control controversial in Verizon’s eyes? Would Verizon accept text messages from the National Rifle Association and ban those from Cease Fire? Or would it ban all messages from groups advocating or opposing any gun use issue.

What about a group sending out messages about the Iraq War? Will it accept messages from some political groups and not others or ban all messages by groups with a position on this controversial issue? What about the recent controversy over MoveOn.org and General Petraeus? Would it now ban text messaging from MoveOn.org but allow those of a group calling itself Swiftboat Veterans for Petraeus? I made up the swiftboat name and am not aware of such a group but how does Verizon as a private company intend to make decisions as to which organizations to censor and which issues are controversial?

The original question of Verizon banning Naral text messaging actually has a swiftboating analogy. The company, Creative Response Concepts , that produced the swiftboat ads against Kerry is actually involved in the abortion /”Pro Life” issue, as AlterNet reports in a post entitled “Swiftboaters Recruited to Push Abstinence”

Creative Design Concepts has been hired involved by the National Abstinence Education Association to run a public relations campaign supporting abstinence only education policies. Does Verizon’s rejection of Naral’s controversial text messages also mean that the National Abstinence Education Association and Creative Response Concepts are also prohibited from using Verizon’s text messaging program or would Verizon allow them to do so if they wanted to.

Verizon has created a huge public relations blunder and in fact has now contributed greatly to the rationale for net neutrality. As the NY Times notes


“The dispute over the Naral messages is a skirmish in the larger battle over the question of “net neutrality” — whether carriers or Internet service providers should have a voice in the content they provide to customers.
“This is right at the heart of the problem,” said Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at the
University of Michigan law school, referring to the treatment of text messages. “The fact that wireless companies can choose to discriminate is very troubling.”
In turning down the program, Verizon, one of the nation’s two largest wireless carriers, told Naral that it does not accept programs from any group “that seeks to promote an agenda or distribute content that, in its discretion, may be seen as controversial or unsavory to any of our users.”


OK I am a Verizon user and so is my family. I am going to take Verizon at their word saying that they not accept message programs from groups that may be seen as “controversial or unsavory to any of our users” I am sure I am not alone in saying that I as a user find the Republican Party’s agenda for America offensive and I find the Iraq War offensive. So please , Verizon, do not allow any group that supports the Republican Party or the Iraq War to set up a text messaging program. I do not consider the Democratic Party controversial so please allow any Democratic organization to text. Thanks for listening and responding.

Addendum: For the record, according to AlterNet, the Swift Boat Ad Group, “Creative Response Concepts’ other clients have included the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, the Discovery Institute (a Seattle-based think tank that promotes “intelligent design” creationism), Regnery Publishing (a conservative publisher with David Limbaugh, David Horowitz, and Oliver North among their authors’ list), the Coalition for Patient Choice (a group advocating against managed care reforms, and which includes the conservative Eagle Forum as a member), the Media Research Center (a conservative media watchdog organization which recently honored Rush Limbaugh with the “Buckley Award for Media Excellence”), and a group called USA Next (which was formed as an alternative to the “liberal activism” of the AARP).”

Update – As reported on ClickZ this afternoon Verizon has reversed itself and now will allow text messages from Naral Pro Choice America. Naral issued a press release noting that over 20,000 messages protesting Verizon’s action were sent to Verizon in just 2 hours..

 

46th District Democrats Add New Endorsements

The 46th Legislative District Democrats in North Seattle met last night and made more endorsements for the November 6, 2007 election. See the previous list of endorsements here. A 2/3 vote is required to be endorsed.

Seattle School Board District 1 – Peter Maier

Seattle School Board District 6 – Maria Ramirez and Steve Sundquist (dual endorsement)

King County Initiative 25 (elected director of elections) – NO

King County Proposition 1 – Medic One – Emergency Medical Services – APPROVE

Sound Transit and RTID (Regional Transportation Investment District) – Prop. 1 -no position

Initiative 960 – NO

Referendum Measure 67 – APPROVE

Engrossed Substitute Senate Joint Resolution 8206 – no position

Senate Joint Resolution 8212 – no position

Engrossed House Joint Resolution 4204 -Simple Majority for School Bonds – APPROVE

Substitute House Joint Resolution 4215 – no position

The no on Eyman’s Initiative 960 to give a 1/3 minority in the Legislature veto power over any tax increases was unanimous as was the yes (approve) vote for Engrossed House Joint Resolution 4204 to amend the Constitution to allow school levies to pass by a simple majority.

I am a PCO in the 46th L.D. The Sound Transit and RTID Proposition received a 53 to 33 vote after hearing pro arguments from Transportation Choices Coalition and con from the Sierra Club. The other 3 “no position” votes on issues were the result of people feeling they did not sufficiently understand the issues involved. I wondered how if we political animals could not make a decision how we expected voters to do any better.

As a result I moved that the organization in the future anticipate this by having a committee set up to review and make recommendations for the endorsement meeting. I felt somebody needed to understand the issues and be able to answer questions. The 46th LD Democrats voted and approved the motion. Afterwards it was suggested that this be handled by the existing Legislative Action Committee which seems logical.

The District also voted to make several contributions to campaigns. Originally when the budget was being approved earlier in the year no contributions were in it. Several of us objected and contributions were added.

Bill Sherman – Prosecuting Attorney $500

Gael Tarleton – Port of Seattle #2 $100

Alec Fisken – Port of Seattle #5 $500

No on I-960 $100

Yes on 4204 $500

This was the last meeting to be chaired by Scott White who is stepping down as Chair to run for the Washington State Legislature next year. Scott is running for the seat being vacated by Representative Jim McIntire who is running next year for State Treasurer.

46th District Democrats Give Primary Endorsements

Last night the 46th District Democrats in North Seattle met at Olympic View Elementary School. Over a 2 hour period over 100 Democrats debated and voted on candidates to give support to in the Primary on August 21, 2007.

Here is a list of candidates endorsed.

King County Prosecutor – Bill Sherman

King County Assessor – Scott Noble

King County Council, Dist 2 – Larry Gosset

King County Council, Dist 4 – Larry Phillips

Port of Seattle, Pos 2 – Gael Tarleton and Jack Block, Jr.

Port of Seattle, Pos 5 – Alex Fisken

Seattle School Board, Dist 1 – no endorsement

Seattle School Board, Position 2 – Sherry Carr

Seattle School Board, Positon 3 – Harium Martin-Morris

Seattle City Council, Position 1 – Jean Godden

Seattle City Council, Position 3 – Venus Velazquez and Bruce Harrell

Seattle City Council, Position 5 – Tom Rasmussen

Seattle City Council, Position 7 – Tim Burgess and David Della

Seattle City Council, Position 9 – Sally J Clark

The 46th District Democrats also voted to endorse the King County Parks issues, Proposition 1 and Proposition 2 which are on the November ballot.