Last night the Democratic Precinct Committee Officers of the 41st Legislative District overwhelmingly selected attorney and activist Randy Gordon as their first choice to fill state Sen. Fred Jarrett’s recently vacated office. The final tally:
Randy Gordon 54
Aaron Belenky 9
George Pieper 8
Legally, the King County Council can appoint any of the three nominees above as Jarrett’s replacement, but according to protocol and precedent, the council almost always selects the first choice of the PCOs, and unanimously. And with such a decisive victory last night, it’s hard to imagine the council breaking with tradition.
So my congratulations to soon-to-be-senator Gordon, who has certainly worked hard enough over the past few years to put him in this position, and who I am confident will well represent the progressive values of Democrats throughout the district, the region and the state. As I previously mentioned, I first met Gordon in 2005 when he was a classmate of mine at Camp Wellstone. Other graduates from my class include state Representatives Marko Liias (D-21) and Tina Orwall (D-33), and state Sen. Eric Oemig (D-45), not to mention Darcy Burner.
That’s quite a group of accomplished alumnae, and both Wellstone Action and Progressive Majority deserve your support for bringing this valuable candidate training program into Washington state.
So…when are you running then? ;)
Hihankara @1,
I haven’t ruled it out, but I took the candidate training track at Camp Wellstone because it was the one that offered the most media training, and my goal at the time was to get a radio show. Which I eventually did. And then lost as the market for local talk collapsed.
All good people but, they’re all inside the system people and can’t take us where we need to go.
On a positive note, Chis Dodd is retiring.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....sign_N.htm
Goldy ..
Why not set the goal of replacing MickyD? He will run again and win, but the clock is ticking. Positioning yourself for that job would mean getting some local office first … I would think City Council or State Rep. Personally I like the former better. It has visibility, real pay and whatever happens with McGinn we are in for some evolution.
The biggest challenge for you, other than the usual $$$$, would be having a focussed cause. Again the Era McGinn is likely to make that easier, given the hopes and hype he has raised.
If I were doing that, I would start by some investigative reporting into the balance sheets, the tax balance sheets, coming out of the Nickles’ Developer Era. Joel has said he believes, fro example, that the net effect of SLU will be to raise everyone’s taxes. If that is true,what has been the effect of the other projects .. Broadway or even Bell Town?
The other huge issue is the city’s relationship to the schools. McGinn made a campaign promise .. one that previous mayors have made failed efforts toward. I also know that real estate types feel Seattle is headed toward the no family zone. Norm Rice showed leadership back then and showed ways the city could work with the schools to make Seattle a kids city.
Just some thoughts.
Congrats to Randy Gordon. I once called him a Hero of Democracy for his work on election integrity issues.
Thanks to Aaron Belenky for standing up. I like him a lot. I hope he stays in the game.
(I haven’t met George Pieper, so no comment.)
Yes, this is good news. Randy is articulate and knows how to fight. The Senate will be a better place with him in it.
@5 George is pretty cool too. I think he definitely has a future.
The shocker was Heidi Behrens-Benedict standing for the appointment at the last minute (it was a surprise to most people present). In the first round of voting she came in fifth out of five. Attending that meeting was like watching a multi-car pileup in slow motion.
On a positive note, the tabulation was faster than the speeches!
The last I checked, the market for local radio talk has been strong for many years in this region. KIRO shot themselves in the foot by assembling an assortment of FAR left nut jobs on their station at one time -Mike “geico” Webb/ Erin “I’m not crazy, who called me crazy?” Hart and David “my balls haven’t dropped yet” Goldstein.
The low ratings were just too much for KIRO to absorb and they cut ties with all of them. The talk radio market didn’t fail, Goldy, You and your message (that didn’t differ from any of the other personalities on the air at the time at KIRO) failed.