Goldy

It’s not particularly what I want to do during dinner, but I just turned on the gubernatorial debate on Channel 9.  It was tough choice, between that, and Two and a Half Men.  Ugh.

Anyway, I don’t really expect to do much live-blogging as, well, I’m eating.  But we’ll see.

UPDATE (7:04):
Ryan Blethen needs a shave.  Or perhaps to fully grow out that beard.  I’m not sure.

UPDATE (7:05):
Dino Rossi is a liar and an asshole.  I’m just sayin’.  (I mean, really.  Did you hear that opening statement?  What a prick.)

UPDATE (7:12):
Would you have voted for the House bailout.  Gregoire said she didn’t know about that one, but she would have voted for senate bill.  Rossi wouldn’t answer at all, and went straight back on the attack.

UPDATE (7:18):
Is this effective?  I mean, every single one of Rossi’s answers is an attack on Gregoire.  All of them.

UPDATE (7:31):
Clearly, Dino Rossi is going for the angry voter vote.  I dunno, maybe that’s a good strategy.  But he comes off as, well, angry.

UPDATE (7:34):
Two and a Half Men is really looking appealing right about now.

UPDATE (7:35):
There’s a question on water rights.  Let’s see how Rossi turns this into an attack on Gregoire….

UPDATE (7:38):
Yup.. the water issue is about “changing the culture in Olympia,” and replacing folks there with “reasonable, responsible people”… you know, unlike that goddamn unreasonable, irresponsible Gregoire.

UPDATE (7:40):
Question on gang violence in Eastern Washington… Rossi attacks Gregoire for releasing sex offenders and violent criminals, blaming her for the death of three police officers.  You know, because she’s a bad person.  Gregoire answers the question by talking about anti-gang legislation, and focusing on education.

UPDATE (7:46):
Buildergate question!  Rossi… allegations were false, but if they were true, there’s nothing wrong with what, you know, I didn’t do.  Rossi switches the conversation to talk about voter fraud.  Gregoire turns the conversation to the BIAW… Rossi voted 99%… then to her “one Washington” speech.

UPDATE (7:48):
Rossi’s fans in the audience are as angry and rude as he is, trying to shout down the governor.

UPDATE (7:49):
Did I mention that Rossi is a liar and an asshole?  Dems were trying to disenfranchise military voters by trying to get him to cop to being a Republican?  What bullshit.

UPDATE (7:52):
Now he’s lying about the Spokane compact, and accusing Gregoire of “laundering” money.  And this to a question about whether driver licenses should be limited to US citizens.  (And by the way, to my friends in the media, Rossi’s ability to lie about the Spokane compact is all your fault.  You got it wrong.  I told you.  And you’ve refused to correct it.)

UPDATE (7:53):
It’s almost over, thank God.

UPDATE (7:56):
Oh god I feel sorry for the governor to have to stand on stage with that prick.  I mean really.

UPDATE (7:59):
This was the first gubernatorial debate I watched live, at one sitting.  I feel dirty.  I need a beer and a shower.  Maybe sandblasting.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
You know, the media old timers seemed to think that Rossi won the first two debates, but if so, and he was anywhere near the asshole in those debates as he was in this one, then I just have to assume our media is filled with assholes too.  What else could explain it?

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against assholes, if they’re on my side.  But I’m not normal.  I’m not the typical voter.  And I just have trouble believing that most voters want an asshole as governor.

It wasn’t a great debate, but Gregoire at least made an effort to answer some of the questions when she didn’t get distracted by refuting Rossi’s slander.  Meanwhile, Rossi just concentrated on being a dick.  “Culture of Olympia” my ass.

And people tell me he’s likable.  If Rossi’s likable, I’m the most popular kid in school.  I just don’t get it.

The TNT reports that Sen. Patty Murray will vote yes on the the bailout package coming before the US Senate tonight, while I believe Sen. Maria Cantwell just spoke on the floor indicating that she would vote no.  I’ve emailed Sen. Cantwell’s office asking for confirmation and comment.

UPDATE:
As expected, the bailout passed the Senate by a wide margin, 74-25.  Murray voted yes, Cantwell no.

Click here to register to vote in WA state.

In defending her boss from allegations that he engaged in illegal fundraising months before he officially announced his candidacy for governor, Dino Rossi’s ironically named spokesperson Jill Strait reaches back to a December, 2007, Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) ruling to establish Rossi’s innocence:

“The PDC staff after a three-month investigation found no evidence that Dino Rossi had decided to run for governor before Oct. 11, 2007. Prior to that date, Dino made clear to the Master Builders, and anyone else who asked, that he had not decided whether or not to run for office. He was free to say whatever he wanted, to whomever he wanted, and he certainly did not ask anyone to do anything illegal or unethical.”

Um… that is not exactly true Jill, and I really don’t think you want to go there.  For if reporters study the extensive documentation from last year’s PDC investigation in light of the newly revealed evidence, they may very well come to a strikingly different conclusion.  Indeed, while the staff report concluded that there was “insufficient evidence” to legally prove that Rossi had been operating as a candidate within the technical definition of the statute, or that his Forward Washington Foundation was merely a proxy gubernatorial campaign, there was more than enough evidence to convince two of five commissioners to vote in favor of referring the case to the Attorney General’s office.  As for the other three commissioners, according to the minutes of the December 6, 2007 meeting, they all expressed reservations about Rossi’s activities:

Commissioner Brumsickle commented that while he may wonder about the intent of the activities at issue, five months of investigation did not show facts determining an enforcement action should proceed in this matter.

Commissioner Schellberg commented that the staff recommendation is proper and although the activity in question was political activity, it is not regulated political activity.  He suggested that Forward Washington voluntarily disclose its donor list.

Commissioner Tilly commented that while this matter was difficult and troubling, it has been determined by staff that the statutes were satisfied so as not to proceed with an enforcement action.  Commissioner Tilly stated that in the future, the statutes may need to be amended by the Legislature to address this loophole.

And these were the comments of the commissioners who voted to dismiss the complaint.  Not exactly the legal and ethical clean slate that Strait and Rossi claim.

Rossi has vehemently denied that he was campaigning for governor prior to officially filing his C1PC in October 2007, and yet we now know that he was calling board members of the Master Builders Association in May of 2007, urging them to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to “a fund for Rossi” that was expressly created by the BIAW with the intent of influencing the 2008 gubernatorial race.

In talking to the press yesterday, Rossi tried to have it both ways, both defending his actions and kinda-sorta denying them at the same time:

“This was in 2007, long before I was a candidate for governor. I didn’t ask them to put money anywhere but it would have been perfectly OK for me to do that because I wasn’t even a candidate.”

To which I ask my friends in the media:  define “OK.”  Was it “OK” because as a technically undeclared candidate there was no technical prohibition on him raising money for a technically undeclared independent expenditure campaign?  Or was it simply “OK” for Rossi, who we all knew was running for governor, and who had been giving his same campaign stump speech around the state for two-plus years under the guise of the Forward Washington foundation, to raise unlimited, unreported contributions for a fund specifically intended to spend millions of dollars in support of his impending official candidacy… in flagrant violation of the spirit (if not the letter) of the campaign finance and disclosure statutes overwhelmingly passed via citizen initiative?

In recommending dismissal of last year’s complaint, the PDC staff report expressed the opinion that there was “insufficient evidence” to determine that Forward Washington was a political committee, but tell me, does the relevant law the report cites really not apply to the known activities of Rossi and the BIAW?

RCW 42.17.020(38) defines a “political committee” as any person (except a candidate or an individual dealing with his or her own funds or property) having the expectation of receiving contributions or making expenditures in support of, or opposition to, any candidate or any ballot proposition.  To qualify as a “political committee,” an organization must have as one of its primary purposes “to affect, directly or indirectly, governmental decision making by supporting or opposing candidates or ballot propositions.”

And really… regardless of whether Rossi managed to skate through and around a legal loophole (a determination that won’t be made until months after the election), was it really ethically “OK” for him to be directly involved in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars beyond legal campaign contribution limits to finance so-called independent expenditures?

Dino Rossi has a long established track record of running dirty political campaigns, so why should our local media, which seems almost proud of its deeply profound cynicism toward politicians in general, accept Rossi’s explanations unskeptically?  This thing just stinks, and you all know it.

There’s a lot more shit left to uncover in this Buildergate scandal, if only you look for it.  And my advice is… follow the money.

Jim Horn, the ornery chair of the Eastside Transportation Association and former state senator, just hates Prop 1’s expansion of light rail:

“It costs too much. It does too little. It is too late. And there is a better solution,” Horn said. […] “We can have people carpooling for virtually one-tenth of the cost and we can carry 50 percent more riders than the light rail does,” he said.

Yeah… carpooling.  (Or, as long as we’re proposing creative solutions, perhaps we could just follow the lead set by the grandfather of fellow transit-hater Kemper Freeman Jr., and just lock up the Eastside’s large Asian population in internment camps.  That’ll clear a lot of cars off the roads.)

And how does Horn propose we achieve this epic increase in carpooling?

The key to increasing carpool numbers across the region is in aggressive advertising, Horn said.

Aggressive advertising.  Now that’s a transportation solution I’m guessing Horn expects our struggling local media to get behind.

So… does Sarah Palin really believe we’re living in the “End Times”?  And if so, can we trust her to have her finger on the button?

Don’t you think that those are legitimate questions to be asked of a Vice Presidential candidate?

Once again there is this irritating “off the hook” tone emanating from somewhere around my house. It’s not coming from inside my house, rather I think from the vicinity of the telephone pole right outside my back door.  I’ve noticed this tone periodically over the past couple months, and while perhaps it’s only a coincidence, it only seems to occur a couple minutes after I hang up my phone, usually after talking to one of my many terrorist comrades.  Weird.

Also, damn annoying.  So since I figure if somebody is tapping my phone they must also be reading my blog… could you please send a technician by to fix this damn thing?  It’s giving me a headache.

UPDATE:
The tone has stopped.  Thanks for the prompt service.

COURIC:  “What newspapers and magazines did you regularly read…?”

PALIN:  “I’ve read most of them.”

Get that?  She couldn’t even name a single newspaper or magazine.  No wonder she’s so well informed.

For weeks I’ve been pushing the point that there is no state budget deficit, an argument, I was afraid, that was largely falling on deaf ears.  Until now:  “Rossi ad in error on state deficit – there isn’t one yet.”

That’s right, that’s the Seattle Times’ Bob Young setting the record straight (for the most part) on one of Dino Rossi’s erroneous and intentionally misleading campaign memes.

Dino Rossi is airing statewide radio and TV ads suggesting Gov. Christine Gregoire has ignored the state’s $3.2 billion budget shortfall.

The ads, titled “Denial,” never directly say that. But the ads repeat several times a Sept. 15 statement by Gregoire that “We do not have a deficit today.”

The ads assert the state has a deficit. A female narrator says about Gregoire: “Is she dishonest or is she in denial?”

The ad is inaccurate for this reason: The state is facing a projected $3.2 billion budget hole next year, but it does not have a deficit today.

The current budget, which runs to June 30, 2009, is balanced and the state has several hundred million dollars still in reserve. Part of the reserve is in a rainy-day fund that Gregoire pushed to create.

Exactly.  (Well, not exactly.  The $3.2 billion projected revenue shortfall is not for “next year,” it’s for the budget ending in 2011, that must be written next year.  But why pick nits?)

So why is this distinction so important?  Because when Rossi and the media repeat the imprecise term “budget deficit” voters understandably associate that with the hugeass federal budget hole created under the Bush administration (and about to be made even hugeassier with the impending Wall Street bailout), which is simply misleading.  Our state constitution prohibits deficit spending, and thus the next biennium budget will be balanced.  And the implied accusation that Gregoire has not been spending within our means is utter bullshit when she’s managed to sock away hundreds of millions of dollars of surplus.

So thank you Bob Young for taking this issue seriously—considerably more seriously than it was taken by the folks on your own ed board.

Above is an excerpt from the official minutes of the Master Builder Association’s (MBA) May 21, 2007 “chair officers meeting,” and that is the smoking gun that inextricably links Dino Rossi to the BIAW’s illegal fundraising scheme.  That is the heart of Buildergate.

Rossi called not one, but at least three MBA board members to solicit funds for “the BIAW’s war chest,” a war chest that was explicitly described at the MBA’s previous meeting as “a fund for Rossi.”  And it is clear, both from the context of this excerpt, and from the stated response to Rossi from MBA Second VP John Day, that the subject of those calls was indeed these solicited funds.

What should now be absolutely obvious to even the most objective observer is that Rossi was an active participant in the BIAW’s illegal fundraising scheme… a scheme for which the PDC found the BIAW guilty of multiple “egregious” violations of Washington’s campaign finance and disclosure laws, and which is now being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s office.

But it is important to note that even if the BIAW had scrupulously conducted its campaign within the letter of the law (and it didn’t), Rossi would still be guilty of a major violation of our campaign statutes, for it is absolutely positively 100% illegal (not to mention grossly unethical) for a candidate to coordinate activities with an independent expenditure campaign.

And by calling MBA board members and asking them to contribute to the BIAW’s “fund for Rossi,” that is exactly what Rossi has done.  The documentation is clear:  Rossi was an active participant in the BIAW’s illegal “independent” campaign, and to even attempt to assert that his actions did not rise to the level of coordination, simply beggars the imagination.

Dino Rossi has displayed a stunning and flagrant disregard for our state’s campaign finance and disclosure statutes… laws overwhelmingly passed by voter initiative.  The only question remaining is whether our local media will report on Buildergate as the major scandal it truly is, or if Rossi will be allowed profit from his unethical and illegal behavoir, remaining unpunished and unscathed until well past the November election.

Documents released today reveal that Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi was not only aware of the Building Industry Association of Washington’s (BIAW) illegal fundraising activities, but that he actively solicited funds on their behalf from at least one organization, the Master Builder’s Association (MBA).  According to a summary of events posted by attorney Knoll Lowney:

The MBA was one of the groups solicited for a donation. On April 30, 2007, BIAW President Daimon Doyle attended the MBA’s Board meeting to solicit a donation to BIAW’s campaign fund, which was considered a “Fund for Rossi,” according to Sam Anderson, the MBA Executive Director. Based upon a formula, MBA was targeted for a donation of over $570,000! The Board decided to table the request until the next meeting three weeks later, expressing concern that most MBA members were democrats and may not appreciate the donation and also about other pressing MBA expenses including building repairs.

When MBA leadership met next on May 21, 2007 at a “Chair Officers Meeting,” the discussion turned to BIAW’s pending request for campaign funds. While discussing the request, all three of the MBA’s top officers reported that they had received calls from Dino Rossi. The one call for which additional detail is provided clearly confirms that Rossi called to support a MBA contribution to the BIAW’s governor’s race war chest. The minutes leave no question that Dino Rossi spoke to this officer about whether and when MBA would give to the BIAW’s governor campaign fund. The officers receiving calls from Rossi were then-MBA President Doug Barnes, First Vice President Joe Schwab, and Second Vice President John Day.

The PDC has already found the BIAW and MBA guilty of multiple “egregious” campaign finance violations, and the Attorney General has subsequently filed suit.  And now we learn that not only did Dino Rossi know about the illegal fundraising, he actively solicited money for it.

This is a major scandal… the kind of scandal that could change the entire dynamic of this election.

More coming….

As a blogger, you never know which otherwise boring, nondescript local politician might someday blossom into an endless source of amusing blog fodder.  Take for example King County Councilwoman Jane Hague, who to this connoisseur of political snark has only grown better with age.  In fact, we could say that Hague has aged like a fine wine… though if we did, she’d probably try to drink herself.

After she narrowly survived a hard-fought three-way race between herself, Richard Pope and a four-liter jug of Chablis, I had assumed that my fun at Hague’s expense was over.  But that was before I received an email from Bellevue businessman Paul Brecht, one of Pope’s most ardent supporters during his 2007 run for county council, informing me that he is suing Hague, her husband, and her campaign consultants for defamation of character.

The lawsuit stems from a nasty piece of direct mail Hague sent out, in which she not only attacked her opponent (and God knows our friend Richard offers a rich enough vein there), but she also personally targeted Brecht for having the temerity to publicly endorse him:

Problem is, Brecht was never convicted of assault, and as he points out in his complaint, he has never been “on the top of any ‘law enforcement list’ of any sort for any reason.”

Huh.

Defamation cases are awfully hard things to win in court.  For example, I could relentlessly accuse Hague of eating babies, and she could never win a defamation case against me because nobody in their right mind could reasonably believe that I was seriously accusing her of baby eating.  (Though, in fact, Hague does indeed eat babies.  Really.)  Or, I could falsely accuse her of taking bribes from Eastside developer Skip Rowley, and I’d be pretty much safe as long as I retracted the charge.  (Though I’d like to see Hague prove that she doesn’t take bribes from Rowley.  Huh? Betcha can’t, Jane.)

And let’s not forget that as a boozing, baby-eating public figure, Hague has even fewer protections against defamation than, say, an ordinary private citizen like Brecht.  Hague falsely and maliciously attacked Brecht’s character in retaliation for him endorsing her opponent, and while I’m not sure if her lies quite fit the legal definition of “defamation,” it certainly fits the common definition of being an “asshole.”

In any case, Brecht’s day in court is approaching, and he’s in need of an attorney now that Pope is likely to be called as a witness.  So if anybody wants to help out, drop me an email and I’ll hook the two of you up.