[In a fit of nostalgia (and laziness), I’m marking my remaining days here on HA by posting links to some of my favorite and most influential posts. If you have favorites you’d like to see, please let me know.]
10/20/2005: Raging Bullshitter: the sad twisted tale of the Irons family feud
David Irons Jr.’s mother has mixed emotions about her son. On the upside, she says he’s “very good with his hands.” On the downside, she claims he’s used them to beat her.
In addition to sporting perhaps my favorite lede ever, it was this controversial post that cemented my early reputation as our local blogosphere’s most devastating muckraker. Posted just weeks before the election, and a day after polling showed Republican David Irons closing within the margin of error against incumbent Democratic King County Executive Ron Sims, the ensuing media storm caused Irons’ support to plummet virtually overnight. Sims went on to win a third term by over 16 points. Read the whole thing.
As you prepare to back off from your position here at HA, remember that the story which really pushed you into the public spotlight (nationally) was all about “Brownie” of Katrina fame. If I remember correctly, the origin of that story came from a tip from a reader about his sad leadership abilities as exhibited with the Arabian horses group.
So while reporting for The Stranger might give you some more credibility as a local journalist (Eyman can’t quite so easily dismiss you as “just a blogger”), leaving this outlet to die off would deprive you of your touch with much more of the “common folk” which read or participate in this thread.
So in summary, I would encourage you to continue with HA, even if on a reduced basis. Maybe put in a small post once a day or so, or maybe every other day, and expand your posting prividges to a few others to keep the discussions flowing.
“expand your posting prividges to a few others to keep the discussions flowing”
I encourage Goldy to do this as well.
rhp6033 @1,
The problem with me continuing to post here on HA on a regular basis is that the Stranger’s primary motivation for hiring me is to have me do on Slog what I’ve been doing on HA. So any content I divert, kinda rips them off.
So, I don’t see myself posting here on a daily basis.
There is Lee and Carl and Darryl’s, etc. stuff that I look forward to as well, Goldy.
I hope HA will remain as a vehicle and you’ll show up once in while in a comment thread (at least).
I already read your stuff on The Stranger and think it’s a great move for everyone involved; but it would be a shame if HA went away altogether.
After re-reading the article, one part jumped out at me…
“…call into question his fitness for office and paints the picture of a troubled, unstable man with a vastly inflated resume, a penchant for dirty tricks, and dubious ethics.”
One of the things which is astonishing to me is that pretty much sums up many of the Republican candidates over the past decade (or more). One of the things we need to do is blow a big whole in their inflated resumes early in the game.
For example, how far could George W. Bush have risen in politics if his “successful businessman” resume entry had been repudiated early by detailed accounts of his multiple failures in business, each time being rescued by his father’s wealthy friends and ultimately by the taxpayers in financing a new stadium for the baseball team for which he was providing the public face (and little else).
And the recent article published about John Boehner, which traced his career and noted his long-standing hypocracy in decrying special-interest influence in politics while – literally – handing out donation checks while on the floor of the Senate.
Or about Mitch McConnell, who got an easy out of the Vietnam draft and had the skids greased in a political career which began before he even got out of law school.
Locally, there are lots of these folks out there just hoping that once they get a local office on their resume in a little-noticed election, nobody will go back to check their claims of qualifications. We need more in-depth reporting on ALL of the candidates, as well as quickly investigating the last-minute dirty tricks so they backfire on the person responsible. Lord know, the Seattle Times isn’t going to do any of this.
The “Hammer” gets the Slammer.
Tom Delay, the former House Majority Leader (R-TX), was sentenced today to three years in prison for conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws, and ten additional years of probation on the money-laundering charge. He could have received the maximum of life imprisonment, but his lawyers were arguing for a probation-only sentence.
In case we forget, the details of this plan go back into the mid-1990’s and Texas politics. Before the Supreme Court’s recent Citizens United decision, corporations were prohibited from making campaign contributions. There were ways around that, but DeLay became experienced at strong-arming corporations into making contributions to his PAC fund. Instead of directing those corporate contributions into allowable activities (“issues” advertising, etc.), he simply funneled those funds into an arm of the Republican National Committee, which then sent the money right back in the form of campaign subsidies to specific candidates.
The charges relate only to activities in 2001. But even though DeLay was sentenced today for those activities, the Republicans still benefited greatly from his activities. The candidates to which he directed these contributions all won their local elections and then were in office when Texas did an unprecedented mid-census re-districting which ensured Republican control of many of Texas congressional districts. Those districts have proven reliable suppliers of Republican lawmakers to the U.S. House of Representatives ever since, despite their more mixed pre-2005 results.
Of course, DeLay plans to appeal.