Democratic challenger Eric Oemig is going to have a tough time attacking state Sen. Bill Finkbeiner for voting against popular legislation during the 2006 session… because so far, Finkbeiner hasn’t cast a single “no” vote.
Truth is, Finkbeiner hasn’t really cast many votes at all. Of the 35 bills that have come to the Senate floor thus far, Finkbeiner has missed 15 of them, for a lackluster 57 percent attendance record. I guess he wasn’t kidding when he resigned his post as minority leader, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Finkbeiner was widely praised for boldly breaking with the Republican party line (and his own prior voting record) by casting the deciding vote in favor of landmark gay civil rights legislation, but he has been decidedly less decisive the rest of the session. Of the 19 other bills he bothered to vote on — all of them “yes” votes — 13 were passed unanimously, and three more with only 1 or 2 nays.
Indeed, apart from the anti-discrimination bill, the only bill Finkbeiner voted on that could remotely be considered close was Senate Joint Memorial 8039, which passed 27 to 21, and requests that Congress make changes to Medicare Part D. But I suppose that’s not even really a bill.
Finkbeiner may have voted his heart on the controversial anti-discimination bill, but he also voted the sentiments of his district. Other than that one vote he’s apparently decided to avoid making any tough decisions that may come back to bite him during what is sure to be a tough election challenge.
But don’t worry Eric. If want you want to use Finkbeiner’s voting record against him, all you have to do is look back to 2005.
If Finkbeiner is too busy to show up to vote he ought to leave public office.
You got what you wanted from him, now throw him to the curb.
News flash for you guys, they reviewed the Super Bowl and determined a different winner! Christine Gregoire!!!
GO ERIC GO!
Seriously, Finkbeiner played the gay card to gain votes….don’t let him get away with it!
Gain votes??? He just lost his office as far as this conservative votes!
Didn’t Mr. Goldstein threaten to out a Republican Legislator if he didn’t vote YES on the special rights for gays Bill??
Isn’t it obvious who Mr. Goldstein was going to out?
Mr. Goldstein never did identify who his threat was against.
The Bill passed thanks to Mr. Finkbeiner.
Mr. Finkbeiner is amazingly absent from all votes that matter.
Is anyone having a hard time connecting the dots here?
So, what else is Fink up to? During the session, what else is there to do? Why can’t he make his votes?
Looks like Fink has checked out. If he’s done, his seat’s a pick-up for sure.
News Update! Unknown white powder has been found at the Russell Senate Office Building! Already, 42 Democrat Senate staffers have filed disibility claims. [The powder turned out to be flour.]
Saul here! We are representing 22 Democrat staffers who where expose to an “unknown white powder” at the Russell Senate Office Building. We are talking “class action lawsuit” here!
Ready to sue? Need to file for disability? Shoot a police office in the District of Columbia? Dail 1-800-LAWSUIT!! Best regards, Saul and Hymie
JCH- no interest in truth, no interest in conversation, but proud to be an asshole.
@5 losing conservative votes doesn’t matter to Finkman…most of his district isn’t conservative…that’s why he flipped and flopped…like the ultimate politician he is
@5 again: it’s ALL about power….finkboy isn’t different than any other pol…give me power..i’ll say/do whatever it takes to stay in power
@6 a little paranoid???
They’re Back!
OLYMPIA – The House Transportation Committee has approved a regional transportation overhaul for central Puget Sound, and the region has agreed NOT TO SEEK A PUBLIC VOTE on a $7.2 billion plan this fall.
Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, the committee chairman, announced the deal Tuesday, although full House and Senate approval still is required.
The legislation includes A BAN on placing the big package of proposed regional tax increases on the ballot in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties this year.
The tentative regional add-on package would include a local sales tax increase of one-tenth of a cent on the dollar, and a car-tab tax increase of up to $8 for every $1,000 of the vehicle’s value.
http://www.komotv.com/stories/41744.htm
Gulp, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp, Gulp,
Why vote more? We vote on this stuff all the fucking time. You lost on 912, you’ll lose again. Construction season starts in a month. Why waste more time.
leftsucks @ 6. Welcome back Mr Cynnical!!!
You know how i feel about this crap!!! If he can only show up for 57% of his job, he should get fired, as any other worker in this country that has that type of work ethic would be thrown to the curb, without hesitation…. I say “Throw the bumb OUT”!!!
Goldy, forgive me for not wadeing through all the JCH posts… but is the Drinking Liberally Podcast ready yet?
If so, where can I find it?
BTW, JCH is not a Nazi. JCH is a skinhead from Kent whose posts are quickly passed over.
Oh…wait.. JCH is [nothing]
Keep ’em Coming JCH!
JCH, you are my brother! Karl Rove and I were talking about you while making IED’s.
You are our best friend in Iraq! Keep causing confusion! UBL will send a check! More American Soldier Deaths in your name! Long Live JCH!
Fink is just chanelling Do-Nothing Doc.
If Fink only shows up to join in the unaminity, why bother at all?
Goldy are you making the case here for all-mail Legislative voting? Not having enough time to get to the polls seems to be a major justification for King County going to an all mail election, if it’s good enough for the people isn’t it good enough for our elected officials?
I think Finkbeiner is mailing (pun intended) it in here. He won’t be back next session.
LOL @ conservativeFirst, he has not shown up in this session except for one day!
Finally! We get real real scoop on who is responsible for all of the violence and protesting in the arab street. It’s those pesky jews again!
One thing that Jewish-Americans can have confidence in. The Christian Evangelicals will never stand for anti-semitism in this country as long as we have any say in the matter.
Of course the radical left would have you believe that you should really fear the NSA terrorist Wiretapping program instead.
If you are Jewish-American, ask yourself the following. If all of this anti-semitic hate speech continues, how much longer will it be before certain islamo-fascists begin to exact their revenge on jewish groups in the USA?
2/7/2006 Clip No. 1031
Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei: Zionist Paid Denmark Cartoonist to Draw Muhammad Cartoon
Following are excerpts from a speech by Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, which aired on Channel 1 of the Iranian TV on February 7, 2006.
Ali Khamenei: The freedom of speech about which the [Westerners] talk so much does not permit anyone to doubt the myth about the massacre of the Jews, known as the Holocaust. There is no room for freedom of speech there.
In the European countries, many people – including scientists, researchers, historians, and journalists – are so afraid that they do not dare to express the doubt in their hearts about this issue. Some of them even believe that this issue is an outright lie. They do not dare to say so, because they have seen that anyone who says so is punished, imprisoned, persecuted, and deprived of his rights. At that point, freedom of speech no longer applies. Yet, offending what is holy to one and a half billion Muslims for no reason, without one party having insulted the other – this is permitted. This is classified as freedom of speech.
This is not about the journalist or cartoonist, who was paid by the Zionists to draw this cartoon in order to serve their impure purposes. The problem is that the European Leaders defend this act. They stand behind this vile and stupid act, and consider it to be legitimate and permit is as freedom of speech. That’s what this is about.
I assume that a profound Zionist plot is at the core of the matter. They are setting the Muslims and Christians against one another. This is very important for the Zionists – to set the great Muslim community around the world against the Christians, and to set the Christians against the Muslims. That’s what this is about. This is the handiwork of the Zionists.
The US president had a slip of the tongue, when, after 9/11, he said that that Crusade had begun. Later, they realized they had made a mistake and should not have said this, and they began to cover it up.
At the time, no one noticed what this Crusade really meant. This Crusade is the war of the Christian peoples against the Muslim peoples. They want to prepare the ground for pitting the peoples one against the other. Both the Muslims and Christians of the world should be very alert, and not become pawns in the hands of these evil politicians.
[…]
Today, I see the Zionist hands are preparing the ground in the Christian countries for this. How come this affront, which was committed two months ago by some newspaper in a certain county, was constantly repeated in countries in central and western Europe? What is the motive for this? Whose hands were behind this?
The Muslim peoples responded at the right place and the right time, as indeed they should have.
[…]
Everyone should know: These demonstrations and this holy rage that the Muslims displayed, at the appropriate time, are not directed against the world’s Christians, but against those impure hands that have turned the politicians of the hegemonic world into pawns. They also control the newspapers and many media outlets. These are the unseen hands of the impure Zionists. They are the ones who completely control the American government. The same people operate in Europe too.
They were dealt a blow in Palestine. The Hamas victory gave them the most severe shock, and now they want to make up for this – against the Muslims.
[…]
Wherever free elections are conducted in the Islamic world, the result will be the same. The votes will go to the people who oppose America. This is what lies in the hearts of the people. This is the political inclination of the people. America is ugly and despised. This is not restricted to the Iranian people.
[…]
They contradict themselves. They talk about democracy, but any newly formed democracy is to their disadvantage. This is why they oppose democracies and their outcome. Whenever they can, they interfere [in the elections], and when they cannot, they spread poison from afar.
I see suspicious editing choices and no citation/link to back it up… In otherwords, Jaybo did a classic rightie post!
But wait! Whats with his subject?! It has nothing to do with the matter at hand!
Fink needs to show up for work tho’… as much as I’d love to do what he does, I’d lose my job!
Hey Jaybo @ 26
Take your bullshit to the open thread…fucking asshole!
ConservativeFirst–
I agree that Finkbeiner is mailing it in.
Do you think Fink is mailing it in because of Mr. Goldstein’s threat to expose a certain Republican Legislator if he didn’t vote YES on the Special Rights for Gays Bill??
leftsucks: So you’re saying he’s gay and hiding it?
There something that you know that we don’t?
(If you take the lame, easy response, I’ll slap you)
leftsucks takes it all from Fink! leftsucks in probably Mr Cynnical and he has ‘upgraded’ from horses (because of the recent legislation) and moved on to any powerful figure he can accomodate!
Comment by leftsucks— 2/9/06 @ 9:01 am
“ConservativeFirst–
I agree that Finkbeiner is mailing it in.
Do you think Fink is mailing it in because of Mr. Goldstein’s threat to expose a certain Republican Legislator if he didn’t vote YES on the Special Rights for Gays Bill??”
Not sure why Finkbeiner mailing it in, maybe he’s tired of politics and the gay rights bill was the last thing he cared about so he hung around to vote for it. If he’s gay, and wants to stay in the closet, that’s his business.
I wonder what Fink’s vote on Gay rights and absense from any others will do to energize his base?
I am willing to bet if Eric presentshimself as a viable alternative Dems will vote for him regardless of what bones (pun intended) Fink might throw the left.
I hope Erics campaign has the sense to use this issue with the RIGHT crowd and keep turnout low.
BTW – Fink resigned from his leadership post because how embarassing would it be to LOSE an election when you were the leader of your caucus?
The “War on Terror” is an excuse to nullify the constitution and continue to enrich the already rich ( be they persons or “legal persons” ) by continuing crazy levels of defense spending to ward of the invisible menace of “TERRORISM”!!!!
More Americans are killed on each national holiday we have than the terrorists ever killed. I think what Bush really didn’t like about 9/11 was that the gold supply of the U.S. was underneath those two towers. That’s what terrified Bush.
After 9/11, Bush explained to the world that a TV set was on at the grade school he was at and he saw the first plane fly into the WTC BEFORE he read the goat book to the children.
But, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, THERE was no footage of the crash available until a day and a half AFTER 9/11.
I’,m not saying that the lie is significant ( which it may well be ), but why lie in the first place and then stick to the lie even if it is demonstrably false?
Fink is not gay. Fink is pissed. Those who he thought of as friends are shunning him and marginalizing him and the R’s don’t have the votes anyway. So he is taking a powder. It is time for him to go and the more votes he misses, the weaker he will be.
For those who seek to ID who Goldie may be talking about, think about the first star wars movie while thinking about who among the Senate R’s reminds you most of Jim West. Where the two collide you will find your answer.
33. L is R: I am no fan of the Finks but his stepping down from leadership had no relation to protecting himself or the party from loss of face if he were to lose reelection of his seat. Rather, it was a fact that he was elected by a thin margin in the first place with almost no support from the way right majority in his caucus. In the end he had a few reasons, some he has talked about but I expect the deciding factor was that he could not vote his conusance on the gay rights bill while in leadership. If he had he would have been dethroned and that would have been a big embarrassment, so knowing that the issue was coming up again he spared his caucus the trouble.
I have no idea if Finkbeiner is gay or not.
It makes no difference to me.
What does matter is the fact that David Goldstein threatened to “OUT” an anonymous Republican Legislator if he didn’t vote YES on the Gay Special Rights Bill. The more important issue is who was that Legislator? Was Mr. Goldstein merely “blowing smoke” or was it a real threat. I notice that Mr. Goldstein failed to address his threat. Interesting, huh?
If a Legislator’s vote is somehow impacted by a “threat”, that is news. Silence speaks volumes. Perhaps Finkbeiner is protecting someone else. Who knows.
Did Mr. Goldstein make hollow threat or was it real. David usually tells the truth, doesn’t he? If he isn’t telling the truth about this, what else has and is David lying about?
Dear sucks, maybe you should get a life or read back at just what Goldie did say. His comment related to taking an action prior to this election. Now I am not endorsing the idea but would it not be a bit foolish to show ones hand so far ahead of the election.