I know it’s kinda like pissing into the wind, but I strongly urge you all to read blatherWatch’s latest expose on the shameless myth-making behind Dave Reichert’s claim to fame as the man who allegedly caught the Green River Killer:
“[Dave Reichert] desecrated the victims. The public ought to know that,” says Seattle University journalism and criminal justice Professor Tomás Guillén… “He got elected based on Green River, when in fact, he didn’t solve it and he didn’t win against Gary Ridgway,” says Guillén who covered the Green River story for the Seattle Times from its beginnings and has written two books on the subject.
Really, the public ought to know, but they don’t, because our local media has been as complicit in perpetrating the myth as Reichert has himself, and they appear totally unwilling to admit their mistake. Reichert’s whole political career is built on a lie — a lie that permeates his discussion of nearly every issue…
Why is Reichert against choice for women? When asked, he’s told an interviewer: “I have a great respect for life. I’ve seen a lot of death in my career, worked Green River, seen lots of dead bodies.”
That’s just shameless, and quite frankly, our local reporters, who should know better, are doing themselves and their readers a great disservice when they let him get away with this. If Hillary Clinton’s presidential aspirations can be pronounced dead because she lied about the dangers on a tarmac in Bosnia — a tiny footnote in her personal biography — then surely Reichert’s political credibility should be called into question for fabricating his entire public persona.
Dave Reichert did NOT catch the Green River Killer! That is a fact. And our local media has an obligation to tell voters the truth.
Reichert just steered the Green river investigation towards a guy he didn’t like – while Ridgeway was picked up early but never pursued. Even Reichert’s boss said he impeded the investigation. But every time there was a TV moment – Reichert was there for the publicity.
He is a publicity whore and an incompetent investigator and congressman who supports Bush on the war and on corruption.
The few pro-environmental votes he has are just window dressing.
Even if that was true, that still doesn’t mean The Darcy belongs in the US House. No matter what Reichert did or didn’t do to catch the Green River killer, at the end of the day The Darcy still doesn’t have a resume.
MGI: the last refuge of the idiots – the challenger doesn’t have the resume….and Reichert is rated as one of the LEAST effective legislators – he has a resume and it is full of POOR performance and sycophantic Bush following.
GOP answer – who cares if we lied about Davie – he’s our guy. We don’t care about right and wrong or honor or rule of law. We care about winning.
No matter what Reichert did or didn’t do to catch the Green River killer, at the end of the day The Darcy still doesn’t have a resume.
She was a project manager at Microsoft. Or do you not know what a resume is? Or do you think that someone from that kind of a background is less capable of legislative work than someone who’d been a police officer? Or are you just a few tacos short of a combination platter?
Darcy has an excellent resume. The right wing losers just don’t want to admit when they are shamelessly wrong.
Only the cream rises to the top at Microsoft and Darcy was a Group Project Manager. Huge deal at MSFT.
Resume:
Leadership qualities: check.
Manage large budgets: check.
Meets goals and objectives: check
Community involvement: check
Leader of the Responsible Iraq Plan:
Foreign policy experience: check
Supports military: check (unlike Dave who votes against veteran’s and the military needs.)
Ability to work with Generals, and foreign policy experts: check.
Knows right from wrong: check.
Yep, she’s the right person to fill the upcoming vacancy in the 8th CD.
Dave should start applying for jobs at private security firms because a “rent-a-cop” is about all he’s qualified for these days. The lying loser.
Exactly how does being a publicity seeking bungling incompetent cop make you MORE qualified for public office than project manager at the biggest software company on the face of the planet?
Some of you are neglecting just what the wingfucks define as “qualifications”. If a candidate doesn’t believe in “drowning government in a bathtub” and get their rocks off staring at photographs of dead Iraqi children, they don’t consider them fit to serve out great Fatherland.
Dave Reichert’s resume didn’t qualify him for public office as sheriff. I mean, how man innocent women had to die because of Dave’s incompetence ??
It’s the equivalent of hiring John “White Flag” McCain, as Commander-in-Chief just because he surrendered to America’s enemy during a time of war and sang like a canary to the VC.
No thanks. Hiring a bona fide Surrender Monkey during a time of war is like hiring George W. Bush to revive Bear Stearns during a financial crisis.
Bad, bad, bad idea.
Vote Dave Reichert 2008
@10: Gee George – give me a cogent reason to vote for the incompetent Reichert….or is that all you have?
Again… I challenge Reichert boosters to explain exactly what makes him qualified to serve in Congress, and what exactly he has accomplished in office.
Forget about Darcy for a moment. Here’s you chance to plug your guy. (Betcha can’t.)
I’ll answer Goldy’s challenge @ 12:
A) He’s a “good soldier” which means he votes as TOLD!
B) He toe’s the party line no matter how unpatriotic and illegal Bush’s misadventures insult the rule of law.
C) He’s dishonest. A conservative must-have.
He’s a Republican leader wet dream, with the glaring exception he can’t raise funds for his own re-election bid.
Ahhhhhh, survival of the fittest.
Dave! Look up! What do you see? That’s right! The underside of John “White Flag” McCain’s bus the Surrender Monkey Express. **Honk, honk — thump, thump.**
Another one bites the dust. Hey, hey. Another one bites the dust.
This joker has a new mini-series coming out about his “exploits” in capturing the GRK. Take a look here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ver30.html
Just wrong how this man has used lies, rumor and unfounded legend to advance to the Congress of The United States.
Reichert is a completely unprincipled cop. I can’t believe he has stood besides the two worst criminals in the postwar era, Dick Cheney and George Bush. Whenever the criminals come to town we chant “Cops Arrest Bush – Bush broke the Law” and we engage every policeman on the line, WHERE ARE YOUR PRINCIPLES? The torture and prisoner abuse is illegal. Invading nonbelligerent nations is highly illegal, read constitution article 6 and the treaties we have signed. Violations of the FISA act are illegal. The signing statements are illegal. I cannot believe Reichert is still in office, how he won re-election, even in Bellevue. I conclude, the Republican voters, themselves are deeply corrupt and use Reichert as a means to their ends. Which, in Bellevue is mostly the tax cuts. These Republicans are the vandals of our society, the thieves.
Dear Goldy-
Ol’ Rujax posed that very question to the denser than dufus “The CrackPiper”….
The response? Still waiting.
All I’m sayin is don’t hold yer breath.
A cold case detective solved this case, just like they have solved so many others recently…by resubmitting samples every time there is an improvement in the science, to see if something comes up. It was DNA amplification techniques and improved paint analysis that got Gary in the end, and the persistence of that detective, who I believe worked under Detective Kathleen Larson (I wish I could remember his name, because I can’t find it in any of the news stories after all this time).
Tom Jensen. That’s the name of the detective who caught Gary Ridgway:
http://archives.seattletimes.n.....e=20011206
Calling America “The Fatherland” sounds Nazi-like to me. “Homeland Security” sounds equally Nazi-ish.
Secure borders? If they ever do secure the borders, it will be to keep us in, not to keep others out.
“Vere ah youh papahs!”
14 Interesting how the Bothell/Mercer Island Fishwrap went to such length in their story to distance Reichert from the making of the show. Yeah, sure….he only reluctantly agreed to sell the production rights to his book, he (supposedly) donated the money he got to charity, he’s never met Tom Cavanaugh (so what?) and stayed away from the entire production.
Leni Riefenstahl
It’s funny when you ask a republican why they support their candidate for any office – they can’t tell you anything other than Bill Clinton was bad.
These fools don’t know what they believe or why they believe it. They just do what Limpdick Limbaugh tells them. Fucking mindless, inbred idiots.
@22 All this coming from a test tube baby.
Seriously… we get hundreds of comments a day here. Somebody please defend Dave Reichert. I’m waiting….
The republicans CANNOT defend Big Hair. He’s nothing and nobody just like the GOP idiots who comment here.
So if Dave Reichert didn’t re-build the task force which in turn led to the DNA evidence to be re-submitted…who would we be blaming for the GRK still out there? I may not like Dave’s politics, but he is the one who re-built a tax force from 1 person, Tom Jensen, to a group of more than 30 who scoured and re-examined the evidence.
http://www.metrokc.gov/sheriff/news/green_river/
Can’t say this website is anything but democratic and most definately not republican.
Hannah,
“So if Dave Reichert didn’t re-build the task force which in turn led to the DNA evidence to be re-submitted…who would we be blaming for the GRK still out there?”
Pay close attention to the timeline, girl. I know you can figure out the answer all by yourself….
See it yet?
@27 – In April 2001…
“In April of 2001, Dave Reichert, who was elected Sheriff of King County in 1997, brought together an evidence review team to jump-start the investigation.
In September of 2001, Detective Jensen informed Sheriff Dave Reichert that the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab had matched DNA evidence to suspect Gary Leon Ridgway. The patience of investigators succeeded in definitively tying the physical evidence to a single suspect. Had they tested and thereby destroyed the genetic samples any sooner, the case might never have reached its conclusion.”
from the KC Sheriff website
The Green River Homicides Investigation Team was formed to put together all the evidence for Norm Maleng’s team to setup the prosecution case against Ridgeway after the DNA match and subsequent arrest. This is what the team gathered for full prosecutorial evidence to be used in court:
“Following the formation of the Green River Homicides Team, one of the largest projects was providing discovery to the Ridgway defense. This included:
• Approximately 400,000 pages of documents.
• Approximately 15,000 photographs.
• Approximately 500 audiotapes.
• Approximately 170 videotapes.”
Like I said, I may not agree with Dave’s politics but I do believe had he not re-opened the door in early 2001 to have evidence tested with new DNA technology, these cases may still be in cold case as they had been for 10 years prior to 2001.
Hannah, the scientific technique (short-tandem-repeat PCR) that linked Ridgway’s DNA to the victims’ was not even available before 1996, and WA state crime lab wasn’t using it until sometime between 1998 and 2000. The cold case samples were a bit down on the list of priorities because the lab had other samples they were analyzing by that technique in open cases. So actually, unless they sent the samples out to another lab, at additional cost to the state, it wasn’t really possible for them to have gotten the final incriminating bit of evidence until 2001. So sorry, this particular defense of Reichert doesn’t hold up.
#29 Amem
@30 – I am just pointing out had Reichert not re-built the team in early 2001 to re-examine the evidence and work with Tom Jensen to get the samples to be tested with the new techniques, where would we be? Would those samples still be in evidence while the open cases continue to dominate DNA testing?
Still waiting to find out why anyone would vote for Big Hair. It’s amazing to me that the righties won’t even try to defend that piece of shit.
And if Davie was a hero for catching the Green River killer – he was a lousy hero. It took him seven years to catch a high school drop out.
What a record of accomplishment!
Hi all,
Golly–this list can be as partisan on the other side as the site I regularly post on, Soundpolitics, is on the right. I was looking for a Reichert defender to take issue with and I had to scroll all the way back to # 2, MGI!
MGI, you’re kind of missing the point. Last election Reichert put out some really strong ads attacking Burner’s past. They were what won him the election. I even talked to quite a few left-liberals who were wavering in their support of Burner because of the ads–I mean DB didn’t even vote most of the time: how horrible!
What everyone was assuming that made these ads work so well was that the official Seattle mythology was true, and that Reichert was the great hero of the Green River case. As such, he would have had an excellent right to challenge someone else over their faulty past.
Thanks all, New Left Conservative #1
Bad day for “true crime” buffs: It wasn’t Dave Reichert’s nab, and it isn’t D. B. Cooper’s parachute.
“SEATTLE – A parachute found in southwest Washington … is not the one used by … D.B. Cooper. … Earl Cossey, the man … who packed the four chutes Cooper demanded during the hijacking, … says it is made of silk, probably from around 1945, so it’s the wrong material and the wrong era. Cossey says he’s convinced it’s not Cooper’s chute.”
Quoted under fair use; for complete story and/or copyright info see http://www.king5.com/topstorie.....b1320.html
@2 “Even if that was true, that still doesn’t mean The Darcy belongs in the US House. No matter what Reichert did or didn’t do to catch the Green River killer, at the end of the day The Darcy still doesn’t have a resume.”
So if the accomplishment that got Reichert elected to Congress — catching Ridgeway — isn’t his accomplishment at all, then (according to you) we have two candidates with no accomplishments between them. So, why NOT elect Darcy? She’s just as accomplished as he is — even according to you.
Actually, Darcy does have accomplishments:
She managed a large budget and staff at Microsoft, and achieved her program’s objectives on time and on budget; and
She hugged a rabbit.
Do-nothing Congressman Reichert has been warming a chair in the U.S. House of Representatives for 3 1/2 years and hasn’t even hugged a rabbit yet.
Too bad Brainless ByeByeGOP can’t follow a thread.
Even Jennie Tlaz said the technology to nail wasn’t available until 1996 and not in use until 2000. So how does ByeByeGOP calculate seven years? That doesn’t stop ByeByeGOP from being the continuous moron he is.
Wait a minute… If an employee does something you direct them to do, who gets the credit?
It seems the lefties claim Clinton balanced the budget but he had a Republican congress which made him change priorities, yet he gets the credit.
Point missed by the lefties.
I challenge Reichert boosters to explain exactly what makes him qualified to serve in Congress
It’s the coif and the way he looks in uniform. Wingnuts like PSilly eat that shit up.
So Puddy won’t tell us why we should vote for Big Hair – not one right wing piece of shit on this blog will even try to justify that asshole’s existence.
And by the way Puddyhead – the technology to catch the Green River Killer has existed for hundreds of years. It’s called the firearm asswipe. And if your hero (who you won’t defend) was such a tough guy cop, that’s all he should have needed to catch the high school drop out.
Hey you and Ridgeway have something in common. You’re a high school drop out too right?
Puddy, Puddy, Puddy @ 39:
OK, let’s get in the “way back machine” Mr. Peabody. Set the date for September 16, 1995.
Newt and the boys start a battle budget with President Clinton. President Cliton doesn’t blink. Government shuts down several times. Newt blinks and gives in to President Cliton’s budget. US economy soars to unprecedented levels.
Future budgets President Clinton pays down Reagan’s and Bush 41’s National Debt.
Thanks, but no cigar.
If Repubicans were actually better with the People’s money, then they wouldn’t have DOUBLED the national debt in the first 5 years of Republican control of the government.
Truth is Democrats spend the People’s money more wisely than Culture of Corruption Conservatives.
True ‘dat.
Wow. Hannah’s right. And the left is… wrong.
“In April of 2001, Dave Reichert, who was elected Sheriff of King County in 1997, brought together an evidence review team to jump-start the investigation.” That is before November. Or December. Those lefties always have a hard time with facts.
The Reichert stuff is a fact. Not like Algore saying he invented the www. Or Darcy saying she was a program manager. Oh, that’s right, a lot of folks forgot SHE LIED about that.
How big was Darcy’s budget that she supposedly managed? She could do us all a favor and release her tax records. That’d be a step towards honesty. Then we’d know just exactly how far up the “ladder” she really was. And why is it “was”? Did she get fired?
Still not one right winger who can tell us why Big Hair Davie deserves to be in Congress. PITIFUL!
Well the good guys won again. We ran off every cowardly nutjob in the universe and they all bailed on Sheriff Big Hair. GOP = cowards. I love running Puddy off a thread. Every time you call him with facts he tries to change the subject and disappear. Typical right wing asshole.
@45 – In defense of Puddy look at the posting times! He posted at 5:32AM and a few from YESTERDAY when the thread was 1st posted, then you come in at 8:32AM TODAY and you act like you chased him off? No he just hasn’t been back since 3 HOURS BEFORE you posted, he’s probably working..he’ll be back, maybe not on this day old thread, but probably another.
Hi all,
# 43 and Hannah are sort of missing the point here.
Ridgway’s killing career had wound down, a victim of the aging process or some kind of fatigue, by the time he was finally caught.
And of course it was good that he was eventually caught–it made sure the killing spree was over, mostly closed the book on the crimes, and gave the public and the victims a bit of satisfaction to know he’s in a cell rather than strolling the beach with a latte.
But nobody with the least sense of justice is happy about the outcome of this case. The tragedy of Green River is that the law took such an interminably, mind-numblingly long time to get to Ridgeway, while death after death piled up. This despite the fact that during the time, his work buddies called him “Green River Gary,” and everyone in the city knew the cops had a suspect in South King County. His identity was known after the 7th victim’s boyfriend got the license plate number and when Reichert interviewed him over a front-yard fence, he had scars and bruises that would have been obvious had he even had to change his body position–which he didn’t.
Then there’s the issue of the death penalty. Maleng probably didn’t want to let the facts of the case come under the amount of scrutiny they would have gotten had there been a trial, so he went for a pleabargain. The idea that he and Reichert wanted to get more info on each crime and the whereabouts of victims is ridiculous on its face, as Ridgeway would have been more, not less likely to talk if he were facing an injection. The disrespectful way Reichert and Ridgeway talked about the victims during the jailhouse interviews adds a bad icing to a bad cake.
In fact, if you’re against the death penalty, as I am, that’s the only good thing you can say about the whole case: If you can’t execute a guy who strangled over 47 women, who can you execute?
Best wishes,
New Left Conservative #1
@47- Kinda like Robert Yates? Killed from 1975 to 2000 before he was finally caught! Who do we blame for that?
Or how about Jeffrey Dahmer? Killed from 1978 to 1991 before he finally got caught. Again who do we blame for that?
Those are just 2 well know serial killers that took years to catch.
And I knew one of the victims personally (family friends) and her family was all for the death penalty, until they found out Ridgeway would tell the investigators where the other missing victims were. Like they said, they want closure to those other girls families. I believe in the death penalty, an eye for an eye, as long as there is DNA eveidence and other STRONG evidence, I believe we shouldn’t be wasting space with these nutjobs! Child molestors, serial killers, cold blood murderers!
Hi all,
Daumer and Yates’s identity weren’t known to the police and they weren’t the number 1 persons of interest during the majority of the time they were doing their respective killing.
As for the death penalty issue, you sound like you’re working real hard. So the death penalty should be applied unless the criminal has some info we want? Either way, for or against the penalty, that doesn’t fly.
Thanks all for your time, and Hannah particularly for addressing my points, New Left Conservative #1.
@49 – Just like in the Zeina Linik case, yes the family agreed to take the death penalty off the table, so they could get their little girl back to lay her to rest. I think it should be up to the victims families and that’s exactly what Maleng did with Ridgeway and what Pierce County did with Linik’s killer.
I should amend my comments and in the future blog in a way more similar to the way I’d want to communicate if we were face to face.
I’ve complained bitterly about this when other people did it, now I’m guilty.
My deepest condolences to your friends for their loss, Hannah.
Thanks, New Left Conservative #1
Sure,
We’ll call it the bury-the-body exemption from the death penalty.
Best,
New Left Conservative #1