It seems to me that almost from the moment Paul Berendt announced his retirement, the race to replace him as state Democratic chair has pretty much split the party in two, between those who support Dwight Pelz and… um… those who don’t support Dwight Pelz.
And so it comes as no surprise that as the party heads into this Saturday’s vote, it’s pretty much shaping up to be a two-person contest. First Greg Rodriguez, and then Phil Talmadge dropped out of the race. And tonight Snohomish County chair Mark Hintz tells me that he has withdrawn his name, and asked his supporters to “vote their conscience.” Good thing we’re not Republicans, as such an instruction might result in a lot of blank ballots.
I know that technically there’s still a couple of other candidates, but with Hintz’s withdrawal, realistically, this has now come down to a race between front-runner Pelz and Laura Ruderman. I keep hearing that Ruderman is coming on strong, particularly in Eastern Washington… but probably not strong enough. And Pelz just got a huge boost this evening when he captured the endorsement of the sixty-thousand strong SEIU Washington State Council.
I know a lot of people have gotten awfully worked up over the race for party chair, but me, not so much. Perhaps I’m naive or ignorant, but while their strengths may lie in different areas, both Pelz and Ruderman seem qualified. So at the risk of incurring Ivan’s wrath again, I just want to repeat that all I ask from the new chair is an open mind and an open door.
The Dem. Chair race is radioactive it seems. There’s a sort of unofficial radio silence over at Washblog. Folks get bent out of shape over this stuff. And its soooo inside baseball.
I really like Laura Ruderman for some reason. I think she would become very high profile, and that could be a good thing or a bad thing.
Both Pelz and Ruderman will be big targets, much more then Paul Berendt. I really support Ruderman though. As long as she can stay positive the party will do well.
Gerald T.
http://www.liberalwashington.com
Dwight (I love Fidel) Pelz is way too far to the left to be an effective Democrat state party chair. It would be like electing Ellen Craswell to chair the state GOP. In fact, Pelz is even more extreme than Craswell. At least Ellen Craswell was elected to the legislature four times from Kitsap County — which is a fair microcosm of the state as a whole. Dwight Pelz could only get elected from the most liberal and heavily Democrat section of Seattle (to the King County Council). When Pelz ran citywide in Seattle (which is somewhat less liberal than his former council district, but much more liberal than the state as a whole), Pelz was trounced by a relatively conservative Democrat.
Laura Ruderman would be much more effective. She was elected three times to the legislature from a Republican leaning district that had never previously re-elected a Democrat. She gave Sam Reed a very close race in 2004, despite overwhelming odds. But hopefully, since I am the one talking favorably about Ruderman, the Democrats will be more inclined to choose Pelz on Saturday.
Heh Goldy,
Gee speaking of elections, it is probably a good thing that you did not get a chance to be in the running for that open Seattle City Council Position.
Because if they had even allowed you into the race (pun), you would have been biasly overlooked because you are a white male.
Zero consideration would have been given to you. You would not have even had a place mark on their Seattle City Human Resources Hiring Matrix of qualified candidates.
So you would have had to do a column dedicated to slamming the discrimination shown by them!
So in ending it is a good thing they didn’t allow you to run!
I say who ever blubblers and crys the best should get it. “Let every (sniff blubber whine) donk vote count” sniff sniff.
Pelz has better connections with the Party’s traditional supporters (the SEIU endorsement is a great example of this), and will be a better grassroots organizer by far.
As far as the topic being radioactive at Washblog, that all goes back to this comment posted by an anti-Pelz guy in response to the Gregoire/Murray endorsement of Dwight (another sign that he’ll hit the ground running, by the way). If you read through that diary you’ll understand why the topic’s a bit taboo over there.
Goldy, what are your thoughts on the WSRP race? Did you ever get a response from your email to Chris Vance, asking him and the State Committee to consider your candidacy?
Respectfully Republican
Willis @ 6 – You are correct that Dwight has connections with the party’s traditional supporters – but so does Laura. In fact, she has brought in some of the party’s biggest donors (not labor) and dramatically increased the fundrasing base. Regarding endorsements, Dwight hasn’t been exactly forthcoming, and many people feel misled by statements implying endorsements that truly do not exist (not speaking of the Governor) as such. He uses mind tricks by saying he endorsed by one group and supported by another. Of course, he never clarifies. Dwight = more of the same. Laura = a fresh start, message that appeals to dems AND swing voters, massive fundraising, NEW seats, and traditional R supporters moving towards D’s…
I am NOT “anonymous”.
Pelz is in for a Ruderman awakening. Those who have run the party for so long are about to lose their grip on the party, and they’ve lost their grip on reality if they think Pelz has the votes. Expect to see them bring out all the guns in their arsenal tomorrow and Saturday…then fall short anyway. Nighty night, Dwight. Laura is your superior in every way. Better fundraiser, better campaigner, better speaker, on and on and on and on and on and on…
i wanted to comment in regards to the article you wrote about raising the legal gambling age however comments have been deactivated. So here i comment instead.
First off i would like to point out that in this nation a minor may be sentenced to death yet a minor cannot gamble. As-well as that the legal age for military service is 17. if it is legal to gamble with ones life at the age of 17 or be sentenced to death at an even lesser age than why not to gamble with ones cash at the age of 18? is money worth more than life itself? How could one be responsible enough to be sentenced to death or life in prison but not responsible enough be allowed to gamble? Also i would like to point out that casual shopping is an addiction that costs more and is far more widespread than gambling. Should we ban shopping for those 21 & under? Why then is gambling such the taboo? is it because of a pseudo-liberal moralist agenda that is mirror resemblance of conservative totalitarianism?
The US is already marked with having the highest drinking age in the world, and the strictest anti-smoking and anti-sex laws in the entire first world. Under the clause of protecting its people from themselves, The US has become arguably the most oppressive nation in the first world in terms of personal freedoms and basic liberties. Why should we desire that Washington state become a leader in the regressive spiral towards complete fascism?
it is understandable for any decent government to be concerned for the welfare of its people, the fact remains that people will always make mistakes one way or another and no amount of laws can prevent that. People must learn from the consequences of their actions – it is a necessary and natural process in personal development. Prohibitions will only prolong this. Might i suggest that if the governments true concern is the well-being of its people than let the government use the money it would have otherwise lost if the anti-gambling legislation were to go into effect towards helping the extreme minority of gamblers who might have a serious problem to receive help for their problem.
in summing this up the point made is that moderate existentialism is imperative to a nation built in pursuit of freedom and liberty as the governments incestuous mothering of its peoples has only prolonged progress and exists as a putrid obstacle blocking the path to advancement.
“Those who would trade liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security” – Thomas Jefferson
~ incogneto
PS. i just read that Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles who introduced the legislation said in an interview that all other west coast states besides Washington have set the legal gambling age to 21. That would be a blatant lie. I’m from California and the legal age for gambling is 18 the only exception to this law is at casinos that serve alcohol, and i just confirmed that the gambling age in oregon is 18 though it appears in some cases it may actually be lower. …and Rep. Mary Helen Roberts cited “new brain research” lol
@ 6
Jeez! I read through that thread. What a circle-jerk of recrimination. By what that guy said, you’d think that Dwight was a Republican. Honestly, of the candidates out there, I think they’re are decent, Laura is good, and Dwight is better. That’s about it. Much more important things to be worried about (see comment under Greg Rod.’s diary at WB)
To steal from Belltowner:
I think it’s safe to say that the accusations that you bring up have fairly well refuted, and the author of those accusations has retracted them as well – so you’re not helping your argument here by bringing that up again.
I’m pretty sure that Laura doesn’t have the best relationship with WEA and labor orgs.
Either way, the Party will be fine.
And just to clairfy, #13 is in response to #8.
@ 13
You’re incorrect, Willis. There were questions, not accusations. Don’t spin. That’s what Republicans do. The questions have largely been answered. There was never a need for retractions to be issued.
You’re a Pelz supporter, aren’t you, Willis?
Since the comments here indicate that Ruderman is another Republican-lite DINO, Dwight get’s my vote — if I had one.
When “way too far to the left” means a Kennedy Democrat, directional labels have no meaning.
The Iraqi general who served as a top lieutenant to Saddam Hussein said Thursday that he personally witnessed Osama bin Laden inspecting Iraqi air force facilities in Baghdad.
Speaking in halting English, former Iraqi Gen. Georges Sada described the bin Laden visit to ABC Radio’s Sean Hannity.
“I can make sure one thing – I know – I have seen by my eyes. It was in ’84, ’85, Osama bin Laden himself was coming to Iraqi air force headquarters.”
Gen. Sada explained: “At that time he was looking for contracts to build air fields in Iraq.”
The top Hussein lieutenant said he had no idea if the visit was part of any alliance between bin Laden and the Iraqi dictator.
Bin Laden’s 1984 trip to Baghdad has never before been revealed, though a 1998 visit during which the al Qaeda chief allegedly met with Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz was reported by the Weekly Standard two years ago.
In an interview that appeared in Thursday’s New York Sun, Gen. Sada confirmed that Saddam had spirited his weapons of mass destruction out of the country before the U.S. invaded in March 2003.
“Saddam realized, this time, the Americans are coming,” he told the Sun. “They handed over the weapons of mass destruction to the Syrians.â€
[This can’t be true because Kerry and Kennedy told us there were NO terrorists in Iraq! Bush lied!! Bush lied!! Bush lied!!……..Oh, He didn’t?……….Never mind!! Rosanna Rosannadana]
@15, 16
Yeah, I like Dwight.
And what your buddy Andrew did was completely unresponsible. In the same vein of the hatchet-job he did on Dwight, I could ask you “Mount Olympus Hiker, when did you stop beating your mother?” – and technically I haven’t made any accusations of you, just asked a “question”. Andrew’s “Clearing the Air” is pretty much a retraction, and an admission of wrong-doing on his part (and I give him credit for admitting his error). You can’t defend the original post from Andrew, so please stop trying – all it does is take away from Andrew’s retraction, and make NPI look bad.
Egad… not this subject again….
Front Page Magazine — April 23. 2002
Pelz is a member of the King County Council in Seattle. In 1999, he and other council members invited Fidel Castro to the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle. The invitation read: “Should you decide to lead the Cuban delegation to this historic event, we would be honored to have you visit with us. We think your visit here will be a very educational and enriching experience, both for you and the people who reside in communities throughout our region of the country.”
Last April, Pelz submitted a resolution to establish a “sister-county relationship” with Cuba’s Granma province. Cuba is one of only seven countries classified by the U.S. State Department as a sponsor of terrorism.
This February, Pelz led a delegation to Cuba “on a fact-finding mission to explore building this relationship.” He recounts the trip in “County could build ties with Cuban people” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 11, 2002).
Pelz refers to Cuba’s “first rate education and health care system” and describes it as “a nation with little crime.” “I encountered safe streets with a steady police presence,” he writes. Indeed, police states tend to have a steady police presence.
Regarding education, Castro said as early as 1965 that “our children are being educated to live in a Communist society” and “they must be discouraged from every egotistical feeling in the enjoyment of material things, such as the sense of individual property.” How this perversion constitutes “first rate education” is unclear. (Private schools are prohibited, so parents have no educational options.)
Health care is also far from first-rate and predicated upon ideological apartheid. Dr. Miguel A. Faria, Jr. notes in Cuba in Revolution: Escape from a Lost Paradise, “It is certainly true that in Cuba everyone (i.e., except those branded as counterrevolutionaries) has, at least on paper, access to physicians and health care, although in practice it is a most rudimentary form of medical care.” (Even if health care were superb and non-discriminatory, it would not mitigate the regime’s totalitarianism.)
Lo and behold, the Cubans Pelz met were Fidelistas: “I met people with a rich understanding of their own history, and a shared commitment to the direction their country is taking.” He reiterates, “We found support for Castro.” (Castro enjoys so much support that he has refused electoral accountability for forty-three years.)
Pelz ends his account with the hope that “the Garfield High Jazz Band could travel to the city of Bayamo, Granma and demonstrate to Cubans the beauty of American jazz.”
Absent from Pelz’s Cuba is Castro’s totalitarianism, manifest in prohibitions like “disrespect,” “illicit association,” and “illegal exit.” Pelz criticizes the federal government for “restrictions on my right as an American citizen to freely travel to Cuba” but ignores restrictions on Cubans’ right to freely travel to America or anywhere else.
Absent is the terror Castro inflicts through his secret police, the DSE (Department of State Security), the brownshirt-like Rapid Response Brigades, and thousands of chivatos (informers).
Absent are the persecuted dissidents and Amnesty International prisoners of conscience such as Vladimiro Roca and Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet.
Absent are the horrors at Bayamo’s Las Mangas prison and State Security headquarters.
Somehow these facts eluded Pelz during his “fact-finding mission.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Ar.....sp?ID=1211
Front Page Magazine — April 23. 2002
Pelz is a member of the King County Council in Seattle. In 1999, he and other council members invited Fidel Castro to the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle. The invitation read: “Should you decide to lead the Cuban delegation to this historic event, we would be honored to have you visit with us. We think your visit here will be a very educational and enriching experience, both for you and the people who reside in communities throughout our region of the country.”
Last April, Pelz submitted a resolution to establish a “sister-county relationship” with Cuba’s Granma province. Cuba is one of only seven countries classified by the U.S. State Department as a sponsor of terrorism.
This February, Pelz led a delegation to Cuba “on a fact-finding mission to explore building this relationship.” He recounts the trip in “County could build ties with Cuban people” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 11, 2002).
Pelz refers to Cuba’s “first rate education and health care system” and describes it as “a nation with little crime.” “I encountered safe streets with a steady police presence,” he writes. Indeed, police states tend to have a steady police presence.
Regarding education, Castro said as early as 1965 that “our children are being educated to live in a Communist society” and “they must be discouraged from every egotistical feeling in the enjoyment of material things, such as the sense of individual property.” How this perversion constitutes “first rate education” is unclear. (Private schools are prohibited, so parents have no educational options.)
Health care is also far from first-rate and predicated upon ideological apartheid. Dr. Miguel A. Faria, Jr. notes in Cuba in Revolution: Escape from a Lost Paradise, “It is certainly true that in Cuba everyone (i.e., except those branded as counterrevolutionaries) has, at least on paper, access to physicians and health care, although in practice it is a most rudimentary form of medical care.” (Even if health care were superb and non-discriminatory, it would not mitigate the regime’s totalitarianism.)
Lo and behold, the Cubans Pelz met were Fidelistas: “I met people with a rich understanding of their own history, and a shared commitment to the direction their country is taking.” He reiterates, “We found support for Castro.” (Castro enjoys so much support that he has refused electoral accountability for forty-three years.)
Pelz ends his account with the hope that “the Garfield High Jazz Band could travel to the city of Bayamo, Granma and demonstrate to Cubans the beauty of American jazz.”
Absent from Pelz’s Cuba is Castro’s totalitarianism, manifest in prohibitions like “disrespect,” “illicit association,” and “illegal exit.” Pelz criticizes the federal government for “restrictions on my right as an American citizen to freely travel to Cuba” but ignores restrictions on Cubans’ right to freely travel to America or anywhere else.
Absent is the terror Castro inflicts through his secret police, the DSE (Department of State Security), the brownshirt-like Rapid Response Brigades, and thousands of chivatos (informers).
Absent are the persecuted dissidents and Amnesty International prisoners of conscience such as Vladimiro Roca and Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet.
Absent are the horrors at Bayamo’s Las Mangas prison and State Security headquarters.
Somehow these facts eluded Pelz during his “fact-finding mission.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Ar.....sp?ID=1211
Front Page Magazine — April 23. 2002
Pelz is a member of the King County Council in Seattle. In 1999, he and other council members invited Fidel Castro to the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle. The invitation read: “Should you decide to lead the Cuban delegation to this historic event, we would be honored to have you visit with us. We think your visit here will be a very educational and enriching experience, both for you and the people who reside in communities throughout our region of the country.”
Last April, Pelz submitted a resolution to establish a “sister-county relationship” with Cuba’s Granma province. Cuba is one of only seven countries classified by the U.S. State Department as a sponsor of terrorism.
This February, Pelz led a delegation to Cuba “on a fact-finding mission to explore building this relationship.” He recounts the trip in “County could build ties with Cuban people” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 11, 2002).
Pelz refers to Cuba’s “first rate education and health care system” and describes it as “a nation with little crime.” “I encountered safe streets with a steady police presence,” he writes. Indeed, police states tend to have a steady police presence.
Regarding education, Castro said as early as 1965 that “our children are being educated to live in a Communist society” and “they must be discouraged from every egotistical feeling in the enjoyment of material things, such as the sense of individual property.” How this perversion constitutes “first rate education” is unclear. (Private schools are prohibited, so parents have no educational options.)
Health care is also far from first-rate and predicated upon ideological apartheid. Dr. Miguel A. Faria, Jr. notes in Cuba in Revolution: Escape from a Lost Paradise, “It is certainly true that in Cuba everyone (i.e., except those branded as counterrevolutionaries) has, at least on paper, access to physicians and health care, although in practice it is a most rudimentary form of medical care.” (Even if health care were superb and non-discriminatory, it would not mitigate the regime’s totalitarianism.)
Lo and behold, the Cubans Pelz met were Fidelistas: “I met people with a rich understanding of their own history, and a shared commitment to the direction their country is taking.” He reiterates, “We found support for Castro.” (Castro enjoys so much support that he has refused electoral accountability for forty-three years.)
Pelz ends his account with the hope that “the Garfield High Jazz Band could travel to the city of Bayamo, Granma and demonstrate to Cubans the beauty of American jazz.”
Absent from Pelz’s Cuba is Castro’s totalitarianism, manifest in prohibitions like “disrespect,” “illicit association,” and “illegal exit.” Pelz criticizes the federal government for “restrictions on my right as an American citizen to freely travel to Cuba” but ignores restrictions on Cubans’ right to freely travel to America or anywhere else.
Absent is the terror Castro inflicts through his secret police, the DSE (Department of State Security), the brownshirt-like Rapid Response Brigades, and thousands of chivatos (informers).
Absent are the persecuted dissidents and Amnesty International prisoners of conscience such as Vladimiro Roca and Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet.
Absent are the horrors at Bayamo’s Las Mangas prison and State Security headquarters.
Somehow these facts eluded Pelz during his “fact-finding mission.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Ar.....sp?ID=1211
Why did my last comment get posted three times? I only hit the “Say it!” key once. Sound Politics often does this multiple posting thing, but this is about the first time it has happened to me on Horse’s Ass.
Pope @ 21, 22, 23:
If you think quoting Front Page Magazine somehow gives you credibility, you are quickly disappearing down the shitter into the JCH class.
Taking political advice on Democratic politics from Richard Pope makes as much sense as the Seahawks taking tips froom the Steelers. Sorry for the sports analogy, but I want to keep this dignified.
Here is my analogy — electing Dwight Pelz to lead the Washington State Democrats makes as much sense as electing Hamas to lead the Palestinian Authority.
25 & 26 Right on. Dare I say Pope sucks right along with Vancouver.
@26
Actually, taking advice on Dem politics from Shark might be like the Seahawks taking advice from the Steelers.
Taking advice on Dem politics from Pope is like the Seahawks taking political advice from the Houston Texans. ;)
@29 – take the word “political” out of the last sentence. You know what I mean…
@29 – take the word “political” out of the last sentence. You know what I mean…
It works either way.
3
“Dwight (I love Fidel)”
That’s as far as I read, Richard. The rest of your thought, I decided, wasn’t worth my time.
Kevin Carns @5
You are confused. You really meant Rossi campaign HQ, right?
7
College Republicans? Isn’t that the outfit that fleeced senior citizens? http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....bs28m.html
9
“I am NOT ‘anonymous’.”
You are not a lot of things, Richard. Don’t worry, no one will ever mistake you for:
Albert Einstein
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Thomas Jefferson
William Faulkner
Roger Rabbit
Dalai Lama
I could go on, but you get my drift … ?
18
Which rightwing did you get that from, Kevin?
26
“Taking political advice on Democratic politics from Richard Pope makes as much sense as the Seahawks taking tips froom the Steelers.”
Actually, the latter makes far more sense, because the Steelers at least have a halfway decent team.
27
Where’s the analogy, Richard? I see no analogy between the Democratic Party and Palestinians, or between Dwight Pelz and Hamas. Are you saying Pelz is the leader of a terrorist group? Is Richard the Libertarian now adopting Cheney-talk? Are you pandering to the Bushies for a position because you can’t get elected to anything?
BTW, Richard, the Palestinian people do have some legitimate grievances — such as Israel hogging 90% of the water …
I don’t really have a horse to ride on this one. Just elect the smartest, best organized, and most effective chair; then let’s get on with the tasking of kicking GOP butts.
When the WA Conservation Voters did not endorse Ruderman for Secy of State, she through a major fit and said she would not have supported their platform if she knew that they wouldn’t endorse her. Ruderman is a political lightweight who will not be able to guide the D’s. The R’s will destroy her.
JCH @ 18
It’s Emily Litella, halfwit!
More proof that Republicans cannot quote with any accuracy.
Right now, the Democrats are as strong in Washington politics as the Seattle Seahawks are in football.
If they elect Dwight Pelz as their Chair, the Democrats will only be as strong as the New Orleans Saints. (I picked New Orleans because they have been around for a long time, just like Pelz. The Houston Texans are a recent expansion team.)
No matter who becomes the next chair, I for one can’t wait to see who will be the first to complain some variation of “Andrew Boike(or Pelz or Ruderman) was crammed down our throats by a majority of the elected state committee” or “s/he only won because s/he has so many supporters”.
Dwight is the clear best chouce for party chair. He has demonstrated every skill through is own actions over 30 years in public service. What follows is his update from a few days ago. The party and the people of this state have a bright future. Most of Eastern Washington is about to find out why they are proud to be Democrats and to elect Democrats.
January 20, 2006
Dear State Central Committee Member,
First let me thank all of you for the time and attention you have given this
contest. I know that you have busy lives, which makes me even more
appreciative of the many considerations you have shown me. It has a
wonderful pleasure to meet so many of you in your own communities and to put
our Party and its work into the local context.
On the same day our Democratic Party will be electing our State Chair the
Republicans will be electing their chair too. Chris Vance has lost all
credibility. He’s used up and has to be replaced. But whoever they elect
will not run their party. Professional operatives from Slade Gorton’s
machine will move into Republican Headquarters. Their party will take the
high road and Gorton’s hatchet men will take the low road to conduct a
determined and vicious campaign to capture Maria Cantwell’s seat in the U.S.
Senate.
Our Party must be at maximum strength to meet their 2006 challenge. Our
Democratic Chair must be the best organizer in the state. Our Democratic
Chair must have the closest working relationship with our elected officials
and the powerhouse allies of our party. And he must be able to stand up –
toe to toe – to every maneuver and ploy the Republicans will throw at us.
I intend to be that Chair. I see the job ahead and I am ready for it by
talent, experience and temperament. I want you to join me in meeting this
challenge.
OUR PROGRESS REPORT
With more that a month of campaigning behind us and only a week to go before
the vote that will end this campaign I want to give you an update on our
progress toward that goal.
This campaign has been a great pleasure and a great learning experience for
me as I met Democrats and their Party leaders across the state to discuss
their political issues and to give them a flavor of what a Pelz
administration would mean for our Party. I did a four-day tour of Eastern
Washington, visiting Spokane, Newport, Colville, Davenport, Othello, Pasco,
Walla Walla, Clarkston and Pullman. I have met with Democrats in Aberdeen,
Shelton, Mt. Vernon, Chehalis, Longview and Vancouver. I have been to
Kitsap County and will be going to Ferndale, Olympia, Port Angeles and
Renton. Throughout my travels I found our Party committed to making our
state and our nation better places to live, work and raise our families.
WHAT LIES AHEAD
In each of these places our Party faces unique challenges. But everywhere
our local parties are as one in their need for help, not direction, from the
State Party. I have learned that the greatest service I can give as Chair
is to help in organizing so they can bring more grassroots Democrats into
their local Parties. They want training in recruiting candidates for all
their partisan offices and for non-partisan offices as well. Across the
board they need help in raising money so they too can play a part in funding
campaigns.
All of these needs play to my strengths as a grassroots political organizer
that I learned here in our state over the past 30 years. But I know that
the Party Chair cannot accomplish these things alone. As Chair I will build
the training component of the Party so we can depend on local Democrats to
do much of the important work that lies ahead.
I will continue to support our regional office and staff in Eastern
Washington. If circumstances permit I want to expand that effort so that
both the 4th and 5th CDs can have their own Party office and full time
staff. To attract more grassroots Democrats into our local Party
Organizations I want to continue meetings patterned on the successful
Eastern Washington Conference held in Moses Lake last year.
I am especially aware that great potential for our Party lies untapped in
our communities of color and in ethnic communities across the state. I want
to build the diversity of our current membership and use it to make the
Democratic Party more relevant in the communities where they live. We will
work together to increase our organizing and to find leaders who will run
for office throughout the state and I believe the State Party can and should
provide it.
THE PELZ DELEGATE COUNT
So far our campaign has been very successful in bring members of the Central
Committee into our effort. As of this writing more than a majority of the
members of the Central Committee have indicated their support for my
candidacy.
MY PLEDGE TO YOU
As State Democratic Chair my first priority will be to use the full
resources of the State Party to make every County Democratic Party and
Legislative District Organization as effective and successful as possible.
My second priority will be to make our local elections as victorious as
possible. At the same time I will bring the entire State Party together as
one to solidify our hold on Maria Cantwell’s U.S. Senate seat and to expand
our representation in the U.S. House of Representative.
These are goals we can and will meet. Our Party has done great over the
years and together I know we can do even better.
Sincerely,
Dwight Pelz
SOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS OF SUPPORT
I’d like you to know the names of some of the people and groups who have
endorsed my efforts to be State Party Chair. I consider all of these
endorsements important because they each represent parts of the Party or the
Party’s allies that the new chair will be working with in the years ahead.
You have already seen that Senator Patty Murray and Governor Christine
Gregoire have put their confidence in me. They and their staff believe I am
the strongest candidate running to build the Party in our state.
King County Executive Ron Sims and Council member Larry Gossett also
demonstrate that they know and trust that I will work with them in their
offices. Velma Veloria and Kip Tokuda, former members of the Legislature
from the largely minority 11th and 37th Districts endorse me and know that I
will work to develop the Democratic Party across the State.
Former State Party Chairs Karen Marchioro and Charles Rolland, who know the
job better than anyone besides Paul Berendt, both support my election
because they say that I represent our Party’s best chance of meeting the
challenges that lie ahead in the 2006 elections. The same evaluation has
brought other Party leaders to support my candidacy, including D.N.C.
members Ed Cote and Pat Notter, LD Chairs Peter House and Scott White, and
Party activists like Greg Mowat, Betty Means and Jeanne Legult.
Dean Nielson the Washington Director of the Progressive Majority is a strong
Pelz supporter because he knows that our Party’s success in Washington State
depends on a strong progressive State Chair.
I am attaching a letter from Charles Hasse, the President of the Washington
Education Association, addressed to WEA members who serve on the State
Democratic Central Committee, saying that the WEA does not endorse in Party
races such as this, but states clearly that they consider me a friend of
education.
I have received the endorsement of the Thurston, Lewis and Mason Counties
Central Labor Council. I am proud of their support because the bulk of the
union members this Council represents serve all of us as the people who make
government work in Olympia.
The State Association of Electrical Workers, the labor organization that
includes the IBEW, one of the most active unions working on the behalf of
Democratic candidates, says that it wants to work with me as the leader of
the Democratic Party as we go into battle with the Republicans this year.
The State Council of the Service Employees International Union has given me
their endorsement. I am particularly pleased by this show of support
because no other union is doing more to bring the advantages of collective
action to some of the hardest working and lowest paid members of the State’s
workforce. The SEIU has more members from communities of color than any
other union. Their endorsement is a reflection of their trust that as Chair
of the Party I will work just as hard to bring greater political
participation to these same communities. SEIU is one of the three largest
contributors to the Washington State Democratic Party.
Sorry, that Boike link should go here
Geez P-man, you should get a blog! I have seen all the optimistic letters and this worries me:
“My second priority will be to make our local elections as victorious as possible”
When you are the state party chair, everyone is local. Freudian slip?
Awwww… I know what you are thinking. Don’t. I’m with Goldy on this one. As long as they have an open mind and an open door, all will be well.
Maybe we Eastsiders have chip on our shoulder? :)
Resistance is futile. Boike for chair! Boooooiiiiikkkkkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I don’t have a vote on the state committee, but Dwight Pelz has my full support.
If the delegates to the state committee from other outlying areas are as much of a (excuse please Goldy) horses ass as the delegates from my area, you can bet the worst of the two will win.
Dwight Pelz is going to have some major PDC issues from his campaign finance compliance from his 2001 King County Council race and his abortive 2005 King County Council race. Pelz reported tens of thousands of dollars in expenses and thousands of dollars in receipts as much as several months past the due date, failed to file many required monthly reports at all, and filed numerous other reports late.
Pelz even has $10,521.65 in his 2005 King County Council campaign fund that he has never accounted for at all. That was the cash balance shown on his report for the period ending September 30, 2004, that was filed on October 10, 2004. Under PDC law, Pelz would have had to file a subsequent report anytime he spent more than $200 in the aggregate or received more than $200 in the aggregate since September 30, 2004. And even if Pelz didn’t spend or receive a dime of this money after September 30, 2004, he would have been required to file two reports before the September 2005 primary and two more reports before the November 2005 primary.
In any event, Pelz hasn’t filed any PDC reports for his 2005 King County Council campaign fund since October 10, 2004. What did Pelz do with this $10,521.65, and why didn’t he report it to the PDC?
I just noticed a lot of this going over Pelz’s PDC filings. It will take me a while to print out all these and file a formal complaint with the PDC. Probably by that time, the Democrats will have already elected Pelz to be their state Chair. Just as well, since I am a Republican and would prefer to see the least effective Democrat party Chair as possible.
This will suit the Democrats well. Pelz will do as good of a job accounting for state party finances as he did with his own campaign finances. Under Paul Berendt, the state Democrats had to pay hundreds of thousands in PDC fines. These fines will no doubt escalate if there are repeated violations of the same magnitude.
Hey Pope, Dick (middle name suck) What about Debolt’s 3 million dollar railroad spur to the company he works for?
did anyone see the editorial on dumbass GOP senate hopeful McGavick today? its just rich!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....nny27.html
There is one person. One person. That stands out above the rest. Who both owns a pair of scissors AND can rin with them. One person that can see the future of the party before it happens … and position ourselves for that future.
He has no endorsements because he is an endorser, not an endorsee.
His political acumen strikes fear into the hearts of our opponents, and yes, he is a ninja.
We all know the person whom I am speaking of.
Here is the e-mail I just sent to Dwight Pelz about his PDC violation problems:
Subject: Missing and Late PDC Reports from Your Political Campaigns
Date: 1/27/2006 10:56:05 A.M. Pacific Standard Time
Are you going to file reports with the PDC to show what you did with the $10,521.65 balance in your 2005 King County Council campaign fund? You showed $10,521.65 as the cash balance on your C4 report for the period ending September 30, 2004, that was filed on October 10, 2004.
Under PDC law (RCW 42.17.080(c)), you would have had to file a subsequent C4 monthly report (and supporting schedules) anytime you spent more than $200 in the aggregate or received more than $200 in the aggregate since September 30, 2004.
And even if you didn’t spend or receive a dime of this King County council campaign fund money after September 30, 2004, you would have been required to file two C4 reports 21 days and 7 days before the September 20, 2005 primary election and two more C4 reports 21 days and 7 days before the November 8, 2005 general election. RCW 42.17.080(a).
In any event, you haven’t filed any PDC reports for your 2005 King County Council campaign fund since October 10, 2004. What did you do with this $10,521.65 cash balance, and why haven’t you reported it yet to the PDC?
You also seem to have a lot of missing monthly C4 reports, especially from your 2005 King County Council campaign, but also possibly from your 2001 King County Council campaign. As I stated above, RCW 42.17.080(c), requires you to file a monthly report anytime there has been more than $200 in receipts OR more than $200 in expenses since the last monthly report was filed. You frequently went two, three or even more months between filing C4 reports, even though they should have been filed for the intervening months as well.
In perhaps your most egregious missing report violation, you had a total of $16,599.63 in expenses during the month of May 2004 from your 2005 King County Council campaign fund. Under RCW 42.17.080(c), you were required to file a monthly C4 report (and the other schedules which accompany it) for May 2004, which would have been due on June 10, 2004. However, you decided to skip the May 2004 report altogether, and didn’t file a C4 report until July 11, 2004 (which covered both May 2004 and June 2004). Needless to say, this was not the only instance of your skipping a required monthly C4 report.
If these PDC violation allegations (or even some of them) are correct, you shouldn’t be running for state Democrat Party Chair. You will have to be accounting for millions of receipts and expenditures, rather than just thousands. And the state Democrat Party has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for past PDC reporting violations, and these fines will probably escalate if there are future allegations. Not to mention that you will have to instill confidence in Democrat donors that their monies will be properly accounted for and expended to promote the Democrat party, as opposed to paying PDC fines and lawyer fees for defending against PDC investigations.
You seem to be a very close ally of Governor Christine Gregoire, who is backing your candidacy for Democrat state party Chair. I can appreciate your need for continued full-time job, since you have spent the last eight years or so in a well-paying position on the King County Council. However, Governor Gregoire can just as easily appoint you to one of the many political appointments that are available in Washington state government. Such a position may very well pay as much, if not more, than Democrat Party Chair, and your PDC problems from your past political campaigns would not be a major embarrassment to Governor Gregoire (or the Democrat Party), were you to be appointed to some position in her administration.
Sincerely,
Richard Pope
Pope, Dick Suck
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The city of New Orleans could lose up to 80 percent of its black population if people displaced by Hurricane Katrina are not able to return to damaged neighborhoods, according to an analysis by a Brown University sociologist. [Now THIS is a horrible thought for a Democrat pol in New Orleans. Get the buses ready!!]
incognet [sic] @ 11
I believe your quote was from Benjamin Franklin.
“They that can give up essential liberty
to obtain a little temporary safety,
deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Benjamin Franklin – 1759
Richard Pope @ 27
…electing Dwight Pelz to lead the Washington State Democrats makes as much sense as electing Hamas to lead the Palestinian Authority.
You mean that the free exercise of the voting privilege, democracy at work, and a majority of citizens expressing their opinion “doesn’t make sense?” And here I thought demicrcy was on the march. Facts are stupid things. There’s an old saying, “Fool me one…ummm…”
Personally, the sooner we get over our little Castro snit and re-open relations with Cuba, the happier I’ll be and the better off the Cuban people will be. We’ve had 45 years to see how our current policy has failed us and failed them.
If I could type I’d be dangerous.
JCH @ 57
You’re right. That’s why the Republican federal government is dragging its feet about rebuilding the parts of the city where they lived. They don’t want them there. Oh, well, parts of Texas (like Houston) just went Democratic.