Yesterday was a pretty damn fine day for Seattle-area Democrats in general and progressives in particular… though you never want to see your party blow an opportunity like the opportunity the Dems have blown against DUI-damaged King County Councilmember Jane Hague. So in tribute to the suddenly high-profile KC Council District 6 race — and the missed deadline that has made Richard Pope the Democratic Party standard bearer — I’ll be posting HA’s official primary endorsements and predictions, sometime later this afternoon. (I think you’ll find my predictions pretty dead-on.)
My election night take-away in a nutshell? Bill Sherman has a clear path to defeating Dan Satterberg for King County Prosecutor, the numbers favor Alec Fisken and Gael Tarleton bringing a reformist majority to the Seattle Port Commission, and in passing the two parks levies by comfortable margins, voters once again prove that they like paying for government services that deliver the services they like. Oh… and the 2-to-1 Democratic preference in our pick-a-party primary shows just how marginalized the King County GOP has become.
Republicans tend to turn out heavier than Dems in primaries — particularly low-profile, off-year primaries like this one — so the party-identification split is likely closer to 70-30. “Nonpartisan” local races have served as a wilderness preserve for endangered Eastside Republicans, but look for identifiably progressive candidates to make huge inroads this November.
Does this mean he gets dem party support? The crazy thing is he could actually win …
Congratulations, Richard! This must be a strange feeling for you, but the King County website has you winning the Democratic nomination for County Council with almost 80% of the vote!
Does anyone believe that the King County Democratic leadership will actually listen to the King County Democrats and get behind (or at least out of the way of) Mr. Pope’s attempt to unseat Ms. Hague?
Me, neither, but I’m still rooting for you. Sorry, but since I’m a Pierce County resident, I can’t vote for you, but I’m sending along a few bucks, so you can have a beer to celebrate.
At least I finally found your website at: http://www.popeforcouncil.com/
Again, Congratulations, Richard!
I don’t think I live in District 6, because this race wasn’t on my ballot yesterday. I will have to find out which district I do live in…
Well, Richard, every dog has his day. You don’t have any DUIs, do you?
@3
You don’t have any DUIs, do you?
I believe his criminal record is as empty as his platform.
I live in District 1, it turns out. Bob Ferguson….yeah, I do recall voting for him. He looks OK, except for that haircut. At least he mentions being anti-Eyman on his bio, and it looks like he is advocating for better mental health services, and that’s a good thing.
Does Richard have a platform? I mean, he could have a self-serving sounding platform issue, like advocating for increased services for disabled kids in single-parent households, and that wouldn’t be so bad.
What have I missed?
Is this the same Richard Pope, the self described Republican, who’s been blogging here for quite some time?
I did a write-in candidate for this seat because I don’t trust either one.
Hey, Puddybud, you actually received at least one vote for this seat.
I don’t think I live in District 6, because this race wasn’t on my ballot yesterday. I will have to find out which district I do live in…
Oh this is just rich. One of the biggest mouths and prolific political ranters has no fucking idea where he lives… Do you even vote? Or aren’t you old enough? The onte true thing you said: “I don’t think”
I’d call that BUSTED.
I don’t see how I’m “one of the biggest mouths and prolific political ranters” on this board…you must be confusing me with the rabbit.
So 15% of the electorate votes in the primary, and you’d think they’d be more informed than the general run of voters, but they go ahead and vote for fake dem Pope anyway?
Will anyone in the ‘leadership’ of the King Co dems take responsibility or lose their job over not having a real dem candidate in place?
I gotta go with Kirk on this one. KC Dem’s were sleeping at the switch on this one.
I wouldn’t put it past Pope and the GOP to conspire putting a “fake” DEM on the ticket so Pope can lose on purpose and the drunkard GOP’er can win.
All cool, but the underlying worry is the low quality and low numbers of candidates form either party for any job.
I wonder if the salary disparity in the private world is taking a toll on government. E.g. I like President Emmert, the uW prexy. But his being payed $1*10^6. Emmert, moreover, is really a politician much more than an academic. He would be a natural, in older times, to be a mayor or governor. But, with salaries like this becoming common in the private and semiprivate sphere, the otherwise reasonable slaries for say a city council member, are too low. Yet, iof you pay a competitive wage, you create a disparity with the rest of us that is unsustainable as well.
It seems to me that this is all part and parcel of the issues Obama and Edwards have addressed. We arer well on our way to recreating the class society and failed empire status of pre-WWII Britain. We may coming to a time when politicians are effectively appointed to seats by those who can subsidize the pols or the only foks in office will be the wealthy themselves.
So, In fun, I looked in my Web Browser, Firefox 6 with the Futures extention, at the composition of the Seattle City Council in 1040:
Susy Gates
Bobby Gates
Jimbo Weyerhauser
Well, I guess the 15th time was a charm. Congrats Richard! You might consider quitting while you’re ahead.
@10: The KC Dems did try to find somebody to file, but no takers. Who wants to give up a nice Legislative slot to run a more than likely losing campaign against an entrenched, well funded (albeit a bit drunk), incumbent in the “it’s my property and by god if I want to burn it to the ground it’s my business” rural eastern part of King County?
Where the Dems erred was not having about six people file for the slot, and Pope would have taken a pass in his never ending search for easy election prey.
Live and learn, I guess.
Pope has made it to the general before. And not just last year’s loss to Frank LaSalata in the Northeast District Judge race.
He was the Republican nominee for Attorney General in both 1996 and 2000, losing to one Christine Gregoire each time.
Hey PTBAA,
No state legislator would have had to give up the House or Senate gig. Their next election cycle is 2008 (or 2010 for some Senators). They could have done the same sort of thing that John Lovick is doing … he’s running for Snohomish County Sheriff, knowing full well that if he loses in November he’ll still be a Representative from the 44th LD (and Speaker pro tempore).
GBS says:
I gotta go with Kirk on this one. KC Dem’s were sleeping at the switch on this one.
I wouldn’t put it past Pope and the GOP to conspire putting a “fake” DEM on the ticket so Pope can lose on purpose and the drunkard GOP’er can win.
How’s my favorite worthless pile of shit otherwise known as GBS doing?
@4 No criminal record + no platform = winning candidate
Even Roger Rabbit, a tax-hating senior citizen living on a fixed income, voted FOR the parks levies! We need MORE grass!! More grass = MORE bunnies!!!!!
You can never have too much grass or too many bunnies! After you humans extinct yourselves, rabbits will become the dominant species on what’s left of this planet, and I’ll be their king!
@6 Richard’s a Democrat now. He’d been slowly defecting from the morally-challenged and brain-damaged GOP for some time, and finally made a clean break. After 14 straight losses as a Republican, he’s now poised to WIN his very first election as a Democrat! That should send a message to whatever moderates may still be left in the GOP (all 2 of them). The GOP has become a party of extremists.
@11 “We may coming to a time when politicians are effectively appointed to seats by those who can subsidize the pols or the only foks in office will be the wealthy themselves.”
We’re already there.
@13 “it’s my property and by god if I want to burn it to the ground it’s my business”
Eastern King County Republicans do NOT have a right to burn old tires, whether it’s their property or not.
I would have voted against Richard in the primary.
But congratulations and best of luck, Richard. Give ’em hell!
@14 I wonder if the reason 2004 was such a squeaker is because Gregoire grew complacent from running against a loser like Richard … ? In 2004, she was overconfident and made some sloppy campaign mistakes, like not doing more to mend her fences with the AA community.
@16 “How’s my favorite worthless pile of shit otherwise known as GBS doing?”
GBS is a patriot and a real veteran (as opposed to the fake one squatting in the White House as a fake president and fake war leader).
GBS wrote:
While Mr. Pope is certainly not what anyone would describe as a “liberal” Democrat, the King County Republicans would be more likely to conspire with Susan Sheary than with Richard Pope.
Come to think of it, that’s almost the only reason I can think of why they didn’t have what you want to call a “real” Democrat file against Ms. Hague. It’s not like the county was keeping the filing deadline a secret, after all.
C’mon, GBS. Some folks are already starting to believe that you and Puddy are the same person on some sort of schizophrenic identity trip. Don’t add fuel to that fire with silly speculation like that.
Far more likely is that Ms. Sheary made a deal with the Republicans that we wouldn’t challenge Ms. Hague if the R’s ignored some Democrat that would be easy pickings.
Then Mr. Pope went and spoiled her fun by actually filing for election.
If anyone hands this election to the Republicans, it will be the King County Democratic Party leadership. So far, they haven’t even had the grace to congratulate Mr. Pope and at least voice token support against Ms. Hague.
YOUR (I live in Pierce County) party leadership would rather leave a far-right drunk driver in office that even offer token support to a candidate chosen by the voters instead of party leaders.
Perhaps someone should remind them of this:
@26 Sorry, GBS, but I gotta agree with John on this one. You’ve been away for awhile, so I don’t expect you to understand all the nuances of this race, but Pope’s conversion appears to be real and the King County Democrats did knowingly and willfully leave the door open for Richard by deliberating not filing a candidate. Their intention was to take advantage of an obscure rule to insert a candidate chosen by six people (instead of voters or party grass roots) in a smoke-filled room … and Pope outsmarted a bunch of not very smart people by choosing a strategic moment to switch parties and a strategic race to do it in … they’ll have no one to blame but themselves and their own arrogance if a Democrat they didn’t anoint and can’t dictate to snatches Hague’s seat away from her (and them).
The median of NE 148th Ave (Bellevue-Redmond border) has advertisements for Valentina Kiselev for Bellevue City Council. The voters’ pamphlet we received lists city council races in many communities but none in Bellevue. Nor was that race on my Bellevue ballot. Perhaps I live in the wrong district, but I can’t find the outcome mentioned in today’s newspapers. Anyone have an explanation?
deliberately
Jane Hague is a kook. She doesn’t think she needs to pay to license her pets. Remembe rthat story from a few years back? Must be a perk of being on the council.
There’s your campaign issue, Richard.
You can also ask her why she asks dinner guests to take garbage home with them. She must not like to pay for that either.
At least Mr. Pope is not getting right on this blog and making all kinds of rash statements and “pontifications” like when he was an unsuccessful Republican troglodyte.
Now you’ve got something to protect. Don’t blow it! Your honesty earned my respect even when you were a Republican. Stay honest. But be smart. Don’t give your poitical enemies any rope.
@15: N in Sea., Silly me. Point well taken. All the more reason why a couple of them should have filed just to have a Dem name on the ballot.
@26: John, it seems rather schizophrenic to muse about GBS being puttybutt’s sock puppet, and then float the hypothesis that Sheary cut a deal with the GOP. I could mail you one of my tin foil hats (I have plenty) and save you some effort.
However, it is a rather humiliating chain of events for the KC Dems. Perhaps Richard can call Suzie up and arrange to speak at the monthly meeting (next Tuesday)to demonstrate his Democratic ‘bona fides’, try out his stump speech, and ‘wave the bloody shirt’ (we love that).
Maybe we should even support the guy and run the drunken incumbent out of office. How much worse off would we be in County Council deliberations? The GOP rump would be reduced that much more, and we could claim that, just like the GOP, we have our own nutcases, too, demonstrating that we are indeed true Americans.
Richard Pope: Please accept my red faced congratulations. I almost take back all the bad things I’ve ever said about you.
28 Which way are the Kiselev signs pointing? If they’re facing north, then the’ll be seen by southbound drivers, which presumably will be just barely in Bellevue.
Furthermore, north of 520, the east side of 148th is now dominated by the Principality of Microsoft–it may be in Redmond, but nobody lives there. The west side is lined by apartments and condos where some of the people who work on the other side occasionally go to eat TV dinners, drink a beer or two, do something of a sexual nature and get a few hours’ sleep. That probably qualifies them as residents of Bellevue.
John and Roger Rabbit:
I’ll accept your rebuke. You’re both right I’ve been away for a while so I’m obviously missing something. It’s just that I really have a hard time believing Richard Pope has converted to a Liberal mindset given the context of his posts that I’ve read over the last several years. Particularly, on unSound Politics.
John, I AM going to stop by and visit you one of these days and buy you teriyaki. I believe that’s what you said you like to eat that’s around your office.
Because there is no F’ing way I can be confused with Puddybud. The only thing we have in common is that we’re both naturally big men, both over 6′ 1″ and in the 225+ range for sure.
I’ve had lunch with him and without qualifier I am by far better looking than him. I want to be clear about this, I’m not picking on him because he’s black, either. That’s like the 6th thing that’s wrong with him. **Zing** Only I can get away with cracking jokes about Puddybud, the rest of you will have to meet him in person and resolve your issues. Besides, I’m a better dresser to say the least. I mean, you’d think with all the talk Puddybud goes on about his income he could at least pop for a sport jacket and a tie. Sheeeez.
Hague’s seat was safe only because no one up Seattle Way had the balls to take her on. Well, no one but Mr. Pope. Richard’s got himself a big old pair!
The non-gadfly electeds in King county have made a mess of the place, so why not give Old Pope a shot at it?
John – can you drop some poison in GBS’s food for me?
Why don’t you do it, big boy?
GBS says:
Why don’t you do it, big boy?
Any time, any place asshole.
name it.
@ 39:
9/11, 8pm, Montlake Ale house. Fucking be there.
GBS: I didn’t know our meeting would be in tie & jacket.
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit, I’ll wear a tux if need be next time, cumber bun and bright red boe-tie thrown in.
Yes, GBS and I are > 6′ 1′ and tip the scale a wee bit over 220. But I disagree with him on looks. While he is better than the average joe, methinks he is somewhat full of himself.
41: Oh shit film at 11 – 9/11 that is.
You mean I have to show up at the Montlake Ale House and meet the ASSIE Voice minions so I can count somebody out.
Hey GBS – I guess we should go back to back and I can kick the snot out of Stupidman too.
GBS, Ghetto Rules?
Damn, just called PacMan and he’s in the Caribbean working on his tan!
Peter @ 28: Valentina’s race – and the others on Bellevue City Council – have only two candidates running, so there was no need for a primary race. Both candidates advanced to the general election in November automatically.
The ballot and voters’ pamphlet will be MUCH bigger in November as all the races that have only two people running will be included.
MTR-ASSIE Voice – I know what you “mean”.
But in the case of Stupidman he only has a single cell organism in his cranial orifice!
N in Seattle – 5,425,000+ and climbing since the start of the Iraq War!
MTR-ASSIE Voice, somehow Stupidman lived!
John Barelli:
Thanks for the diss!
David, you need to fulfill your commitments. You committed to providing your endorsements and predictions “this afternoon.”
Also, David, toward the end of the first hour of this past Sunday’s radio show, you committed to discussing last Sunday’s editorial in The Seattle Times entitled “Warning: New Taxes Will Be Permanent.” You will recall telling your listeners not to believe everything they read. You will also recall telling your listeners you were waiting to hear from experts on this issue but you would discuss it on your blog. You were indefinite about when you would post, but today is Wednesday, one day after the primary vote.
@34 Who knows what’s in Richard’s mind? Maybe he simply decided that being a Democrat pays better than being a Republican. The guy sure acts like he wants a government job with health and pension benefits.
@42 Of course it’s Ghetto Rules. It’s always Ghetto Rules.
@49
Maybe I should work on Popes campaign; I want a government job with health and pension benefits too.
Congratulations Richard Pope! I would vote for you myself, if I could, and so hoping you win.
I think you will make a great Democratic contender, YOU at least have some life experiences, showing that it’s a struggle living down here in the trenches of the common folks! You might be in a position to help the County slow down on running their budget on the backs of levy packages; could help them start looking to budget (instead of figuring how to ratchet up more on property taxes at every opportunity)! We’ve got the same baloney going in Seattle (residing IN King County) so we automatically get a double-dose.
I believe the paper said that Hague, the newly DUI lady, had been running unopposed in her past couple of elections. If the Dems were so willing to roll over and let her have it once again – someone had to step up to the plate like Mr. Pope did.
Thought the Rabbit said it very well, which explains why they were so willing to toss a contender – running for THEIR side – under the bus. The best write-in candidate they could dredge up was a Carpenter, with no experience and no platform other to say ‘it ain’t fair’? Who is going to toss their vote towards that? At least, give the public credit for the ability to read their Voters Pamplet.
RR @27 said: “Their intention was to take advantage of an obscure rule to insert a candidate chosen by six people (instead of voters or party grass roots) in a smoke-filled room … and Pope outsmarted a bunch of not very smart people by choosing a strategic moment to switch parties and a strategic race to do it in … they’ll have no one to blame but themselves and their own arrogance if a Democrat they didn’t anoint and can’t dictate to snatches Hague’s seat away from her (and them).
This doesn’t make any sense. The “obscure rule” is that if nobody files during filing week the county party chair can file someone the following week. If someone had filed during filing week, that person would have been on the ballot; end of story. There was absolutely nothing to be gained by waiting (you still have to pay the same filing fee, etc…).
Or it could have had something to do with the fact that there were absolutely no competitive races whatsoever on the R side of the ballot, and so people who wanted to have their votes matter for anything were picking D ballots.
In this new article from the PI, later this evening::
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....tion23.htm l
Primary Election: News of a DUI arrest upstages ballot results
No big surprises in Tuesday’s vote
“Pope was the only Democrat to file for the primary in Hague’s district, filling out the papers 10 minutes before the deadline. Had no Democrat entered during the official filing period, the county party organization could have chosen a candidate. As it was, Democratic officials frantically drummed up a write-in campaign for Brad Larssen, a carpenter and party activist from Kirkland, but he fell far short of Pope in Tuesday’s balloting.”
So, apparently what that means is that the ONLY contenders allowed, by missing the deadline, is that the Maternal/Paternalistic Big Daddy gets to choose who is allowed to run – OR just let Hague run basically unopposed (once again!). Perhaps, as Rabbit said “in a smoke-filled room”. The dude they dredged up didn’t sound like much of a go-getter by any means, just the closest warm body they could grab.
To be honest, I was raised as a staunch Republican hailing from Arizona. Voted Republican every step of the way, clear up through Ronnie Reagan. I changed to Democrat and have never once looked back! People’s views change and their life circumstances change. Now that Mr. Pope is raising a child, his perceptions might likely have changed as to how the present Republicon Administration is harming/helping programs in response to child type needs. Pope’s also been researching and pointing out campaign-finance issues and the Republicans TRULY have a dislike for him, not likely to welcome him back to the fold.
Reality is that the Republicon Party, as we know it now, is NOT the same value system – more like some Banana Republic scenario. Watching Katrinia response, Iraq War, all the corruption going down. WHY would/should not a person change parties if they feel this elephant is sucking the life out of the room?
A lot of voters have had a belly full. Mr. Pope may not have a lot of campaign funds, but a lot of the common folks I talk to are tired of all the endless ads taking over their TVs and telephones anyway. My guess is that this may be one interesting race – perhaps another indication of how tired & disillusioned the common folks may have become. I don’t think anybody should be counting him out before we see how the voter anger ends up playing out.
I’ve known Richard Pope for about 6 years. Used him as an attorney and over time have come to know him as a friend. Honestly, the guy is as sharp as a whip and has the character of a saint. How many people do you know with a mind capable of graduating second in their class from the UW Law School?
I’ve watched the dems and local papers bash him for years; all of it without merit. His choice to become a dem in this race was for more than political expediency; he really hates the mess in Iraq and because of his 4 y.o. Autistic daughter has learned first hand about the need for helping people with disabilities.
He’s honest to a tee. He even has a degree in economics to top it off. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an elected official with integrity, business sense and brains? I am absolutely certain that if he is elected he will do the dem party proud and help the King County Council properly manage the growth and other important needs of this county.
Oh yes, he does have a platform. Read his voter statement and read the statement published on the KC dem site about why he is a Democrat.
He’s not cut from the same cloth as most politicians, and this is also perhaps his biggest fault: he hasn’t been good at organizing and schmoozing. Richard needs people to see him for who he is. I hope that some opportunities arise (dem party officials please stand up) for him to express who he is and what he stands for. When this happens people will find out what a stand up guy he is and that yes; he really is a democrat.
I also hope Goldy sticks by his word and endorse the primary winner “whoever it is” as he said he would. I got a little worried late this evening after Goldy wrote earlier he’d post his election endorsements “later on this afternoon.” When he didn’t I could only imagine the party apparatus trying to sway his decision against endorsing Richard. I hope this is not the case.
The KC Dem party has a chance to turn this into a win. Let’s encourage them to create opportunities to hear Richard speak and then decide if he’s worthy of their endorsement.
Marvin Brecht
Bellevue, WA
Marvin, of course I’ll stand by my word and endorse Richard Pope. Hell, I’ll do it now: “I endorse Richard Pope.”
I’ve written before that I’m kinda fond of Richard in a weird sorta way, though I find his penchant for snooping into other people’s court records kinda creepy, and there are times when he doesn’t seem to be altogether lucid. But he’s definitely smart, and seems to know the law, and is often a valuable contributor the comment threads here. And as you say, he does strike me as honest.
I’m not sure he’d make a good councilmember, and I don’t really believe he has a shot at winning, but I’ll be rooting for him to embarrass Hague in November. I mean, even more than Hague has already embarrassed herself.
Luigi @48,
Well, I was out for more of the day than I expected, and then I spent most of tonight writing up my post on the Times editorial. It’s up online now, and it took me so long because unlike the Times, I wanted to make absolutely sure I got the facts right.
So my endorsements will have to wait until tomorrow.
@ 56 Marvin Brecht –
Thanks for validating what I believed. Mostly, I’ve known more of Richard Pope’s info from reading his posts here (ALWAYS gentlemanly, no matter how much some baited him looking for a reaction). I voted for him last time for the Port Commissioner and now look what we got stuck with instead – Pat Davis. (Need to check on her recall petition situation, as a matter of fact)
I bet Mr. Pope would have been doing his OWN research, not merely relying on Dinsmore’s schemes while being spoonfed the pablum. Tomorrow, I will check Pope’s website out and doing some donating myself.
@56 If you think the Dem Party can tell Goldy what to post, you don’t know Goldy.
@57 “I’ve written before that I’m kinda fond of Richard in a weird sorta way, though I find his penchant for snooping into other people’s court records kinda creepy”
Oh c’mon Goldy, court records are public records, and if someone doesn’t want nosy strangers reading about his courtroom adventures then he should settle out of court.
If people had voted for Pope instead of laughing at him, all this shit at the port would never have happened.
Pope also deserves credit for outing Mark Griswold, who thinks terrorists killing Americans is good for Republicans:
“Congratulations Speaker Pelosi, now let the bombs fall where they may. My prediction: terror attack on domestic soil passenger aircraft within the next six months. Casualties in the 2-300 range. And, unfortunately, maybe that’s just what we need. It’s obvious people don’t remember what happened 5 years ago. Posted by FullContactPolitics at November 8, 2006 10:52 AM”
http://blog.usefulwork.com/cgi.....ry_id=7430
Pope knows a morally bankrupt political philosophy when he sees it.
@ 2 Thanks to John Barelli who said: “At least I finally found your website at: http://www.popeforcouncil.com/ ”
I googled a bit and finally headed back to the source – yes! here at HA.
Pope’s got a pleasant website, not supercalafragilisticexpealadocious perhaps, not overpowering like most politicians’ super fancy big $$$ hyped. Probable appeal to many of us poor smucks who wish to see some changes/oversight on OUR behalf. Whether one is rich or poor, supposedly all us little common folks get ONE vote each (unless, of course, one is in Diebold turf). Thx again Mr. Barelli for supplying the link!
@ 62 “Roger Rabbit says: “If people had voted for Pope instead of laughing at him, all this shit at the port would never have happened. ”
I’ve been meaning to post something, but keep getting sidetracked. I normally look at all the tons of slick candidate mailings and read them through, whether I’m going to vote for them or not. Just in case they say something I need to check out further.
NOT ONE SINGLE mailer that I saw, this time around, not a one! offered Pat Davis as an endorsement, even in the tiny print. I remember all the massive endorsements Davis got from every hoo-ha head honcho in this state when she last ran vs Pope. It took up a major chunk of her flier, I remember. Small wonder people bit the apple, darn it.
It’s amazing you Moonbat!s don’t do your political homework through diligent research and drink the party swill. Now you live with what you got goosetepping to the polls.
Saw #9 and had to post. To hell with everything else. 15% turnout in any election, primary or general, is pathetic, and makes me ashamed of my county!! As far as I’m concerned, voting should be mandatory. You vote or you pay a fine.
Thomas Jefferson screwed up in the Declaration. It’s not the consent of the governed, it’s the participation of the governed that makes a government valid. It doesn’t take a degree in political science to pay attention and vote. It takes a social foundation strong enough to create a middle class so that people have the time to GIVE A SHIT.