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The momentum continues to build for Darcy Burner in WA’s 8th Congressional District, with the announcement today that she has become the newest national “Netroots Endorsed” candidate. This is a huge accomplishment that will lead to national attention, and tens of thousands of dollars pouring in from online activists throughout the nation.

A couple weeks ago the national blogs Swing State Project, MyDD, and Daily Kos asked their readers for nominations — kind of like a national, online primary — and Burner won. As Matt Stoller wrote over on MyDD:

The next netroots candidate is Darcy Burner in Washington’s eighth Congressional district.  The district is trending blue, and Burner is incredibly smart and a natural camapigner going against vulnerable incumbent David Reichert.  She is also young (35) and web-savvy, having worked at Microsoft, and these traits will serve her well in a House that is desperately in need of new blood.  She has promised, for instance, to post on her Congressional web site a list of all meetings with lobbyists by her or any staff member, which is a fundamentally new approach to governance.

The Washington State blog community is one of the more mature blogging communities out there.  They don’t fall lightly for a candidate, so seeing this kind of note on the exceptional Horse’s Ass is quite meaningful.

I personally have known Burner for nearly a year, yet I didn’t start actively promoting her campaign until February, after I became absolutely convinced that she was not only a candidate who could win, but who would well serve the interests of the 8th district and the citizens of WA state. During that time I’ve watched her grow from just another passionate Camp Wellstone classmate, into a compelling campaigner and a formidable fundraiser. And the more I learned about her personal story, the more I became convinced that she was the perfect candidate to represent the demographically diverse 8th district.

Burner regularly attends Drinking Liberally, and was at the Pacific NW Progressive Bloggers Conference.  Her diaries at Kos are here.  She’s got a good shot to win this district, and she is part of a new wave of internet candidates who know what it takes to win and know what democracy really can mean.

Aww, gee… Matt called HA “exceptional”. But as much as I’d like this to be about me, it’s not. This is about Burner, the entire local progressive blogosphere (Andrew at NPI should be thrilled,) and the respect we’ve earned from the national netroots. But most of all it’s about the incredible support we receive daily from our readers; if you didn’t read us, nobody else would, and in the end our strength comes from our numbers.

So go check out Burner sitting at the top of the “Netroots Endorsed” page on ActBlue, and show her some love.

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos fame reports from his “Crashing the Gate” book tour, and recaps for his readers some of the “local buzz” he’s picking up along the way. First stop, WA-08:

Darcy Burner is taking on freshman Republican Dave Reichert in WA-08. She will report numbers of over $300K for Q1, which is impressive. But more so than that, the Washington state blogosphere helped her raise over $90K online in the closing hours of the fundraising quarter without any national buzz. That’s not Daily Kos or Atrios, that’s the local bloggers, and $90K is more than what we “big boys” can usually raise. If that’s not a sign of the growing power and influence of the local blogs, I’m not sure what is.

I think perhaps more than any other race, WA-08 has the potential for being a true testing ground for some of the strategic rethinking Markos and co-author Jerome Armstrong propose in Crashing the Gate. We have a smart, energetic candidate in Darcy Burner, well matched to a district that should be “swing,” but which hasn’t swung into the Democratic column since, well… forever. She is also a candidate that has recognized and embraced the power of the netroots since well before declaring her candidacy.

But equally important, Washington state has quickly evolved some of the most influential and mature local netroots in the nation… a loose coalition of bloggers who have enthusiastically embraced Burner in return. Unlike the high-profile candidacy of say, Paul Hackett, where national netroots raised gobs of money for his Ohio campaign, it was local bloggers who jumped on the Burner bandwagon early, helping to push up both her fundraising totals and her profile — and with zero national support.

Andrew Villeneuve at NPI has been in the Burner camp since day one (almost from the day we first met her at Camp Wellstone,) advising her campaign and personally introducing her to his fellow bloggers. While I waited for the field to shake out before publicly endorsing her, I’d been in regular contact with the Burner campaign for months.

And the relationship has always been two-way: Burner not only actively sought our support, she also welcomed our input and advice. Burner and her staff trust us… and that trust has been returned in spades. When Burner stopped by Drinking Liberally last week to thank the netroots for helping her blow past her fundraising targets, she knew she wasn’t going to garner any new votes — hell, most of us don’t even live in her district. I’m guessing that part of the reason she stopped by was simply to share in the genuine excitement and enthusiasm of a gathering that was about as close as you can come to an election night victory party… seven months prior to the election.

Burner came to this campaign as a political outsider, a designation proven once again in yesterday’s Washington Post, which described her as a “third tier” candidate, citing the Democrats’ failure to recruit a stronger challenger. In fact, the Democrats didn’t recruit her at all. Nearly a year ago Burner told me she was running because she was absolutely convinced that, conventional wisdom be damned, she was the perfect candidate to represent the 8th District, and since then, she’s managed to convince an awful lot of other people, including me.

Would State Rep. Ross Hunter have brought more name recognition, money, and experience into the race? Absolutely. But I sincerely doubt that an establishment Democrat like Hunter could have garnered the kind of genuine grassroots excitement that Burner has generated over the past few months. Burner is for real, not because the consultants and power brokers say she’s for real, but because she has managed to prove herself to the grassroots, the netroots, and the party leadership.

Of course, with her early success comes risks. One of the things that Markos and Jerome rail against is the way the national party steps into local campaigns, bringing in their establishment consultants, and demanding the same-old losing strategies. This not only ignores and devalues the unique insight of local political talent, it stunts their development… and judging by the Democrats near permanent minority party status at the federal level, it doesn’t seem to be working.

But if the national party should respect local perspective and talent then the same should hold true for the netroots, and just as Burner has proven herself to the DCCC, so too have our local netroots proven to our national counterparts our ability to generate buzz and money beyond all expectations. We know the district. We know the candidates. We know the muck that’s going to make Reichert’s reelection a muddy row to hoe. So when we ask that Burner be “netroots edorsed” — with all the money, support, and attention that will bring — we ask the national netroots to trust our local judgement.

Burner has quickly gone from unknown, political neophyte to the cover of Roll Call, and while she and her campaign deserve most of the credit, I don’t believe she could have done it without the enthusiastic support of local bloggers. Now it’s time to help Burner move to the next level, and we simply can’t do it without a little national support.

Markos also saw fit to comment on Sen. Maria Cantwell… and it wasn’t so glowing. Tomorrow I’ll talk about the opposition Sen. Cantwell faces from local Democratic activists and what impact this could have on the entire Democratic ticket.

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos fame, and his co-author Jerome Armstrong of MyDD will be in town this week promoting their new book, “Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People Powered Politics.”

Please join me tonight in welcoming Markos and Jerome to Seattle:

Friday, April 7th, 7:00 p.m.
Seattle Labor Temple
2800 1st Ave, Hall 1
Seattle

There will be a discussion, Q&A, and book signing, open to the general public and the media. Think of it as a very special edition of Drinking Liberally… but without the drinking. (Though expect there will be some of that afterwards.)

If you can’t make it tonight, there will be to more opportunities tomorrow (Saturday, April 8th) to meet the authors:

11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Marymoor Park
6046 West Lake Sammamish Pkwy NE
Redmond

7:00 p.m.
Orca Books
509 E 4th Ave
Olympia

Again, all the events are open to the public, no reservations needed, so please come out and show your support for Markos and Jerome, and the tremendous work they are doing in building the netroots and transforming the Democratic Party.

NOTE:
I’m out playing the role of “publicity flak for a day,” so consider this one and only post an open thread. There will be media availability at all three events, so if you are a journalist looking for some one-on-one, please contact me, or just show up and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.

Oh man… there’s so much to talk about:

• The Seattle Weekly’s Geov Parrish on Aaron Dixon’s voting record: “Totally clean — nonexistent. His driving record, not so clean.”
• The Seattle Times on the Burner buzz: “Dems’ hopes rise in 8th, along with rookie’s fortunes”
• The Stranger’s Cienna Madrid on Darcy Burner’s fundraising prowess: “I would have built a fort of money and then had sex in it.”
• Carl Ballard on Darcy Burner at Drinking Liberally: “What Cienna said except without the sex in a fort made of money.”

8th Congressional District candidate Darcy Burner blew past her fundraising targets with an impressive surge during the final few days of the first-quarter reporting period.

Burner will report over $536,000 raised thus far, $320,000 in the last quarter. More important, her $355,000 in cash-on-hand comfortably beat the threshold required to qualify for $250,000 from the DCCC’s Red-to-Blue program.

But perhaps most impressive was the way in which she exceeded her targets, raising over $150,000 in the last ten days, and an astounding $90,000 in the final 48 hours of the quarter.

The campaign credits much of this fundraising surge to the grassroots support Burner received from local bloggers, and if that’s true, we not only helped her campaign reach “the next level” as campaign manager Zach Silk told The Stranger, but such an impact would suggest that the local progressive blogosphere has reached the next level itself.

We’ve got a competitive race, my friends. More later….

In the meantime, stop by Drinking Liberally tonight and meet the candidate herself; 8pm, Montlake Alehouse, 2307 24th Avenue E.

The final numbers aren’t tallied yet, but the last I heard from the campaign was that Darcy Burner expects to exceed her fundraising target for the March 31 reporting deadline. The DCCC had set her a goal of $320,000 cash on hand by the end of the quarter, and by beating it, Burner becomes eligible for $250,000 in new funds from the national Dems.

For those who understand how the DCCC functions, this is big, big news, and DC insiders tell me that Burner has raised quite a few eyebrows with her fundraising prowess and grassroots support. For example, Burner has raised over $130,000 during the last ten days alone, with the overwhelming majority of her contributions thus far coming from individual donors.

I am particularly gratified by the support shown by my own readers. I routinely tell candidates that blogs are a crappy means of achieving any kind of call to action, so don’t expect us to raise you any money… and so when I started attempting exactly that just a few days ago, my expectations were low.

And yet over the past week 32 HA readers have donated $1,176.33 through my Act Blue link, with several others telling me they have contributed directly to the campaign. I thank you all for your generosity, and for your willingness to get involved this early in the election year.

Burner is also grateful for all the support shown on all the local blogs, and will be dropping by Drinking Liberally this coming Tuesday to thank you all personally. This will be a great opportunity to raise a toast to the next congressperson from Washington’s 8th Congressional District. I hope to see you all there.

UPDATE:
I keep getting emails and comments from readers saying they contributed directly through Burner’s campaign web site. Perhaps I should rethink my assumption that blogs aren’t much good at raising money?

Two of my favorite bloggers, Carla of Preemptive Karma and TJ of Also Also, have joined forces on a new Oregon-focused political blog: Loaded Orygun.

Despite being out-of-staters, Carla and TJ became lynchpins of the progressive blogosphere’s response to Dino Rossi’s ill-fated, ill-intentioned election contest, joining me in refuting the many lies, errors, and deceitful “analyses” coming from the conspiracy theorists over at (un)Sound Politics. Carla made an impact early, dismantling the GOP/BIAW claim that overseas military personnel were disenfranchised. (In fact, they voted at higher rates in King County than regular absentee voters.) And both played a crucial role in picking apart our friend Stefan’s faulty thesis on reconciliation discrepancies.

While HA may have garnered much of the attention, Carla and TJ did much of the hard work.

But more than just being smart, passionate, hardworking, advocacy journalists (yes, that’s right… what they do really deserves to be called journalism,) they are also kindred spirits. Um… to me. In fact Carla and I got along so well at the recent NW progressive blogger conference, that they had to separate us to keep us from disrupting the rest of the class.

I’m usually pretty damn slow adding new blogs to my blogroll, but Loaded Orygun deserves instant recognition. If you want smart, entertaining, informative coverage of Oregon politics, that’s a good place to start.

UPDATE:
As noted on Loaded Orygun, the Portland Chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight, 7pm, at The Lucky Lab brew pub, SE Hawthorne in Portland.

Last week I wrote that Dwight Pelz had the inside track on being the Democrats’ new state party chair, but now that former state senator/supreme court justice/gubernatorial candidate Phil Talmadge has entered the fray, I hear it could be a horse race. Already the landscape has changed, with former King County Democratic chair Greg Rodriguez withdrawing from the competition.

I like Greg. I don’t feel particularly qualified to pick a party chair, but I’m sorry to see his voice lost from the debate. In a letter to supporters Greg said his decision to withdraw was mostly due to family matters, but he also sounded more than a bit disappointed by the tone of the politicking against him. I’d heard the questions about his fundraising prowess, but nothing more personal than that. But then, appearances to the contrary, I’m not much of a party insider, so who knows what’s been said?

Greg’s letter also contains some suggestions for what he’d like to see from the new chair, and I think they’re worth repeating:

First and foremost we must run our Party in a more business like fashion. We need to provide our Districts and counties with up-to-date and efficient communications, lists and training resources. We must find and hire the most professional people and insist on the utmost levels of ethics and accountability. The thoughts and ideas of the Eboard, Chairs, and caucus leaders should be listened to and acted upon much more than they have been. Decisions should be made collaboratively and not done in back rooms and assumed that everyone will go along with them.

We must improve our voter file and technology presence. It is true we have one of the most advanced systems in the country, but that does not mean we should rest on our laurels. We must utilize the people that have the technological know how and who have offered support to this Party (but have been turned away) to make our system better and more user-friendly. Our website must be translated into Spanish and other languages as well as any printed materials we develop.

We have to pay more attention to our Democrats outside the I-5 corridor. This means in rural and urban places on both sides of the mountains. We will never regain a Democratic stronghold if we write these places off. It will not happen over night, but we must find ways to get our message out, recruit and train candidates, and work with our local County and District organizations to strengthen the Democratic base across this state. In addition, we must utilize all of our caucuses, our friends in labor, choice and peace groups, environment and yes even business to craft and deliver messages appropriate to the different demographics and geographies of the State of Washington .

We need to develop a Party leadership mentoring program and learn how to encourage our youth to take on more positions of leadership. We must end the politics of personal and organizational destruction that occurs even within our own Party. This will get us nowhere and in fact has caused people to leave the Party organizations in this State. While so many of our goals in this Party may be different, we have far more that are the same and should work more and more to find that common ground and assist our rising stars and growing organizations in achieving their fullest potential.

Good points all. That said, I also like both Pelz and Talmadge.

As I’ve previously stated, Pelz can be a bit of an asshole… but he’s our asshole; if local elections were decided by a barroom brawl between party chairs, I’d want Pelz slugging it out for the Dems. As it is, there’s something enticing about the thought of Pelz verbally kicking Chris Vance’s fat tuchus all over the evening news. But maybe that’s not the chair’s primary role.

I understand that Talmadge can be a bit of an asshole too (again, in a good way), but mostly, I like him because he’s smart. In fact, last night at Drinking Liberally there was some discussion as to whether Talmadge was too smart to be chair.

I’m not suggesting that Pelz isn’t smart too, it’s just that Talmadge is all about being smart… and he’s not shy about letting people know it. The couple of times I’ve had the opportunity to talk to him I’ve found him insightful, passionate, and incredibly well informed on a wide variety of issues. But again… maybe that’s not the chair’s primary role.

What do I know? Neither Talmadge nor Pelz might be the best choice for party chair… but either one should be fun to watch in the role.

Oh my God, I almost forgot… today’s election day! Guess I better post my endorsements….

King County Executive: Ron Sims

Hmm… now let’s see. On the one hand we have Ron Sims, an experienced executive who has led our county to AAA bond ratings from all three major credit agencies, reduced growth in health care costs for county employees to a rate dramatically lower than state or national averages, and has been a proven leader on civil rights, workers’ rights, gay rights and the environment. And on the other hand we have David Irons Jr., a resume inflating, staff abusing, tool throwing, mother beating liar, who isn’t qualified to manage his own anger, let alone a $3.4 billion government.

Now I know that there are a lot of you out there who are pissed off at Ron for some decision or another, or who have bought into the Republicans’ bullshit propaganda campaign to depict KC Elections as a whorehouse of corruption and incompetence… but let’s be honest… in an emergency… should the big one hit or an avian flu pandemic strike… who would you rather have in charge? Sims, an experienced county executive, or Irons, an experienced, um… mechanic? (Come on… I bet even some of you diehard Republicans get the willies thinking of Irons making life and death decisions.)

Of course there’s also the Green candidate, Gentry Lange, a man who has made his name campaigning against black box voting machines… exactly the kind of voting technology King County doesn’t use. Sure, Lange’s a nice guy, and I agree with the Greens on the vast majority of issues… but he’s certainly not qualified to be executive, and this race is simply still too damn tight to afford the self-indulgence of casting a protest vote for a spoiler.

So please, don’t be an asshole. Unless you really want Irons in office, vote for Sims.

King County Council: Gentry Lange

I mean really… who the hell cares? There isn’t a competitive race in the lot, so if you really feel the urge to cast a protest vote in this election, write in Gentry Lange. Or you can do what I would do, and just vote for the Democrat.

Seattle Mayor: Al Runte

Perhaps if we had a stronger City Council to keep him in check, I wouldn’t be so turned off by Mayor Paul Allen Greg Nickels and his strong arm tactics. And perhaps if he was a little more of an executive and a little less of a politician, I wouldn’t be so distrustful of his agenda. And perhaps if he had stopped by Drinking Liberally for a cold ale and some heated conversation, he could have cajoled a vote out of me… but Nickels didn’t, and Al Runte did (on a number of occasions), and so Professor Runte gets my vote.

No, I don’t think Runte has much chance of winning (though I think Nickels is going to be embarrassed by the relatively close results), so I guess this is kinda-sorta a protest vote. But there are a couple of huge differences between casting a protest vote for Runte in the mayor’s race, and casting one for Lange in the executive’s race. First of all, I think Runte is actually qualified to serve as mayor. Second, Runte couldn’t possibly play the role of spoiler, since if he spoils the election for Nickels, it means Runte wins. And I can live with that.

Seattle County Council: Conlin, Drago, Licata and Pelz

This was really a tough one for me, as my favorite incumbent is the only one I’m not endorsing: Richard McIver. It’s just that McIver is the only one who’s actually drawn a tough opponent.

As I wrote in my primary endorsement, Dwight Pelz can be a bit of an asshole. But he’s our asshole, and we desperately need someone like Pelz on the council to occasionally get in Nickel’s face. (And he’s stopped by Drinking Liberally a couple times, so that works in Dwight’s favor too.)

As for Conlin, Drago and Licata, none of their opponents have made the case to toss them out.

Port Commission: Molloy, Hara and Jolley

But mostly Molloy. Great guy, well intentioned, and a dedicated reformer.

Coming next… Initiatives: Yes on 901, No on everything else

This post is mostly directed at my friends in the media, because I want to set the record straight before editorialists and columnists start chiming in. Yesterday, David Irons Jr. responded to his family’s devastating allegations by charging that this was a dirty trick orchestrated by the Sims campaign, a meme Dori Monson joyously pounded for two hours yesterday… and I want to categorically deny this in the strongest terms possible. If this was a dirty trick, it was my dirty trick… and nobody, nobody tells me what to write. (Which I suppose explains why nobody pays me either.) And so, here is the genesis of this story, in excruciating detail.

As should be clear from reading my post, the impetus for the piece was Joni Balter’s column, which left the writer in me searching for the narrative behind her concise phrase “different family matter.” Balter’s description struck me as a sort of inside joke — a wink and a nod that those in the know would instantly get — but I had never paid much attention to county politics before I stumbled into blogging last year, and so like most of her readers, I had no context. I knew next to nothing about Irons’ past races — I didn’t even know who Brian Derdowski was when I was introduced to him last year.

It was Steve Zemke — the longtime activist, “Whoops” slayer, and fellow Eyman opponent with whom I frequently whine about politics — who first suggested that I should talk to Brian for some background on Irons. It was Steve who dug out Brian’s phone number from the depths of his well stocked rolodex.

As Brian explained on Dori’s show yesterday, I went to him with some broad questions, not really sure where the story was going, and he was more than happy to give me a history of the 1999 campaign, culminating in the Irons/Master Builders smear the night before the absentee ballots dropped. In pursuing this story, I heard some scuttlebutt from council staffers and others about Irons reputation for having an abusive temper, and when I asked Brian for details about the family split, he insisted that this was a story that I would have to get directly from the family… and that he was pretty sure they would be eager to share it with me.

Brian gave me Di Irons’ number, who in turn put me in touch with her parents. Not only did they share the details of their sad and painful story, they expressed disappointment that Balter had not shared it with the public after they had told it to her.

That is the genesis of my post. Nobody pushed it to me. Nobody fed me any easy information. I did some of that journalistic stuff that I really don’t like to do (it’s too much damn work), and that’s how I got the story. To imply otherwise is not only wrong, it diminishes the effort I put into a detailed, 3300-word piece.

Yesterday, Dori made a big deal about Sims campaign spokesman Christian Sinderman telling the Seattle Times on October 14 that “we’re almost in full mudslinging mode.” Oh gimme a break, Dori. Most of you in the media know Christian, and he may be a lot of things, but he’s not stupid. Do you really think his intention was to proudly proclaim that the Sims campaign was about to sling mud? When I read that quote, I just assumed he was talking about the Irons’ campaign. Didn’t you?

When Dori asked if I had been in contact with Christian, I almost replied “no”, which would have been easier and less confusing… but after a momentary stammer I remembered that I had in fact emailed with Christian recently, and had probably mentioned I was working on the story. After Dori’s show I checked my email log, and on Oct 10th, I received a brief email from Christian (my first since May) titled “how are you?” It was a brief catch-up note; he asked me about the Mike Brown story and another unrelated matter… and he also mentioned that he heard I had talked to Di. I replied to all aspects of the email, but on the subject at hand I wrote:

My conversations with the Irons family continue. Yes… an amazingly screwed up family… and I can’t believe the MSM has no interest. David Irons is a pathological liar with a violent temper, but apparently, real journalists like Joni Balter don’t feel this addresses his character sufficiently that voters should be made aware.

To this I got no reply.

How did Christian know I had talked to Di? A lot of people knew I had talked to Di. I was asking around, looking for others to corroborate Irons reputation as a raging bullshitter… you know, interviewing people and stuff… what all you reporters do. And I’m sure I blabbed at the last two Drinking Liberally gatherings, so a bunch of other bloggers and politicos knew what was coming too.

Those of you who know me, also know that I am… well… a bit chatty. I like to talk. It can be tough to get me off the phone. I work from home, where my dog is a crappy conversationalist (“squirrels” this, “dog park” that) and my cat is constantly telling me to kill people. (Bad kitty!) It can get lonely. So I talk.

Anyway, on October 12 I sent another email to Christian, giving him a heads up that a source of mine at Brigadoon.com had also been talking to a reporter from a major media outlet (you know who you are) and that a story should be forthcoming on Irons’ business dealings. Christian replied that the campaign was about to run ads on Brigadoon.

Then on October 18, I sent Christian an email telling him I was preparing to post “Part One of my Irons piece” and asking for his help in confirming the name of some Eastside developer Janet C. had mentioned. (Yes… I had no idea who Skip Rowley was.) But at the same time, I also emailed and phoned the Irons campaign with a list of allegations, asking for comment… so they got the same heads up.

That was the extent of our conversation.

I lay this all out in excruciatingly boring detail, because I want my friends in the press to understand, that if any of you give even a hint of credence at all to Irons’ entirely unsupported assertion that this story originated with Sims campaign, you will be calling me a liar. This part of the story is not one of those he said/she said things… I have presented a detailed report of this story from start to finish, and I trust Steve, Brian, Di, and Janet C. will back me up… whereas David Jr. has pulled his allegation right out of his ass. If any of you lay even a hint of blame on Ron Sims, you better headline the piece “Goldy is a Liar”, because that is essentially what you will be writing.

I may be a lot of things. Maybe I’m a muckraker and a blowhard and an aggressive partisan. But I am not a liar. I’ve worked very hard to overcome the overly solemn institutional reaction to my horse’s ass initiative, and the irreverent domain name that is its legacy. Throughout the election contest I was consistently right on the facts, and both my legal and statistical analyses were proven at trial to be dead on target. And rather than dwelling on past glories (like some bloggers) I have worked hard to up my relevance by breaking important story’s like the Mike Brown fiasco, and now the Irons family feud. For those reporters and editorialists who haven’t met me, go talk to your colleagues who have. I’ve earned my credibility.

And finally, who better to vouch for my character than my own mother, who left the following comment in the contentious thread on the post in question:

Goldy has been so busy researching and writing this blog that he hasn’t had time to talk to his own mother (me) so I decided to read it to see what my son was up to. As a Mom it makes me very nervous for him, to know that in his quest to uncover the truth, Goldy is making enemies as well as converts. I know that my son is not being paid or mentored by any one or any group. (I wish he were for he could use the money) It is his inherent morality, sense of fairness, and determination that in this democracy people should really know who and what they are voting for that drives him. Love, Mom

I can’t really blame Irons for trying to spin this into a story about a Sim’s dirty trick… it’s really the only political option he has to deal with this very damaging story. But this spin just isn’t true. This is his parents story, which I broke through my own initiative and volition. I’m a blogger. That’s what we do.

It is very hard for any executive to win a third term, and Ron Sims is no exception. After nine years in office, Sims has made so many decisions that he’s bound to have pissed off all of us at one time or another. And sometimes, voters just get tired of the incumbent. Hell… even Mario Cuomo, one of the greatest statesmen of the past few decades, was eventually turned out of office by a vastly inferior opponent.

David Irons’ strategy was clear. He left himself undefined, so that voters, tired of Sims, could project onto Irons what they wanted to see. Republican… businessman… “strong” like iron… maybe that’s good enough for a lot of voters itching for a change.

But the risk in leaving yourself undefined, is that somebody might do it for you.

David Jr.’s own mother and father say that he is an ill-tempered liar, who lacks the experience, qualifications and intellect to run this county. So here’s a tip to my friends in the media: if you question the parents’ description of their son, I suggest you talk to some current and former council staffers, and try to persuade them to go on the record.

And we haven’t even started to talk about Brigadoon.com yet.

King County Executive Ron Sims has rejected proposals by Southwest and Alaska Airlines to fly passenger service out of Boeing Field. Sims had originally been enthusiastic about exploring the Southwest proposal, arguing that consumers would ultimately benefit from cheaper airfares. But when evaluating the Southwest and Alaska proposals together, it quickly became apparent that the county airport could not support the higher traffic while meeting the impact criteria he had set forth.

“I have said all along that I would not endorse any proposal from any airline if it led to significant traffic and noise impacts,” Sims said.

Sims had also promised that he would never approve a deal that required taxpayer subsidies. According to Sims spokesperson Sandeep Kaushik, a preliminary analysis had suggested that Southwest might be able to operate up to 85 flights a day while meeting FAA noise regulations, and with little or no road improvements in the area. But once the Alaska proposal came in on September 30, the calculus changed. The two proposals combined would have operated 185 daily flights from 16 gates, requiring substantial road improvements and generating significantly more noise.

After receiving legal advice that the county must give both proposals equal consideration, county transportation staff concluded last Friday that it was impossible to open Boeing Field to passenger traffic while meeting Sims’ criteria. Sims was formally briefed at a meeting yesterday, in which staff stepped him through the analysis, and laid out the costs that would be required to proceed with due diligence… including an Economic Impact Analysis and a half-million dollar Environmental Impact Study. Sims decided that it was pointless to proceed with the time and expense of continuing to study the proposals when it seemed exceedingly unlikely that either would be approved in the end.

And so today, Sims announced that he had rejected both proposals.

Personally, I’m glad Sims nixed the deals. I live near Boeing Field, and for purely selfish NIMBY reasons I didn’t relish the thought of increased traffic. I am also relieved to eliminate this issue from the current election debate, as it seemed likely that it might hurt Sims at the polls.

But I think it is important to reiterate in the wake of the issue’s demise, that Sims had never endorsed the Southwest proposal… he had merely expressed enthusiasm about studying it. As I reported last week, even in the midst of a wonkish policy debate at Drinking Liberally, Sims repeated his mantra:

The gist of Sims argument is that the Southwest deal would be good for consumers, while adding jobs to South Seattle. He wants to study the proposal, but would only approve it if noise abatement and traffic concerns can be adequately addressed with no public subsidy.

And the gist of Sims decision to reject the proposal was his conclusion that noise abatement and traffic concerns cannot be adequately addressed without public subsidy.

Now I’m guessing that the more cynical amongst you might dismiss the background information I provided, and accuse Sims of merely bowing to political pressure, and to that I say… so what? No doubt Sims heard from many constituents who were unhappy or even angry about the potential impact increased flight traffic would have on their Seattle neighborhoods. I know for a fact that he heard from me and other unabashed Democrats last week at DL. If public opposition helped influence his decision, that’s a good thing, right? We want our elected officials to listen to voters.

But one thing I’m confident Sims didn’t do was bow to political pressure from the Port Commission or Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines lobbyist (and former Sims’ staffer) Tim Hatley. Josh Feit in The Stranger tries to make a big deal over Sims reaction to being questioned about Hatley during his meeting before the editorial board, but this is just a load of something about nothing.

First of all, say what you want about Ron Sims, but I have never seen anybody seriously allege that he has ever used his office to line the pockets of himself, his friends or his family. Disagree with him on policy, criticize him on execution, despise him on ideology… but this is a man who entered public life for all the right reasons. If Sims took offense at efforts to insinuate Hatley’s lobbying into something sleazy, well… he had every reason. (Oh… and Josh… Hatley was hired to lobby reluctant members of the County Council, not Sims. Think about it… why spend your money lobbying the one guy who has expressed enthusiasm about considering the proposal?)

Second, while Sims was not at liberty to comment because he had yet to be formally briefed by staff, he was already aware that they had concluded the proposals could not meet his criteria… before he went before the editorial board last Friday. So I think that puts Sims’ reaction in its proper context… he was essentially accused of being unduly influenced by a lobbyist in favor of a deal that he knew he would likely soon kill.

Personally, I buy the story I previously laid out — that Sims found it pointless to pursue an expensive study of a proposal that clearly wasn’t viable — but whatever the motive I applaud his decision. Southwest came to him with a deal that promised to benefit both consumers and the county, and Sims enthusiastically proceeded to conduct due diligence. In the end, the numbers just didn’t work out, and so he rejected the proposal, based on the criteria that he set forth when the news first broke.

No scandal, no backtracking, no shady dealmaking. Just the sort of tough decision a county executive must make every day, regardless of the political consequences.

Last night’s Drinking Liberally was quite a gathering. A large crowd showed up to meet King County Executive Ron Sims and pepper him with questions on everything from light rail to avian flu… and Sims enthusiastically threw himself into the debate. And Sims wasn’t the only candidate in attendance; both Dwight Pelz and Al Runte distinguished themselves by being the first politicians to actually make a return visit… though when I congratulated Runte on this feat, the retired history professor objected to being labeled a politician.

Sorry Al… that’s the sort of mud people are going to sling at you when you run for office.

One of my favorite moments of the night was an extended and contentious back and forth between Sims and a DL regular on the merits of Southwest Airlines controversial proposal to move to Boeing Field. Personally, I oppose the Southwest deal, mostly for my own selfish, NIMBY reasons. (I live near Boeing Field, and don’t particularly welcome the extra road or air traffic.) But what struck me most was the vigor with which Sims argued his position, not just with a constituent, but with a supporter. Sims already had this guy’s vote, and he knew it. And yet he not only dove into the debate with the passionate abandon of… well… just some guy at DL… he clearly had a great time doing it.

This was not the run-of-the-mill retail politics all candidates must master in order to win — though Sims is good at that sort of stuff too. This was an expression of joy from a man who clearly loves diving into the nitty-gritty of politics and policy.

In case you’re interested, the gist of Sims argument is that the Southwest deal would be good for consumers, while adding jobs to South Seattle. He wants to study the proposal, but would only approve it if noise abatement and traffic concerns can be adequately addressed with no public subsidy… a stance that he repeats in Bruce Ramsey’s column in today’s Seattle Times. Sims also points out the irony of him being attacked by members of the business community for considering such a free market proposal.

“I thought government’s role was to establish infrastructure so that wealth could be made by the private sector,” Sims says. “This is so anti-free enterprise.” He pauses for a moment. “I’m a Democrat,” he says. “For the first time in my political life I’m unabashedly on the free-enterprise side and being criticized by the people who are supposed to be on that side.”

Ramsey for his part, is consistent in his pro-business stance:

The Southwest offer is the real thing. And in keeping his door open to real competition, rivalry and choice, Ron Sims is on the side of the traveling public.

Agreed. While I sure hope Sims eventually shuts that door, it’s hard to blame him for opening it in the first place.

I get a lot of requests to trade links, most of which I ignore, but if you really want to catch my attention, here are a few tips. First, write really great stuff. Consistently. Maybe I’m weird, but I like great stuff. Second, nag me incessantly. I simply don’t have time to visit all of my favorite blogs on a daily basis, so don’t assume I’ve seen your latest post. If it’s something you think I’d be interested in, drop me an email and let me know. And third, drop by Drinking Liberally and buy me a beer. I’ll feel a little guilty and indebted, and might think kindly of you the next time I update my blogroll. (But no promises.)

And then there’s brown-nosing. For example, take Darryl at Hominid Views, one of the recent additions to my blogroll. He writes great stuff, emails me frequently to tell me about the great stuff he’s written, and regularly shows up at Drinking Liberally to buy me a beer. What a guy. And then he goes out and earns extra brownie points today with an excellent bit of brown-nosing: “Goldy topples Brown!”

Keep up the great work Darryl. (And keep pouring those beers.)

As Friday’s filing deadline approaches, I’d like to take a moment to categorically deny rumors that I plan to challenge Dave Irons in the Republican primary for King County Executive. Those rumors were irresponsibly started by me, last night at Drinking Liberally, and are utterly ridiculous… considering the cost of the filing fee.

So I just want to make it absolutely clear, that I will not enter the race… unless somebody comes up with $1,653.05 by the Friday, 4:30 p.m. filing deadline.

But while Irons apparently won’t benefit from a stiff primary challenge, according to the Seattle Weekly, Safeco CEO Mike McGavick may have some competition in the Republican primary after all.

While the state Republican party establishment moved quickly to coronate McGavick as the GOP challenger to Cantwell, former KIRO-TV anchor Susan Hutchison had pollsters in the field checking out her prospects against Cantwell. … Hutchison describes herself as a “moderate Republican” who lives in Seattle and sends her children to public school. She has not decided whether to run for Senate. Would she oppose McGavick for the GOP nomination? Says Hutchison, “I am not competitive, but I am pragmatic.” Says Republican political consultant Brett Bader : “Susan wouldn’t shy away from a tough fight.”

A “moderate Republican” huh? Isn’t that just another way of saying “Democrat”…?

In another hotly contested race that is sure to capture the imagination of several people, one of my favorite local bloggers, Carl over at Washington State Political Report is mulling over a run for an open seat on King County Cemetery District #1 (Vashon Island). As we all know, Cemetery District is a political stepping stone to the highly coveted Weed Control District. Best of luck Carl as you start a promising political career.

And finally, a big round of applause to HA regular Richard Pope for finally screwing up the courage to run for public office. Richard will be challenging 20-year incumbent Patricia Davis for Position No. 4. Despite the fact that I disagree with almost everything he writes in the comment threads — and quite frankly, I find him a little nutty — Richard strikes me as smart and honest and incorruptible… and so he has earned my official HA endorsement. (There… that should put the final nail in his political ambitions.)

I got another one of those nasty emails yesterday warning me that there will be a price to pay for my “perfidy” (they get extra credit for vocabulary). Well, I hate to put off the inevitable, so as a public service to my self-appointed inquisitors, I thought I’d share my busy schedule for the coming week.

Saturday, May 21, 3:45pm — I’ll be at the Bellingham Grassroots & Independent Media Conference, joining a panel discussion on blogging. Other panelists include Natasha Chart of Pacific Views and fellow Drinking Liberally beer-buddy Lee Rosenberg of Blog Reload.

May 23-25 (Mon. thru Wed.), 3:15pm — I’ll be joining my good friend Stefan on the John Carlson Show (570-KVI), to discuss the day’s developments coming out of the election contest trial in Chelan County Superior Court. I expect we’ll both report positive developments for our respective sides… but my pronouncements will be made with greater conviction.

Tuesday, May 24, 6-8:30pm — “Is traditional media obsolete?” That’s the question they’ll be asking at the International Association of Business Communicators Seattle chapter’s annual Media Evening, at the Gordon-Biersch Brewpub (Pacific Place). Apart from dinner (and I assume, beer) the evening includes a kind of “media relations speed dating” in which media participants will switch tables with each dinner course to discuss “critical communication questions” with the attendees. “Media/Journalist” participants will include Ken Schram of KOMO-TV, George Erb of the Puget Sound Business Journal, and… me. Non-members are welcome to attend, but it will cost you $45.

I also expect I’ll be on the Kirby Wilbur Show again sometime next week to discuss the election contest trial. And Kirby’s promised me I’ll also get the opportunity to needle him about the gas tax recall initiative.