Ed Barton, yet another white guy for state legislature!
The Seattle Times has endorsed Republican Edward Barton over two-term Democratic state Representative Luis Moscoso in the 1st Legislative District, and omigod, I don’t even know where to start with this one.
First of all, this is now the second race (that I am aware of) in which the editors have endorsed making the state legislature even whiter. As if that’s possible. By my count there are currently only ten nonwhite members of the 147-member legislature (none in the Republican caucuses, unless we want to go back to counting the Irish).
Moscoso is one of only two Hispanics currently serving in Olympia, while Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos is one of only four Asian Pacific Islanders. The Seattle Times would prefer to replace both of them with middle-aged white guys.
Second, the editors’ pre-House biographical description of Moscoso as simply “a former Community Transit bus driver,” is an absolutely stunning lie omission, even for an editorial board that has raised lies of omission to the highest form of art.
Yes, Moscoso drove a bus. But more significantly he was a union organizer and four-term president of ATU Local 1576. He was the Government Relations Director for the Washington Public Employees Association, and served three terms as Secretary of the Washington State Democratic Party. Moscoso has also served on numerous other boards and committees including the Puget Sound Regional Council and NAACP of Snohomish County, but it is his union organizing and Democratic Party activism that makes up the bulk of his professional resume. And it is also the biographical detail to which the anti-labor editors truly object.
And last, but certainly not least, I have to admit I had trouble falling asleep last night after reading this favorable description of Barton’s education policy:
On the critical issue of education, Barton is rightly skeptical of the state Supreme Court’s heavy-handed education-funding mandate, but advocates for additional funding through the so-called levy swap proposal, which has been advanced by some key House Democrats.
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
How many times do I have to explain that the “levy swap” provides no additional funding for education?! It just doesn’t! I’ve laid out in detail how a levy swap would would work. I’ve shown my math. It is an accounting trick, pure and simple, to preposterously claim that a levy swap provides “additional funding” to K-12 education.
To repeat, a levy swap is by design revenue neutral. It merely replaces local levy dollars with state levy dollars—any increase in state school spending is offset by decreasing aggregate local school spending by an equivalent amount. Furthermore, in “property rich” urban and suburban districts like Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond (communities whose interests the Seattle Times allegedly serves), a levy swap would substantially raise our property taxes while providing zero additional funds for our local schools. In fact, a levy swap would actually erode our local K-12 funding over time!
I know folks at the Seattle Times read me—I can see the traffic coming in from nwsource.com. So there is absolutely no excuse for continuing to perpetuate this lie.
Reading between the lines of the paper’s endorsements this year, the editors have clearly made education reform their overriding priority… if by “reform” you mean busting the teachers union, promoting the Gates/Walmart-backed corporate education agenda, and defying the Supreme Court’s mandate to spend more tax dollars on public schools. I suppose that’s their right. I just wish they had the integrity to be honest about it.
“Moscoso … was a union organizer and four-term president of ATU Local 1576. He was the Government Relations Director for the Washington Public Employees Association … ”
That, right there, explains this endorsement. Frank Blethen hates unions. Period.
Times endorsements do serve a useful purpose. They’re a reliable guide to who not to vote for.
I used to live in Sharon Tomiko Santos’ district, but for her past couple terms I was really hoping someone would challenge her in the primary. Her DUI was pretty much the last straw for me.
Of course the Republicans never saw fit to provide a credible challenger for her seat.
This isn’t the first time the state GOP has targeted the 1st District and tried to replace a Democrat with a charter-school Republican. I live in the 1st District and have seen this game play out before.
In 2012 the state GOP, trying to ride the coattails of I-1240, sought to get a pro-charter school Republican swept in in the 1st District. Enter Dawn McCravey. In the 6 months leading up to the November election, we got probably 3-4 mailers a week depicting our incumbent Senator, Rosemary McAuliffe as some kind of butcher of schoolchildren or incompetent fool, juxtaposed with sunny narratives highlighting McCravey’s work on Northshore School Board. On and on for half a year. I’ve never seen any campaign bombard our mailbox to the extent that the McCravey campaign did in 2012. This was a very well-funded operation. She had serious outside financial backing from a group called “Stand for Children Washington”: http://seattletimes.com/html/l.....fe12m.html
And here’s Seattle Times’s endorsement of McCravey:
http://seattletimes.com/html/e.....dist1.html
A lot of “McAuliffe doesn’t lead” without providing specifics, and a hearty endorsement of McCravey for being a school board member. And what about all the other work the Legislature handles? How is McCravey qualified for non-education related issues? ST doesn’t say, and frankly doesn’t seem to care.
In the end, despite the relentless carpet bombing of District 1, McAuliffe still won by 11 points. McCravey didn’t even carry the one major 1st District city in Northlake’s district: Bothell. Despite the scare tactics and endless mailers, McAuliffe cruised, even in the areas where McCravey might have been known. I wager Moscoso will do the same.
I’m sure if there were more Republican minorities the ST would be endorsing them. Need more people of color who are for deporting illegals and erecting a giant fence along our Canadian border and for giving babies guns at birth…. Jindals.
There are four latino legislators in the House
Rep. Luis Moscoso
Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self
Rep. Monica Stonier
Rep. Brady Walkinshaw
Thanks :)
You Libs sure have an unhealthy obsession with race.
Dumbass @ 7
Ummm…Hispanic isn’t a “race”, asshole.
Your failure to understand why a diverse population should be represented by a diverse legislature is simply your own personal failure.
re 7 — Would a healthier view be one that endorses restrictive ID laws with respect to voting?
@8, @9 – I suspect what they really want is to restore slavery, but a $7.25 minimum wage is the next best thing.
$25+ a hour.
Remember the mom in tennis shoes kicked butt in 92 and has ever since . Louis can drive the vote better than most and has done good work for years. the Times they need some changing . I am not going to buy Blethen’s paper for a few weeks and send a Check to Moscoso.