Silence is golden (especially when you’re running for office)

You may have heard, here and elsewhere, about the hotly-contested Senate election in the 26th Legislative District (Pierce and Kitsap Counties). The seat is up this year because Derek Kilmer resigned after being elected to Congress (WA-06).

The appointed incumbent is Democrat Nathan Schlicher, an ER physician. And attorney. Who graduated from high school at 14, college at 18. Who was an Eagle Scout and is now a Methodist lay preacher. Not too shabby for a 30 year old. His Republican opponent is current Representative Jan Angel.

Piles and piles of outside money (over a million bucks) has poured into this race, not entirely because a party switch would cement the current Tompublican cabal’s control of the Senate more firmly, with all the implications therein.

So why the title of this post (and why am I burying the lede?)? Because of this (emphasis added):

Angel’s spokesman said she wasn’t giving any more media interviews between now and next month’s election. But he noted that she’s been elected by voters in the district three times, most recently with 59 percent of the vote.

Two weeks from Election Day, Angel has gone mum. Why is she hiding (and what is she hiding?)?

Maybe it’s this — in addition to the usual reactionary Republican characteristics, Jan Angel is a Washington state co-chair of ALEC.

Behind that pleasant-sounding acronym and the equally-innocuous title it stands for (American Legislative Exchange Council) hides the source of most of the disastrous right-wing laws seen in all corners of the country. Voter suppression, anti-immigrant, “stand your ground”, “tort reform”, school privatization, and more such insults emerge from ALEC’s “model legislation”. In many cases, exactly the same “model” text appears in laws passed by conservative legislatures in a range of states.

ALEC is (of course) partially funded by the Kochs. There’s also Scaife and Coors money behind it. Many corporations also back ALEC, as do trade groups, conservative special interest non-profits … it’s a who’s-who of the far right. And Jan Angel is at the top of ALEC’s (dung)heap in the Evergreen State.

This Senate race is probably the most important item on any ballot in Washington in 2013. To learn more about Nathan Schlicher’s positions on the issues, go here. And to join me in making a donation to his campaign, use this link.