Two months after John McKay was fired as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, the reason for his dismissal remains a mystery.
One of the most persistent rumors in Seattle legal circles is that the Justice Department forced McKay, a Republican, to resign to appease Washington state Republicans angry over the 2004 governor’s race. Some believe McKay’s dismissal was retribution for his failure to convene a federal grand jury to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the race.
Ohmygod… “persistent rumors.” Of course, the occasional time I base a post on rumors, I’m slapped down in the comment thread for being unserious, uncredible and irresponsible. But who am I (a wrong-headed, fatuous drunk) to question the journalistic rigor of the Seattle Times?
Truth is, that is the scuttlebutt buzzing through Republican circles, and it certainly is worthy of reporting in a major daily, for while I think it more likely the product of wishful thinking than actual fact, the rumor does provide a window into the mean-spirited, vindictive and Machiavellian mindset that permeates much of the GOP establishment and its right-wing base. Remember, this is a party that took its rhetorical cues from the likes of Evergreen Freedom Foundation president and aspiring-fascist Bob Williams (who throughout the controversy emphatically called for King County Elections Director Dean Logan to be summarily jailed,) and our good friend Stefan over at (un)Sound Politics, who when he wasn’t foisting his paranoid fantasies on an insufficiently critical press corps, chose to fan the flames of inter-party hatred by repeatedly comparing KC Executive Ron Sims to brutal African dictator Robert Mugabe. (A comparison, I suppose, that had nothing to do with their mutual skin color.)
Given the vehemence in which some in the GOP would brand all Democrats as crooks, thieves and enemies of the state, it becomes difficult to discern insincerity from sheer nuttiness. Take, for example Building Industry Association of Washington executive vice president Tom McCabe, whose organization financed and conducted much of the crackerjack detective work that misidentified hundreds of citizens as illegal felon voters, and then offered no apology for their victims’ public humiliation.
In a column titled “Good Riddance,” McCabe said McKay “had a disastrous six years as U.S. Attorney. Two years ago, he steadfastly refused to investigate voter fraud despite overwhelming evidence.” McCabe also said he had “urged the President to fire McKay.”
Overwhelming evidence of voter fraud, huh?
We had two recounts under extraordinary public scrutiny, five months of hearings and depositions, and a two-week trial before a cherry-picked judge in a Republican county… that ended with all allegations of fraud being “dismissed with prejudice.”
Overwhelming evidence? Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed repeatedly vouched for the integrity of the election and election officials, while KC’s own Republican County Prosecutor Norm Maleng not only failed to find enough evidence to launch a local investigation, he had his own representative on the Canvassing Board vote to certify the election results.
We had a gubernatorial election that ended in a statistical tie, but which Chris Gregoire won fair and square under the bipartisanly adopted statutes that govern elections and election disputes. But some Republicans were willing to take the governor’s mansion by hook or by crook, and when McKay, Reed and Maleng refused to abuse the power of their offices to steal this election on behalf of Dino Rossi and his corporatist patrons, McCabe, Williams and others set out to purge their party of the traitors, and destroy both their reputations and careers.
The celebratory rumors surrounding McKay’s departure — unsubstantiated as they are — present an unsavory image of a party seeking solace in retribution. And the propensity for threatening opponents and heretics alike with criminal, civil and vigilante justice provides a revealing glimpse into the psyche of a party whose Manichean world view quickly devolves even the most stolid policy debate into a battle between good vs. evil. I suppose it might have been merely a feeble attempt at a jest when during the heat of the gubernatorial election controversy my good friend Stefan twice accused me via email of “abetting a government cover-up,” but his use of a legalistic term clearly implied wishful thinking, if not an actual threat, that I should be criminally punished for exercising free speech. That is the sort of vengeful spirit that welcomes McKay’s departure.
Was McKay really fired for refusing to misuse his office to pursue trumped up allegations of election fraud? I’ve got no idea. But the very fact that so many local Republicans clearly wish the rumor to be true is both disturbing and revealing.
I guess we all hope/wish that those in our immediate locale are more genteel, balanced or at least rational, than those in LA (Lower Alabama)even if they are Republicans, but your thoroughly depressing post seems to indicate that Republicans HERE are just as venal as Jesse Helms. Sigh.
But Goldy, blogs report mere rumors. Newspapers report “persistent” rumors. There’s the difference.
Sometimes investigations of allegations expose no wrongdoing, but investigations that are never even started, cannot expose anything. The minimum McKay should have done in 2004-5 was open an investigation into voter fraud. If nothing was found, so be it. Failing to investigate was his undoing.
Delbert
This apparently is how the right indulges its lust for vengeance, being as lynchings, burning at the stake and public disembowelment have fallen out of vogue.
I dunno. For anyone with Republican political aspirations in Washington, getting fired by Bush could be a blessing.
Delbert @3,
Then by your logic, McKay should have opened an investigation into me soliciting sex from minors online, because you know, somebody did make that allegation, and we’ll never really know if it’s true or not unless the US attorney makes a full investigation right?
On that line of reasoning, Delbert, I think the US attorney should investigate your 1999 trip to an al-Qaeda training camp.
I seem to recall allegations about Mr. Esser and some pigs, and they were never investigated. The reason that they were never investigated was that they were baseless.
Apparently, over at unSP, Mr. Sharkansky and his bunch, after long months and hundreds (thousands?) of man-hours searching the voter registration records has only managed to find a handful of actual problem registrations. In a state with millions of registered voters, that is an amazingly good record.
Of course, even one is too many, but I have to wonder whether the folks calling for statewide investigations of alleged voter registration fraud might possibly have had other motives.
While Mr. Sharkansky and his bunch are welcome to spend hundreds more man hours pouring over records in order to find three or four more improperly registered individuals, I would prefer that my tax money be spent in more fruitful endeavors.
Still, I applaud Mr. Sharkansky and his bunch over at unSP. While I think their efforts misguided, I have to admire their determination. Most folks would have given up on a project with so little return for so much effort.
One last related bit. I would like to see an investigation of the person that swore under penalty of purjury that she(?) had personally verified that several hundred people (surprisingly from strongly Democratic areas) were improperly registered, when this turned out to be untrue.
Can someone tell me the status of that case?
One last bit. Mr. McKay was a Republican appointee, and presumably was a Republican himself. I say “was” because he may well be looking for a new political party because of his treatment by the neo-cons.
While I am personally sorry for his ill-treatment, the partisan in me has a big smile. One more example of how the Republican leadership treats honest conservatives.
To Mr. McKay, I would say “Come on over. We welcome anyone that is honest, diligent, open-minded and who loves our country.”
John McKay deserved better. Unfortunately, he is a Republican with integrity. That is a breed that is highly endangered.
You clearly don\’t know John McKay or his equally talented brother Mike, if you think they would \”Come on over\” to your dark side.
They are devout Catholics from a large family of devout Catholics with a history of faithfully serving their church at great length.
They want no part of a group that promote anti-Catholic politicians who hire, defend and endorse anti-Catholic screeds from the worst of your lot.
Yup, recent looser and best boy for Rossi, Luke Esser is now Party chair and no doubt will employ Rossi’s campaign manager till shock of shocks, Rossi announces while Backwater Washington (Rossi’e fake 501 C-3) employs a prior McGaveck assist campaign Manager while McKenna plays party politics from his office of Attorney General and Shrub deals us a GOP tool as Fed district Attorney.
It’s all kind of funny really. All this shit so Rossi can crash and burn in a futile attempt to unseat a very successful Governor. BRING IT ON!
No doubt any federal fraud investigations of Rossi and his shady land deals are now on hold till after 2008. I expect we shall have plenty of light to shine on this “likable young man” (can you say con artist) between now and then.
@ 10
Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzz Zzzzzzzz
**Yaaaaaaawn** Booooooorrrrriiinnngg.
Stefan should publish a mea culpa for his personal contribution to global warming. The hot air he spewed over the ’04 election melted at least half a dozen glaciers around here. His keyboard is a one-man point pollution source.
@3 I think McKay should have indicted Lori Sotelo.
Garbled Brain Sot @ 12… did your attempt at cleverness wear you out or are you just typically devoid of any intellectual thought?
Instead of rumors why don’t you discuss the very real political infighting in the dem party a la Chopp, Nickels, and Gregoire?
I thik McKay should have investigated why GOP lackey and ass-kisser Norm Maleng refused to prosecuted Lori Sotelo for voting fraud and civil rights violations.
Gosh, oh my. We found a couple of registration errors in Washington? Bring out the dogs. We need to get to the bottom of this!!!!
Juuuuuust don’t even think about the 90,000 LEGITIMATE minority voters Jeb Bush kicked off the rolls in Florida 2000, even after Choicepoint told him the lists were over 90% inaccurate……
In fact I am still waiting for the 3.5 million provisional, and machine spoiled ballots from 2004 to be counted…..
Voter fraud is the ONLY thing the GOP is good at. Everything else they touch turns to sh&%*^t.
Anyone retarded enough to think Republicans are good for America should be committed.
Republicans are allergic to oversight, never tell the truth, and can only complain about straw men, and red herrings while they are stripping our country bare in a thousand ways. Open borders, unchallenged employers, and outsourcing jobs. Ignoring global warming, and running the debt up. Raising taxes and fees on the poor to help the rich. Bastards.
How is that unnecessary war in Iraq working out? How about kicking the Taliban out of Afghanistan?
If making America hated worldwide it what a president, and his party planned, then Bush, and the GOP have done a great job.
Remember Cheney lobbying for no price caps on the price of electricity Enron was selling to California? Claiming the high prices were caused by “environmentalists” eh? I remember.
There is not a word in the english language vile enough to describe the average Republicon leader. Traitor is not strong enough, and scum is not sick enough.
The worst thing about being Republicon is you have to conveniently “forget” so many facts that you can’t possibly live in the “real” world.
Just think, flag draped coffins, flag draped coffins, fla…..
It may sink in….
Facts @18
They are good at voter fraud precisely because it involves stopping government from working effectively. They are quite accomplished at taking organizations and destroying them in creative fashion.
I can’t imagine any Democrat thinking to put a horse lawyer in charge of a critical government agency and then bragging about what a good job he is doing while thousands starve. You have to give them credit for originality, but the fact that they are accomplished at intentional mismanagement shouldn’t be at all surprising.
This falls into the THANK GOD category!
\”I can\’t imagine in any circumstance to run for office again,\” said the former Democratic vice president under then-president Bill Clinton.\”
\”I have no intention to run for president,\” Gore said in an interview conducted in Los Angeles and broadcast Thursday by the BBC.\”
THANK GOD and no kidding, loser.
I wonder what it is about liberal big mouths that they are so grammatically challenged: \”I can\’t imagine in any circumstance to run for office again,\”
HUH?
Seminary: FAILED
Law School: FAILED
Politician: FAILED
Grammar: FAILED
THINK before you open your great big piehole, Al.
Sniveling@ 10
Not sure that should be any barrier. I am a devout Catholic and I think the Church’s prioritization of theological purity over hummanity when it comes to opposition to birth control is particularly short-sighted in the extreme.
One has to stop and think what Jesus’ position was when it came down to deciding whether some rigorous (and foolish) bit of religious orthodoxy on the part of the Pharisees. Do you go with religious rationalization or do you care for people and stop disease with condoms?
The current Church leadership goes one way (with many bishops in disagreement by the way) and as a devout Catholic I go the other. Catholic does not equal being stupid or imply blind obedience. In fact, it prohibits both.
Could be corruption from local cretins like Tom McCabe, or it could be corruption from national weasels like Karl Rove. Take your pick these days.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00936.html
Justice Department officials have said that six of the attorneys were fired for “performance-related” reasons.
But Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty acknowledged in testimony earlier this month that in the case of Little Rock, former U.S. attorney Bud Cummins was asked to leave to make way for Griffin.
Whoever-you-are in #10 and #21…I’m Catholic myself, and I can’t help but get the impression you’re in step with those 30 people who petitioned the Vatican to get Hunthausen in hot water.
Spewing bile at those who you consider less “worthy” than yourself doesn’t exactly follow Jesus’ example as I understand it.
Knowing that God loves you as much as He does me, I think I’ll say a prayer for you and leave it at that.
Nindid answered Sniveling better than I could, but I should also point out that we have pro-life Democrats, and while I personally disagree with some of their positions, they are welcome here.
Additionally, lots of Catholics are Democrats, as the Democratic position on most social issues is far closer than the Republican position. There are a few hot button items that you neo-cons like to use to pull them over to your side, but honest religious conservatives have started to notice that you folks talk the talk, but don’t walk the walk.
They’re also finding out that much of what you neo-cons say we believe has little resemblance to what we actually believe.
For example, you folks love to say that we are in favor of abortions. A pretty obvious lie if anyone ever thinks about it, but you’re counting on the emotion to overrule the intellect.
Nobody is in favor of abortions. What we’re in favor of is women making their own informed choice without the government getting involved in an intensely emotional and personal decision.
Some Democrats are in favor of gay marriage, but mostly it is a matter of fairness in dealing with a civil contract having very little to do with the religious sacrament of Marriage. If the government is going to assign benefits to a civil contract, it should be available to anyone, regardless of sex.
My own thought is that government should call their contract by a different name (for everyone). Let churches decide who is and is not “Married”. Government assigning benefits to a religious sacrament seems to violate the First Amendment.
So, if he’s honest, open minded and loves our country, he’s welcome. We’ll work out the differences later.
How bout this little ditty speaking of political infighting. “Embattled Bloggers Resign from John Edwards Campaign”
What? After Edwards so publically decided to keep them?
( yeah and as soon as the cameras were turned off the two were escorted to the door)
Thus goldy will never move forward in the political relm beyond the obscenity laced playground of his blog.
John at 7 said: “but I have to wonder whether the folks calling for statewide investigations of alleged voter registration fraud might possibly have had other motives.”
Uh, the problem wasn’t that they wanted a “statewide investigation”. They only wanted an investigation of King County, which provided enough of a Democratic majority to make it likely that any votes cancelled would be subtracted from Gregoire’s column. They actively opposed any investigation into other counties with Republican majorities, which in itself proves their motives to be entirely partisen. The fact that the King County Prosecutor and State Auditor were Republicans and found no pattern of misconduct shows the challenge was a sham from the beginning. The vote challenge was successful in one respect: it raised a lot of money for the Republican Party, nationally, as Rossi was trotted around as the “victim” of “Democratic Voter Fraud”.
As for McKay, I have seen him in action, and it seems to me he proceeded with his work in a businesslike fashion, without passion or prejudice. Even before this issue came up, I would have had a hard time voting against him if he had run for state A.G., even if he is a Republican.
But when this whole issue surfaced, I had to wonder: why go to this much trouble over a bunch of public prosecutors? The party workers who are appointed as replacements don’t really want those jobs for the jobs themselves, there is just too much work involved to leave them time to do political work. Besides, what’s to keep a Democratic President from just firing them, and appointing replacements in the same manner? What other motivation might there by? Well, now that we see a link to the election process, it might provide the answer. Perhaps Rove & Co. want to have federal prosecuters in place in targeted districts around the countries, with instructions to seek federal courts to order election results invalidated pending “federal investigations of voter fraud”? Maybe that’s the only way they think they can have a chance to keep from having all of them thrown out on their ears come Nov. 2008, and then prosecuted to boot?
I suppose that you never even considered the idea that the two ladies in question simply decided that their continued presence was a distraction from the issues.
Still, this is indeed a victory for opponents of free speech, for people that want to ensure that nothing other than the official position is heard, and for those that want to control the information that is available to the public.
Yes, “Right Stuff”, you can call this a victory for your side, and get no argument from me.
I suppose that you never even considered the idea that the two ladies in question simply decided that their continued presence was a distraction from the issues.
Still, this is indeed a victory for opponents of free speech, for people that want to ensure that nothing other than the official position is heard, and for those that want to control the information that is available to the public.
Yes, “Right Stuff”, you can call this a victory for your side, and get no argument from me.
21
By any name, still a coward.
It really sucks to be you, Asshole.
(double post. Sorry.)
Wingnut@10 The question I would ask you is this: Would you fare as well as the woman at the well? Jesus brought us a compassionate judgement of our human condition. This was the strength and the fire that brought the best of Catholicism through the ages to us.
Save me from the narrow cruciform box you would have us all be jammed in to.
23: Yep, the old generic allegation of “performance-related issues”. No details, so it can never be countered, it sits as a black mark upon the person’s reputations, without him ever being able to defend himself against them. I’m sure Rove likes this – it not only allows him to dismiss a prosecutor for purely partison reasons, it allows him to libel the victim while he is at it.
21: You are criticizing Al Gore for his use of grammer???? Considering the current Republican President, that is just NUTS.
@16 “Instead of rumors why don’t you discuss the very real political infighting in the dem party a la Chopp, Nickels, and Gregoire?”
You haven’t read HA lately, have you?
@21 Al Gore’s fingernail clippings are worth more to America than the whole Republican Party put together.
“Remember, this is a party that took its rhetorical cues from the likes of Evergreen Freedom Foundation president and aspiring-fascist Bob Williams (who throughout the controversy emphatically called for King County Elections Director Dean Logan to be summarily jailed”
a) Thanks for calling a great man a fascist. That is like Stefan calling Bob a “freedom fighter” or you calling Larry Phillips an angel. My point: Coming from you, this is a compliment.
b) EFF and for that matter Washington State Secretary of Defense Mary “Marummy” Lane (now Lane-Strow) as well never called on Dean Logan to go to jail, if I recall. I still have said Defense Secretary’s press releases!!
c) I am happy EFF is podcasting about their likely victory.
Roger Rabbit: I have a new girlfriend, so no more Mary Lane inneuendos, okay?
Buried back in an earlier thread, Janet seemed to imply that somehow I agreed with her position regarding Mr. Esser. (I don’t.)
This speaks to the topic here because we have a situation with Mr. Esser and Mr. McKenna that may violate the law, and I’m not sure that there is anyone to prosecute it.
Apparently Mr. Esser has continued to work in a position in the AG’s office until just a few days ago. This position apparently did not exist until Mr. Esser needed a job.
He has also been working full-time for the Washington GOP.
Considering this was done at the direction of the State’s top law enforcement officer, and we now have a political appointee in the US Attorney’s office that was installed because the former US Attorney wasn’t partisan enough to suit the far-right, I can see that we may have a problem here.
Can the Governor appoint a special prosecutor to look into this?
Didn’t Clinton fire ALL the US prosecutors when he came into office? I’m sure all of you howled in protest when he did.
It is a political office and political appointment. Grow up.
BTW, when is Goldy going to print a retraction regarding his baseless allegations against Luke Esser? Guess that would take an honorable person.
janet s @40,
Fair enough: Luke Esser doesn’t really fuck pigs. (At least, not that I know of.) I apologize.
There. Are you satisfied?
@28
“I suppose that you never even considered the idea that the two ladies in question simply decided that their continued presence was a distraction from the issues.”
Sure, but it doesn’t sound so good… you know we are talking about rumors and such….
“Still, this is indeed a victory for opponents of free speech, for people that want to ensure that nothing other than the official position is heard, and for those that want to control the information that is available to the public.”
I never claimed this as a victory? And what this really shows, in my opinion, is that people are held accountable for their words. Everyone is free to express their thoughts, but if you are going to do it in the public forum, then you also have to expect to be held accoutable for what you say.
Yes, “Right Stuff”, you can call this a victory for your side, and get no argument from me.
The only “victory” is for accountability.
Thus the comments with regards to Goldy’s future political ambitions.
JS at 40:
(a) Did he? Prove it by a reliable source. I’m not aware of it, and I’m not going to waste my time trying to track it down, unless you can provide compelling evidence.
(b) It is not a purely political appointment. The President gets to appoint, the Senate confirms. The terms of office are set at four years. Until recently, any vacancies were filled by an interim US Attorney selected by a panel of federal judges, under an arrangement in place for decades to prevent partison manipulation of the office. But a last-minute insertion into the Senate version of the the renewal of the Patriot Act last year changed that to make any interim appointments indefinate. Who changes this rule? The then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he never saw it. It was apparantly inserted by an aid the the judiciary committee chairman, who the White House insisted he hire as a condition of his retaining the chairmanship. This new aid’s previous job? He was an assistant to Karl Rove. Now, if this proceedure is allowed remain in effect, then every President need only (1) appoint a US Attorney, (2) have them confirmed by the Senate, (3) Fire them the next day, and (4) appoint anybody he damn well chooses, who will remain in office as long as the President does. Kinda defeats the “Senate Confirmation” requirement, wouldn’t you say?
(c) Somehown you jump from the an unproven conclusion (“baseless accusations”) to a demand (“print a retraction”) to a character smear (insinuating that since he won’t, he’s not an honerable person). Quite a leap of logic in once sentance, without even pausing for breath, much less to provide the missing (and non-existent) facts. Esser is obviously doing political work in his new position (press releases and press conferences prove that fact), and he hasn’t explained how he is entitled to take “personal time” while still part of the AG office. The ball’s in his court.
ATTORNEY GENERAL SEEKS RESIGNATIONS FROM PROSECUTORS
*Please Note: Archive articles do not include photos, charts or graphics. More information. March 24, 1993, Wednesday
By DAVID JOHNSTON, (Special to The New York Times); National Desk
Late Edition – Final, Section A, Page 1, Column 1, 1053 words
DISPLAYING ABSTRACT – Attorney General Janet Reno today demanded the prompt resignation of all United States Attorneys, leading the Federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia to suggest that the order could be tied to his long-running investigation of Representative Dan Rostenkowski, a crucial ally of President Clinton. Jay B. Stephens, the …
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/.....%2c%20Bill
From the New York Times
ATTORNEY GENERAL SEEKS RESIGNATIONS FROM PROSECUTORS
*Please Note: Archive articles do not include photos, charts or graphics. More information. March 24, 1993, Wednesday
By DAVID JOHNSTON, (Special to The New York Times); National
DISPLAYING ABSTRACT – Attorney General Janet Reno today demanded the prompt resignation of all United States Attorneys, leading the Federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia to suggest that the order could be tied to his long-running investigation of Representative Dan Rostenkowski, a crucial ally of President Clinton. Jay B. Stephens, the …
During a recent vacation in Hawaii,
wea couple went to see a popular magic show. After one especially amazing feat,Ia woman from the back of the theater yelled out, \”Hey, how\’d you do that?\”\”I could tell you, madam\”, the magician answered, \”But then I\’d have to kill you.\”
After a short pause,
Ishe yelled back, \”Ok, then… Just tell my husband Carl!\”Goldy, you are certainly a classy guy. You have absolutely no proof that Esser was collecting a salary from the Republican Party while still on the payroll at the AG’s office, but yet you post it anyway. A simple phone call could have given you the truth, but that would be the act of someone who is actually cares about the validity of what he writes.
It isn’t on Esser to prove that Goldy is wrong, it is up to Goldy to prove that his allegations are correct. Wonder why NO paper in the state has picked up on this “scandal”?
That’s fine – it’s Goldy’s credibility. I’m waiting to hear him scream like a stuck pig when no one hires him to run their campaign blog.
@44 Bravo!
next
Re: 47. Thanks, Liberals are so easy to fisk., especially if they get all self righteous like goldy and rhp6033 does.
God FORBID a rightie would EVER get self-righteous. Jesus Christ.
Re: 49, sorry to rain on your parade.
I’m still annoyed that the Democrats whispered the truth while the Republicans yelled “DEMOCRATIC VOTER FRAUD!!!!!!” from the rooftops.
As a result of the fairly successful Republican campaign (and, let’s not kid ourselves–that’s exactly what it was)to tar the Dems, there are plenty of people who watch politics only peripherally and think that there may have been something shady going on in Washington state.
Hell, I have a well-educated Republican friend who rejects the Limbaugh crowd– but who is convinced that a Republican candidate can’t get a fair shake in this state.
Democrats should have been on every talk show they could push their way onto, howling how Republicans were trying to rob an honest candidate of her legally-protected right to a recount process. We should have had the Democratic chair on every tv station talking about Democratic commmitment to a fair process,and offering a $10,000 reward for compelling evidence of systematic Democratic voter fraud in Washington.
But no, instead we had Chairman Sissypants whining on some station about something or another, making the Dems look like a weak bunch of losers. That was helpful.
With all the criminal activity going on within the Publican party, it’s Rove 101 folks to try to deflect by alleging pure BULLSHIT hoping to get our attention off the fact that Bush and his cowardly friends have stolen billions of war dollars and run this country into trouble and debt – all at once.
Re: 52. I guess he isn’t a security risk:
Cold Cash Jefferson on Homeland Security Cmte
http://blog.washingtonpost.com.....ecuri.html
Re 52. Ex-N.C. House Speaker Admits Corruption (Democrat)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00911.html
Inquiry into back pay for Rippey-Tourk
Wife of ex-campaign manager received $10,000 retroactively
(Democrat)
Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the woman who had an affair with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, received $10,154 in unexplained retroactive pay after leaving her job as his commission appointments secretary, public records show.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....YMENTS.TMP
Want me to go on?
Janet S @47,
Actually, I called Luke Esser before writing my first post on this subject, and faithfully reported what he told me, that he took time off from his AG job to conduct party business that day.
I don’t remember if I asked him specifically if he was drawing a salary from the WSRP at the time, but we talked about the subject, and he had every opportunity to explain otherwise. (By the way, the conversation was friendly, and he said he’d be happy to come on my show some time.)
But you know what Janet, that’s all besides the point. The issue isn’t that the WSRP is paying him, but that taxpayers are paying him for a full time job, at the same time he is actively chairing the WSRP.
You know what? I’m done defending someone who won’t defend himself. Esser won’t stand up and explain the situation to the public, so why should I ask you to retract? The first rule is to get ahead of the story, and he clearly hasn’t. Instead he has weasled.
Once again, the Republican party in this state has once again snatched defeat from the jaws of loss.
Poooor Jan s …You really are not that sharp are you? Luke and his partner in crime Rob are simply avoiding going on record so they can reduce the chance of being found to have lied.
Actually, the story is that Esser stayed on the state payroll after being elected party chair. He wasn’t double dipping, as Goldy accused him of without foundation. But as Goldy’s post here shows, he is backing off that charge, and is now merely accusing Esser of working on the state payroll while holding the title of state chair.
There is nothing illegal about what he did, but it makes one wonder how effective he could be as chairman if he was still holding a full time job at the AG’s office.
Ok, this whole deal with Mr. Esser working for the AG while also being chair of the Washington GOP got me interested enough to do some research.
What I came across was not exactly what I was looking for, but seems to apply. Lawyers among us please correct me if I’m wrong here. (I’m not a lawyer, and don’t even play one on TV.)
First, there is RCW 42.52.020, Activities incompatible with public duties.
I’m willing to bet that most Republicans would not see any conflict between Mr. Esser being an appointed assistant of a partisan officeholder, but I certainly do.
I’d also be willing to bet that if the folks involved were Democrats, they would certainly claim that they were violating this law and would be asking for full investigations, followed by prosecution.
We also have a court case that bears on the matter.
Apparently, Washington courts have long recognized a common law doctrine called the “doctrine of incompatible public offices.” There was a 1957 decision in the case of Kennett v. Levine, the Washington State Supreme Court applied the doctrine, noting:
From what I can tell, this case has never been overturned.
Alltogether, these seem like sufficient grounds to have an outside party, such as a special prosecutor look into this situation. It may well be that no law was broken, but there certainly is an appearance of impropriety.
We’ve got some lawyers around here. Am I on the wrong track?
Clownstein syas:
Well that just about sums it up about you Clownstein. At least you finally wrote something we can agree upon.
Ewww! janet s is back! She always has the best meth!
CLownstein,
It is more likely that liberals saw to it he was purged form office for failing to find the killer of liberal icon tom Wales. After all, we know how the Democrat Party, whose Stalinist wordview immediately purges dissenters as they did to Joe Lieberman.
Doggril said :
People aren’t stupid. They know that when an elections department run by liberal Democrats is conveniently “discovering” ballots weeks after the election that just happen to throw it their candidates way, there is something afoot.
Democrats are crooked. Hell they even reelect their own crooks instead of throwing them out. Look at William Jefferson.
PBJ at 62:
Cyniclown, is that you? I thought you gave up posting here a long time ago.
poster at 46
So easily flushed out.
Cowards always are.
Sucks to be you.
@51 You have an inflated notion of what your effect here is.
@52 Finally a Democrat is talking sense! We need to tackle Republican bullshit head-on. We should dog GOP propagandists and debunk their lies at every turn. We must educate the public to always distrust what wingers say. Their noise machine is funded with millions of dollars, and therefore capable of making a great deal of noise, and there is a real danger that constant repetition of their lies will sway public opinion. We must make damned sure Republican liars are not the only voices heard. This is one of the most important tasks before us.
65-
You’re just an idiot. There were Republicans crawling all over the counting effort. And yet, no one, no one -and, here, let me say this a little louder to overcome the voices in your head– NO ONE found evidence of systematic voter fraud.
Now, the ineptitude of the County elections office is another matter. They didn’t manage the thousands of slips of paper from thousands of locations very well.
Having worked several jobs in my younger days that dealt with processing thousands of slips of paper, I know that having a good system in place is critical. King County has been open about the fact that it didn’t (and still doesn’t) have a good system in place. But ineptitude is not the same thing as fraud.
If you want to talk about voter fraud, let me suggest you begin by googling “Allen Raymond.”(Here’s a hint: he did his dirty work for one of the two major parties–and it wasn’t the Democrats). He’s in jail for it. There’s plenty of other documented stories of Republican voter fraud out there if you are interested–it’s one of the few things they’re really good at.
As for pointing to the pathetic Jefferson as proof of Democratic corruption, that’s the second reason you’re an idiot. If you pulled your head out for just a moment, you might have noticed the parade of Republican officials passing by on their way to court and/or prison. If you really want the parties to go head to head on a corruption contest, the Republicans make the Democrats look like amateurs. Tom DeLay (indicted), Bob Ney (in jail), Duke Cunningham (in jail), Jim Gibbons (under investigation by the FBI). And that’s just for starters. Go ahead, if you want to continue your track record of idiocy, and respond with some story of some obscure Democrat dog catcher in Podunksville who got caught taking a break on the clock. Or, you could repeat old unproven rumors that have been juiced up over the years by Republican operatives. Finally, you could point to 100-year old examples of corruption to prove your theory that today’s Democrats are corrupt. Because that’s all you’ve got. That’s all you’ve got.
Moron.
Janet S I thought you were done defending this criminal? Then two posts later there you are defending him. If this were a Dem you’d be screaming bloody murder. The problem is, you Publicans don’t have any true values other than blind loyalty to your party, no matter how wrong it is. That’s why you lost in Nov. That’s why you’re gonna keep on loooooooooooooooosing.
Re: Vote fraud.
I recall hearing that the state of Wisconsin did a major inquiry into vote fraud (I don’t know the politics of it). They concluded after extensive investigation that there was not a single instance of actual fraud. It is simply not an action that is of any significance. It seemed to me that we were in a similar circumstance in Washington. It is easy to throw it out there with innuendo and accusation, but it is really unlikely that in this state either party would be much involved in such a thing. The consequences are so dire for being caught, and the likelihood of elections being close enough to be affected is so low. It is hard to remember that no one knew the Gregoire/Rossi race would be so close, so planning for a miniscule difference was not very likely. The GOP vote fraud noise is just another sign of their unwillingness to abide by the clear and unbiased system that we use to solve the case of close elections. Shame on them, again.
Ah, we’re on to vote fraud. While it is a made-up issue, (at least here in Washington) it is also an issue that gets people’s attention.
The Republicans know this. That’s why they keep cloaking their “keep out the vote” measures in languange that sounds as if they are actually trying to do something good.
So, let’s take it on, stealing their thunder as part of a larger reform bill that further strengthens our state’s voting procedures.
(Yes, I know that what they’re really looking for is something that requires three certified copies of birth certificates (one for you, one for each of your parents, just to make sure that you are really an American.) Then a modest $500 fee to pay the costs and an oath of allegience to the Republican Party, and you’re registered!)
Remember, if we do this, we can find ways to further reduce the opportunities for fraud, while still encouraging all legal voters to cast their votes.
And, if there are some honest Republicans left that truly consider this to be a problem this will allow them to work with us on something that seems important to them.
I’ve written (at far too much length) about ways to verify identity at no cost and with little effort. My favorite is simply to take a thumbprint at the time of registration, then give voters the option of either presenting photo ID or placing a thumbprint on the voter roll that we currently sign.
(Back before I got tired of dealing with getting constantly slammed by the right-wingers, I had posted this same idea over at unSP. They didn’t like it. Apparently they have some problem with counterfeit thumbs, or some such.)
At the same time, we could come up with a statewide, voter-verifiable, computer-readable paper ballot. I’m rather fond of the method we use down here in Pierce County, but there may be better ones. Thoughts?
@72
Voter fraud is alive and well. It’s called “motor voter”
http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-js031401.html
69-
You are just a politcally programming Demo-robot repeating the same old lies over and over and over like a broken record. How much is the DNC paying you to “monitor” the blogs?
You think your Sovietsky style of repressing dissent will change people’s minds? Just like the captive people of the old Soviet Union, you may hold the power, but you will never hold the hearts and minds of the people you repress.
“Finding” ballots weeks after the election has closed that “conveniently” put the marxist in powers is an old Joseph Stalin trick. He would be proud of your party.
Stalin once said “It is not he who votes, but he who counts the votes that matters.” You socialists proved it in spades. In Washington State, we no longer live in a Democracy. We live in a appartchik driven politbureau state in which the Demogogue party will stop at nothing to
Felons voted, non-citizens voted.
You are a mindless political drone no more capable of independent though or critical thinking than a toaster.
In the Ukraine they had the Orange Revolution when the crooks tried to steal the election. They have more right to say their government is a Democracy that anyone in Washington State.
You are part of a crooked machine that has crushed Democracy in this state. No threat of physical violence on your part will ever silence me.
@72,
The demo politbureau already has. Now they want to make it legal for felons to vote. That should make their election stealing much easier next time.
And let me say it loud enough for it to penetrate the rock you wear for a head, there was definitely VOTE FRAUD. You like to qualify it with “Systematic” hoping the readers will make the jump to assume there was no vote fraud.
THERE WAS DEFINITELY VOTE FRAUD! Even your liberal biased papers had to grudingly admit this.
“At least eight people who died well before the November general election were credited with voting in King County, raising new questions about the integrity of the vote total in the narrow governor’s race, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer review has found.
– Seattle PI ,Friday, January 7, 2005
You are simply trying to put a good spin on the election theft. You liberals always do this. Just as you now call yourselves “progressives” to sell liberalism, you are trying to call election fraud “ineptitude”. Bullshit! Your appratchik STOLE the election and calling it ineptitude will no change the nature of the crime anymore than calling a liberal a progressive will change their nature.
If you want to talk about voter fraud, let me suggest you begin by googling “Allen Raymond.”(Here’s a hint: he did his dirty work for one of the two major parties–and it wasn’t the Democrats). He’s in jail for it. There’s plenty of other documented stories of Republican voter fraud out there if you are interested–it’s one of the few things they’re really good at.
Funny you cannot provide a single link to any of your accusations. But I will do you one better. Let’s talk about Chad Statton, a volunteer for a Democrat voter drive in which the NAACP representative gave him crack cocaine for false voter registrations for Democrats. And isn’t it funny that after the story came out, Georgianne Pitts, his NAACP cocaine dealer, was mysteriously found dead reportedly of an “accidental” overdose of a prescription medication. Kind of like Vince Foaster, those that irritate the apparatchik “disappear”.
http://www.toledoblade.com/app.....52/-1/NEWS
Oh I suppose I could list people like William Jefferson Clinton or crooked Dan Rostenkowski (D- Ill) or James Trafficant (D-Ohio) in prison or a whole lineup of others. But you missed my point completely, as usual.
William Jefferson (D-LA) got RE-ELECTED! Let me repeat so it penetrates yoru thick liberal skull – the CROOK WILLIAM JEFFERSON WAS REELECTED by DEMOCRATS!
What office does Tom Delay hold at the moment? What office does Bob Ney or Duke Cunningham hold right now? NONE. Let me repeat, THEY HOLD NO OFFICE. That is because Republicans kick the bums out when they are found to be corrupt. Democrats hunker down and reelected their crooks and attempt to defend them like Baghdad Bob claiming there are no Americans in Baghdad when the sound of .50 cal gunfire can be heard outside.
So Baghdad Bob, keep sticking to your story. We can go all the way from the present day back to the Civil War if you want to. You may not like what you learn about your Democrat party though. Or perhaps you already know. But you wouldn’t like it if the rest of the world was reminded.
Bring it on propaganda minister. BRING IT ON!
Propaganda Minikster @ 72 –
Hey thumbprinting someone sounds good to me so long as you first verify the identity of the person whose thumbprint you are putting on record. So let me ask you this, who controls Olympia lock stock and barrel? Hint: Not Republicans.
You are obviously insincere when you make this claim that you really want honest elections. Because if you and your part were sincere, that would be what they would be doing instead of passing bills to allow felons to vote.
Yes indeed you want to “steal our thunder” on this issue just as you stole the election. But in your case, you want to steal it by building up a straw man. That is also one of Joseph Stalin’s old propaganda tricks.
So why the hell haven’t Democrats passed it already? They control the legislature, the stole the Governor’s mansion and they own the Supreme court. Instead they hold hearings on cell phones!
Sometimes you make it too easy.
And hey, propaganda minister. As for “counterfeit thumbs, or some such”, I guess you never saw Minority Report.
John Barelli @61
Good points re conflicts in employment and these are of interest regardless of the GOP paying Esser at the same time since he was elected to and started that full time job upon his election.
The ethics issues and laws relating to the TOTAL probation of use of state space, supplies and machines for partisan purposes or of doing campaigning on state time is where the real issues exist. The fact that major violations in this area are prosecuted by Esser’s boss, AG Rob McKenna makes this issue even greater. In this case it would take a special prosecutor to assure that the investigation has any integrity.
RCW 42.17.128
Use of public funds for political purposes.
Public funds, whether derived through taxes, fees, penalties, or any other sources, shall not be used to finance political campaigns for state or local office.
RCW 42.17.130
Use of public office or agency facilities in campaigns — Prohibition — Exceptions.
No elective official nor any employee of his [or her] office nor any person appointed to or employed by any public office or agency may use or authorize the use of any of the facilities of a public office or agency, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of any person to any office or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition. Facilities of a public office or agency include, but are not limited to, use of stationery, postage, machines, and equipment, use of employees of the office or agency during working hours, vehicles, office space, publications of the office or agency, and clientele lists of persons served by the office or agency.
RCW 42.52.020
Activities incompatible with public duties.
No state officer or state employee may have an interest, financial or otherwise, direct or indirect, or engage in a business or transaction or professional activity, or incur an obligation of any nature, that is in conflict with the proper discharge of the state officer’s or state employee’s official duties.
RCW 42.52.180
Use of public resources for political campaigns.
(1) No state officer or state employee may use or authorize the use of facilities of an agency, directly or indirectly, for the purpose of assisting a campaign for election of a person to an office or for the promotion of or opposition to a ballot proposition. Knowing acquiescence by a person with authority to direct, control, or influence the actions of the state officer or state employee using public resources in violation of this section constitutes a violation of this section. Facilities of an agency include, but are not limited to, use of stationery, postage, machines, and equipment, use of state employees of the agency during working hours, vehicles, office space, publications of the agency, and clientele lists of persons served by the agency.
RCW 42.52.901
Liberal construction.
This chapter shall be construed liberally to effectuate its purposes and policy and to supplement existing laws as may relate to the same subject.
@77 FASCINATING With all that expertise and certainty, I wonder why you weren’t called upon to testify in Chelan, when the only Adjudicated voter fraud was found to have been perpetrated by Republicans.
At the cost of a million and a half dollars, you proved this WINGNUT FANTASY WAS WRONG!.
Looooooooooser!
ParticleMan@79 I seem to recall that in this state, a citizen can file a Writ of Mandamus to compel an elected official to perform his official duties. I think it would be entertaining to watch McKenna tap dance around this. If he is willfully incompetent, it could open the door to examine grounds for a recall.
Ah, that stirred things up! Too bad I couldn’t be here earlier to answer some of these. Hopefully the thread isn’t dead.
pbj – Yes, I saw Minority Report, although I’m not much of a Tom Cruise fan. I think someone might notice someone trying to use a bloody, detached thumb at the polling place, and while the poll workers might choose not to challenge such a person, it would probably bring some attention.
Look, folks. You claim that the election was “stolen” despite the fact that there were Republicans watching every single step. Just as you folks keep telling us about the Presidential elections (where there actually is evidence of widespread organized fraud, unlike the Governor’s race) I will tell you. “Get over it, you lost.”
The only hard evidence of fraud in that election goes against you folks, so what you seem to be complaining about is that your fraud wasn’t effective enough. You’ll have to take that complaint up with Mr. Esser.
As to the topic. Yes, of course I would suggest working on this primarily to steal your thunder, as the problem is so small here in Washington State as to fall within the normal margin of error. Did some widow vote her husband’s ballot? Probably. Did it happen often enough to change the outcome? Very doubtful. Can we come up with a way to make it less likely to happen again? Sure.
Because if we don’t take up the issue and deal with it, eventually you folks will be back (or someone just like you) and you’ll trot out another of your “keep out the vote” measures in the name of “security”.
If a person were to be deliberately casting a fraudulent ballot, and had to provide a thumbprint, don’t you think that it would deter them? (“Let’s see, I can cast an extra vote for Hillary, and risk going to jail for a year. Oh, yeah.)
We could also use the thumbprint on absentee ballots, which is a favorite method of voting among you Republicans, judging from the number of “Democrats are evil, so vote absentee” postcards I received. (I sent money to one Republican I thought was a good candidate, and they’ve been sending me junk mail ever since.)
I’ve often thought that “thou protesteth too much” about the voter fraud issue, while promoting a method of voting that seems designed to encourage fraud. Perhaps we should be looking at this to keep you folks from using the absentee system to cast fraudulent votes.
A required thumbprint on each absentee ballot security envelope, that can be matched to a thumbprint on the voter registration. Little cost, and easily implemented. Scanner technology is improving rapidly.
Add to that a uniform type of scannable paper ballots that are machine verified at the polling place (to avoid errors).
Works for me.
Tree Frog Farmer says:
A liberal leaning ear-ring wearing ex-hippy for a judge? Hardly any sort of Republican friendly judge at all. You act simply because he came from a county outside of the home of the politbureau that it is proof he isn’t biased. I got news for you, there are plenty of liberals hiding in Eastern Washington. So just because they don’t hail from the Soviet of Washington proves nothing.
You so lack in coherent thought that you aren’t even up to snuff with the propaganda minister. I will call you the mini-minister from now on as you have an even smaller neuron deficient simian brain than the propaganda minister himself.
Propaganda Minister says
In King county, where they revere a statue of Lenin?? I doubt it.
Bzzzt! Wrong. There were several instances where the ballots were taken out of view of Republican observers and were “inspected” by politbureau officials.
Bullshit! The Supreme Court ruled on the presidential race. You lost and now are trying to make some equivalence to obfuscate the issue of fake “elections” in the Soviet of Washington.
Once again you simply throw out accusations like Baghdad Bob with absolutely nothing to back it up. I provided you proof that there was fraud in the election with dead people and non-citizens voting. To date, you have provided nothing logical fallacies.
Bzzzt! Wrong. The slim margin of fraud required to swing the close election certainly was relavent. Liberals are all for felons voting as evidenced by the fact they are now introducing legislation to make it legal. Now if we are to beleiv the liberal propaganda that these felons are voting Republican, do you really expect the people to be so dumbs as to think that a Democrat controlled politbureau in Olympia is going to pass a bill that benefits Republicans?
You can say until you are blue in the face that finding ballots weeks after the election that help out the liberals, dead people voting to help out the liberals and felons voting to help out liberals isn’t stealing the election, but the people know differently.
Apparently not as this wasn’t the first election in the Soviet of Washington to have this problem. This has been an ongoing problem for many election cycles going way back to the Slade Gorton/Maria Cantwell race.
You get one election to say “oops me bad”. After that it is fraud.
Yes, us pesky folks that actually want Democracy instead of a Soviet Style dictatorship will be back unless you propaganda ministers try to quell the rebellion.
Well since Democrats count felons amonsgt their constituents, I’d have to say no, they wouldn’t be deterred.
When it comes to Democracy, no amount of protesting is too much. Apparently in Ukraine they didn’t think so either. Perhaps we need violent street protests.
Once again, nothing but a straw man. You can make all the faux protestations that you have the perfect answer but Republicans are stopping you. However that flies in the face of the FACT that liberals control everything. So why the FUCK aren’t all the ballots done on scannable paper or thumbprints required?? Is Stefan and Sound Politics stopping you somehow? Are there no Americans in Baghdad….BOB???
You are an insincere lever of the apparatchik spewing the talking points you have been given t suppress the righteous anger of the oppressed people of the Soviet of Washington.
In the Democrats are King county, as long as your vote was for Hillary, you wouldn’t go to jail.
Hey, pjb, Ted Haggard called our secret White House number last night asking for your number ‘cuz he said you “smoked his pole” so well last time. I didn’t know you smoked!
Is that the best you liberal “intellectuals” can dish out? Why is it that when liberals lose a debate, they always resort to making gay sex references? Projection perhaps?
Yep, I thought so. Any solution that doesn’t disenfranchise legal Democratic voters is not acceptable. Loud shouting from the right to prevent even speaking about the topic. Add in name calling just to ensure that the debate is run by emotion, rather than reason.
So, when a liberal tries to actually address the issue, you folks will make sure that nothing happens. You’re looking to make it harder for legal voters to cast real ballots, while promoting a voting system (vote by mail) and you’re against implementing a security method that would prevent illegal votes using that method. (All the ID in the world is useless if nobody sees it.)
Ok, I’m coming to the realization that the real Republican goal here is to set up a method where they can claim to be against vote fraud, but that makes it easy for them to commit it.
How Republican of them.
Personally, I don’t buy the fraud accusations in Washington at all. Significant fraud happens when one party has such overwhelming control that they can get away with it. There is ample evidence that the GOP successfully stole the Florida and Ohio elections in 2000 and 2004. And the Dems used the same power in Chicago under the old machine politics. I don’t believe the fraud charges here, because we have bipartisan and nonpartisan oversight that makes it difficult. Moreover, the GOP hold the key oversight positions, especially the Sec. of State, and the GOP watchers validated the election. And that judge back east was picked by the GOP because he is a Republican in a Republican county. Even so, he threw out the GOP claims. And amusingly, the actual “fraud” was mostly GOP fraud on the order of a widower voting his wife’s ballot. Nothing to get excited about.
WTF are you talking about? Ensuring that dead people, felons and non-citzens don’t vote disenfanchises people about as much as screening people boarding an airplane for weapons disenfranchises them.
Well so far no liberal, oh sorry PROGRESSIVE, has addressed the issue. They have run this state for the past 30 years and hav yet to address the issue. You propose something and then create the straw man that the big bad old GOP is preventing it from happening when in truth it is your own politbureau that doesn’t want fair elections.
Their biggest concern regarding elections so far has been to ensure that felons can legally vote.
Once again, you assemble a pathetic straw man argument. What I am for and what I am against is irrelevant at this point as Olympia is run by YOUR side. It has been for the past 30 years. THat is why the blame for this past fraudluent election rests SOLEY on your shoulders.
The goal of free and fair elections is a goal of the oppressed people of the Soviet of Washington. I envision a day when, much as the enslaved Iraqi’s tore down the Saddam statue, that the newly freed people of the Soviet of Washington will tear down the Lenin statue in the heart of the evil empire and drag its corpse down the street.
No matter how hard you try propaganda minister, you will never remove the desire for the opppressed people of the Soviet of Washington for a free democratically elected government.
Bullshit. Show your “evidence”. The US Supreme court examined the evidence and foudn the liberals once again were lying. Every liberal biased paper int eh country counted the ballots and came toe the same conclusion – BUSH won. Unlike the Soviet of Washington, there were no mystery ballots found weeks after the election.
Bullshit! The widow voter was a Democrat.
When Democracy is stolen there is plenty to get excited about. Only if you are part of the machine that stole the election would you say there is nothing to get excited about.
The DNC should ask for its money back. You are less convincing than propaganda minister. A grade f liberal flunkie could repeat those talking points with more impact than you.
Poor pbj. It is sad to see how quickly you resort to invective and ad hominem argument. You take as a premise that there had to be fraud, then reach for any meaningless assertions. The Supreme Court did not “examine the evidence,” as anyone who followed the process knows. Even something as simple as the GOP widower is a simple fact that you can’t deny just be hollering a little louder. You are frustrated because the GOP watchers and overseers deny your assertions and agree that we had a clean election. Your desire not to believe it is a sad sight. Better for you to be quiet than to scream louder at you opponents and call names at them. Loudness doesn’t make a fiction into a truth. Sorry about that.
Spike,
You don’t even qualify as a mini-minister. I don’t take a premise that there “had to be fraud” your liberal media had to come clean and admit there was fraud:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....ead07.html :
“At least eight people who died well before the November general election were credited with voting in King County, raising new questions about the integrity of the vote total in the narrow governor’s race, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer review has found.”
Unlike you, I actually provide sources and evidence instead of making shit up. As I said, you don’t even qualify as a sub primate neuron deficient simian sub species of mini-propaganda minister. You are just a pathetic Demo-bot who can’t even get the talking points right.
Oof, boy, that stung, pbj. Your logic and your “facts” are ridiculous, but your invective, top notch. (Are you sure, pbj, that you are not shy a bit on the peanut butter and going overboard on the jelly?)
Your evasion of the issues is just silly. No one said that there weren’t “eight” illegal ballots. Your opponent Barelli was quite right, though, that those ballots were reported as being largely GOP ballots, not part of a conspiracy. You are utterly silent on the real issue, which as Barelli said, is the general support of our election process by the REPUBLICANS who count (not you) like Reed and the judge over in Chelan. No serious person gives any credence to your over-the-top silly screams, because the GOP lost those elections pretty much as par for the course. Where have all those GOP office holders gone, anyway? The PEOPLE have given the Dems a supermajority in the legislature.
It is curious that you rant and rave, yet seem not to notice that our state has pretty much exterminated the ultra-Right GOP. There aren’t enough GOP left to play a game of bridge, and those left in the rubble (Rossi, McKenna, etc., tend to be soft-spoken and personable, not right wing nutjobs. Face it, PBJ, no one takes you seriously any more. Did you notice the data from last fall? Apparently not.
Oh, well, I never intended to spar with you, especially not in your vicious, mean-spirited court. Barelli doesn’t need my help knocking you down for the count. I made no reference to you or your ideas.
Take a lorazipam, peanutbutter, and lie down until the symptoms go away.