David Irons Jr.’s mother has mixed emotions about her son. On the upside, she says he’s “very good with his hands.” On the downside, she claims he’s used them to beat her.
I’m almost embarrassed to start with such a flippant lede… for my hour-long conversation with Janet Irons was both sad and disturbing, and the genuine pain she expressed surely deserves more respect. But this is a story that apparently demands the most shocking prose possible in order to be heard, for it is also one of those stories that everybody in the media seems to know, yet nobody wants to talk about.
In an era when pundits and reporters can soberly chronicle the impeachment of a president for lying about a blowjob, it seems inconceivable that our local media could ignore the character testimony of a candidate’s own parents. But that is exactly what the MSM has done for years, most recently with Joni Balter’s timid, almost-apologia of a column in the September 29 edition of the Seattle Times. [”Irons’ Burden? It’s all relative“]
Balter starts by asking the obvious and pertinent question — “Who is David Irons Jr. and why is much of his family unwilling to vote for him…?” — yet she amazingly leads readers to believe that the family feud is merely rooted in politics.
That is not the story the Irons family told me, nor the one they claim they told Balter. Irons’ mother, father and younger sister won’t vote for him because they believe him to be “dishonest”, “devious”, prone to violent outbursts, and “totally unqualified” to serve as King County Executive. The family cites a number of incidents, many dating from long before Irons’ 1999 run for county council, that call into question his fitness for office and paints the picture of a troubled, unstable man with a vastly inflated resume, a penchant for dirty tricks, and dubious ethics.
“Wouldn’t I like to be the proud mother and say yes,” Janet told me when I opened the interview by asking whether she supports her son’s candidacy, “but that just isn’t the case.” She then went on to recount the sad tale of David Jr.’s gradual estrangement from the family, whichculminated in his council run, rather than started from it as Balter implies.
Of course, the fact that Irons’ family refuses to vote for him is old news. During his 1999 campaign against Councilman Brian Derdowski, he not only smeared the reputation of his family’s longtime friend, but his victory also put his sister Di Irons, a Derdowski staffer, out of a job. Di’s write-in campaign against her older brother during the general election became amusing fodder for political writers nationwide, but the MSM has remained curiously uncurious about the private circumstances that led to this very public family split. Take for example Balter’s description of Janet’s refusal to endorse her own son, an oddly expurgated bit of reporting:
Irons’ mother is an independent who votes for — or in this case against — individual candidates. Angry about a different family matter years ago, she won’t support her son.
A “family matter”. How concise.
As tearfully recounted to me by Janet, the “family matter” involved an incident that occurred back during the early 1990’s at her office in the family cable company, when David Jr., during one of his frequent fits of rage, hit his mother, knocking her to the floor… and then ripped the phone off the wall when she attempted to dial 911. Frightened, shocked and in pain, Janet fled in her car, hiding several blocks away, “afraid he was coming again.”
Janet has never again allowed herself to be alone with David Jr. since the day the “family matter” occurred. More than a decade later she remains frightened of her own son, even fretting to me that “something might happen” should he read her account in the papers.
As for David Jr., he never denied to his family that something happened that day… he never straightened the office to hide signs of the struggle, nor picked up the typewriter, papers and other objects he angrily swept off his mother’s desk. However, he did deny to his father and sister that he actually hit his mother, incredibly claiming that she ran into his arm… an account that reads like those laughable accident reports where stunned drivers insist that the tree hit their car.
If this were but a single, isolated incident it still would be inexcusable, and in my opinion disqualify him from higher office. But the Irons’ family has many tales of David Jr.’s “violent temper” and his abusive, cuss-filled rages in which he would push his father and poke him in the chest, and occasionally fling objects in blind anger. In one such fit he threw a wrench at his nephew, Di’s son Chris, who afterwards went to his grandfather and refused to ever work with his uncle again. Even the hard-nosed crews who laid cable for the family business complained of working with David Jr., finding it unsettling to have the boss’s son indiscriminately toss obscenities and tools in their direction.
“David billows up easily,” his mother told me in her understated fashion, “and people ought to know.”
Well… many who have worked with him apparently do know. At Brigadoon.com, a former officer tells me that Irons had a reputation as a “bully” who many colleagues avoided entirely. According to council scuttlebutt, Irons has a similar reputation for bullying staffers — particularly women — several of whom reportedly played for colleagues recordings of abusive voicemail messages left for them by the choleric councilman. Derdowski says an unnamed council staffer complained to him that Irons was “abusive and rude”, while another former staffer recalled to me a copy machine mishap that ended in a door-slamming screaming fit.
None of this shocks David Jr.’s mother, who describes her son as “very difficult to get along with.” If anything, she seemed most surprised that he hasn’t shown more of his temper in public. “He sometimes goes bonkers,” she said.
But if Janet is at times understated in describing her son’s explosive temper, it is nothing compared to Balter’s muffled reporting of the family’s assessment of David Jr.’s character:
The candidate’s dad is a Republican likely to vote for Sims because of the vague term, veracity, or in his view, his son’s lack of it.
There is nothing vague about the term “veracity”, and what the family has bluntly told both Balter and me — and anybody else who will listen — is that David Jr. is a liar.
“David lies about all of us,” his mother lamented. According to family members, acquaintances and co-workers, David Jr. has lied to reporters, he’s lied to voters, he’s lied to his family, and he’s lied to the police. Derdowski, who has plenty to be bitter about, is particularly disturbed by what he sees as easily refuted “outlandish lies” from which Irons’ had little or nothing to gain.
“I don’t have the professional experience to diagnose him as a ‘pathological liar’,” Derdowski told me, “but there is a pattern of making false statements where David apparently doesn’t seem to know the difference. I find it chilling.”
Of course, the easiest lies to document are those on Irons’ resume, and at the very start of our conversation Janet immediately made a point of refuting some of her son’s educational claims. In a 1999 candidate survey, Irons — who has no undergraduate degree — described his college education as “Economics/Math, Bellevue Community College, 1971-1973; Economics/Math, Oakland University, 1973-1975.” Unprompted, Janet pulled out her son’s Oakland University transcript, which shows “Intro to Math for Social Studies” I and II, plus a math lab. “Those were the only math courses he ever took,” his mother told me. “David was never very good at math.”
But exaggerating his math education is nothing compared to some of the other doozies on his resume. While Irons’ campaign website biography now describes his involvement in the family business as simply “VP & co-owner All Points Cable TV — 1982 to 1995″, a 1997 resume was considerably more creative.
Both Janet and Di actually laughed at the suggestion that David Jr. was involved in the day-to-day operations and management of the company. “David…?” Di chuckled, “He maintained the trucks.” She says her brother also occasionally liked to operate the equipment out on cable laying jobs, “but mostly he worked alone in the garage.”
Janet echoed her daughter’s account, describing her son’s resume as an exaggeration: “99 percent of what he wrote, there’s not one bit of truth to it.” According to Janet, her son had no office, had absolutely no role in the management of the family business, and while he once accompanied his father on a business trip, he had no involvement in any negotiations. Still, both Di and Janet agree that David Jr. was good at what he did. “He’s an excellent mechanic…” his mother kvelled, “… good with machinery… very good with his hands.”
While his years at the family business may have prepared Irons for a job in the maintenance facility at the county motor pool, it most certainly did not provide the vaunted business experience he touts in his quest to be county executive. Even the one-line reference on his current bio, “VP & co-owner”, is intentionally misleading.
“At a small company like ours, everybody gets a big title,” explained his mother. And if Irons was a co-owner of All Points Cable TV, then I am a co-owner of Apple Computer… and any other corporation in which I might own stock. According to his family, Irons never invested money in the family business, never had a say in its operations, and only came to work for his parents years after the company’s founding. Because David Sr. wanted his children to have a financial stake in the company, he gave David Jr. a raise a couple years into his tenure, but paid the difference in stock instead of cash. When the family sold out in 1995, David Jr.’s take was a couple hundred thousand dollars… not a bad windfall for the company mechanic, but only a small fraction of the multimillion dollar deal.
But lying on your resume is nothing compared to lying to the police. In what his family considers to be but one of his many dirty campaign tricks, they claim David Jr. filed a false police report about a week before the 1999 election, accusing his nephew Chris, the son of his opponent/sister, of vandalizing his car. The family adamantly swears that Chris was at home at the time of the alleged incident… a fact of which they insist David Jr. was well aware. Chris even used his own money to pay for a polygraph test, but when he tried to clear his name by presenting the results to the Sammamish police a few weeks after the election, he was told that his uncle had quietly dropped the charges, claiming Chris had admitted to the crime and agreed to pay restitution… both of which were out and out lies.
To file a false police report about your own nephew was a fitting conclusion to a campaign that had been built on lies and dirty tricks. This was a campaign engineered by the Master Builder’s Association, but one in which Irons ironically campaigned against the eminently green Derdowski for not doing more to control sprawl. It was a campaign where Derdowski signs mysteriously disappeared, and when a local resident, Sara Ulrich, saw Irons himself removing a Derdowski sign she had planted, and asked him what he had done with her sign, he unapologetically replied he had “lost over 14,000 signs.”
This is the David Irons Jr… the tool throwing, obscenity spewing, resume faking, police report falsifying, mother beating, lying, cheating campaign trickster for whom his father, mother and sister refuse to vote.
By all accounts the Irons family had once been very close… bizarrely close… dysfunctionallyclose… all living together on the same Sammamish cul de sac… her parents to one side of Di’s house, her brother to the other. The family used to live together, work together, rent houses by the ocean together, but over time their relationship with David Jr. slowly deteriorated. The brooding David Jr. moved away from the family enclave, and eventually stopped attending family dinners and other events, feigning illness or using some other excuse.
To claim as Balter does, that “a private family squabble spilled into the public realm’’ only after Di ran against her brother as a write-in candidate, is a bizarre misreading of the sequence of events, for it was David Jr., after years of gradually distancing himself from the family, who chose to bring the “squabble” to a head and take it public by running against a close family friend, and putting his little sister out of work. It was David Jr. who estranged himself from his parents and sister, and who has repeatedly gone public with attacks against the family.
A former council staffer describes Irons as nearly appearing sympathetic, almost teary-eyed around the holiday season as he lamented the fact that his children could not enjoy Christmas with their grandparents and cousins. But according to his family, David Jr.’s exile is self-imposed. In 1999 he told his parents that if they did not support him politically, they would never see their grandchildren again… and much to their surprise he actually followed through on the threat. He even forbade his parents to send his children birthday and holiday cards, leaving a voicemail message saying that his girls had shredded their gift checks. (A year later, two of the checks cleared.)
Irons of course, blames his estrangement on his family, once complaining to the Issaquah Press that they never let him know that his 97-year-old grandfather was sick and dying. But according to Di, he hadn’t called or visited the man for over five years, and so they assumed he had as little interest in seeing his grandfather as he did in seeing his own parents.
In telling this story — a story Irons’ mother, father and sister want to be told — I know full well that I am going to piss people off. There are those of you who will say that I have sunk too low… that I have inappropriately brought a man’s private life into the public realm. But to you I ask… since when has a man’s character not been the subject of political campaigns? Just last year John Manning was virtually dismissed as a serious candidate for Seattle City Council because of a prior domestic violence conviction… a conviction Irons might share if he had not had the foresight to tear the phone off the wall before his mother could dial 911.
And to my friends in the media, who have thus far failed to cover this story, I ask you this: how is it possibly responsible journalism to tell the amusing tale of a candidate whose own mother won’t vote for him… yet refuse to attempt to explain to voters the reasons why?
If you reject this story as just another case of he said/she said, then why not reject the entire story, instead of just the part that requires a little elbow grease? How hard is it to research a candidate’s resume to determine if his claims are based in fact? How hard is it to interview former co-workers, employees and neighbors to see if they corroborate the family’s charges? How hard is it to look up a damn police report? Isn’t that your job?
Irons’ own family — the people who know him best — have made devastating charges against his character and qualifications… doesn’t the public have a right to know?
And finally, to those cynical amongst you who question the timing of this post, appearing just as the absentee ballots are dropped in the mail, and thus positioned to have maximum impact… I want to personally assure you that this is absolutely intentional. This is not merely a strategic move on my part, but one which appeals to my unique sense of irony.
You see, back in 1999, when Irons first entered the council race, Derdowski went to the Irons family, who were longtime friends and backers, and said he would not want or expect them to support him in opposition to their son. And so Irons’ mother and father stayed quietly on the sidelines, despite their misgivings about David Jr.’s qualifications.
The night before the absentee ballots dropped for the primary election, Derdowski and Irons’ attended a candidate forum sponsored by the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce, at which the Irons’ family was in attendance. Much to his surprise, the first written question posed to Derdowski was “Are you under investigation by the FBI?”
As it turned out, Derdowski had been under investigation by the FBI during much of the campaign (he’s not sure for what), but the investigation had recently come to a close without indictment or comment. And so Derdowski truthfully answered “No.”
It was a setup. At this point, as Irons’ mother Janet describes it, notorious Eastside developer Skip Rowley exclaimed “We got him! We got him!” while gleefully wringing his hands. Irons immediately stood up and charged that Derdowski was indeed under investigation. An unusually heavy media presence in the audience (apparently tipped off that something would happen) hit the story strong the next day, and by the time the truth played its way through the press a week or so later, the damage had already been done. Derdowski lost the early absentee ballots big, and went on to lose the election.
For months, David Jr. had been bragging to his family that he had a “secret weapon” in his race against Derdowski, and that night they realized what it was. Shocked and offended by what they perceived to be a dirty trick, it was only then, a few weeks before the primary, that Irons’ parents finally came out in public support of Derdowski and in opposition to their own son.
“I’m not proud of my son,” Janet sadly lamented about his political success, “because he didn’t do it the right way. I’m disappointed that he approaches the level he does, and that I didn’t do a better job raising him.”
What started years before with Irons’ violent outbursts, and continued through his brooding, gradual disengagement from his parents and sister, culminated that night in the family split that continues to this day. It was not their son’s politics that prompted his parents to go public, but rather his tactics — specifically, the unfair, public maligning of an old family friend — a dirty trick that to those who knew David Jr. best, must have seemed tragically, unfortunately, and entirely in character.
And so tonight, as I prepare to air Irons’ dirty laundry on the eve of the absentee ballots being mailed, I do so without remorse, and without regret. What goes around comes around.
UPDATE:
N in Seattle of Peace Tree Farm, has a diary up on Daily Kos, and Darryl, usually of Hominid Views, has a very funny letter to David Irons posted over on Jesus’ General.
Oh… and I’ll be talking to Kirby Wilbur tomorrow morning at 7AM, 570-KVI.
FYI, I sent a list of allegations to the Irons campaign and gave them an opportunity to comment. They declined.
Reading your article, Irons seems like the perfect candidate for all of our neocon trolls to campaign for.
great investigative report. nice work. I will be curious to see what the “greater” media does with this. Thanks for taking the time to tell the story.
the tool throwing, obscenity spewing, resume faking, police report falsifying, mother beating, lying, cheating campaign trickster
In other words, the perfect Rovian Republican these days.
Thanks Goldy. I hope this wakes people up and gets them to the polls to put this clown out of a job.
Goldy, has anyone in your family ever did anything embarrassing to you?
Dear Gentry, this is the gift you will be giving King County. You could get defensive about that but once you get past the denial stage I hope you see the light.
Ah, the politics of personal destruction..
Did any of the demo goons help you in this work? Pellicano, Craig Livingstone, Carville..?
I heard he puts his garbage out on Fridays. Surely you could steal some garbage too…
Michael at 4 wrote:
Goldy, has anyone in your family ever did anything embarrassing to you?
What does that have to do with anything? I do imagine, however, that your family would be embarassed by your grammar…
David Irons is accepted in neo-con circles because his personality traits are the norm there and not the exception. It is only a matter of time before JCH weighs in with his racist, cracker nonsense. Mr.Cynical will soon appear with his own large, pinhead with the tiny knob on top of it spewing his own brand of nonsense. “Cooler Heads” will try to prevail in the guise of John “the DEACON” Pope who will do a 15 minute research binge on the DRUDGE REPORT and attempt to ad a patina of intelligence to his easily deconstructed nonsense. That’s why no one ever votes for him.
Goldy,
This could be a nice piece of journalism. Or not.
I think you should have done this all so the Republicans could have got a better nominee (like Rossi, like Mary Lane, like Carlson) and so your motives wouldn’t be so… suspect.
Goldy is refreshingly honest about his motives, Joseph. He wants to help ensure this very flawed person never sits in the executive chair.
WOW. Was this column written by the same “Goldy” that emailed me barely a week ago and lectured me about character assassination for sending him a personal email pointing out the close relationship between Sims and the SWA lobbyist and how it was making Sims look dishonest?
I am embarassed after reading this post to think that Goldy is considered a strong voice for the local Democratic party. Character assassination at its best.
Goldy, you need to face it. Many Democrats are pissed at Sims and voting for him is no longer an option no matter how strongly to trash the other candidates. At this point, ANYONE is a better option than Sims. No matter how much you trash his personal affairs.
…Jennifer, you stupid bitch….” (In praise of Dan Akroyd…)
Jennifer, I don’t think you can compare the SWA relationship with character flaws like this. Character assasination is not good when it is done only with vauge innuendo or through percieved relationships. This is straight facts from a family who is seriously concerned that the character of their son and sibling is dangerous and deceptive.
Hitler was a great house painter.
It is scary… the family is describing sociopathic behavior.
Josef: “I think you should have done this all so the Republicans could have got a better nominee (like Rossi, like Mary Lane, like Carlson) and so your motives wouldn’t be so… suspect.”
Let’s see how suspect the MSM is in covering this. That’s what is going to matter for it to have an impact on voters.
So we get to choose between a sometimes-violent, short-tempered, not-entirely-honest, failed businessman, or …
The guy who has cut the county budget, balanced it, managed it so well it has earned the highest possible bond rating, wants to protect the environment and hasn’t forgotten the downtrodden.
Such a difficult decision …
Goldy,
First question: Did you call Mrs. Irons or did she call you?
IF this is true, then it is a sad thing and this family needs help. Besides, you’ve only got one side of the story and silence does not imply consent. As you are prone to political emotion, you very well could be played for a patsy.
If this is a false thing, let me be the first to say, “it’s been nice knowin’ ya.” You had better hope that every, single thing that you wrote and/or perpetuated is true. You don’t have an MSM mega-corp and lawyers to protect you (unless, of course, the WA Dems mysteriously ride in at the 11th hour). You are a quasi-journalist with absolutely NO limiters (i.e. editors) — and even real journalists with editors and standards policies get it wrong a LOT. For example, nobody would run with the easy-to-fake e-mail as any kind of “proof.” They would actually do the legword and get a copy of the alleged article from the EBJ morgue.
The only thing that’ll maybe let you off the hook is if you taped the interview. Other than that, I sure hope you checked with your lawyer before running with the story.
Comment by Daniel K— 10/20/05 @ 8:16 am
I betcha the “MSM” won’t if they know what’s good for them and don’t want a lawsuit. This is lowball, gutter-ball politics. And why now?
Why another four years of Ron Sims and his broken elections department, his broken computer processing systems, his CAO, and more – that should be the question!
Comment by Mark— 10/20/05 @ 8:28 am
My thoughts exactly.
Mark: libel laws don’t apply to politicians or public officials.
If they did, half the Republican Party would be in jail.
Can you really be this dumb?
Josef @ 18
Josef, Josef, Josef,
Goldy has many times admitted that this website is for his own amusement and that he has no interest in actually making “progress” or covering issues in a balanced manner. he is and admitted partisan.
Edward R. Murrow he is not.
@13
I am not saying that Sims ties with the lobbyist is equal to what Goldy posts on Irons. I was just stating that it was interesting that Goldy was quick to point out ‘character assasination’ and seem to take the high road and yet is quite happy to get in the gutter and sling mud himself.
Let’s hear some stories about Irons’ work and relationships with his fellow council members. Has he exhibited this type of behavior? Do they consider him a pathological liar? All I’ve heard from a Democrat that works on the council is that Irons has a reputation for always wanting to ‘study’ the issue before making a decision. Since other council members do the same thing, I can’t really fault Irons for that.
Is he lying to his fellow Republicans like Sims lied to his fellow Democrats and denied he was even talking with SWA before he was forced to come clean with the news because everyone knew he was in fact talking with SWA? That’s the reason I can’t vote for Sims. I have zero political loyalty to the guy when he obviously showed zero political loyalty to fellow dems.
And I am not alone. At this month’s 37th District Democratic meeting, a Sims’ campaign representative was trying to rally support to get people to do campaign work. Her reasoning to rally the crowd wasn’t to talk about Sims and how great he is and how he’s done all this great work and how he’ll do all this great work for the county. No, the reason given to working for Sims was to not allow the Republicans to set up their challenge against Cantwell. When a campaign representative has to use scare tactics to drum up campaign workers in the candidate’s home district….well, you just know little true support the candidate has.
@12 I’ve always loved Dan Aykroyd
I remember Irons v. Irons in ’99 and always wondered what the backstory was.
Well…thanks AGAIN, Chris Vance for another clusterfuck candidate. Vance must be a closet Dem…doing so much (unintentional?!) damage to his own party.
Congrats to BIAW and the forces of paving…I mean…evil (Mr. Freeman, Evergreen Freedom Foundation, Discovery Institute, et al). Curses…foiled again!
And Thank You AGAIN…David Goldstein. You are a community treasure.
PLEASE be careful!
So David Irons’ mother is afraid of him because he beat her?
Talk about Mom and Apple Pie. In this case, Irons did the right wing patriotic thing, and threw the apple pie at his mom’s face.
It’s amazing how the GOP machine has transformed Irons into a viable candidate. Unless scripted, Irons can barely speak intelligently about the most simple issue. Reminds me of a certain drunk-driving, AWOL coke-addict who could barely string two sentences together if caught without his talking points.
We all know how well that turned out.
Irons makes Bush look like FDR.
Amazed @ 20
Read RCW 9.58. There is no exception for political figures.
Amazed @ 20
More for you…
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 280, 84 S. Ct. 710, 11 L. Ed. 2d 686 (1964).
Under New York Times, a public official may not recover damages for defamation unless ‘actual malice’ (which includes knowledge or reckless disregard of the falsity of the alleged defamatory statement) is proved.
New York Times, 376 U.S. at 280. The Supreme Court drew a large circle around speech to protect the right to speak freely; however, certain defamatory speech fell outside the circle of protection.”
Goldy has admitted he is vehemently partisan and with his recent anti-Green posting and others, he has made it clear that his intent is malice toward Irons.
IF, IF, IF any of this is false, that doesn’t let Goldy of the criminal hook for libel. And, depending on the particular item, it may or may not let him off the hook for defamation.
Goldy gave the Irons people the opportunity to resond. They declined. What more needs to be said?
Remember when Repubs wouldn’t shut up about “character” because Clinton was a horny guy. Now I learn that beating your mother is not a character issue (cause it doesn’t involve sex, I guess?).
Is this what you folks mean when you talk about “family values”?
Fake Mark @ 27 & 28
WTF is the matter with you? Quit posting as “Mark” and pick a new nick.
And to address your point at 27… “silence does not imply consent”
Wierd Goldy goes to the mat for Ron Sims..
I might totally trash some person in print, but ONLY if i was hugely motivated, to sell my soul, as it were.
Goldy, what is going on with you and Sims?
righton @ 30
Perhaps Goldy is getting some “tech support” for his website from the MorOn.org attack machine.
When righties are scared they start talking about lawyers and legal consequences to your criticisms of them. They only want to prevent the truth from coming out by scaring you about “legal” consequences to exercising your right to free speech. David Irons put himself out there as a candidate for public office and we the public are entitled to know who this character is. The dirty trick about FBI investigation alone would be enough to turn me away from this candidate.
If righties want to play hardball with the opposition, they should stop whining when they finally realize that the opposition is in the game.
David Irons is a disgrace to himself and the state of WA. And I will be telling all my neighbors and everyone I can about David Iron’s character flaws.
Shiftless Loose-y @ 32
If Goldy is telling the truth and done his due dilligence, he has nothing to fear.
Go ahead an perpetuate it. Goldy expected that. And if some or all turns out to be false, it will only serve to underscore the case against Goldy (that it was willful and malicious and the medium was intended for maximum distribution of the defamation).
29 — Yeah, right. I’m sure you’d say the same thing if Irons were a Democratic candidate. If you don’t deny a serious allegation, that is an admission of guilt.
I’ll give Irons this much — at least he isn’t lying by denying it.
By the way, I don’t give a fuck what name you post under, Mark. If you have such a problem with my using my name, then you need to change yours. But I have to tell you, the more bent out of shape you get the more I enjoy it. I am not changing my name on here ever.
Fake Mark @ 35: “Yeah, right. I’m sure you’d say the same thing if Irons were a Democratic candidate.”
Actually, I would. But that is the difference between you and me — I have integrity.
“If you don’t deny a serious allegation, that is an admission of guilt.”
Only in your Al-Franken-is-real-news world.
33-
Only Democrats lie, and ANYTHING is OK as long as you are a Republican.
Is that what you are saying “Mark”?
So you who hold yourselves to be so “moral” really HAVE no morals.
Is that what you are saying “Mark”?
Gee…what a big SHOCKER!
Awwww… screw it. All of the references are getting messed up and the a**hole Mark (the Left Nut) keeps getting his fake posts mixed up with mine.
re 34: You are an officious little twit. Irons filed a false police report against his own nephew and then”generously” dropped the charges so his nephew could not combat them. What a weasel!! But I guess that’s why he fits in with you malicious neo-con twits.
Fake Mark @ 37: “I don’t give a fuck…”
Typical self-centered Lefty. You’ll crap in a kids’ sandbox because it makes you feel good.
40–It’s really fun bothering you because you’re such a cry baby. But a cry baby with “integrity” HA!
Loose-y @ 41: “Irons filed a false police report”
All Goldy has is his interview — and not with all the parties involved.
What he writes MAY be true. All I’m saying is that heavy weight will come down on him if any of it is false.
What he writes MAY be true. All I’m saying is that heavy weight will come down on him if any of it is false.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that all of it turns out to be true. What then?
Michael @5,
Clearly, you’ve never met my family.
one of the Marks @18,
Thanks for the threat buddy. Doesn’t work with me. I sure hope Irons is stupid enough to sue me… it’ll be great publicity for me, and terrible publicity for him.
All I did was truthfully report what his family told me. I have absolutely no knowledge that any statement of fact I made was false, and as a public figure, he is a fair target of any statement of opinion. Indeed… there are even more damning allegations that I left out of the post, because I couldn’t confirm them beyond third-person hearsay. HA is not a rumor mill.
TJ @ 45
At the very least, Irons would need some serious help. These things don’t happen in a vacuum, though, and I’m guessing there are much deeper family issues here. Assuming it is true, he could be lashing out because of past child abuse (upon him) or something else. Or he simply has issues.
IF it all turns out to be true and the story is as one-sided as presented by Goldy, I’m campaigning for Lange. The Sims Machine must be stopped.
Goldy @ 46: “HA is not a rumor mill.”
You’re joking, right? It is clear that you have aspirations of being the Left Wing Drudge.
And I didn’t threaten you. As a former journalist, I guess I’m reminding you that you’re playing with the big kids now and that you could get your nose bloodied.
48-
I can see why your journalistic career is over.
It’s time for people who rather not have an unqualified probable pathological liar whose own mother is frightened of him in the County Executive’s seat to email this link to everyone you know in KC, ask them to vote for Sims, and ask them to forward it to everyone they know in KC. A little action makes talk go a long way.
Yes, I’m suddenly quite alarmed at the prospect of an Irons win.
rujax @ 49
And why is that?
Noemie @ 50
And what if Mom is merely off her meds? Family dynamics are a tricky thing. For all you know, Irons’ dad (or mom or other relative) molested him and, as any child therapist will tell you, the family polarized — in this case, against David — over the issue.
What ever happend to Lefties wanting to understand how people feeeelllll???
Here’s the mystery: How/why did the county GOP converge on Irons as their standardbearer? Sims was arguably vulnerable, and everyone — especially local Republicans — has their own stock of David Irons stories.
What sort of dysfunctional political family would make a David Irons their front man? It makes no sense.
RonK @ 53
I’d have to agree with you there. Unfortunately, politics is a nasty game and is played by people with egos a mile wide. There is no length to which a state or national party won’t go to protect a candidate or seat — Dems and GOP (and Greens and whatever) alike.
Sometimes, the real “pieces of work” get into (semi-)powerful positions and it is hard to push them out.
Goldy, thank you for this story. That the mainstream media ignores a story this accessible and important proves that the notorious leftwing bias of the press is an utter fabrication. Anyone who suggests that the pathological behavior described in this story reflects a mere character assault, without bearing on Mr. Irons’ ability to serve as a public leader, truly is incapable of objective perspective. Do you family-values rightwingers really want to apologize for this sociopath? If just half of the story is true, Mr. Irons makes Jim West look like a humble, selfless public servant, who is owed an apology for the troubles he has experienced. I think I’ll be writing a check to Mr. Sims.
Wow. If you are smart, and this Dr. Phil like script proves you are not, you would understand why Joni Balter did not think that this was fit to print. It’s amazing the trailer trash depths that you are sinking to here, airing half of a family story as, what is obviously a frantic attempt to make your man Sims look better by cutting Irons down. I hope I never meet you, you are a real dirt bag.
Good job Goldy. Republicans have been beating Dems about the head and shoulders for years with that whole family values schtick (hey, I made a pun with a Yiddish word!), and suckering most of thier base into believing that they (the candidates) actually practiced it. Nice to see them beat at thier own game.
Also, as for this being character assasination, or any other tactic outside the norm in politics, I have this to say: What’s good for the goose…. Goldy is using tactics that Republicans have used for years. Every Republican is complicit in the use of these tactics by electing people who use them (of had others use them for the cause, e.g. Swift Boat Veterens for Truth)and for not crying foul loudly enough when it did happen. It’s a little late (and hypocritical) to try to claim Goldy is out of line here.
John @ 56
The fact that a blatant Lefty like Balter wouldn’t touch it… And Irons’ mom suddenly felt the need to emotionally purge to Goldy??? I ask again, “Goldy, did Irons’ family seek you out or did you seek them out?” An ethical journalist would tell.
“Dirt Bag,” I dunno… Chutzpah… definitely
(and, David, I don’t mean the English lite version of the word)
Well, there’s always the Green guy, right?
“Under New York Times, a public official may not recover damages for defamation unless ‘actual malice’ (which includes knowledge or reckless disregard of the falsity of the alleged defamatory statement) is proved.”
The Really Slow Mark: now find us an example of an elected official running for office who has successfully sued for libel because of something somebody said about him/her.
Can you find one? Maybe you are thinking of Great Britain, where they don’t have First Amendment protections? Or, maybe you are just another useless troll with nothing useful to say.
“And what if Mom is merely off her meds? Family dynamics are a tricky thing. ”
People who use the vernacular when discussing prescription medication usually have personal experience with it. Goldy gave David Irons the chance to engage in The Really Slow Mark’s victim-blaming exercise, and he turned it down.
a mark @58,
I’m not sure why you think it matters, but I contacted the Irons family because I thought there might be a story there. They were eager to talk. They had talked to Balter and were disappointed that she hadn’t covered any of the details.
And I must say, I find it amazing that one of the “real” journalists didn’t pursue such a juicy story. This is a high profile race, and these are high profile allegations.
I guess this means that Clinton is a rapist of several women, based on their testimonials. (You guys and gals on the left can sure pick your idols.)Notify the media!
John McDonald: Goldy is only implementing that which he learned at the feet of James Carville. Now Goldy uses Jr’s family to attack Jr. Sims must be getting desperate for votes. This timing reminds me of the Caspar Weinberger indictment before the ’92 election. I agree with John McDonald, this is trailer trash material, from the ultimate in trailer trash reporting himself, David Goldstein. So Goldy, are you Intellectually honest? Are you going to perform an expose on Ron Sims?
But that being said, if Irons did attack Momma, that’s where I draw the line. You never attack momma, even though you may disagree with her. The operative word is if.
Irons is done.
Goldy needs a cape or superhero costume if he keeps up all these good deeds.
thank you
Hey, the story was picked up at Jesus’ General
“The fact that a blatant Lefty like Balter wouldn’t touch it…”
Oh, Josef, you mean the “lefty” Balter who spent most of the last 8 years ripping into Sims every chance she got? Or do you mean the “lefty” Balter who spent so many years cheerleading for Rob McKenna as he went after Sims over the most inane and petty issues? http://www.metrokc.gov/mkcc/ne....._abuse.htm
My god, McKenna left local politics, and Balter STILL can’t stop licking his boots: http://www2.seattlechannel.org......asp?ID=16
“This timing reminds me of the Caspar Weinberger indictment before the ‘92 election.”
Really bad example Puddybud, especially since Bush41 had to pull a last minute “Mark Rich” and pardon Weinberger before he could be prosecuted.
Ballsy post H.ass. But I didn’t like Irons anyway because he’s appears to in over his head.
You…you…HORSES ASS!!!
I’m CANCELLING my subscription!
As someone who has been active in politics in David’s district for over 15 years I will say that none of the stories told here are new to me. And most have been told directly to me. David has had every chance to refute these facts and has never done so. Simply put David is a bad man and is unfit to hold public office. And I was at that candidate forum where David and his supporters ambushed the Derd with the FBI thing. It was one of the lowest moments in local politics.
On why did the R’s decide to run David and not Rossi: Well lets start with the fact that Rossi had just lost King County and did not think he could win. Then remember that Rossi already had created a personal profile aimed to run for Gov and David was ripe for creation. Just look at his TV spots and then actually have a conversation with him. You will see that the real David, the glib David is nothing like the TV ad (take 126) David. Also factor in that the GOP needed to get David out of the way since his council district was eliminated and they did not want another a GOP fight.
Amazed @ 66: “had to pull a last minute “Mark Rich””
Ding, ding, ding! Weeee hafffff a winnnaaaaahhhh!! The first Lefty on HA to actually say something even vaguely negative about their own party!
You can pick up your “I Voted For Ron Sims, But All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt” shirt at the door.
This makes me wonder:
If Irons’ mother thinks he is so dangerous, why did she never file a domestic abuse charge against him? Why smear him in the press, and declare he is a menace, but never take action to protect society from him?
It is too bad that all of your sources are anonymous. Without them having the guts to come out, how do we know that they aren’t just settling a grudge? Using anonymous sources has gotten the MSM in trouble, and they are figuring out that it is a dangerous path to take.
Brian Derdowski could have said: “I understand the FBI has been investigating me. As far as I know, the case has been dropped. End of story.” By denying the allegation, he was just stupid.
Irons is certainly not the perfect candidate. I wish someone better had been brought in. But if you have evidence of criminal behavior, then bring it out. Don’t slime him with innuendo.
Janet @ 71 re: evidence
If Goldy had it, he’d have used it.
“Brian Derdowski could have said: “I understand the FBI has been investigating me. As far as I know, the case has been dropped. End of story.” By denying the allegation, he was just stupid.”
Janet, Janet, Janet. The Lefties don’t believe in due process. Look at the Rove, DeLay and other investigations. As far as the rabid Dems are concerned, they might as well move onto the penalty phase at this point. Derdowski was either lying through his teeth (as expected) or in denial because the Left thinks their stuff doesn’t stink.
72-
You were wondering @52?
I rest my case.
*boom*
rujax @ 73
WTF are you talking about? How people feeeeellll?
Are you saying that you agree with my comment that Dems don’t care about due process? Or that they’ve rabidly jumped to conclusions on DeLay et al because it reinforces their MorOn.org programming?
Or are you merely agreeing that if Goldy had any real evidence that he’d have used it?
Heath @ 74
What is that? Your meth lab blowing up?
Wow brilliant! Janet thinks ALL of Goldy’s sources are “anonymous” including Irons’ own mother. That’s a freudian slip. The battered are supposed to just shut up and take it. Keep it quiet, keep under wraps, keep up appearances.
The “one and only” “adult” Mark calls the former Republican Derdowski a leftist. Nice work with the broad brush there former journalist. Read the story again. Derdowski answered the reporter’s question truthfully.
I’ve seen Irons testy exchanges with his fellow Republicans on the Council, Jane Hague in particular. The guy is an obvious flake but you “rabid” righties will still vote for anything with an R next to it.
The reason Irons’ has gotten as far as he has is that he is like Dino Rossi a creature of the building industry – hellbent on destroying what’s unique and special about Western Washington – and he has demonstrated he will be as servile as Dubya has been to big oil and the rest of the greedhead crowd.
Irons will be a total disaster for King County.
Comment by AmazedByRightWingHate— 10/20/05 @ 11:11 am
That wasn’t me.
rightie-mark@70
ehh? We criticize Dem things all the time… Alot of lefties on here hate Sims… Many, many of us were mad about the dem. party things…
Theres a difference here between seeing flaws in our own party (and oh the irony of a rightie complaining about THAT in this political climate), and not falling for the ol’ rightie “but the Democrats” smokescreen.
Read some here, and maybe you’ll learn somethin’ ;0
Clueless @ 77
Mea culpa. Not being personally familiar with the guy or the political race, I mistakenly presumed him the Dem challenger instead of the same-party primary opponent.
His behavior of denial re: the FBI investigation sounded pretty Dem — or at least fairly “political” to me. If he knew he had been investigated, he should have been honest. That was HIS mistake — D or R.
I guess Goldy’s rabid partisanship is infectious. Let’s hope that my willingness to quickly admit a mistake (when made) rubs off onto Goldy, too.
Janet S @ 71
“Irons is certainly not the perfect candidate. I wish someone better had been brought in. But if you have evidence of criminal behavior, then bring it out. Don’t slime him with innuendo.
I see. It must be criminal behavior?
So, Janet, it is OK with you if the King County Exec has a violent temper (and beat his mother)? Is it ok if he doctored the his resume, exaggerating his education and employment experiences?
Janet, will you support Irons until he is convicted of a crime (a la Shrub)? Or would you rule him out for sub-criminal ethical violations?
Janet S @ 71 “If Irons’ mother thinks he is so dangerous, why did she never file a domestic abuse charge against him?”
Oh, Yes! Janet! Let’s blame the victim!
Go fuck yerself, Janet.
Comment by dj — 10/20/05 @ 12:11 pm
Let’s see what Irons’ staffers and immediate family say. Let’s see if Irons gets booked. Let’s see if (and when) the Irons campaign responds.
windie @ 79
I am a regular reader & participant here.
A while back, I challenged the Dems on here to prove they weren’t brainwashed and to be critical of their own party. The answer? That the Dem party didn’t do a good enough job of telling people how bad the Republicans are.
I NEVER said the Republicans weren’t flawed. The WA GOP is a bunch of screwups. I find the work Stefan does to be interesting (and sometimes enlightening), but he shouldn’t be dictating the party’s actions. Then again, MoveOn.org does so for the DNC on a national level.
The national GOP has to be given credit for creatively finding ways to shoot itself in the foot (to put it VERY lightly) day after day. Politics is slimy — left AND right — but you’re supposed to keep that side of the rock down. The Far Right has gotten WAY too arrogant. At least there are some electable moderates on the national GOP stage.
I can say that the Christian Right should just STFU. Are you willing to say that about Kucinich-ites?
Comment by Janet S — 10/20/05 @ 11:27 am
Thanks so much for speaking up for liberty & Ironman. I almost had to do that in my life… but everybody blinked.
Also, “if you have evidence of criminal behavior, then bring it out. Don’t slime him with innuendo.” Well said.
windie @ 79
I have a response for you, but it is stuck in FilterLand. I hope you can review it with an open mind. I’m curious to know if you’re up to the challenge.
75-
I’m saying you don’t seem to read very well…don’t seem to comprehend very well…don’t use whatever critical thinking skills you have or used to have…you jump to conclusions and relentlessly parrott arrant right wing nonsense in spite of ample (and growing) amounts of evidence to the contrary.
That’s all.
rujax @ 86
Critical thinking? Reasoning?? Why?
We are the
PresidentMedia! We doan’ need no stinkin’ thinkin’!Seriously, you will see that I posted a correction to my comment. Note that primaries DO see opposing party candidates attack each other. Also, having close family friends in the opposing party isn’t unheard of, either. Again, I made a mistake. If Goldy did, too, I hope he can admit it with as much enthuuuusiasm as he had for the original post.
Props, trm.
Clueless @ 77:
Obviously, Irons’ mother was not anonymous. Everyone outside of the family, though, remains anonymous.
If Irons’ beat up his mother, she should have called the police. She didn’t. If this is a repeat offense, there is no excuse for her to remain a victim.
I do not excuse the ethical violations of padding his resume and exagerating his education and work experience. At least these are provable, and should be given the light of day, as has been done here. These are legitimate.
Don’t assume I have already decided to vote for Irons. I just want to separate real accusations from slime.
As a victim of abuse from a family member, I can tell you first hand that reporting the abuser is not an easy thing to do. On the one hand, you feel you should, as doing so may prevent another incident from occurring. On the other, you feel as though you are betraying that family member by committing an irrevocable act that will no doubt haunt that family member for the rest of their days. Just because Irons’ mom was unwilling to report her allegedly abusive son to the authorities does not necessarily discredit her claim that he was abusive.
Domestic abuse is rampant in this and in many other of the world’s societies. For all you nay-sayers, do a search on the number of reported domestic abuse allegations and compare it to the numbers of people in counseling for being victims of abuse. You’ll find, as many psychologists concur, that people rarely report abuse by a “loved one” to the authorities in comparison to the number of incidents.
Right-wing-religious-republicans are ruining this planet…BTW (Just thought I’d throw that in to piss off some of the fools that read this stuff…lol)
Comment by Janet S — 10/20/05 @ 12:48 pm
As do I. Janet, you’re doing everybody a favor here by doing a better job than I for David.
As far as the resume-padding, I don’t defend it, but immature people do this from time to time. At least David didn’t do it again.
I mean we could have worse… like having relatives stuff the ballot box for you.
So it was OK the first time Irons beat up his mom, but not the second, Janet? WTF?
The whole family is lined up against him, backing up Mrs. Irons’ side of the story, but you still give him the benefit of the doubt?
How much evidence does it take for a Republican to stop blindly supporting their criminal candidates? Apparently the threshold has not yet been reached.
Bill Clinton was was violent in his temper outbursts , hitting Dick Morris and exploding in a death threat against a blundering staffer according to Bob Woodward.
It’s a shame that nobody called Clinton’s mom…
Janet,
So you think we should distrust his mother’s assertion that Irons hit her? That it is only worth considering if she says that while under oath?
Felix @ 90
As a feeeelllling Lefty, you should realize that family dynamics aren’t always as they seem. In cases of abuse or domestic violence, people take on all kinds of roles and take sides that a reasonable person wouldn’t. For example, wives who are not only in denial, but defend husbands who abuse them and/or their children. In fact, there are cases where the family will gang up on an abuse victim in hopes of suppressing them because the allegations are just too much to cope with. And… just throwing this out there… if Irons was an abuse victim, he would be unlikely to make some big, public statement about it.
Or he could be a total ass… But there ARE cases where this alleged family dynamic goes MUCH deeper than the surface.
91-
chimpy’s ‘sposed to get REAL HOT at times too. But I’ll bet he wouldn’t take Babs on.
Well done, Goldy. Excellent writing (almost as good as Matt Rosenbeg at uSP). Thanks for your diligence.
After reading some of the posts, it is amazing the lengths the NEOCONs will go to protect “their own”… Thanks for the hard work Goldy!
I saw David Irons, Jr. at a school fundraiser today.
He didn’t look evil.
But nobody asked him “When did you stop beating your mother?”
Anyone hear Patty Murray’s threats to those who want to cut pork out of the budget? She is getting vindictive, and using her position on the Appropriations Committee to enforce massive, stupid spending.
But isn’t this just politics as usual for democrats? Ron Sims never met a gigantic pile of pork that he couldn’t support.
Janet,
Right, and that’s JUST LIKE punching your mother.
Can you possibly be this stupid? I mean, really?
98-
WTF are you talking about THIS time…or are you pulling stuff out of your ASS like usual.
I have a simple message: If this is true and David Irons ever lays a hand of hate on my source M, I will cut his nuts off.
But I don’t think this has much more than A grain of truth.
Well, the timing on this couldn’t be better for David Irons. Seeing how there’s going to be some job openings in the Bush Crime Family, David is probably on the short ‘A’ list of candidates for Rove’s or Scooter’s job.
I mean, anyone who’d pummel their own mother definitely has the character traits to be a Good German, I mean Good Republican in the Bush administration.
Goldy @ 46….
If Irons had a hair on his ass, he would publicly beat you.
Honestly, if he takes this bullshit from your pathetic ass, he does not deserve the position.
As a victim of abuse from a family member, I can tell you first hand that reporting the abuser is not an easy thing to do. On the one hand, you feel you should, as doing so may prevent another incident from occurring. On the other, you feel as though you are betraying that family member by committing an irrevocable act that will no doubt haunt that family member for the rest of their days. Just because Irons’ mom was unwilling to report her allegedly abusive son to the authorities does not necessarily discredit her claim that he was abusive.
Domestic abuse is rampant in this and in many other of the world’s societies. For all you nay-sayers, do a search on the number of reported domestic abuse allegations and compare it to the numbers of people in counseling for being victims of abuse. You’ll find, as many psychologists concur, that people rarely report abuse by a “loved one” to the authorities in comparison to the number of incidents.
Right-wing-religious-republicans are ruining this planet…BTW (Just thought I’d throw that in to piss off the fools that read this stuff…lol)
prr @ 105
Dude, if he takes this at all, it’s because he’s guilty (and not denying it immediately would tend to indicate that’s the case – sorta like Smirky’s refusal to deny he’d used coke).
The truth is an absolute defense in libel and slander cases.
As a victim of abuse from a family member, I can tell you first hand that reporting the abuser is not an easy thing to do. On the one hand, you feel you should, as doing so may prevent another incident from occurring. On the other, you feel as though you are betraying that family member by committing an irrevocable act that will no doubt haunt that family member for the rest of their days. Just because Irons’ mom was unwilling to report her allegedly abusive son to the authorities does not necessarily discredit her claim that he was abusive.
Domestic abuse is rampant in this and in many other of the world’s societies. For all you nay-sayers, do a search on the number of reported domestic abuse allegations and compare it to the numbers of people in counseling for being victims of abuse. You’ll find, as many psychologists concur, that people rarely report abuse by a “loved one” to the authorities in comparison to the number of incidents.
Right-wing-religious-republicans are ruining this planet…BTW (Just thought I’d throw that in to piss off the fools that read this stuff…lol)
Yes, by all means, let’s hear what the candidate has to say in his own defense … If these are lies they are really big ones and ought to be subject to a lawsuit or two …
(crickets chirping)
That’s what I thought.
X @ 106.
Agreed.
If he is Guilty, he needs to beat Goldy within an inch of his worthless life for bring his family into this.
On that note…
Hey, I’ll pick up the tab for the next drinking liberally, but I get to choose where it’s held. What do you think about larry’s in Pionerr Square next Saturday night?
Follow on to 93:
How many of you know people who are estranged from parents/children? I, personally, know many people who have had seriously fucked up lives, but can’t say that any of these people have severed all contact with parents or children. They usually either work it out or come up with some sort of modus vivendi that avoids the problem. But to deny grandparent’s visitation with grandchildren becuase they won’t support your political aspirations? What kind of vindictive shitbag would do that? And, do you really want someone who is that dysfunctional to be in a position of power?
We want calm, level headed people in power, people who know the meaning of compomise, negotiation, mediation, problem solving, working with diverse groups on difficult problems with entrenched positions. Irons does not sound like this kind of person.
prriss @ 108 “If he is Guilty, he needs to beat Goldy within an inch of his worthless life for bring his family into this.”
My, oh my, for a priss, you sure do talk
toughnutty.@ 108
FUCK YEAH, I’ll be there if you’re really picking up the tab. Guinness and Bushmills, please. Line ’em up and keep ’em coming.
Well done, David. This is a good piece of research and well written. Glad to see it get some national attention as well.
@ 108
Normally, I drink at the Owl ‘N Thistle, but I’ll walk down to Larry’s.
108-
Make mine Courvoisier and Coke, yo!
Hey Prr – Are you a barkeep/owner? Fuck that! I wouldn’t want your goon squad preying on me or my fellow liberal friends.
Just keep downing the shots and turnin’ up the hate, barkeep. It keeps you warm in the chilly weather. It also might burn you to a crisp and rid the world of you.
GBS: you’re a brave man but then you’re a vet right? You know how to handle yourself.
@ 115
Not to sound off the cuff or anything, but you don’t frequent bars late at night in cities do you?
There’s always people like prr and normally worse than him. You know alcohol has a tendency to make people bigger than they really are. Know what I mean? So being able to handle yourself just comes with the territory regardless of anyone else’s political ideology.
So WTF? At $4.50 a pint, if he’s buyin’ I’m drinkin’.
Congratulations Mr. Goldstein on an excellent post. This is news, it is accurate, and it should be reported. While I live in Pierce County and will not be voting in this particular election, it is a sad fact that many so called Jounalist have abandon their critical thinking skills, if they ever had any to begin with.
I have long ago quit watching most of the main stream media for anything other then entertainment with the exception of Now, Frontline, The Daily Show and occasionally Keith Olbermann.
As a card carrying member of CSICOP, it is very distressing that the MSN refuses to treat the Journalism like any other discipline, subject to the rules of evidence and verification (this differs from agitation and propaganda, which have no rules). Increasing pushing the talking points of both sides of the aisle, the MSN is, in the worlds of John Stewart, neither liberal nor conservative. They are, however, extremely lazy and incompetent.
GBS: Yes, I tend to stay away from the dicier joints. I’ve known people who have gotten killed in bar brawls. I also know prr’s posting history on this board. So I will stay away from downtown (too far to go anyway) and savor the 4.00 pints at the Montlake.
Iron man says, “Vote for me or I’ll kick your ass just like I did to my mommy.”
Sounds like a winner to me!
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
Good News! The Senate, along with Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, have voted to screw the victims of Katrina. Thanks to them, Seattle still has money for a Sculpture Park! Preserve our Pork, to he11 with flooded out poor people!
Ron Sims will be very pleased.
Still stupid, eh Janet?
Comment by mom — 10/20/05 @ 3:46 pm
This is Goldy’s better angel :-).
Still stupid….
Translation: I am embarrassed and shamed and can think of nothing in response.
@117
Rujax,
That’s funny
At this point, it can be said that Joni Balter has more credibility than you – which isn’t saying much, since she did not create such balderdash as you did (beating his mother – yeah right!). How much money did you donate to Ron Sims and why are you so beholden to him ? Strange that his sister has not been vocal to the local press about him running, like she was when he ran against Derdowski. That just makes your story all the less credible.
Kool aid drinkers – go ahead and believe it. Unless you can produce any corroborating witnesses to your story, that come out of the woodwork – I don’t buy it. Even if this were all true, I don’t see that his character is as bad as Ron Sims.
Janet @ 125:
Plenty of R’s voted against that one down too. While I’ll agree wholeheartedly it’s a dastardly way to vote, politics is a messy business, and I believe this comes under the heading of “poor planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on my part” In other words, while everyone is united in preserving thier pork, they are also sending a message to Bush that overspending due to Iraq is a bed he made, and he’s gonna have to sleep in it. A couple of other issues here:
– All politics are local: Cantwell and Murray have to answer to business interests in this state, not Louisiana
– Separation of powers: Bush doesn’t like it, he can veto
– The original transportation bill was a R agenda item and was full of pork. I thought the R’s were supposed to be AGAINST spending?
– Why should the D senators bail Bush out of his political problems? I know it would be the right thing to do and all, but that hasn’t driven any R (House, Senate or Bush) agenda items I can see to date. The current admin and House/Senate majority has used every opportunity to cram whatever the f they want down D’s throats. If the R’s wanted this so badly (HA!) they should have made it happen and shown they were the bigger people. What’s that? When what freezes over?
Where’s the turnaround team, Ron?
Here’s an answer: http://www.metrokc.gov/council.....around.htm
http://www.Orbusmax.com links to this post, BTW.
Larry @ 132
I actually agree with you! I just wanted to make it very clear that neither side walks on the side of angels. I sometimes think from people who frequent here that Dems are the pure of heart, and Repubs are demons. In fact, I think Lucy has actually said as much.
The relevance? Ron Sims has a proven track record of big spending. Smear campaigns like that being launched here is meant to preserve such largesse.
Comment by Janet S — 10/20/05 @ 4:57 pm
Got that right. This is nothing more or less than a desperado hit on a warped version of personal issues, a la Arnold 2003, G.W. Bush 2004…
Right, his whole family concerns it, and you Rethugs are still in denial (or just lying, you pick).
Pathetic.
oops, that was confirms…
Good ol Okie Tom Coburn goes on and on about a lousy 1/2 million for a park (a small portion of the overall project, which is mostly privately funded) even as he votes to cut spending on Medicaid, student loans, and other anti-poverty programs and at the same time supports tax cuts for the richest of the rich.
Rethug priorities, for sure. Kind of like beating your mom up, I guess….
Janet, it’s more like the Dems are/still full of shit and the Repubs lately are trying to emulate them. I call the Democrats the Party of Waste Management!
Also Animal Hind Parts members, speaking of politics:
1.) So the No Child Left Behind Act written by Teddy Chappaquiddick Killer Kennedy should be repealed?
2.) So the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance bill should be repealed?
3.) So the President should unsign the bankruptcy law because it would hurt democratic constituents. “But opponents said the bill will hurt those who can least afford it — low-income working people, single mothers, minorities and the elderly — and would remove a safety net for those who have lost their jobs or face crushing medical bills.”
4.) So the President should unsign the prescription drug benefit?
All those above a favorite Democrat programs he signed.
Josef, politics of personal destruction are the reason the Dems approval rate is still lower than the POTUS!
GBS: Here is something that will definitely make you black below the waist: http://benignant4you.com/index.....e0d52ecbda
Questions for lefties and a message for GBS in the filter.
What is Ron Sims hiding? Why would Goldy stay up until 3:09am to write this post to draw attention away from Ron Sims? Why is Sims affraid of the truth?
http://www.soundpolitics.com/a.....tml#005202
Seems like a simple request, why wouldn’t he comply?
I remember hearing this in the Mainstream Media back in 2003 when Irons was up for re-election. Could not believe it at the time, that if it were true, that these conservative people in the old 12th District would vote for Irons.
Ah yes, Seattle liberal politics golden rule. Screw you and your family, before you can screw me and mine.
@ 141 – Can you support your assertion with evidence of the link(s) for this story ?
I’ll await your response.
The relevance? Ron Sims has a proven track record of big spending.
My, my Janet I suppose that’s why the budget is balanced and King County has a AAA rating from those commies at Standard and Poor’s.
I suppose Dubya’s ladling on of two trillion or so onto the national debt is your idea of fiscal prudence. We must be prudent yes and think of our children. After all, they will be paying for our mistakes.
Janet is a bit of nutjob but she means well
I think people know better to believe what lefties say with out collaborating evidence to support their assertions. Remember we are talking about the party of memo-gate and Newsweek. Most people will take this with a grain of salt and write it off as more BS from the left.
-If Irons’ mother thinks he is so dangerous, why did she never file a domestic abuse charge against him? Why smear him in the press, and declare he is a menace, but never take action to protect society from him? –
Oh my gosh, can JanetS really be that stupid? Why do you think the legislature had to pass domestic violence laws in the 1990’s that required police to arrest somebody before they left the door? Because the VAST MAJORITY of cases never went to court (since family members didn’t want to press charges) and those very same policemen just ended up coming back to the same door time after time.
In the case of David Irons’ family, they just simply stopped having contact with him, which is another option.
Comment by For the Clueless — 10/20/05 @ 7:20 pm
That is unfair to compare David Irons to George W. Bush. He’s already in opposition to 912 and may share my… disgust at his fiscal policies.
GREAT job Goldy.
The people who support Irons will be hard pressed to show any support after this.
FAKE MARK @ 147
Knock off the BS fake posting.
Janet, I said no such thing.
GOLDY, would you please delete the post @ 147 from the Fake Mark? Since you know the IP addresses and listed e-mail addresses, you know who the fake poster is.
Lord this is almost too easy, But PB asks for it by continually posting nonsense.
PuddyBrains @ 140
“I call the Democrats the Party of Waste Management! “
Yes, PB, they are trying to manage the horrific waste created by the Neo-Cons.
“So the No Child Left Behind Act written by Teddy Kennedy should be repealed?â€
No PuddyBrains, It should Be FUNDED! Which Bush and the Repug congress refuse to do because they need the money to kill more Americans and stuff the ill gotten gains into Corporate coffers.
“So the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance bill should be repealed? “
No, it should be enforced! Which Bush, and the repug Congress refuse to do.
“So the President should unsign the bankruptcy law?â€
Absolutely! It is the most disastrous and biggest giveaway to Banking lobbyist since indentured servitude was abolished!
“So the President should unsign the prescription drug benefit? “
Absolutely! It is the most horrific and biggest giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry since…. ever.
“All those above a favorite Democrat programs he signed. “
LOL You do live in Dreamy PuddyBud land! Any of these that have any connection to Democratic ideals has either been underfunded, or ignored!
And the bankruptcy and “Prescription†bill are nothing but a Neo-Con disasters in the making.
PuddyBud…. do you ever get5 tired of being completely wrong?
So JOSEF…
If you had taken the time to read and comprehend the ENTIRE article (I know it’s looong…but TRY to get through it) you would have read that the timing IS interntional. Nobody’s hidin’ nothin’ here…go ahead…read the salient points:
“If you reject this story as just another case of he said/she said, then why not reject the entire story, instead of just the part that requires a little elbow grease? How hard is it to research a candidate’s resume to determine if his claims are based in fact? How hard is it to interview former co-workers, employees and neighbors to see if they corroborate the family’s charges? How hard is it to look up a damn police report? Isn’t that your job?
Irons’ own family – the people who know him best – have made devastating charges against his character and qualifications… doesn’t the public have a right to know?
And finally, to those cynical amongst you who question the timing of this post, appearing just as the absentee ballots are dropped in the mail, and thus positioned to have maximum impact… I want to personally assure you that this is absolutely intentional. This is not merely a strategic move on my part, but one which appeals to my unique sense of irony.”
(snip)
“…Much to his surprise, the first written question posed to Derdowski was “Are you under investigation by the FBI?â€
As it turned out, Derdowski had been under investigation by the FBI during much of the campaign (he’s not sure for what), but the investigation had recently come to a close without indictment or comment. And so Derdowski truthfully answered “No.â€
It was a setup. At this point, as Irons’ mother Janet describes it, notorious Eastside developer Skip Rowley exclaimed “We got him! We got him!†while gleefully wringing his hands. Irons immediately stood up and charged that Derdowski was indeed under investigation. An unusually heavy media presence in the audience (apparently tipped off that something would happen) hit the story strong the next day, and by the time the truth played its way through the press a week or so later, the damage had already been done. Derdowski lost the early absentee ballots big, and went on to lose the election.
For months, David Jr. had been bragging to his family that he had a “secret weapon†in his race against Derdowski, and that night they realized what it was. Shocked and offended by what they perceived to be a dirty trick, it was only then, a few weeks before the primary, that Irons’ parents finally came out in public support of Derdowski and in opposition to their own son.”
(snip)
“And so tonight, as I prepare to air Irons’ dirty laundry on the eve of the absentee ballots being mailed, I do so without remorse, and without regret. What goes around comes around.”
Sounds like Goldy’s giving this jerk is getting what he deserves.
I am David’s older sister, Janet, and I can’t let your allegations and unfounded statements go unanswered. My brother, David, refuses to comment about my parents except to say he loves them. I respect his position, but feel someone must explain this situation. So here I go….
First the family business that David worked at for over ten years: I was corporate counsel and a board member of that company, as was David. I attended the board meetings and was actively involved in the decisions on how to manage the growth of the company, financing, when to sell the company, all the usual decisions made by a board. David – as well as myself, and my parents – all actively participated in those meetings and then voted which direction to steer. David also put together bids for major jobs the company did, attended King County Counsel meetings with me when the company franchise was up for renewal, and otherwise took a very active management roll in the company. He was also an integral part of the process when we negotiated the sale of the company in Denver, Colorado. Why do my mother and sister attempt to minimize his roll in that company? Hopefully by the time you reach the end of this post it will be apparent.
My brother decided in the late nineties to run against an incumbant, Brian Derdowski, for a position on the King County Counsel. We had sold the family business several years before and David was already serving on the Issaquah School Board. My parents had strongly supported David when he ran for the School Board after the company sold.
But when David decided to run against Derdowski my father didn’t want him to do it. My father tried to convince him not to run, in fact. And when David ran anyway, my father – to my surprise – supported Derdowski. During that campaign my mother for the first time claimed that David had physically abused her. She alleged it had happened years before, before she endorsed him for the School Board and before the family company was sold.
I first learned of my mother’s allegation from a 3rd party, and I immediately called her to find out what was going on. I assumed she was being misquoted, that she would come to David’s defense. The conversation is clear in my mind because it was so stunning. She told me that she and David had had a “yelling match” one day at the office and that she had ended up on the floor and “it was David’s fault.” She did not say he had hit her, shoved her, or otherwise touched her violently. Never in the intervening five years had she ever said anything even vaguely like this. We had spent hundreds if not thousands of hours together and nothing was even hinted at like this at all – until she was backing his opponent, Mr. Derdowski.
My mother is a diabetic and unfortunately suffers frequent bouts of insulin shock, when her blood sugar gets too low. Anyone familiar with diabetic symptoms is aware of the way it can impact on a sufferer’s preceptions when they are suffering from low blood sugar.
When my mother told me about the “yelling match” with David, I asked if she had been having an insulin reaction. She acknowledged she was in fact having an insulin reaction at the time. She did not offer an explanation for never mentioning this horrific allegaion to me before.
Over the ensuing months my parents very actively supported Derdowski, even appearing in newspapers with him on the night of the primary election. Nonetheless, David beat the incumbant. My parents then financed my sister’s campaign as a write-in candidate against David. David won in the general election as well and went on to serve on the King County Counsel with distinction.
Apparently my mother and sister are attempting to bring my sister’s son into this discussion as well, alleging that he refused to work with David in the family business. First I take great exception to bringing our respective children into this discussion. It is sad enough that they oppose David, but children should not be pawns in this. I will only say this on that topic: I was present at all board meetings and spoke with my father virtually daily most of my adult life, up until they decided they would not speak with me any further because I supported David, and never was there any discussion of David becoming angry at work.
I know David well. We have holidays together, frequently speak on the phone, and get together many times during the year for social events. I have seen him interact with his children, his spouse, and many others in the community. I have never seen any indication that he has an anger management problem. It simply isn’t true.
My parent’s opposition to David is a symptom of a disfunctional family, not a cause of the problem between us. My parents do not speak to their siblings and for many years my mother was estranged from her mother as well. When I discussed this situation with one of my aunts she said David shouldn’t take this personally, “it is simply his turn.”
I have not been anxious to wade into this situation, but my mother’s and sister’s allegations cannot go unanswered. Frankly, whether my parents support David should not sway anybody’s vote one way or the other. I encourage everyone to look at David’s record, his position on the issues and make a decision based on that.
It is sad my parents are so angry, for reasons I don’t really understand. It isn’t natural for parents to attack their own child, but they have done it to me in other arenas. Bottom line is it just isn’t relevant to the election.
I saw a recent poll, and it seems David Irons is beating expectations…
… no, wait…
…Not expectaitons, just his mom.
I see that the original # 141 had their message retracted. Why ? No evidence of previous articles like this ?. That speaks alot about the lack of credibility of this hit piece. If this proves false, there will be a backlash of support for Irons. Your’e playin’ with fire here, Goldy…
151-
Josef you idiot…that’s a campaign ad. Not a response. I guess you can’t tell the difference.
My name is Janet A. Irons and I am David’s sister. I am not happy about airing family issues here, but someone has to respond to these unfounded allegations and David won’t. He feels it shouldn’t be part of the election and I applaud him for that. Still, someone needs to respond so I guess it is up to me.
First, about the family company. I was corporate counsel and on the board. David was also on the board and very active in all decisions regarding the control of that company, financing, growth, when to sell, etc. He personally prepared bids for some of the largest projects ever done by the company and flew to Denver with me to help negotiate the sale of the company to TCI. He most certainly gained management experience in that company.
Second, sadly, let me respond to the allegation that David abused my mother. The first time I ever heard of this allegation was five full years after it supposedly happened, when my mother was supporting an incumbent (Brian Derdowski) that David was running against. In the intervening years I had spent hundreds if not thousands of hours with my mother and never at any time had she even hinted at any such allegation. Neither did she, or my father, ever say anything to me about David having an anger management problem at work. I am stunned and appalled.
I hesitate to even mention the allegations about my nephew. I don’t think our respective children should be drawn into this. It is sad enough to have parents opposing their son. Let me just say that the allegation about people refusing to work with David at the family company is brand new to me.
A dysfunctional family is hardly news. The real issues are transportation, the election department, and the future of King County. My brother is a good man, with great management skills. He will be a wonderful asset to this county and this is what voters should look to when deciding how to vote on November 8th.
PS: I just reread my post and I’m not sure that it is clear that I am confident allegations about abuse involving my mother and brother are untrue. It is unthinkable that the events my mother now claims occurred would go unmention for five years. It is important in mind that after the alleged event my mother supported David in at least one election and only claimed abuse when he was running against someone she supported.
Again, I wish to didn’t have to wade in on this but someone has to explain the situation. My parents are angry and doing anything they can to defeat David, as they have done to me and others in other arenas. It is sad, but not news. Please look to the real issues when you decide how to vote. Thank you hearing me out.
Thank you for your post, Janet Irons. Your comments refute a fair amount of this post. Let the rest of those who read this blog be the judge.
I took KS’s advice and read the post and Ms. Irons’ comments in 156 and 157.
I am left with the distinct impression that David Irons does not have the integrity or demeanor to serve in public office..much less an an executive of King county.
Janet
You have to know one thing. We are dealing with a party of liars. You dont actually thinks that memo-gate or the Newsweek fiasco are exception to the rule.. hell no it is the rule. It is just part of their nature thats all. I hope your Brother gets elected so we can throw some of these snakes out.
Goldy,
Since you see the IP (and possibly a real e-mail) for every poster, could you please confirm the identity of the poster @ 156 & 157. If it is a legitimate response, one would think that in the interest of truth, you’d put a link to it in an UPDATE to your original post.
IF it is a fake post, that would be disappointing — and you should “out” the person for writing it. Not because it is for Irons, but because people are again abusing the anonymous posting ability on this blog.
I posted 156 and 157 and my email is JaetAIrons@hotmail.com. I’m also in the phone book as an attorney in Bellevue WA. If you doubt who I am please feel free to call me at my office (the receptionist will confirm you’ve reached my office). I’ll be happy to confirm that I posted these comments.
Oops…JanetAIrons@hotmail.com. Sorry about the typo.
Thanks for your comments, Ms. Irons, although I have to admit that anyone can put any name on a comment, so I will reserve commenting further.
Goldy, don’t you see that your post (and refuting comments from someone identifying themselves as a family member) is the problem with blogs? You have no editor/reporter colleagues to bounce stories off of, no resources (that we know of) to do in-depth investigations and interviews with all concerned to try to get to the truth, and no training as a journalist. You are just a guy with a computer (no offense). That’s great for opinion, and I do enjoy reading your opinion, even though I disagree most of the time, but for hard news, it’s not good.
Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not automatically dissmissing your story, but it looks like we have a major ‘he/she said’ mixed into an apparently very disfunctional family. A lot of public figures have messy personal lives, but we don’t read about them because it’s a) not relevant and/or b) impossible to get to the truth because all the players have an axe to grind.
I have a very hard time believing that the local MSM ingnored this story if true, as it’s just to big to pass, but I will reserve final judgment.
Right. Irons’ mom and dad just made all of that up. That’s what moms and dads do. It’s one thing if this was a single allegation, but it’s very clear David Irons has a long-term problem. Looks like Janet A has similar problems discerning between fact and fiction.
And the fact David Irons Jr. never even received a college degree, and lied about his qualifications makes these defensive claims even more dubious. How does one achieve “great management skills” by skating through life? Bush tried pretending for a while, and the results have been devastating.
Way to sell your nephew down the river while you were at it, Janet A. How many more family members do you plan to sacrifice for the cause?
Face it: David Irons is just a pawn of the suburban sprawl money making machine. They could care less whether this tool beat his mom or not: there’s too much money to be made in them there hills! Everybody knows Republicans value money over family!
Sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
Here that? It’s Goldy’s ego deflating.
John @ 166
On the contrary. You need to re-read everything.
Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffftttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.
Hear that? It’s John McDonald’s opinions coming out of his ass.
(oh yeah…and I can spell “hear”)
LR @ 165
Dysfunctional families can often defy logic. As I mentioned before, you can have cases of severe polarization — with mothers going against their children if there is some allegation against the father (husband).
Now, this COULD be the real Janet Irons and she may have simply polarized to her brother’s side — regardless of what actually happened. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that we only see the surface of the Irons family dysfunction. Again, as I said before, it is possible that an adult hit/abused/assaulted, physically or mentally, young David and when he spoke up about it, it caused a huge rift in the family. I have personally known victims in that situation where the family polarized and actually blamed the victim, despite overwhelming evidence of the alleged abuse.
The key here is that Goldy — if he is honest — is obligated to give as much play to (a real) Janet’s statements as he did to the statements that support his presuppositions going into the matter.
Goldy
“HA is not a rumor mill.” Right, it’s the Ron Sims campaign blog and mud slinging mill. Hard to miss the fact that you post more negative posts about Irons than positives about Sims.
Looks like now you will have to ask Mom for dirt about Janet A to keep your (one sided) story from imploding. This was truly pathetic; haven’t you ever wondered why it’s called a family “feud”?
Janet @ 156
“Second, sadly, let me respond to the allegation that David abused my mother. The first time I ever heard of this allegation was five full years after it supposedly happened, when my mother was supporting an incumbent (Brian Derdowski) that David was running against.”
Thanks for the information. It is always nice to get all sides of the story.
But, what you are implicitly saying here is that your mother has been making these allegations for at least seven years, probably more!
And, apparently you have not confronted you mother about her account? Or are you suggesting your mother is not telling it like it is (lying, suffering from psychological problems, or senile dementia)? Goldy went and asked your mother. Reporters from the mainstream media also talked to your mother and gotten the same story. I understand that your mother has given her account over the broadcast media in the past, as well.
So, perhaps you can reconsile for us the difference between your story and your mother’s story. Because, it sounds to me, from your statement above, like you and you mother have probably never gotten into a discussion about your differences of opinion. If not, then frankly and objectively, your statement is less informed in most regards than Goldy’s.
He’s a violent , liar, auto mechanic and is not fit to run this county.
Sadly, I must agree that Irons is not fit.
The republicans, the party of character and integrity (remember Bush was going to bring character back into the white house…perhaps someone forgot to inform rove/libby of that — wait, they are the architechts of the promise) has once again showed that it deserves the ire of the electorate for promising one thing and delivering another…
Maybe Vance will do the right thing and renounce republican support for this guy. We’d all be impressed.
More Rep. crony capitalism. Good thing it was nipped in the bud!
He’s not qualified to fall out of a clown car.
dj
“If not, then frankly and objectively, your statement is less informed in most regards than Goldy’s.”
Goldy invites himself over to interview Ma becuase he wants to help elect Sims and that makes Goldy more objective than Ma’s daughter? Maybe in your twisted world, you pompous ass.
I’m running on a ticket that is committed to returning honor and integrity to… this comment thread.
zip the pinhead-
Wish I could say I missed you.
Fucking Jerk!
Why don’t you go away again.
Goldy is refreshingly honest about his motives, Joseph. He wants to help ensure this very flawed person never sits in the executive chair.
Comment by Felix Fermin— 10/20/05 @ 7:59 am
Felix you got to be kidding, this place looks like Chicago from 1955-1976 when Richard Daley was Mayor. This place is run by a bunch of flim-flam men/women and anything goes. Pull your blinders off both sides are cleaning your wallet out and putting your Kids on the street illiterate. Goldy has his own agenda and it my not match yours, so think.
zip @ 176
“Goldy invites himself over to interview Ma becuase he wants to help elect Sims and that makes Goldy more objective than Ma’s daughter? Maybe in your twisted world, you pompous ass. “
Yes, that does make Goldy more objective. And, I didn’t even mention the fact that David Jr.’s father and sister Di also claims that he has an anger problem. Oh…and several coworkers also portrayed that David Jr. has an anger problem. It isn’t looking good for David Jr., but I would definitely like to hear Janet Irons’ opinion.
BTW: I was not trying to provoke scum like you, zip. I really was wanting Janet Irons to address the questions I pose. I cannot imagine how difficult this whole issue has been for the family over a decade, but part of David Jr.’s family decided to go public with this some 7 year ago, and have made some of these claims through a number of media outlets besides HA. This troll business may be sport for you, but I was being serious.
The readers of HA should be deeply appreciate of any willingness on the part of Janet Irons (and any other member of her family) to show up here and clarify or discuss these issues. I asked hard questions of Janet, but I am being respectful.
As if any of you people that don’t support Irons now would have supported him in the first place regardless of this post. Try not to put words in Janet Iron’s (his sister’s) mouth. The truth appears to be very elusive on this blog.
You know something – I already know what I’m going to ask Goldy tomorrow on KVI.
One hint: I’m going to smile as I ask the question… a question not posted on this board and will not be until about 0800 tomorrow.
[Gee, I presume there is a Shawn Alexander of state politics is up to actually juggling a football – what was it, 7 or 9 yards? Woops, the Seattle Seahawks endorse David Irons!]
I hate to say it but…. Did anyone actually do anything real to confirm that that IS the real Janet Irons? I mean… Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.
If it is the real woman, my deepest apologies… But the one thing I’ve learned in 8 months on this blog is that the righty trolls will stoop to anything to ‘win’ the trolling game. So without evidence, I have some doubts…
josef @ 179-
You’re so full of shit your ears stink.
Goldy, welcome to the Big Leagues. The Republican Spin Machine is gunning for you. And they will not accept the Truth as a final answer.
Congrats!
I have known David and Janet Irons Sr., their daughter Di and her husband and children for many years. I have the utmost respect for them. I can personally attest to their sincere regret and hurt over this family situation. The last thing that they wanted was for all of this to become public. Ever since it became public a few years ago, however, they have been consistent and candid. David Irons Jr’s sister Janet supports David, and I’m sure that her support is a comfort to him, but I believe in my heart that the accounts of his parents, sister Di, brother-in-law, and nephew are truthful.
My personal experience and knowledge about David Irons Jr. compels me to oppose his candidacy. David has accomplished very little on the Council. I do not know of a single piece of significant legislation that he has prime sponsored. He did co-sponsor reducing the size of the Council, a proposal that was conceived and written by my friend and former colleague, the late Kent Pullen. That proposal actually backfired on the rural and unincorporated citizens in Irons’ district and elsewhere, an outcome that was widely predicted.
David Irons is not well regarded by those who work with him. He is considered to be uninformed and ineffective. I have had many personal conversations with former colleagues and associates who express this view. An Irons administration would be in constant conflict with the Council, ineffectively staffed, and chaotic. His policy direction would promote a partisan Republican agenda which would turn back the clock on growth management, environmental protections, and open space initiatives. As for elections, Irons supports Jane Hague’s proposal for an elected auditor. Superficially attractive, this unfortunate proposal would guarantee that the elections chief would be a partisan politician. It would likely be filled by someone who is not professionally qualified and who is working his/her way up the political ladder. As to public safety, Irons has shown very little interest in this critical County function that consumes over 70% of the current expense budget.
I have always opposed the politics of personal destruction. Our campaigns were always positive, and we never stooped to dirty tricks. I very much regret that Mr. Irons Jr.’s character is so deeply flawed that it has become an issue, and will become even more so if we are unfortunate enough to see him elected Executive.
I’m glad to see the account of the political manipulation of the FBI investigation. After the investigation was closed, a reporter for a major newspaper asked me if I would be interested in her writing a story about how my opponents were using the FBI to attack me politically. Since the investigation was closed, and there had been no press coverage, I discouraged the reporter from writing a story that in retrospect would have probably been helpful to me. I had no idea that a few months later a political forum would be used to exploit a dead story that no paper had previously reported because it was not a news story. At the last minute, the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce who was hosting that forum changed the moderator to a prominent land developer who had spent thousands of dollars trying to unseat me. I should have left the event, but I stayed and debated Mr. Irons. The first question was submitted anonymously, and asked if I was under investigation. Since I was not, I stated so. Immediately Mr. Irons jumped to his feet and challenged me, stating all that he knew about the investigation. His Mother who was in the audience realized then that her son was probably involved in the manipulation. She came to our headquarters the very next day and stated that she “could not stand by and see an honest man go down”. She asked for a button and authorized us to use her name as an endorser.
If anyone wants to discuss this with me personally, feel free to email me at brian@derdowski.com
Josef @ 183
“One hint: I’m going to smile as I ask the question… a question not posted on this board and will not be until about 0800 tomorrow.”
Save your breadth (and keystrokes), son. Nobody (not even those on the right) are interested in your question. Really!
This hitpiece is so one-sided it is falling over on the floor. People ought to have the right to know about Sims’ horrifying abuse of power—and about several other things that have decidedly NOT been mentioned here. What a joke.
Yo @ 193 stupidly said “This hitpiece is so one-sided it is falling over on the floor. People ought to have the right to know about Sims’ horrifying abuse of power—and about several other things that have decidedly NOT been mentioned here. What a joke.”
Yo, Goldy has a free sounding board here, how about you type all the “Sims’ horrifying abuse of power—and about several other things that have decidedly NOT been mentioned here.”
Go for it! Little man!
If you have the balls.
Hmmmm…I have it on good authority that Goldstein’s information is not only incorrect, but also very much the subject of a lawsuit being brought forth of libel, BY JANET IRONS HERSELF!
Should have looked before he lept.
The parents of David Irons, Jr. are provably false on other matters. David Irons Sr. (his father) claims to be a Republican. Janet C Irons (his mother) claims to be an Independent.
I looked all of the Ironses up on both the PDC database and FEC database. It can be a bit difficult to tell David Jr apart from David Sr, so I doublechecked all of the questionable David contributions.
Bottom line – every single political contribution (and there have been a few dozen) by David Irons Sr and Janet C Irons in the last five years has been to DEMOCRATS. On the other hand – not surprisingly – every single political contribution by David Irons Jr has been to REPUBLICANS.
If David Irons Sr and Janet C Irons are lying about their political affiliation – which can be objectively disproven by unquestionable facts – how can we believe anything they have to say about a subjective matter such as a family feud?
So the “Family Values” wingnuts are now smearing the Mom.
They have no values, no family, no honor, no conscience, no honesty. They are anything but Christian.
Nothing matters to them but winning, even if they lose their souls.
Open a bait box — hard to tell if those are earthworms in there or modern day Republicans.
Pope @ 196
Lying? Sorry, but you evidence doesn’t really amount to much. You are making some pretty strong assumptions there? For example, their friend Derdowski was GOP but ran as a Democrat. That doesn’t mean that they voted all Democarat in those elections.
Here is an example of you logic failing: I am an Independent. The only time in my life I’ve donated money to a party was for the WA recount (to the Dems, of course). But I voted for you in the primary (knowing full well that you are a Republican). Therefore, your logic doesn’t universally apply.
Andrew Carson @ 195
“I have it on good authority that Goldstein’s information is not only incorrect, but also very much the subject of a lawsuit being brought forth of libel, BY JANET IRONS HERSELF!”
LOL. If she believes she can find libel in Goldy’s post, she ain’t a very good lawyer!
I have a lot of respect for Brian Derdowski, and frankly wish that David Irons Jr. hadn’t run against him back in 1999. That said, Derdowski’s posting leaves out a lot of information.
The Ironses were on pretty good terms prior to David Jr running against Derdowski. Obviously, this created a lot of friction (to say the least), since David Jr’s parents were long-time supporters of Derdowksi, and Di Irons (David Jr’s sister) worked for Derdowski.
But Derdowski didn’t share any of his observations of David Jr PRIOR to the time that David Jr decided to run against Derdowski in 1999. Keep in mind that, as of 1999, Derdowski had served six years on the King County Council. And David Jr had served eight years on the Issaquah School Board — the largest school system in Derdowski’s council district (elected to 4 year terms in 1991 and 1995).
Goldy says this incident happened sometime in the early 1990’s. It obviously happened before 1995, since the Irons family sold their cable company in that year. David Jr ran for re-election to the Issaquah School Board in 1995. If David Jr had really assaulted his mother a year or two (or three or four or whatever) earlier, this would certainly have been relevant to his fitness to serve on a school board. And his mother would have been motivated to speak out against him.
But in 1995, David Jr’s parents backed his re-election to the Issaquah School Board. They certainly didn’t denounce him. It was only in 1999, when David Jr decided to run against their daughter Di’s boss (Derdowski) that David Sr and Janet C started letting these allegations loose against their son.
Add this to David Sr’s misrepresentation that he is sitll a Republican and Janet C’s misrepresentation that she is merely an Independent (when both are 100% Democrat supporters for the last five or more years), and I just can’t believe the negative personal attacks they have made against their son in more recent years.
Richard Pope,
Sure…it COULD be that David Jr. is being subject to attacks (probably a conspiracy, huh?) by his mother, father, one sister, one nephew, coworkers and other acquaintances. Or it could be that David “did it” and another sister backs him up. The former sure seems more probable!
And, the, ahem, exagerations on Jr.’s Resume, seem to support that he has the “veracity” issues. The “donating to 100% Democratic candidates” angle seems pretty silly. People can self identify themselves any way they want. And, didn’t David Sr. work for Derdowski’s campaign in 2003? How many of the contribution were to Derdowski (who switched from GOP to Dem)?
It just goes to show that politics has detriorated to the point where people with integrity will not get involved leaving the arena to scumbags and the scum that report on them. When as the last time you washed your hands of this nonsense. I will vote for “none of the above!”
I cannot over-emphasize that there was no attempt by Goldy to find the truth behind my mother’s and sister’s allegations. Other reporters have in deed been told of their allegations (and their undeniable surfacing only after David was ruuning against someone my mother strongly supported: Brian Derdowski). Those reporters then went on to interview me, employees of other companies that worked with David, and others with first hand knowledge of David’s work ethic and his business experience. When that kind of true journalism was done, the unsubstantiated allegations made by a few obviously antagonistic family members were either not reported at all or put in the proper perspective. Goldy did not do that.
It is easy to check facts if what you want is the truth. Here’s an easy one: Goldy alleges that police charges were filed by David against a family member and then dropped. That is completely false. I know, I reviewed the police report. An independent witness called in to the police after witnessing someone slashing David’s tires. When David learned the name of the alleged actor (a family member) he did not press charges – ever. Check it out.
My brother is described as a wonderful manager by virtually every one who ever worked with him. He is currently CEO of a successful technology company. He is on the board of Habitat for Humanity, active in his church and very involved with raising his three daughters. He is a good man and I am proud to call him my brother. And King County is lucky to have a candidate of this moral fiber and work ethic willing to wade into the morass we call politics in this country.
Bottom line: Exploitation of my family in order to support Mr. Sims is unconscionable. This was not “the straight scoop” promised by this blog. It is the ugliest form of one-sided sensationalism and attempted character assassination. I am deeply offended by Goldy’s manipulation of my family’s problems under the guise of “reporting”. This is politics at its worse, Goldy. You should be ashamed.
The best read of the political season.
Beating up your mom is hard to debate. Of course, not visitng your dying grand dad for five years and blaming others for you own failure to do so are a close second.
Shredding cards from grandparents to grand kids – this guy is ready for the Bush administration to run an agency espousing family support and keeping marriage strong.
Thanks Goldy, thanke to the PI who have linked to this blog.
What the heck are you talking about “George”? I know from personal conversations with both my brother and my neices that David has encouraged his daughters to communicate with my parents in spite of my parents’ very public opposition to him personally.
Reread my posts. I am being very careful to talk only about facts that I know personally. I’m’not attacking people, I’m not ascribing motives, just pointing out what I know to be true.
And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, what does any of this have to do with the election? Talk about roads, talk about election reform, talk about the tent city, talk about anything relevant to the future of King County. And keep in mind that attempts at character assassination reflect more on the speaker than they do on the candidate.
203, Janet A. Irons:
In all my years of politics, I have never seen used or used a family’s troubles to further political gain. This is the lowest of the low. Even if Dean Logan did what “Heavy” Irons is accused of doing, I hope I would not be tempted into using this w/o solid proof.
Comment by Janet A Irons — 10/21/05 @ 6:30 am
Good question. I would answer it, but that would give away half of the target package for my next sortie.
If everything reported is true, and I’m not saying it is, what does it say about Ron Sims that I’m still willing to choose David Irons over Ron Sims. I’m not voting for David Irons, I’m voting against Rons Sims.
Does sissy who is alledged to be an attorney know the definintion of character flaw?
Has impact in all sectors, and in politics it all comes home to roost – as they say.
If Ron Sims spit on the sidewalk, the outcry about bad manners would be a roar. Mr Irons has assualted his mother.
Help him get into therapy – and out of politics.
Janet is coming on the KVI show. Interesting… here comments above “you should be ashamed” suggest emotion. Will she implode?
Her comments above suggest that this should be about the issues, traffic etc.. Funny about the issues though. Didn’t sound like David Irons was thinking issues when he ambushed Brian Derdowski. Can’t have it both ways.
And Janet, what about your sister’s account. She saw the mess in the room. The wiped out desk, phone ripped out of the wall. All you have is your brothers word. You should be worried about that.
Excellent job David.
Comment by Delbert — 10/21/05 @ 6:54 am
Vote Green.
Seattle’s two left-leaning newspapers haven’t glommed onto this story for one reason: The items with the most impact in the column are legally hearsay. Where’s the independent corroboration? I find it hard to believe that no other media on the left, other than a shrill, starved for attention, crude-mouthed blogger, would take this and run with it in order to protect King County’s Democrat status quo.
Josef @ 212: “Vote Green”
If, for some reason, Irons is forced out of the race, I’d love for him to publicly announce that people should vote for “anyone but Sims.” I’m thinking there could be enough people — either Republican or anti-Sims Dems — that could actually make it a horserace between Sims and Lange.
Why would a Republican vote for Lange? Because he is politically weak and even if he took office, he’d cave to pressure much more than Sims and that would give conservatives at least a fighting chance to clean up King County. Besides, it would make it an open D/R race the next time.
So, if Irons is out, Vote Lange! Vote Green!
Steve P. The reason the two left-leaning newspapers haven’t glommed onto this story is that it exposes such a large character flaw that if they were to LEAD the story with those types of details, they would be branded even more bias than they are now. Add that with fact that there are lines they try not to cross. A blogger can and has. And now they are free to follow on the story.
That is why I like blogs. There are issues under the surface that the general public does not get from the MSM. Blogging exposes and says what they cannot say… and what needs to be said.
If you think Goldy is starved for attention you should look further at David Irons himself. If ever I saw a needy rockstar it would be him. And his personal history lends itself to exactly that type of personality. It is the same reason I cringe when movie stars run for public office.
Lastly, if you think Goldy get a load of this: FUCK YOU! (imagine a shrill voice) If it takes a crude-mouthed blogger to get the truth out there then I am all for it.
I’ll say it again but this time with a complete sentance:
Lastly, if you think Goldy is an attention starved, srhill crude-mouthed blogger, get a load of this: FUCK YOU! (imagine a shrill voice) If it takes a crude-mouthed blogger to get the truth out there then I am all for it.
Janet,
Thanks so much for posting on this site and showing what a lying hack Goldy actually is.
As an attorney, i would hope that you have the resorces to pursue this little weseal and take him for everything he is worth.
What is truly sad is that people rely on attacks and opinions these days. Looking at the facts and taking the time to research issues should how decisions are made. I was a long time democrat until I began to research the facts. It has been interesting albeit frustrating at how a large majority of people choose their party (myself previously) to be accepted instead of looking that the issues affecting us and our children. Instead of spending time attacking others do some research on the issues. Those that have asked why are the news outlets, which are so obviously slanted, not covering the story have really brought up a great point.
prr-
You are a miserable oaf…how can someone be sued over a story that is TRUE?
NO ONE says this story is NOT TRUE. Therefore…no basis for legal action, capiche?
P.S. I usually use a dictionary when I’m not sure how to spell a word…you weasel!
Rujax.
I’m pretty sure on this spelling.
FUCK YOU
Hey Jimmy-
I think you forgot your meds. You think the weeklies are worried about being too “out there?” Get real. Goldy craves the attention, it’s all about him, but unfortunately he is inneffectual and insignificant, and I think he knows it. It makes him mad that he is so irrelevant.
Janet Irons @ 203
“I cannot over-emphasize that there was no attempt by Goldy to find the truth behind my mother’s and sister’s allegations. Other reporters have in deed been told of their allegations (and their undeniable surfacing only after David was ruuning against someone my mother strongly supported: Brian Derdowski). Those reporters then went on to interview me, employees of other companies that worked with David, and others with first hand knowledge of David’s work ethic and his business experience.”
… on the other hand, I understand David Irons, Jr. was given a chance to respond in advance, and declined. Perhaps David Jr. should have suggested that Goldy interview you. Still, we are left with one sister who states one thing and another sister who contradicts …
“When that kind of true journalism was done, the unsubstantiated allegations made by a few obviously antagonistic family members were either not reported at all or put in the proper perspective. Goldy did not do that.”
In fact, many of these allegations have been given on the media in the past. I believe the difference is that the KC Executive is a higher-profile race, so people will pay more attention to them now. Obviously, anytime a relative offers serious allegations, they qualify as “antagonistic.” What is striking about your family’s allegations is that they go well beyond opinions of character. Instead they are first person reports of very disturbing behaviors, and they are corroborated by some paper documents and statements from other people who Dave Jr. has interacted with.
“It is easy to check facts if what you want is the truth. Here’s an easy one: Goldy alleges that police charges were filed by David against a family member and then dropped. That is completely false. I know, I reviewed the police report. An independent witness called in to the police after witnessing someone slashing David’s tires. When David learned the name of the alleged actor (a family member) he did not press charges – ever. Check it out.”
It would be interesting to see the police report. But, I must quibble with one thing. You state that “Goldy alleges that police charges were filed…..” He did no such thing. This is what some of your family claims.
It seems silly to blame the messenger here. This is stuff your family claims, and they are making very strong charges. Clearly, different members of the family have different interpretations of this incident. It seems odd that years later, you and your sister fundamentally disagree over this!?!?! If you read the police report and feel she has the wrong story, didn’t you work out this difference of “opinion” with your sister? I mean, clearly, some of your family felt this was the truth to the point that they are sharing it with the media!
“My brother is described as a wonderful manager by virtually every one who ever worked with him. He is currently CEO of a successful technology company. He is on the board of Habitat for Humanity, active in his church and very involved with raising his three daughters. He is a good man and I am proud to call him my brother. And King County is lucky to have a candidate of this moral fiber and work ethic willing to wade into the morass we call politics in this country.”
Thank you for sharing that. It is nice to see this from a family member.
“Bottom line: Exploitation of my family in order to support Mr. Sims is unconscionable. This was not “the straight scoop” promised by this blog.”
I am afraid I have to disagree. These are statements that family members have felt a need to share with the press. It is the straight scoop in that Goldy offers the words of your family, and charges that they have been raised before and since with the media. If the charges are untrue, then it is possible that one faction of your family has been exploiting the media, but it seem silly to blame one particular outlet (i.e. Horsesass.org).
“It is the ugliest form of one-sided sensationalism and attempted character assassination. I am deeply offended by Goldy’s manipulation of my family’s problems under the guise of “reporting”. This is politics at its worse, Goldy. You should be ashamed.”
Here is another perspective. Your family certainly has a right to speak out against Dave Jr., particularly in offering truthful statements about things that they have experienced. Goldy certainly has a right to truthfully write about his conversations with your family. I don’t think we would disagree on these fundamentals.
So the question is, where have thing broken down? Where is the truth? Have your parents offered the truth? Are all these charges just a question of perspective by different family members? Or, are you suggesting that Goldy is misrepresenting statements by your mother, father and sister? (Based on the media reports—past and present—it would appear that Goldy has faithfully represented their statements).
Are these charges relevant to the election? You bet! Interpersonal skills and personal integrity are exceedingly important in selecting somebody for a political office–in some ways more important than basic political philosophy. We have seen politicians at all ends of the political spectrum succeed based on high standards of integrity. We have also seeb them fail miserably from lack of integrity (Nixon comes to mind). I’ll always choose integrity over political party every time, and I think that is true for most people.
Ideally, we would like to have a “integritometer”–a wand we could point at a candidate and get a reading of their integrity. It doesn’t exist. Instead, we must rely on a candidates record, including past undertakings and accomplishments, and statements by friends, relatives, acquaintances and coworkers. It has never been any different.
I am glad that you have been able to offer your insights on your brother in this forum, and I appreciate your willingness to jump into this (sometimes hostile) forum to directly share your with us. And, I am sure you will have plenty of opportunity to defend the integrity of your brother in the near future. One of the problems, here, is that families almost always speak to the integrity of a candidate. When a family goes out of their way to publicly question a candidate’s integrity, there is an enormous red flag raised!
It is good to hear that you vouch for the integrity of your brother. It is also helpful to hear another side of the story on the “false police reports” that your family alleges. There is a paper trail that could further clarify the issue. But, frankly, there are many charges that your family has made against David Jr. that you have not addressed with first-hand knowledge.
Finally, I doubt you will get much (if any) traction by attacking the messenger–especially now that your family members are repeating these statements to the mainstream media.
Josef @ 206
“In all my years of politics …”
(* snicker *)
prr says he’s “pretty sure” Irons didn’t hit his Mom. Should WE believe him?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
http://www.merriamwebster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary
1wea·sel
Pronunciation: ‘wE-z&l
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural weasels
Etymology: Middle English wesele, from Old English weosule; akin to Old High German wisula weasel
1 or plural weasel : any of various small slender active carnivorous mammals (genus Mustela of the family Mustelidae, the weasel family) that are able to prey on animals (as rabbits) larger than themselves, are mostly reddish brown with white or yellowish underparts, and in northern forms turn white in winter
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Not so much.
“prr says he’s “pretty sure” Irons didn’t hit his Mom”
Off the mark again Rujax, I never said that
just borrowing your tactics…o guru.
Since I’m “lacking a role model for 35 years” I’ll adopt prr.
I want to be a slimy son-of-a-bitch like HIM when I grow up.
rujax @ 219: “NO ONE says this story is NOT TRUE.”
You mean besides Irons himself and his sister?
As for a cause for legal action, you have to separate it into two categories: libel/slander and defamation. Libel would be easier to prove because truth is an absolute defense. If it is untrue, then Goldy is guilty of libel (RCW 9.58). However, defeamation — especially of a public official — is a much harder thing to prove. Clearly, there is malice on Goldy’s part. He is an admitted partisan, the headline screams bias, other posts of his support that he dislikes Irons and he’ll even stoop to trying to intimidate Greens into voting for Sims in order to win. However, the defamation charge would hinge on “reckless disregard for the truth.” That would depend on how much multi-sourcing and background investigation Goldy did. He should have enough experience to know that saying he’s just publishing Irons’ moms’ allegations is not sufficient — at least not in the way he trumpts them as the core of his story.
[quote]As for a cause for legal action, you have to separate it into two categories: libel/slander and defamation. Libel would be easier to prove because truth is an absolute defense. If it is untrue, then Goldy is guilty of libel (RCW 9.58). However, defeamation – especially of a public official – is a much harder thing to prove. Clearly, there is malice on Goldy’s part. He is an admitted partisan, the headline screams bias, other posts of his support that he dislikes Irons and he’ll even stoop to trying to intimidate Greens into voting for Sims in order to win. However, the defamation charge would hinge on “reckless disregard for the truth.†That would depend on how much multi-sourcing and background investigation Goldy did. He should have enough experience to know that saying he’s just publishing Irons’ moms’ allegations is not sufficient – at least not in the way he trumpts them as the core of his story.[/quote]
Armchair lawyers generally have their heads up their asses.
@92 As a victim of abuse from a family member, I can tell you first hand that reporting the abuser is not an easy thing to do.
With all due respect, it would probably be easier to do that than to go to the press with the story on the eve of an election that you are trying to throw.
TKO @ 229
Name a single thing in that quoted text that is wrong.
Josef @ 206
“In all my years of politics, I have never seen used or used a family’s troubles to further political gain. This is the lowest of the low.”
I wouldn’t say that you’re misleading anyone because I don’t know how long you’ve been following politics. But, back in the late ’90’s President Clinton had an extramarital affair that that he didn’t want to expose in a court of law, and you know what?
The Republicans in congress nearly removed him from the presidency over it.
So, you’re probably only 5-7 years old, but when you become a big boy and go to big kids school, in History class you’re going to learn about all the dirty politics the Republicans have pulled since Barry Goldwater and the Republican Southern Strategy, Nixon’s attempt to subvert democracy, the persecution of President Clinton and his personal life by the Republican congress in the 90’s, and how the Bush was the most failed president in American history.
OK, run a long, the preschool teacher is serving milk and cookies then she’s going to have story time. I believe she’s reading “My Pet Goat.”
prr, you still buyin’ Saturday night?
Finally a guy who can take charge and get things done. GO IRONS
And it’s people like GBS who deserve everything when David Irons ends up winning against Ron Sims.
Plus, the Janet Irons I’m talking about is Janet C. Irons. She’s not happy with this story, either.
Typical liberal crap. From the backers of Clinton and you think this makes Irons unfit to hold office. I in fact voted for Bill Clinton because he was right for the job. I vote based on what they can do on the job. I would still vote for Clinton and I will vote for Irons. It is time for Sims to go. He has done nothing to improve King County and the fact that he and his party took no stole people’s proerty rights in King County makes him totally unfit to govern. That my friend is the act of a dictator……AND YOU TRULY ARE A HORSES ASS.
Janet Irons said:
“…and flew to Denver with me to help negotiate the sale of the company to TCI.”
Has anybody tried to contact the people who bought the cable company and see if David Irons Jr. was as involved in the sale as Janet says? One more avenue to fact check.
Comment by GBS — 10/21/05 @ 11:41 am
I had to come back and respond. An extramarital affair is close, but no cigar.
Frankly, I can’t help but hope the Marummy way better shine on David Irons for a few more days – he and Alan Foxhorn (not his real name) have handled themselves nobly in this.
Frankly, the SimsAss.org blog can kiss my rear end.
a
ah
“I was a long time democrat until I began to research the facts. It has been interesting albeit frustrating at how a large majority of people choose their party (myself previously) to be accepted ”
TR, you joined a political party to be accepted?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Sounds more to me like you are just another Republican troll posing as an ex-Democrat to score some credibility points, since you sure aren’t able to get anywhere with your own intellectual abilities.
I was all set to change my mind and not vote for Irons after this. I was willing to give Goldy the benefit of the doubt and beleive what he wrote. No mother makes these charges against her son unless she’s either telling the truth or has some serious issues. Then I actually heard his mom on Carlson. In the words of Brian Suits right afterward… the woman sounds nuttier than a squirrel turd. I’ve rarely heard someone who sounded so bitter and spiteful. Not just to her son, but just in general. She just sounded like that mean old grandma down the street who yells at kids when they accidently hit the ball in her yard and doesn’t give it back. Several posters have asked incredulasly (I know I misspelled that) if his supporters here thought she was making it up… after listening to her on Carlson, I have to say I think she is.
@ 242 I heard the same thing and I agree – Janet Irons Sr. is a loon and mentally/emotionally unstable. His mother’s diatribe on two radio shows (KIRO and KVI) gave her story way less credibility now that I heard her character than what I read from Goldy – which I believe is authentic. However, if he wants to be an objective blogger – he should have interviewed his other sister (Janet) and let David Sr. get in his side of the story, which in both cases are more believable.
Without a doubt – this is the most screwed up political family I have ever witnessed, but then again he is running against the most corrrupted County Executive that has ever “served” King County.
JUST GOT MY BALLOTS IN YHE MAIL. 5 VOTES FOR IRONS 5 VOTES FOR 912 THANKS FOR THE STORY DAVID.
Don’t blame Goldy.
Look at the king 5 newsite who has conducted their own interview of the mother where she exlains the “incident” herself and how she was attacked by her son David Irons.
http://www.king5.com/n/
I must say Goldy, you actually had me feeling sorry for Janet Irons after reading your article. But after hearing Janet Irons speak on a few different radio talk shows, I now feel sorry for David Irons. Janet Irons is a certified kook. I’m surprised you didn’t pick that up when you interviewed her, or maybe you didn’t care.
If it was a diabetic attack of some sort why didn’t Mr. Irons call an ambulance or a doctor? Why was his first reaction to tear out the phone and allow his mother to drive a car?
With all these people saying that Janet Irons Sr is a kook my comparison to Cindy Sheehan sounds right on.
I wonder if Cindy has got her son a headstone yet.guess that does not matter if your in the news bashing people.
Wow, what an explosive story! I’m usually not tremendously interested in local politics compared to national or international, but this is an important,compelling story.
To all those here who’ve attacked Goldy for making this public you’re all deeply misguided. First, the guy [Irons]’s a public figure running for elected office. Everything in his life is open to scrutiny. Besides, if he didn’t want this Pandora’s Box opened he shouldn’t have dragged his family into the campaign as he has.
Second, as the victim of parental abuse I sure can tell you that abusers are owed NO SENSE OF PRIVACY WHATSOEVER! Sorry to use those caps, but this is a SORE subject for me. I’ve written about my abuse at my own blog and no one can ever tell me I don’t have the right to do so or that my mother deserves some kind of privacy in this. She forfeited that right when she lifted her hand in anger against us.
Of course, Goldy wasn’t the victim of Irons’ abuse (as I was of my mother’s). But the entire population of this County will be the victim of his governance if is elected. And a man who is serially abusive to family and co-workers (and the truth) needs to be flushed out into the open so people can see and people can know what he is.
And finally, if you’re a Republican & pissed off about Goldy’s post–do you feel proud that your candidate represents such values? Wouldn’t you want a candidate who doesn’t have all this personal baggage so you could really run a race based on the issues?
Richard Silverstien –
You assume that the mother is telling the truth. I’m sorry about what you suffered, and realize this is a sore spot for you… but just because someone else claims to be the victim of abuse doesn’t automatically mean it’s true. I was all set to not vote for Iron’s after I read this, but having actually then listened to her rant on the radio, I doubt she is being honest (or that she’s even mentally stable).
Tonight on Family Feud the Irons family vs. the Boltons. Now that’s entertainment!
Seems to me that there is a problem here, a big one. Maybe a “nutcase” should be with the council so their actiomns can be justified? Why is Sims allowed to pull all the Shit he does and yet no body saya or does anything. Sims does it bigtime. Why dosn’t the seattle police / King County Sheriff tell all about Simms?
David Irons is an incredible, gentle, intellegent man. I am an 18 year old girl and I had the opportunity to work at a booth with him a couple months ago and when some crazy liberal started harrassing me and the other people at the booth- he stood up for me and protected me. He is the biggest gentleman and I have the most respect for him. He would NEVER do any of the things his family is accusing him of, period.
Let’s review – are Eat the State and Blogula Rasa on the same page? Terri Schiavo: Yeppers Intelligent Design (sic): Hee! The War On Christmas: Hell, yes Everything’s Going Splendidly In Iraq: Check Michael Jackson’s Trial: I could care less…