Next week is "filing week," meaning that anybody who wants to run for one of the local offices up for grabs in 2009 has to declare their candidacy by the end of the business day next Friday, June 5 (Story: "Mark you calendar: filing week is coming," Spin Control).
Some candidates have already filed papers with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and have started to raise funds for their campaigns. For the Spokane City Council, District 3 race, incumbent Nancy McLaughlin has already reported raising almost $9,000. This includes $1,000 from local tin-foil hat brigade member and GOP committee chair Cindy Zapotocky and $1,500 from the Monroe Court Ltd. Partnership.
McLaughlin, a fan of "global cooling" and United Nations conspiracies, was interviewed by the Inlander last week ("The Skeptic," The Inlander), and continued to make a fool of herself. Despite the headline, McLaughlin is anything but a "skeptic." With her regurgitated, nonsensical anti-science talking points a more appropriate title might have been "The Fanatic" or "The Credulous Councilwoman."
On the heels of her "arguments" against the Sustainability Action Plan, this interview probably has quite a few people ready to see McLaughlin ousted in November. Unfortunately, as of today, the only person running against McLaughlin is "women- and children's advocate and the former campaign chairwoman for Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich" Karen Kearney (Story: "Election time ... let's see who's filed ..., Eye On Olympia).
While the advocate part sounds good, there seems to be much more to Kearney than meets the eye. Mr. Google tells me that Kearney was listed as a supporter of both Joe Shogan for Council President and Mark Richard for County Commissioner in 2007. The PDC database also tells me she donated to our good friend Kevin Parker last year.
But what is really concerning are some letters to the editor that Kearney submitted in opposition to marriage equality in 2001 ("Majority back Bush's marriage position," Spokesman.com) and in support of an anti-gay speaker she helped bring to the Gonzaga campus in 2005 ("Dr. Diggs well-qualified," Spokesman.com). The Dr. John Diggs issue is especially egregious, given some of his past statements about homosexuality, which include his belief that homosexuality is a choice and that gay sex should be discouraged as a public health issue.
So, for the moment, district 3 is trapped in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation. Where-oh-where is the progressive candidate? With McLaughlin's recent antics, this is a golden opportunity to reclaim this council seat in the name of common sense. Somebody needs to throw their hat in the ring. Now.
5 comments:
Au contraire --- McLaughlin's position on the SAP surely won her some supporters. She seems to be one of the few on the Council who understands what falls within the purview of city government and what doesn't.
Oh now, Contrarian, you know that those people who felt that the SAP fell outside the purview of city government were going to vote for McLaughlin anyway; Just as we "greenies" were going to vote against her. So she really didn't gain anything with that position.
What she did succeed in doing, however, was
a) Firing up the left to work against her and
b) Getting the media to focus on outside-the-mainstream positions (The UN conspiracy and global cooling) that have the potential to make her look foolish to casual/undecided voters.
Victor Noder is a progessive who is entering the 3rd District race and I believe he will prove a very charismatic candidate.
Jim, could you direct me to more information about Victor Noder? I haven't seen anything about him as of yet.
Very disappointed in Noder - His Candidate Forum appearances have been vacuous - all we've heard is what he thought was Progressive rhetoric. Not a single idea of his own, but a WHOLE lot of ego. Very sorry that he's going to split the progressive vote, for my guess is, it will mean re-election for McLaughlin.
Post a Comment