The local Democrats needs some help...

An e-mail arrived in my inbox yesterday, informing me that, in the City Council races, the Spokane Democrats had endorsed Jon Snyder and Amber Waldref and ... and ... um, well, that was it. There was no endorsement for John Waite or anyone else in district 3 for that matter.

This just annoys me to no end. As I've said before, Waite's positions are pretty well in line with those of the local Dems. While Waite is an independent, there are no other Democrats in the race. There is simply no other reason to not endorse him other than petty politics (if there are, I would love to hear them). The Democrats need to toss politics aside and stand up for the issues and the people of district 3. I can't imagine any of them really want to bear another four years of Nancy McLaughlin and her UN conspiracies and global cooling theories.

So, I am of the mind that perhaps the local Democrats need a little bit of help in making the decision to endorse Waite. That is where you come in. Take a look at Waite's page and, if you like what he has to say, let the Democrats know about it. Spread the word and let's try to help the Democrats see the light.

You can contact the Spokane Democrats at vote@spokanedemocrats.org

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UPDATE (7/30/09): I received a reply to my question about this matter from Amy Biviano, chair of the Spokane Democratic Central Committee. Here it is in its entirety:

Hello Nick,

Thank you for reading our emails, being involved in the local elections and for speaking up. We need all citizens to be informed and to get involved.

You have encountered one of the more difficult decisions our party has to make: whether to endorse nonpartisan candidates and the timing of such endorsements. While we have a couple of Spokane City Council races where we feel comfortable endorsing a clear candidate, these are the only in races where just one candidate sought our endorsement. The district 3 race, as you might have seen at the Central Committee meeting on July 11th, had two potential Democrats seeking our endorsement. When this occurs, we cannot endorse before, but after the primary are free to endorse one of the remaining candidates.

While we may personally have strong allegiance to one candidate over another, the party will not endorse in this situation. I suggest to you, as I have to many others, that if you feel inspired to support a candidate, please do so. You can begin by door belling, phone banking, donating to their campaigns and even writing letters to the editor in their support. Never underestimate the value of individual action.

Once the primaries are over, we will reevaluate the party's position. I'll look forward to your input in the next Central Committee meeting.

I hope to see you at the Salmon Feed on Saturday. You can also keep abreast of party activities by visiting the website: www.spokanedemocrats.org. Thank you again for your input and have a good evening.

Amy

I'm still not happy with this position. In Seattle, for instance, Democrats vote on who their particular district will endorse in campaigns. This includes the option for dual endorsements. So, it would seem entirely possible to me for the Spokane Democrats to endorse both John Waite and Victor Noder (who I assume is the other candidate she references) as a dual endorsement. I mean, who will they endorse if we wind up stuck with Nancy McLaughlin vs. Karen Kearney in November?