Archive for category Washington State

GOP loses in King County (big time)

1:38 am, November 4th, 2009 on Politics, Washington State

Not Good Enough

Not Good Enough

It was a forgone conclusion that conservative candidates would lose in King County, and the 2 most important candidates did lose…

King County Executive – Susan Hutchison: 42-57
King County Assessor – Graham Albertini: barely managed 20% in a 5 way race

In contrast to New York city, which is perhaps even more liberal than Seattle and where Democrats haven’t won the mayoralty since 1989, Republicans/conservatives/independents haven’t made any significant inroads in either King County or Seattle city elections in a very long time.

The last Republican mayor of Seattle was J.D. Braman, 1964-69. The last GOP county exec was John Spellman (1969 – 1981), who was coincidentally also the last Republican governor of the state. Even at the federal level, a Republican hasn’t won in the 7th CD since John Cunningham’s brief term in the late ’70s. In fact, K. William Stinson was the last conservative to win that seat for a full term in 1962.

The main problem, of course, is that, while liberals in Seattle have moved even further to the left, Republican moderates have all but disappeared. Either that, or their past is too easily portrayed as being too far to the right. A similar problem manifested itself pretty clearly in today’s GOP loss in the heavily Republican 23rd Congressional District of New York.

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Welcome Dow Constantine as the New King County Executive

4:06 pm, November 2nd, 2009 on Washington State

Constantine now has a 10 point lead over Hutchison in the latest poll.

Hutchison will probably win about 34-35% of the vote in King County, just as Rossi did in 2008. McGavick had managed barely 30% of the vote in 2006.

I feel that Republicans shouldn’t even run for office in county-wide elections in King County. It’s a waste of effort and donations.

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Blame the Unions and Gregoire For Boeing’s Move

11:33 pm, October 28th, 2009 on Liberalism, Washington State

WSJ reports:

Boeing Co. said it would build a second final assembly line for its troubled 787 Dreamliner jet in South Carolina, a move that spurns the powerful aircraft machinists’ union that had been negotiating with Boeing to locate the work at the current factory near Seattle.

…

On Wednesday the South Carolina legislature moved to offer Boeing a variety of tax incentives to lure the company to build a massive new factory on the site of an existing facility it owns in North Charleston.

Why didn’t Gregoire provide the same incentives to keep Boeing in its home state?

It’s the first time since 2006 that Boeing will assemble a commercial airplane outside of the Puget Sound area and provides the company with an assembly line beyond the reach of the labor union that has caused production headaches off and on for decades in Seattle

The union is hurting itself (and Washington’s economy) through its absurdly stubborn positions.

Well, we now know who really cares about Washington.

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WA Ranks Near The Top For The Most Taxes Among the States

8:46 pm, July 22nd, 2009 on Taxes, Washington State

According to a recent Policy Highlighter of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, following are the rankings for Washington state on the tax front among all the states: Read on »

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The 2010 Senate Race in WA

6:53 pm, July 19th, 2009 on Washington State

One Republican operative put it last year, “Patty Murray is an institution in Washington state. It would be next to impossible to defeat her.” But there will always be Republicans vying to run against her, and one is already trying to get a foot in the door.

Dr. Sean Salazar, so far unrelated to the Colorado political family of the same name, of Montlake Terrace has put together a campaign already. According to his bio online: Read on »

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More Thoughts on the GOP Resurgence Rally in Bellevue

12:58 pm, July 11th, 2009 on GOP, Washington State

Boze the MC

Bozo ... oops Boze, the MC

The rally at the Hyatt in Bellevue last night was well attended. The attendees, however, were mostly the usual suspects – party partisans, former and current staffers, elected officials and candidates – numbering about 400 or so, according to the official count.

Even the youngsters in attendance were the ones volunteering for Reichert and McCain last fall. It seemed to me that the number of newcomers was not very high. David Boze mentioned how he was excited to see so many Republicans gathered together in an off-year and a down year for the GOP. But, therein lies the rub.

Read on »

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Awkward! With Michael Steele at the Republican Resurgence Rally

10:22 pm, July 10th, 2009 on GOP, Washington State

Steele: Looking to the Future

Steele: Looking to the Future

RNC Chairman Michael Steele is a very smart man – charismatic, inspiring, charming, eloquent – but prone to gaffes. Tonight at the rally at the Hyatt in Bellevue, I was desperately hoping for none of his faux pas.

But, I was wrong. I can recall at least 3 awkward instances…

1. In a room full of white people, and mostly men, Steele talked about his childhood. It is the American Dream come true, but you gotta be careful.

Read on »

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WA State Wants to Imitate Blackstone with Negative Revenue

5:10 pm, June 23rd, 2009 on Humor, Politics, Washington State

Gregoire, Master of Budgetary Arts

Gregoire, Master of Budgetary Arts

With constantly declining revenues projections and increasing budget outlays, the Washington state Treasury is now preparing to function with negative revenues till 2011. Latest projections have estimated a further drop of $482 million and economists predict the state to actually have negative revenue beginning 2010.

Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire announced earlier today that she was “tired” of dealing with constantly dwindling income for the state.

“It is considered an ideal for government to imitate the private sector. If Blackstone, the pinnacle of private enterprise, can have negative revenue, why can’t we? I am absolutely tired of dealing with this bullshit of revenue generation.

“Being liberal Democrats, we can’t stop spending, nor can we stop increasing our budget. That would be completely unacceptable. Fuck the rest.

Read on »

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Adam Smith – the Greatest Moderate Ever!

12:49 pm, June 16th, 2009 on Democraps, Media, Politics, Washington State

The Olympian is, in my opinion, nothing short of a sharply liberal newspaper. It endorsed Gregoire for Governor in 2008; it backed Obama, and every other Democrat it could find. It has obviously been fully supportive of Democrat Adam Smith in the 9th Congressional District. In an article from this week, Shannon writes:

Smith … has built a reputation as a moderate pro-business Democrat.

Let’s examine Smith’s so called “moderate” record. He gets a mere 85% from the ADA, and a shockingly high 4% from the ACU – if that is not the hallmark of a moderate, what is? Pelosi scores a mere 50% from the ADA, but is classified as an “S” presumably for being the current speaker, and glorious a “0″ from the ACU. Compared to her, it seems, Smith might actually be a moderate. But, let’s discuss that, shall we? Read on »

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WA – Gay Marriage Coming Soon to a Court Near You!

2:58 pm, June 8th, 2009 on Gay Marriage, Washington State

Washington State is one of those states, thankfully, that does not yet allow same sex marriage but provides the option of a “civil union” for same-sex couples wishing to fully legalize their relationship. The state Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that a ban on gay marriage is permitted under the constitution but the legislature can enact law to change that.

Last month, Gregoire signed the “everything-but-marriage” bill, claiming:

“[same-sex partners] will make for stronger families, and when we have stronger families, we have a stronger Washington state”

But, of course! Families with 2 fathers or 2 mothers make stronger families. Marriages that cannot pro-create make even stronger families, correct? I guess Gregoire thinks that what doesn’t kill traditional marriage only makes it stronger, as Kanye would put it.

Read on »

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More taxes in WA – Obama giveth, state taketh

6:18 am, April 18th, 2009 on Taxes, Washington State

Washington already has one of the highest state sales tax rates in the US, at 6.5%, a little behind New Jersey and California. Total averages with local taxes are at 8.5% already, behind only TN and LA. King county in WA sits pretty at 9%. King County recently increased its sales tax by .5% to 9.5%.

And, that’s only for the next 6 months, at which point the Council will decide whether to increase it further. Read on »

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