If you have already mailed your ballot, thank you for voting.

Primary ballots MUST be postmarked by this Tuesday, August 19. Please vote.

Couple of articles about what is happening locally and around the state:

Primary gets new feel with ‘top two’

WA: What changes top 2 have wrought, pt 1

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

What is the purpose of the August primary?

In the August primary, voters select the candidates who will run for office in the general election.

What is a Top Two Primary?

• In each race, the two candidates with the most votes will advance to the General Election. It is possible that both candidates who advance to the General Election prefer the same party.
• Voters do not have to pick a party. They can cast their vote for anyone who is running in a given race.

Will all the parties be represented in the Top Two primary?

In a top two primary, all candidates running for each office are listed without being supported, nominated or endorsed by a political party. Each candidate for partisan office may use any party’s designation after his/her name on the ballot, but that is strictly the candidate’s preference. A party designation does not imply that the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party or that the party approves of or associates with that candidate.

What is the difference between a blanket primary and a Top Two primary?

In a blanket primary, candidates in each political party receiving the highest number of votes are qualified to run in the general election, thus ensuring that minor parties are represented. In the Top Two primary, only the top two vote getters run in the general election, and they might state the same party preference.

What offices are subject to the Top Two Primary rules?

The August 19 Washington State Top Two Primary rules apply to partisan candidates running for local, state and other federal offices. Included are races for the House of Representatives, the State Legislature, partisan statewide offices such as Governor and partisan county offices. The partisan offices of President and Vice President of the United States are not subject to Top Ten Primary rules. The August Top Two Primary pamphlets and ballots will reflect the candidate’s name and party preference. The party preference, however, does not imply that the candidate is endorsed, nominated, associated with, or approved of by that party. The top two vote getters for each partisan office will advance to the November 4 general election.

Nonpartisan postions do not fall under the Top Two Primary rules. For instance, the state judges, who are nonpartisan, are also running in the August Primary. If a judicial candidate is unopposed or receives more than 50% of the vote in the primary, s/he is elected to hold office.

For more information on the Top Two primary, go to Washington’s Secretary of State website.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Michele Cotner (center)

With great sadness I have learned that Michele Cotner died yesterday after a brief hospitalization with a heart related illness.

I met Michele back in 2003 shortly after moving to this area at a Howard Dean Meetup at the Salmon Creek Brewpub. We both were very disturbed with the direction of our country and the Iraq war.

Michele was the one that took the initiative and organized the Dean meetup in Vancouver. I had already attended a couple of the Dean meetings in Portland and was very grateful to her for getting the Clark County community involved in the anti-war and Howard Dean movement.

She went on to motivate and enlist me into becoming an activist as a Precinct Captain in the Dean Campaign culminating in being elected a Dean delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Later, with her assistance, I would become directly involved in Clark County politics through various positions with the Clark County Democrats.

She was incessantly trying to make a difference and change things for the better in a multitude of ways. She strongly believed that men had messed things up for long enough and it was time for women to straighten out the mess. She was an unwavering role model for always saying what you believe and standing up for what you believe.

I owe Michele a huge debt of gratitude for how she touched my life and know the same is true for many, many others in our community. She will be missed dearly.

There will be a memorial for Michele on June 14, 2008 @ 2pm at Macy & Sons Funeral Home, 2nd and Evans, downtown McMinnville, Oregon.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

3 Comments

• At June 3, 2008, Pat Campbell wrote:

  Michele was a very gracious and encouraging lady. She will be missed even more so than she was missed after her move to Oregon.

• At June 3, 2008, bushtool wrote:

  From the September 2005 issue of The Democrat:

  Michele Cotner doing great work for the party

  Since she was recruited by Dan and Val Ogden in 2000

  to run against an 18th District Republican legislator,

  Michele Cotner, has provided intellectual depth and energy

  to the Clark County Democratic Party.

  Now she and her history professor husband, John Braun,

  have put their house on the market and are bidding us

  farewell as they look to move nearer his work at Linfield

  College and nearer to her mother’s home on the Oregon

  coast.

  She isn’t leaving politics behind. She was recently appointed

  chair of the platform committee of the Washington

  Democratic Women and will fulfill that responsibility

  until she is replaced no matter where she lives.

  Cotner was graduated from the University of Washington

  with a bachelor’s degree in business, then was employed

  by the university while completing graduate work

  for a master’s degree in public administration.

  She worked in Oregon for a number of years before she

  moved to Clark County in 1984 after she was hired as

  Clark County’s director of administrative services.

  She met Val Ogden when both were involved in the

  leadership of the Vancouver YWCA.

  She was political before she joined the Democratic

  Party. In 1971 she doorbelled for passage of Washington’s

  abortion rights initiative, and she worked in campaigns for

  Jolene Unsoeld, Brian Baird and Bob Packwood.

  Her legislative candidacy in 2000 and again in 2002

  convinced her that she can do better work inside the party

  than as a candidate. She has provided several candidates

  with solid advice about their campaigns, and she has

  helped the party find a new paradigm that will enable it to

  seek a more progressive path to take back the future.

  While she is concerned that the national party has become

  too bound up in big money, she believes that Clark

  County Democrats have taken the necessary steps that

  other party organizations ought to be considering. “We

  started reframing in 2004,” she said. “We are getting involved

  in the Progressive Toastmasters, and I think we did

  very good work on the new brochure published by the

  Clark County Democratic Central Committee.”

  She was a key member of the team that developed the

  ideas and format for that publication, and she has continued

  to advocate the values and messages embodied in that

  effort. She urges Democrats to hold to those values as

  they look for candidates to carry the party banner

• At June 8, 2008, bushtool wrote:

  Michele's obit in The Columbian is here.

Image via Wikipedia

Event: Fifth Annual Legislative Review Forum
When: Tuesday- June 10, 2008, 6:30-8:30 p.m.(Evening)
Where: Water Resources Education Center
4600 SE Columbia Way, Vancouver
Admission: Free and open to the public
Services: Refreshments provided
RSVP by: Friday- June 6, 2008

Clark County Chamber of Commerce is pleased to sponsor our Fifth Annual Legislative Review Forum. State Senators and Representatives from Clark County Districts will discuss legislative opportunities and challenges impacting county-wide businesses and our community.

Greg Kimsey, Clark County Auditor, and Dena Horton, Clark County Democratic Party Chair, will moderate the distinguished Legislative Panel. Anticipated topics of discussion will include health care, transportation, economic development, education and utilities. We invite questions from the audience.

This is your opportunity to network with Clark County Legislators and business leaders. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Clark County Chamber at 360-258-1181 or info@ClarkChamber.com.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Rep. Jim Moeller

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

HB 1551 allowing local cities, towns, counties and districts to enact public financing of campaigns passed the Washington State Legislature today.

Here is the role call:Yeas: 56 Nays: 38 Absent: 0 Excused: 4

Voting Yea: Representatives Appleton, Barlow, Chase, Clibborn, Cody, Conway, Darneille, Dickerson, Dunshee, Eddy, Ericks, Flannigan, Fromhold, Goodman, Grant, Green, Haigh, Hasegawa, Hunt, Hunter, Jarrett, Kagi, Kelley, Kenney, Kirby, Lantz, Liias, Linville, Loomis, McCoy, McIntire, Miloscia, Moeller, Morrell, Morris, Nelson, O’Brien, Ormsby, Pedersen, Pettigrew, Quall, Roberts, Rolfes, Santos, Schual-Berke, Seaquist, Sells, Simpson, Sommers, Springer, Sullivan, Upthegrove, Wallace, Williams, Wood, and Mr. Speaker Chopp

Voting Nay: Representatives Ahern, Alexander, Anderson, Armstrong, Bailey, Blake, Campbell, Chandler, Condotta, Crouse, Dunn, Ericksen, Haler, Hankins, Herrera, Hinkle, Hudgins, Hurst, Kessler, Kretz, Kristiansen, McCune, McDonald, Newhouse, Orcutt, Pearson, Priest, Roach, Rodne, Ross, Schindler, Schmick, Smith, Sump, Takko, Van De Wege, Walsh, and Warnick

Absent:
Excused: Representatives DeBolt, Eickmeyer, Hailey, and Skinner

Special thanks to our local Representatives Fromhold, Moeller and Wallace for supporting this important legislation.

The bill was amended on the floor to exclude local school districts from being able to publicly fund elections and any public funding proposal must be approved by the voters before adoption.

Hopefully the Senate will pass this too and allow the people of Washington to take back control of our elective process.

This is a big victory for the people of Washington State.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Local activist Celia Louderback has praise for our local paper in today’s reader opinion section for spreading George McGovern’s article about impeachment:

Spread McGovern’s insight

Every citizen who read George McGovern’s Jan. 13 opinion, “Time is ripe for impeachment,” owes The Columbian a huge debt of gratitude for publishing it.

The newspaper dared to print the truth about overwhelming crimes at a time when telling the truth can be dangerous.

Former Sen. McGovern noted that $250 million a day is taken from the taxpayer to fund this criminal endeavor, the war in Iraq.

That money doesn’t just disappear into thin air. It goes into the deep pockets of the Bush cabal, their friends and international corporations.

That money is used to corrupt justice and our laws, to lay waste to our civil discourse, to exploit our brothers and sisters throughout the world.

I hope everyone who reads this column will passionately spread this message and save our nation.

Celia Louderback
Vancouver

Washington for Impeachment also has some great news concerning the impeachment effort in the state legislature:

Washington For Impeachment is delighted to announce that Representative Maralyn Chase will introduce a bill calling for the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney in the Washington State House of Representatives. The full text of House Joint Memorial 4027 will be accessible online on January 16th on the House website: Access Washington.

Representative Chase should be commended for her response to a resolution supporting impeachment from her legislative district. She works with the full support of her constituents.

PUBLIC HEARING ON THURSDAY:

The public hearing for State Senator Eric Oemig’s bill, SJM 8016 is scheduled for this Thursday, January 17, 3:30 p.m., room 2 of the Cherberg Bldg. on the State Capitol Campus in Olympia.

SJM 8016-2007-08, updated by Senator Oemig, calls on Congress to conduct a full investigation and trial for the President and Vice President. The bill, first introduced Feb. 15, 2007, was heard before the Senate Government, Operations and Elections Committee on March 31, 2007, with over 500 impeachment supporters at the capitol that day.

In a vast improvement over last year, Senator Oemig’s Bill to impeach Bush and Cheney will be heard in the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee in the first week of the session. Last year, the bill was heard one day after the cutoff date, and didn’t move out of committee.

Momentum for impeachment in Washington State continues to expand with public disclosures of destruction of torture tapes, intelligence from the NIE reporting that Iran does not possess nuclear weapons, and continued belligerence towards Iran. More that 1,200 protesters turned out in downtown Bellevue in August to protest George Bush’s visit.

Washington For Impeachment, Citizens to Impeach Bush and Cheney, and a broad coalition of citizen’s groups are working closely to achieve a significant victory for democracy.

Please thank Rep. Maralyn Chase for her committment to her constituents and the rule of law! Please send a postcard to:
433 John L. O’Brien Building PO Box 40600 Olympia, WA 98504-0600

Please also send a postcard to thank Senator Oemig: 416 Legislative Building PO Box 40445 Olympia, WA 98504-0445 .

Pridemore

According to local Den Mark Wichar, State Senator Craig Pridemore has indicated he will support the impeachment resolution effort in the state legislature this year. Please let him know how pleased that makes you.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

1 Comments

• At January 18, 2008, bushtool wrote:

  Update on the impeachment hearing in Olympia

49th District legislators, Democratic Reps. Bill Fromhold and Jim Moeller and Sen. Craig Pridemore, will have their annual pre-session town hall in the sixth-floor commissioner room at the Clark County Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin, from 10 a.m to noon On Jan. 12. The session is wide open to the public including residents of legislative districts that suffer a paucity of Democratic legislators. Info from the Clark County Dems.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

www.clarkblog.org has launched a grassroots effort to sponsor a debate among all of the candidates in the upcoming Vancouver City Council races this August. Three incumbents have filed for reelection; Councilmen Tim Leavitt, Larry Smith and Dan Tonkovich. To date, Tonkovich is the only incumbent who has not agreed to the debate, while Leavitt and Smith have enthusiastically endorsed the idea and agreed to participate in it. Don Yingling and David Kallstrom filed on Friday and have not yet been contacted by Clarkblog, but will be invited to join this debate. Candidates Charles Stemper and Pat Campbell have agreed to the debate as well. Plans call for a formal, Moderated, 90 minute debate to be held on Wednesday, August 15th 2007, at the Firstenberg Community Center in East Vancouver. An effort is underway among a group of private citizens in East Vancouver to secure a Moderator, and an announcement of that selection will be forthcoming. The format of the debate calls for questions from citizens to be submitted to the Moderator, who will select and pose the questions to the Candidates. This will be the first event of it's kind for the nearly year-old Firstenberg Center, and the sponsors hope to have the event covered by CVTV (Clark Vancouver Television) as well as the local Public Access channel 11. Space will be provided for Internet journalists, along with seating for the Public who will be admitted free of charge. Further announcements concerning the debate will be made at www.clarkblog.org in coming weeks about more specifics of this real grassroots event. Inquiries may be directed to bkoski@worldaccessnet.com. Chief

Update:  Event cancelled

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

I don’t about the rest of you, but I’m getting tired of moping around the house, ticked off at certain members of Congress for not doing something about the war, the Patriot Act, and the rising tide of the have-mores vs. the have-nots. Time to get organized!

Join Democracy for America for their upcoming training session, this Tuesday March 13th, at 5:30 PM.

DFA Night School is our interactive, online training program. In this session, we will discuss strategies to build progressive coalitions in order to gain influence with elected officials. There are lots of groups out there doing good work. SEIU Organizer Ben Monterroso will join us for a session on how can we build coalitions so that these groups are working in concert with each other instead of competing.

DFA Link has all the details:

http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=18354

The conference call lasts for an hour. Afterwards, join the Drinking Liberally crew for a pint of your favorite beverage at the Top Shelf Grill.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

Conservative writer Andrew Sullivan builds a case for Cheney’s impeachment in the wake of the Libby verdict:

Something is rotten in the heart of Washington; and it lies in the vice-president’s office. The salience of this case is obvious. What it is really about - what it has always been about - is whether this administration deliberately misled the American people about WMD intelligence before the war. The risks Cheney took to attack Wilson, the insane over-reaction that otherwise very smart men in this administration engaged in to rebut a relatively trivial issue: all this strongly implies the fact they were terrified that the full details of their pre-war WMD knowledge would come out. Fitzgerald could smell this. He was right to pursue it, and to prove that a brilliant, intelligent, sane man like Libby would risk jail to protect his bosses. What was he really trying to hide? We now need a Congressional investigation to find out more, to subpoena Cheney and, if he won’t cooperate, consider impeaching him.

Locally, we have a huge disconnect here between certain elected officials and the voters when even holding a hearing to discuss impeachment, from Congressman Jay Inslee:

“These are my friends,” he says, “so this is difficult to say. But all impeachment would do is rally support for George Bush. Among Republicans, it would make him a hero. And it would make it that much harder to end this war.”

to the Governor:

Gregoire called the Iraq protests a distraction, adding she was “not going to bring up Iraq at all” in her talks with Washington state’s congressional delegation. Instead, she said she would talk about federal budget cuts, health care and a bill to reauthorize the federal No Child Left Behind education law.

to Senator Patty Murray:

Alex Glass, a Murray spokeswoman, said that when Murray was in the Washington state capital of Olympia last week, she met with Democratic leaders and rank-and-file members in the House and Senate. Her message was simple, Glass said: “‘I have two words for anyone who wants to impeach the president: Dick Cheney.’ “

to Vancouver’s very own State Senator Craig Pridemore:

Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, a member of the committee, opposed hearing the impeachment resolution and left before testimony on it began.

So now that we have a guilty verdict of the Vice President’s right hand man, will these members of the opposition party sing a different tune? If a conservative columnist can call for impeachment proceedings, why are Democratic electeds so willing to forgo this option, or even discuss it?

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver

2 Comments

• At March 6, 2007, bushtool wrote:

  The Dem electeds are afraid to bite the hand that feeds them. Only a couple of them are willing to take on the media, the corporatists and the lobbyists who put and keep them in power. It is much easier and safer for their careers to just go along.

  When you have a good thing going, why rock the boat? Because it's the right thing to do? Who cares about that? Doing the right thing does not get you re-elected.

• At March 6, 2007, bushtool wrote:

  Here is another "I told you so" about the spineless Dems being part of the problem.

  March 6, 2007

  A Willful Abandonment of Progressive Ideals

  Dump the Dems, Unite Against the War

  By JOSHUA FRANK

  We should have known it was coming. Even though the Democratic Party rode the antiwar wave in to Congress last November they've done little since to end the bloody war in Iraq. Just last week House Democrats met to discuss how best to halt Bush's request to send more troops into the region but couldn't come to an agreement on whether or not to put any restrictions on the administration's plea for an additional $93 billion to continue the occupation. The only way to stop the war, as Sen. Russ Feingold understands well, is to cease all funding for the ongoing tragedy. But the majority of Democrats, already preparing for the next round of elections, aren't about to step up and represent their constituents.

  Here is the rest of the article.

Chad Shue updates us on the efforts in Olympia passing clean election legislation. Please call or email your WA State Representatives and Senators (especially Pridemore and Benton) and tell them you support clean elections. For more info, go here.

Post from: Democracy for Vancouver