Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Primary Election (I Hesitate to Call Them) Results

Well, it looks like "commercial fisherman" Ron Richards will be facing off against "political independent" Randy Johnson this fall for the open County Commissioner seat. And it looks like Democrat/Republican/Independent Mike Chapman might be headed to Olympia. (Will he need three seats?)

The same old faces, very old in some cases, reshuffled and "still serving the public." Is anyone actually excited by the election coming in the fall?

Ugh.

38 comments:

  1. What a sad sack, sorry bunch of candidates we had to choose from for county commissioner. Now it's down to two old white guys who tell painfully obvious lies.

    Great.

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    1. I can see this in a very different way. Atleast when it comes to the County Commissioners race.

      Richards may be quiet. Too quiet, literally. It is hard to follow what he says, sometimes. But his actions over the last number of years paint the picture of someone who has made the efforts we would support, time after time.

      That is a matter of history.

      His opponents? Sure, they have history, too. Bring it on.

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    2. So...Why don't you put your hat in the ring? Then your name and decisions can be criticized / slandered by all of us who can't be bothered to find out anything more than a 30 second sound bite about any given issue before we assume you must be stupid or corrupt...

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    3. Troll @11:45 - many of us have jobs we cannot afford to leave solely for the pleasure of running for office. It's all we can do to do what we can within our abilities better ourselves and help our friends and families in our community. The only people I will say can't complain are those who don't bother to vote.

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    4. I heard it was about 20% voter turnout. 80% didn't bother to vote.

      But, I'm sure they will complain at first opportunity.

      Bot that things here are so wonderful, but what message does this send to the politicians? That anybody really cares who is driving the bus? That anybody cares enough about what the politicians do, to even bother to take a few minutes, in the privacy of their own homes, and put a few marks on a pre-printed piece of paper. They don't even have to come up with an original thought. "X" marks the spot.

      But, most can't even be bothered to do that.

      So, how IS the leadership of "community" supposed to get any guidance from people, if they can't even be bothered to pick a leader?

      And running for office being a "pleasure"? Where?

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    5. Ron Richards will serve this County well. He certainly doesn't need a job, nor does he have any reason to ship yours away! He cares about YOU, your children, your future here, your job, and your quality of life in our beautiful place. Except for how the environment will affect our economic and personal lives, he serves no special interest group.

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  2. I usually pore over the state voters guide (never the PDNs!) and spend a lot of time trying to research candidates I'm unfamiliar with. Even if I'm not thrilled with any of them I can usually find someone I'm willing to cast a vote for. This time I could not honestly bring myself to vote for Chapman or Vrable - I just wrote in "None of the above." I did likewise for Tharinger. It's a pathetic election cycle.

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  3. So, Downie flipped.

    Another "advisory vote".

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  4. It's a sad commentary on the state of affairs here that is counts as good news, however mild, that Ron Richards did well in the primary. To me, he's Pat Downie at the county level, but maybe he'll surprise us. At least he's not as venal as Randy Johnson, but watch Johnson rake in the campaign contributions in the general.

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  5. No one believes, no one cares. My house is on the market. I am done with this place. I've had my heart broken long enough.

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  6. Of course there's nothing about this in the PDN. The City Council voted to suspend flouride treatment until an advisory vote is taken in November of 2017. I wonder who were the three opposed?
    http://www.konp.com/local/11810

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  7. Whoa did you see the PDN website format has *just* changed? I haven't looked around yet but there is now an article about the flouride vote.

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    1. OH GOD. The website has indeed changed, and it looks ghastly! It wasn't fancy before, but it was fairly straightforward and functional enough. This new look looks really rinky dink and unprofessional. Wow!

      But, it will lend itself to helping hide the fact that they have even fewer actual news stories than before.

      Did I mention that it looks AWFUL? Oh dear, oh my...I can't believe it, but, I actually feel kind of sorry for the Peninsula Daily News. So inept! Or, as Cheeto Jesus would say, "So sad!"

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    2. Wow!! I just looked at it. It is TERRIBLE!

      The advertisers will bail out. Who would pay money to be on a site like that.

      I used to scan the site, but this is really making it tough to do even that. It is so tedious to find out what is going on, on this new site.

      I'll rely on other sources from now on, to find out what is going on in the area.

      That new PDN manager Ward should be canned. The PDN has been in a nose dive ever since he took over.

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    3. It is SO amateurish, SO user unfriendly, SO awful.

      BIGGER font does not mean more content, PDN folks. Nor does breaking up your handful of stories into "sections" hide the fact that the number of stories you're printing is going down. But gosh, now they have a "photo graphic" of Pat Downie - just like a grown up newspaper and everything!

      Awful. Laughable. I have to assume that a companion piece to less content is less staff. Anyone heard of any layoffs at the Peninsula Daily News?

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    4. It's really retro (unintentionally, I'm sure) and looks like a website from 1999.

      Someday Port Angeles will get into this century, but apparently there's no rush.

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    5. Do read their article on "Welcome to the New, Improved PDN" as it goes on at length about the new service they are using for comments. They said this is driven by too many combative or uncivil comments previously andf they don't have enough staffing to monitor it all so they would have to turn off commenting on some article. Hmmm...convenient isn't it that it seems it's only articles about the City of PA, written by Gaul Potleaf, that always seemed to have comments disabled? PDN protecting certain entities or individuals perhaps?

      http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/welcome-to-the-new-improved-peninsuladailynews-com/

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    6. Yes, the paper will be renamed to the "got-pot" times.
      yeah, they laid off the Port Townsend reporter, because he was making too much (which was hardly anything).

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    7. 10:07, the PDN has been in a nosedive for way, way longer than that. But he isn't helping.

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    8. It's hard to believe anyone on the PDN payroll was "making too much." Their reporter in Port Angeles qualifies for welfare and she's working full time--so is her husband. Yet they qualified for assistance from the Veteran's Relief Fund. Unless of course the Veteran's Relief Fund is being used to purchase favorable coverage in the PDN. Hard to say which is worse. This is why it is important to keep the Veteran's Relief Fund under the authority of the county. The current county commission is considering changing the fund and outsourcing the administration to some obscure agency with absolutely zero experience in administering such a fund.

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  8. There was a quid pro quo for Downie's vote. Watch when his ethic complaint is withdrawn.

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    1. Big money likes to string politicians along. And in this case be assured that Delta isn't funded by dentists' dues, it's Big Chemical (there aren't enough dentists in the world to raise that kind of money).
      The payoff for a vote is often made after they leave office. That way the carrot is left to dangle in front of them the entire time. And the greedy polits fall for it.

      It's public knowledge that Downie is in, shall we say, very poor health, and this might simply be a case of his acceptance that he may not live long enough to spend his payola. Just speculation here.

      But because of that carrot (as with other deals), Gase Collins & Kidd will continue to utter their nonsense until they're out.

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    2. Maybe the deal won't go through....

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    3. The obvious goal is to defeat the 2nd class city initiative. McKeen is likely behind a backroom deal between a certain doctor in Sequim, the "failed city council candidate", and Mr. Downie. The failed candidate drops her complaint, Downie drops flouride, the Dr withdraws her initiative. The rabble stop bitching and go back to sleep. Mr Downie gets to rest in peace.

      We are about to enter act II "The Empire Strikes Back": More taxpayer money is wasted on the inevitable Karen Rogers/OMC pro-fluoride propaganda push. Fluoride goes back into the water after some choreographed BS. Status quo is re-established.

      Watch for a McKeen retirement, and a relative of the old guard (or possibly Karen) appointed to the Downie seat.

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  9. Notice the giant "Delta Dental" advertisement on the frontpage of the new online PDN (Delta Dental is a huge pusher of fluoride in community water). Any wonder why PDN has one-sided articles and disables comments in fluoride related stories?

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    1. gosh the new design is DREADFUL. Wonder if they're dropping the paywall.

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  10. I'm thinking that Downie just could not handle the pressure of being the mayor when the voters were so dissatisfied that they changed the the city government to a "second class" city. He is sick and I'm sure does not want to go down in history as being so inept the city had to completely revamp its form and structure. I can't say as I blame him. When it gets close to the end suddenly everybody is trying to get to heaven.

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    1. Good point, even hitmen confess at the end.

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    2. I, for one (at least from among those who comment on this blog) think the Mayor has shown good leadership, has put the needs of the city above his own ego, and has done the right thing for us all in offering this compromise. Compromise does not show weakness, it speaks to strength. Any fool can stick to his guns, come hell or high water (and most fools do exactly that). Thank you Mr. Mayor.

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  11. I was at the meeting Tuesday. I felt that Downie was anguished by his decision. It is evident that in his heart he truly feels that fluoridated water rescues kids from bad oral health. If you talk with the man you realize that his heart and intent is good. There is a kindness about him. I may disagree with him on fluoride, but I don't condemn him. His "compromise" was the correct one, but from my angle it came with a lot of pain. Grant him some grace folks.

    There still was no lack of arrogance displayed by the other three though. They themselves shall decide what is best for the community. The people shall not be listened to. The people are not capable of deciding what is best for them. They should not be able to vote on the matter. Even if they vote against fluoride I will not abide by it. No heart change at all.

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  12. How about this from the PDN's "article":

    "Gase urged council members to abide by their Dec. 15 majority vote, saying they should accept majority decisions even if they end up on the losing side. He said anti-fluoridation participants at Tuesday night’s meeting were polite and courteous but said that always hasn’t been the case — and suggested that Downie had succumbed to “bullying” from fluoridation foes. Gase said that over the last several months they had displayed “bullying and harassment and outrageous behavior.” Fluoridation opponents had suggested pro-fluoridation council members should be “tarred and feathered” and threatened council members’ businesses, livelihoods and families, Gase said. “I don’t think bullies should win in school, and I don’t think bullies should win in the public sector when there is a democratic process in place,” he added. Council members should not change their positions because of “the loudest” bullying, Gase said."

    So, YET AGAIN, the PDN misses the point that this started as a difference on flouride, but the reason folks have taken it this far is because of those four's refusal to abide by the majority will of its citizens. If its bullying to call for boycotting businesses run by those four, or to insist they step down, or calling them out publicly then wow is Gase an overly sensitive cretin. So sorry your feelings are getting wounded. Guess you just aren't cut out for public office if you can't even put on your big boy pants and man up and acknowledge you screwed up. I christen thee Dan "Butthurt" Gase.

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  13. Come on clowns, this is actual real change in the making. Can't we pause and appreciate that little bit of sunshine. We have plenty to grouse about but even tiny bits of movement toward desired results is something to celebrate.

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    1. Please do explain what we all should be so thankful for. Please.

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    2. Yeah. Why allow something good to ruin a good grouse?

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    3. One of the clowns here. Had there been some thoughtful, rational councilmembers a decade ago, this issue would never have occurred in the first place. So the fact that we are back to clean water is great, but the entire exercise of trying to keep our water clean was a waste of time. And whatever advisory ballot comes up next year will continue to be a waste of time. What's to celebrate in getting back to potable water?

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    4. I am thankful for the fact that by Sunday there will be no neurotoxins in to our city water supply.

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    5. Hold on there, it's not like that. The fluorosilicic acid remnants will take a while to flush out. It sticks to the pipes. It doesn't just magically go away. The concentration should drop quickly, but will NOT go to zero.

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  14. Let's remember we allowed these four cretins to take over the city government. Most were unopposed. Take your responsibility and never let it happen again.

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