Personally, I think it's because there's a great deal of rot and corruption in this entire State - going right to the top, infecting much of what happens in Olympia.
The latest example: The PDN is "breaking" the not-so-new news that our Commissioner of Public Lands, Peter Goldmark broke his own campaign vow to not accept money from industries that he regulates. So now he is very much exposed as a liar and a hypocrite. Which, frankly, is no surprise at all to anyone who has been paying attention all along.
When he ran for the office, he attacked his opponent for taking such money, saying it was unethical. Now however, Goldmark, who obviously overvalues his own ethical standards, is assuring the public that it's okay for him to take such money because, gee whiz, he promises he won't be influenced by it.
Translation: "Job One is keeping my job - and I know you environmentalists would never vote for a Republican for this job. So go pound sand."
Aside from being a Washington State story, this very much has local angles. Lots of locally connected names pop up among Goldmark's contributors: Port Angeles Hardwood LLC - $800 on 10/25/2011. Nippon Paper Industries - $800 on 10/25/2011. John D. Crow (of Green Crow) - $1000 on 9/6/2012. Also Merrill & Ring - $1200 on 6/27/2012, and Rayonier - $1800 on 7/24/2012, and again, $1800 on 10/15/2012.
In the broader picture, looking at the dates connected with donations gives you a pretty good idea of exactly when Peter Goldmark completely sold his soul, and his office. Here's a (partial!) list of some donations that are all dated 10/25/2011: Port Angeles Hardwood LLC - $800; Port Blakely Tree Farms LP - $800; Sierra Pacific Industries - Two donations of $800; Stimson Lumber Co. - $800; Teevin Bros. Land & Timber Co. - $800; Interfor Pacific Inc. - $800; Hampton Lumber Sales - $800; Longview Fibre Paper & Packaging Inc. - $800; Mary's River Lumber Co. - $800; McFarland Cascade Pole & Lumber Co. - $800; Nippon - $800; Northwest Hardwoods Inc. - $800; Nygaard Scott - $800.
The next year brought another, even better, big payoff day - 6/27/2012. Here's a (very partial!) list of some of the donations to Goldmark dated on that day: Northwest Hardwoods Inc. - $1000; TMI Forest Products - $1000; North Fork Timber Company - $800; Hampton Lumber Sales - $1000; Longview Fibre Paper & Packaging Inc. - $1000; Mary's River Lumber Co. - $1000; Weyerhaeuser - $1400; Merril & Ring - $1200; Teevin Bros. Land & Timber Co. - $800; Warrenton Fiber Company-Nygaard Logging Inc. - $1200. Plus there were these from various logging "resource" fronts: Olympic Resource Management LLC - $1000; American Forest Resource Council - Three donations: one for $1160.19; one for $910.47; and one for $839.81.
And remember: These are only partial lists of the timber dollars that came in on those dates.
Peter Goldmark acknowledging his Biomasters in 2011.
In case anyone doesn't get the "I've been bought by timber interests" message from all that, here's the first paragraph from an article in Biomass Magazine from January of 2011:Peter Goldmark, commissioner of public lands for the Washington Department of Natural Resources, didn’t conceal his pride while discussing his Forest Biomass Initiative at the Pacific West Biomass Conference & Trade Show Jan. 11 at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel.
And finally, let's not forget another local example of corruption that's connected to Peter Goldmark's office - literally. After all, that's where Matthew Randazzo wound up working, as Goldmark's right-hand man. Yes, the same Matthew Randazzo who caused so much chaos and damage to the Clallam County Democratic Party. The same Matthew Randazzo who has a demonstrated history of attacking and undermining women who run for office - even when they're members of his own party. The same Matthew Randazzo who was a facilitator of the scandal and suffering at Steve Markwell's hellish "animal shelter." And the same Matthew Randazzo who has never been to college, has never held a real job, and has no real skills or relevant experience to bring to Peter Goldmark's office - other than that he's politically connected. Yes, that Matthew Randazzo now lurks in Peter Goldmark's office.
Rat meets rat. How many can the Capitol hold
before they start eating each other?
Which, if nothing else, proves that liars and conmen do tend to find each other, and to stick together. And that is perhaps the key reason that Clallam County is still stuck where it is. How can we rise up from below with so much corruption pressing down from above?
I'm just ever so glad Mr. Goldmark is reassuring us he won't be influenced by those nasty old timber dollars. I believe him ever so much, even though there are those who might say he's having to say this now because he, erm, lied to us before. Still, I'm sure that this time he's telling the truth!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I saw the PDN article, which truthfully, was really just an AP article that they stuck Gottlieb's name on. With all these figures you've got here, you've provided a lot more details - which is only more depressing.
ReplyDeleteIt sure would be nice if we got people running for office who truly wanted to do good. But it seems like most of them just see it as a racket.
Christ, the way those campaign contributions just "happened" to bunch up like that edges perilously close to criminal evidence in my opinion. Could it be ANY MORE OBVIOUS that Goldmark was bought off?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. It's very difficult to believe that all these businesses, with similar interests, just happened to all make donations (often in matching amounts) all at the same time. Gosh, what a coincidence!
DeleteThis kind of flagrant abuse of the public trust is sickening. Peter Goldmark should clearly not be holding public office, being that he is so clearly willing to abuse the public's trust.
We need to play the long game here. If Goldmark is no good (and he isn't), then we need to never, ever vote for him again. Period, full-stop. If this means that some even worse Republican gets in next time, well, that's regrettable, but then we'll find someone better to run against them next time. But this all too common if/then trap we find ourselves in has got to be broken. "If" I don't vote for the __________, "then" a __________ will get in instead. Well you know what? That's a system designed to reward and protect crooks and incompetents, like Peter Goldmark.
It's the long game that counts. It's better to endure a term of having a Republican in this office if A) It gets Goldmark out, since he's a known bad actor, and B) It then gives us a chance to elect someone better the next time around.
Long term, people. Please, we've got to think in these terms, otherwise we are just destined to be stuck with the worst of the "good" guys.
If Goldmark made a home for Randazzo in his office, then it's clear that that office was already a den of vipers. Matthew Randazzo is bad news, totally without morals, and totally unqualified for a job with that much responsibility.
DeleteBut of course, responsibility is flexible in Randazzo's world. He'll just do what he's done everywhere else he's ever "worked" - get someone else to do his work, while he manipulates and cons and grabs any glory he can.
There's an old joke that goes something like this...
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference between Democrats and Republicans?
Both will bend you over and screw you, but afterwards, only Democrats will smile and say "Sorry."
That's pretty much what we have here. Goldmark lied (screwed us), and now he's smiling and saying he's sorry. But he's smiling because he knows that this is a Democratic state, and, like you point out, it's going to be next to impossible for a Republican to get elected to that office here. So he knows he's there for the long-term, and even the very people he disappointed and screwed won't work to get him out of office.
Short of a well-funded primary challenger, Goldmark is set, if not for life, certainly for as long as he pleases - even if he displeases us all while he's there. It's a lousy system. But I don't expect much to change, frankly.
It's all about "Rape, Pillage and Plunder". They used to do it with daggars and swords. Now they smile for the cameras.
ReplyDeleteI was reading the story about the landfill, and thinking along these lines. Back in the day, just pushing the garbage over the side of the bluff seemed like a great idea. What a "efficient" way to deal with all the garbage we create, and it was virtually "free".
But, as we know now, it was a bunch of bumpkins too lazy to do the right thing, and all they really were doing was not taking responsibility for their own "garbage", and pushing the responsibility for what they were doing onto future generations. Us.
Hey! This has a familiar ring to it!!
As they say, "nature hates a vacuum". So, it would appear that with the lack of decent people willing to step up and "do the work" that it takes to provide the kind of leadership we would like to see, we end up with whatever slimeball who shows up to fill the role.
You know, back to that taking responsibility thing, again.
Yes, but, when decent people DO step up and try to do the work, they are attacked and destroyed. Look at what happened to Max Mania when he tried, for example, to do what was best for the citizens of Port Angeles and spoke out about the dangers and downsides of Nippon's biomass. He was attacked and destroyed. They did the same thing to his wife Dale, just because she dared run for office, and made some less than supportive comments about biomass. Attacked and destroyed, with Randazzo's fingerprints all over both those efforts. Randazzo who is now in Goldmark's office. Goldmark who, as you show here, is plainly in the pocket of companies like Nippon. This is no hidden conspiracy - it's all happening right in front of us.
DeleteLast night I just finished reading a truly terrifying and depressing article about the recent chemical spill and politics in West Virginia. It's in the April 7th issue of the NEW YORKER. I highly recommend that you seek it out, read it, then ask yourself could this happen here? Is this happening here right now? Our political system has been hijacked by people motivated by personal greed and fear. This not only poisons our body politic, but literally results in the air and soil and water around us being poisoned as well.
This kind of selfish, short-sighted thinking (if you can call it that) is incredibly toxic in every way. And we have to fight it from the bottom up. That means we have to have good city council members, who can go on to be good county commissioners, who can go on to be good state reps, and so forth. This is a local fight. It's ours to win, lose, or sit out.
Yes, rape, pillage and plunder, as much as you can, and for as long as you can.
DeleteIf anyone asks about why you're raping and pillaging and plundering, all you have to say is, "Hey, you should see how much THE OTHER GUY would be raping and pillaging and plundering! I mean, I'm really pretty moderate."
And that, apparently, makes it all good for most voters.
The photo of Goldmark at the biomass conference says it all. It really is worth a thousand words, and tells us all we need to know about where his allegiance is. Clearly timber dollars speak louder than other dollars, other voices. Sickening.
DeleteRape, Pillage and Plunder are more overt (and honest) than what we've been treated to. Instead we have skulduggery, shenanigans, and chicanery, subterfuge, and machinations. Underhanded. At best we get false promises, at worst they tell us its for OUR GOOD.
DeletePushing responsibility on down the road is the way it's done. We will soon be faced with a $100 million harbor clean up. This is necessary because of all the mills and other businesses being allowed to pipe their toxic waste directly into the harbor with impunity. Now of course it was the responsibility of the Port of Port Angeles to oversee these businesses. They leased property from the port and the port was/is responsibility for protecting the property given it by the county. Now of course the businesses are gone and the toxic waste remains and the citizens who had nothing to do with polluting the harbor are now paying to clean up the harbor. I do believe the port commissioners are responsible and could be put on the hook but it would take an action by the local prosecuting attorney to get that done and of course the prosecuting attorney is not going to do that. Prosecuting attorney could be cited for breach of duty but of course no one is going to do that. So, you are stuck with an elite group of greed-head leaders who allow their buddies get away with high crimes and handing the bill over to the property owners to pay via their tax bills. So it goes. This will never be cured unless and until good, honest people run for and get elected and then supported while in office so they do not have to bend to the special interest. Unfortunately we live in an Attention Deficit culture and most are mainly concerned about "what's for supper?"
ReplyDeleteHow do we get those "good, honest people" to run when the political field is so toxic, so geared towards graft and dishonesty? How do they expect to get anything done when they might be the last honest person in the room? And given all that, how surprised are we when even good, honest people wind up being co-opted? They either sit and quietly do nothing (Sissi Bruch), get the hell out (Max Mania), or steal and loot everything they can get their hands on (too many to name). It's a dirty, rotten game, and I wouldn't want to be part of it...
DeleteWhat is missing is our ongoing support. We show up every 4 years or so, cast a ballot or two, and then leave these folks to figure out what we want for the reast of the time. We leave our candidates like Sissi or Max to fend for themselves against those few morons out there that want things to stay the same.
DeleteMost of the time there are few members of the public at City Council, much less any other local governmental meeting. They are left there, most every meeting, to do what ever they want.
Who is to blame?
Anonymous 11:43 PM: Your point is well taken, but if people are going to come to City Council meetings to exert some sort of pressure, or play some sort of supervisory role, it has to be sustained and ongoing. Remember how Max helped rally people to come out and testify in favor of the Wild Olympics? Dozens of people came, and testified, and the City Council did...nothing.
DeleteThen, when Max was rallying people to exercise their freedom of speech and petition the City Council, all the City Council did was...attack Max.
Point being, it does no good at all to have people show up, even as large crowds, just when there's a hot issue being discussed. The members of the Council need to know they're being watched, people are paying attention, and that there will be pushback, bad press and other consequences if they do wrong.
People love to gripe about how bad the City Council was under Karen Rogers, and she was absolutely a petty little tyrant. But for all intents and purposes, the Council has operated the same under Mayor Kidd and (twice) Mayor DiGuilio. The public might get a hearing, but they don't get heard, and staff runs the show from behind the scenes.
Which is something else people need to start doing: Calling city staff out by name in public comments, letters to the editor, here, etc. Again, Cutler got all the bad press, but there are plenty of lame and rotten city staffers. Ever see Bill Bloor's law degree, for instance? I think it came in a box of Cracker Jacks. The guys a joke. And on and on and on. Name them, shame them, and keep it up until we see some real change.
Shit floats. In Washington State, it floats right to the top.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I get the sneaking suspicion that if Peter Goldmark were to be voted out of office, he'd somehow manage to get a job, consulting or otherwise, with one of these same companies? I mean, that is how the game works, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteGiven that today is Easter Sunday, if this story had come as an Easter card from Goldmark, it would have a picture of a dead bunny on the front of it. The man is shameless and an embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteNo offense to what you're got her, CK, but...It'd be nice to see those groups of donations in print, say, in a major newspaper, in Seattle or Tacoma. It might not be illegal, but it sure does look fishy. People ought to know what guys like Peter Goldmark are up to, and who they associate with.
ReplyDeleteAnyone could forward this information or the "tip" along to a newspaper. Feel free to do so if you have a connection with any. And good luck.
DeleteNewspapers don't do "tips" anymore. The Journalism student has replaced the newspaper reporter. And, who really READS the Sunday paper, anyway? That was where exposés ran.
DeleteNeedless to say, it's good news to have Randazzo gone from here.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, it's bad news to have him working in the state capitol.
Let's not forget that Matthew Randazzo was also fired from his job at the North Olympic Land Trust because of his sexist comments/sexual harassment directed towards the female staff members there, and he and his wife, Melissa, were told to get out by the Raptor Center's director Jaye Moore after she discovered they'd been stealing donations while "volunteering" there. In both cases, the Randazzos threatened to "sue" the people kicking them out. In both cases no legal action ever occurred, of course.
DeleteSounds like Randazzo fits right in told Goldmark's world. If you want it, take it. Rules are for the little people.
I learned from my own extremely negative experience just how big a liar and manipulator Matthew Randazzo is. He cost me money, he cost me friends, and made it all happen with lie after lie. He is a sociopath, and I shudder at the thought of him having any responsibility for anything. There are rumors going around that Melissa is pregnant. I sincerely hope not, because there have never been two people less fit to be parents than the Randazzos.
DeleteMatt Randazzo and Jack Slowriver were responsible for the troll attacks against Max and Doctor Holiday on Harper's blog.
DeleteThe local Democrats are hopeless. I just got spammed by one of their "bigwigs," Ron Richards. Obviously his computer got hacked. Obviously he's too dim to know this. And he's one of the smart ones they have involved. Sigh...
DeletePublic financing of elections might address some of the issues here about office holders being beholden to big donors.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, it also might just make the payoffs even less visible to the public, for those "public servants" who are just in it to fatten their own wallet.
More publicity about these things would certainly help. But, then again, there's no real mainstream (local) press anymore in most places, so...
And it would be great of there were strong laws dealing with issues like this, and well-funded organizations in place to ferret out such downlow dealings. But, of course, the people who might be investigated are the ones who craft the laws to regulate themselves...And they control the pursestrings for the official watchdog agencies as well.
So...
Yes, funding for watchdog agencies is often kept as low as possible. Needless to say, the reasons why are obvious.
DeleteRotten local reps get the raid-the-cookie-jar habit, then move up to bigger cookie jars. So when it's a question of providing funds to lock up those cookie jars, what do you think they're going to do?
City to county to state to federal. Corruption and malfeasance grows from the roots up. Then enforces (or rather, fails to enforce) from the top down. It's a perfect system - for criminals.
I know who I WON'T be voting for ever again. Thanks, CK.
ReplyDeleteI see that President Obama is going to be in Oso today, to meet the families of people killed in the mudslide. I wonder if Goldmark will be there, too, telling the President how we need to keep logging and burning our forests, even though it produces situations like the Oso landslide.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, isn't it more important to keep industry's bottom line safe than people?
I'm disappointed in Obama for a lot of reasons, but still, I'm embarrassed to have him meet people like this representing the state of Washington.
DeleteMr. President, meet White Privilege. I believe you've met before.
DeleteCan we get the President to come when our garbage bluff goes into the drink?
DeleteOn the topic of Randazzo...has everyone seen the letter he wrote to Bryon Monohon, Mayor of Forks, trying to strong arm him into leaving OAS and Markwell alone? Oh yes, very interesting indeed, and all public record.
ReplyDeleteThe connections between Goldmark, Randazzo, Fleck, Kilmer, etc. run deep. The Port Angeles timber interests tie into the Wild Olympics legislation. There is big $ involved. And what did Randazzo mean when he threatened Mayor Monohan regarding their "mutual political interests'? when he wanted police to back off the OAS investigation? Political corruption.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see someone else is making the connections locally. Sadly, there's rot and corruption that's metastasized throughout the State of Washington government. From what I know of Bryon Monohan, he's not a bad guy, but he's also definitely not a stand-up-and-fight kind of guy either. If there's evil afoot, I don't think he'd join in so much as just try to pretend he doesn't see it.
DeleteOf course, I could be wrong about Monohan. But I know I'm right about Randazzo. The guy's a 110% sleazebag sociopath. As for Kilmer...He's obviously just a puppet. He's got less spine and fight than Bryon Monohan. That congressional seat came open after all those years, and you're telling me only ONE Democrat wanted to run for it? Uh uh. Kilmer was hand-picked and the path was cleared for him because he will do exactly what he's told. He's a front.
Since we're heading into the season for gay pride celebrations, let's not forget the gay pride events that Matthew Randazzo and his psycho cohort Jack Slowriver "arranged."
DeleteOn at least a couple of occasions, they spent Democratic party dollars to rent the yacht club to hold pride "celebrations." Of course, they didn't advertise them, or promote them in any way, because they were, in fact, just private parties for Randazzo and Slowriver and their few friends, paid for by the Democratic party.
A local lesbian I know, who heard about one of these parties after the fact, commented that she had never even heard it was happening, and none of her friends had either. She summed it up by saying, "So, they had a gay pride event without any gay people."
Right. But, gee, I'll bet the Randazzos had a really good meal on someone else's dime - that's something they excel at. Give them their credit - they're good con artists.