As of the recent close of filings,
Steve Tharinger had drawn two opponents. One is Thomas Greisamer, of Moclips,
who describes himself as a “semi-retired” psychiatrist, and who is running as a
Republican. The other is Stafford Conway, a neurologist who moved to Sequim
less than two years ago, and who is running as a Libertarian.
Curiously, both of these men went to
the same less-than-stellar, for-profit medical school, the American University
of the Caribbean, which is run by DeVry. (Bloomberg News headline from
September 11th, 2013: “DeVry Lures Medical School Rejects as
Taxpayers Fund Debt.”) Sadly, both would seem to be unknown kooks who have
little chance of winning.
Sadly, you say? Yes, sadly. I’m as
progressive as they come, and support progressive candidates - and generally
oppose far-right candidates. In my opinion, radical right-wingers can do
immeasurable harm to our political system if given control. The only thing that
does more damage to progressive ideas
and policies are those frauds who masquerade as people who have progressive
views, when in fact they do not.
Steve Tharinger is one of those
frauds. Though he always has a big Democratic D by his name, his actions are much more like those of a greedy,
Republican corporate whore. His actions speak louder than any words. And his
actions – public and private – do much to damage the causes that so many
of the people who blindly vote for him support. His hypocrisy is a poison in
the political system of our State.
Let’s look back to 2010, shall we? In
2010, the Salmon Recovery Board allocated $525,000 to Clallam County to buy a
house as part of salmon recovery efforts. That house was owned by Steve
Tharinger, and even he described the price set for it as “on the high end of
the market.”
After the State allocated the funds to
Clallam County, the County then purchased the property – while Tharinger was a
sitting County Commissioner. Tharinger recused himself from discussions of the
purchase, but still…Doesn’t it seem more than a little improper?
Oh, and who was the chair of the
Salmon Recovery Board when they allocated the money for this purchase? Steve
Tharinger. Doesn’t that also seem more than a little improper?
After the property was sold, Tharinger
bought a house a mile away for $437,000 – clearing almost $90,000 for doing his
part for salmon restoration. I’m sure Steve Tharinger still smiles when he
thinks about salmon recovery in Clallam County.
Steve Tharinger believes salmon recovery efforts are very, very important
to his local economy.
Moving ahead to 2011…Tharinger managed
to win election to State office while still serving as a County Commissioner.
This meant he was making $63,504 annually for being a County Commissioner,
while simultaneously being paid $42,106 a year for being a State
Representative. That’s a total of $105,610 a year for holding both elected
offices. That’s also known as double-dipping. It’s not illegal, but, like so
many of Steve Tharinger’s actions, it certainly seems to be highly questionable
ethically.
This unusual position brought a little
heat down on Tharinger, who promised to pay the County back for any pay he got
if he was working less than 40 hours a week on County business – while simultaneously
supposedly working full-time in Olympia on State business. He said he would
track his own hours, and pay back what he thought he should at the end of the
legislative session. Of course, he also said that even when the more than
full-time legislature was in session, he wouldn’t give all of his County pay
back, because “I don’t work for free.”
No, but you certainly seem to forget
who you’re supposed to be working for,
Steve.
In any case, after making many wildly
different statements on this issue, and generally misleading voters as to his
intentions, Steve Tharinger drew two full-size government paychecks – and kept two full-size government paychecks.
Based on the Commissioner’s $63,504 annual salary, and a 40 hour work week,
Tharinger’s County pay was just over $30.00 an hour. When the legislative
session was done, Steve Tharinger “paid back” the County to the tune of just
over $300.00, or, about ten hours work.
Now, given that he was missing some
Commissioner’s meetings, phoning in for parts of others, running back and forth
to Olympia…It seems likely that Steve Tharinger missed much more than ten hours
of County work during the full-time legislative session. What he did may have
been technically legal, but it sure strikes me as sleazy.
And speaking of sleazy…It was about
this time that Steve Tharinger, along with Kevin Van De Wege, introduced a
fresh poison to our local political scene, when they installed the infamous
Matthew Randazzo as head of the Clallam County Democratic Party. Randazzo’s
many misdeeds have been discussed at length elsewhere on this blog, so I’ll
keep this short. Suffice to say, this arrogant and sexist little man spent most
of his time scamming money, attacking local Democratic and progressive
political candidates (especially if they were women), while simultaneously
helping to prop up Steve Tharinger’s conservative County Commissioner friend,
Mike Chapman – a non-Democrat if ever there was one. Randazzo and his
unbalanced cohort, Jack Slowriver, left the CCDP in tatters, before they both
left town. Randazzo, with the help of Tharinger, was installed in a position in
Peter Goldmark’s office in Olympia.
Around the same time that all the
chaos was occurring in the CCDP, a great many environmentalists and
progressives were upset by, and working to stop, the Nippon biomass project.
They feared for the health of the people of Clallam County, and for the health
of our forests, as the project intended to gobble up a great deal of the forest
slash and “waste” that feeds the soil of our forests, and burn it instead.
Democrats, Greens and progressives worked together and spoke with one voice to
oppose this project.
Steve Tharinger to Nippon Corporation:
I drink to your health!
Meanwhile, Steve Tharinger was
sponsoring HB 1663, which extended for another eleven years a State sales and use tax exemption for the purchase
of “hog fuel” – the slash and forest “waste” mentioned above – for the
production of electricity. In other words, while his constituents were
agitating against the Nippon biomass project, Steve Tharinger was busy doing Nippon’s corporate bidding, and
supporting corporate welfare over the
welfare of his own local residents and local forests.
Once again…This was not illegal, but
highly questionable, and certainly more like something you’d expect from a
Republican. But corporate whores are where you find them, and Steve Tharinger
can be found right in Nippon’s pocket.
Oh, and do remember that Nippon was
also actively busting their workers union around this time as well. So much for
Democrats being the ones to stand up for unions, eh?
Maybe all this two-faced double-talk
and money grubbing is why State Rep Steve Tharinger can’t win a majority
of votes here in his own County – even as other Democrats (like Obama) are
winning here. We know him best, and we like him least. Only a strong Democratic
vote out of Jefferson County allows him to continue to hold public office.
In my opinion, Steve Tharinger is a
fake. He’s a self-serving hypocrite and a liar. I don’t trust him, and I don’t
like him. And I sincerely wish that there were a good choice in the race for
his seat. But two kooks and a crook doesn’t make a very good choice, so I guess
that I’ll have to write someone in. I’m open to suggestions.
You raise some good questions here, CK, but you also answer them. You can either vote for the Democrat, warts and all, or you can stay home. It's a choice, just not much of a choice.
ReplyDeleteThat double pay thing and the corporate tax break still rankle. No foreign owned corporation should be getting tax breaks here paid for by American citizens. That's not just ridiculous, it's borderline traitorous.
ReplyDeleteGiven how depressed our local economy is, it's even more disgusting to see our tax dollars used for corporate welfare.
DeleteOf course, the defense for things like that is if you don't give them the tax breaks, they'll pack up and leave.
Of course, the answer to that is to ask if anyone really believes that Nippon is going to put their mill and biomass plant in the back of a pickup and leave town - especially after spending so much to build the damn biomass thing in the first place.
But we never get to that third point. Everyone gets so scared by the thought of losing jobs that they just sit down and shut up.
Which means bought and paid for politicians like Tharinger never have to answer for their actions.
I'm not as vehement as you, but it's fair to say that Steve Tharinger has been disappointing as a representative of the people. He only truly seems to shine bright when contrasted with the truly dim bulbs we so often get as politicians here - Jim McEntire, John Calhoun, Karen Rogers, etc. But I guess it's not much of a recommendation to say you're better than the worst of the worst.
ReplyDeletesome sh*t probably tastes better than others, but that doesn't mean I want to taste it.
DeleteA "public servant" like Steve Tharinger is the perfect illustration of how there's really no meaningful difference between Republicans and Democrats. Vote Green, or write someone it, I say. Both "legitimate" political parties are just fronts for their corporate sponsors.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I think we need a third and fourth party system. Its all about money, and not about people.
DeleteThis article is the first, directly honest, factual, constructively critical bio I have ever read on Tharinger. Couldn't agree more. Thank you CK!.
ReplyDeleteTo bad Tharinger's competition is so weak.
Sad our region can't seem to generate more capable political candidates at most every level of local/regional office.
Without interest from more capable competition we end up with more of the same incumbents - bellying back up to the bar, or the occasional clueless wing nut trying to stumble into an uncontested race - sometimes successfully.
Still think we do a great disservice helping to make these people more important than they really are.
ReplyDeleteSo much has been, and will be written about these "leaders", when we see clearly they don't serve us very well.
But, like trained rats, we dutifully keep thinking placing all our hopes and efforts in a couple of so-called leaders is going to solve something.
The way you lay it out, CK, it does seem to be all about the money to Mr. Tharinger, doesn't it? Follow the money, right into Steve's pocket.
ReplyDeleteVery depressing that this seems to be the only thing motivating a majority of elected officials - chasing the money. You never know when you might lose an election, so grab the cash while you can.
Then again, with nothing opponents like he's drawn this time, Tharinger doesn't have to worry about being unseated at the cash register for a while yet. It's funny, really: The right-wingers here fuss and fume and make a lot of noise, but they never seem to be able to find viable candidates for offices like this. If I recall correctly, Kevin Van De Wege is running unopposed this time. Is this because the fix is in, or are our local Republicans truly as incompetent as they seem?
Why should the R's bother to run anyone against Van De Wege when he does such a good job already of doing their bidding and furthering their agendas? To them, he is an R in D's clothing.
DeleteIt's interesting, given the generally liberal slant of this blog, that no one really has come to Tharinger's defense.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Democrat, but it's hard to defend much of what is presented here - not that it's my job to do so.
DeleteObviously, the voters who have continuously re-elected Mr. Tharinger for the past 18 years don't feel the same way as the few people who have bothered to support the position put forth by the CK trio.
DeleteAnonymous 7:52 AM: You could also say that there's an obvious lack of people chiming in here to support or defend Steve Tharinger. And one of the points here is that he no longer carries the day in elections here in his home county. If it were just up to the voters of Clallam County, it is highly doubtful that Steve Tharinger would be holding public office of any sort.
DeleteI think that's a pretty clear message of its own.
Yes, in ONE election (probably the strongest Republican year in decades) he narrowly lost to a Republican in Clallam County, but strongly won in Jefferson and Grays Harbor. We'll see what happens this time...
DeleteAnonymous 9:46 AM - I'll tell you what will happen this time: He will get re-elected, because his opponents are the proverbial snowballs in Hell. They're marginal and then some, no challenge at all, as challengers go.
DeleteWinning is easy! When your opponents are losers! This does not mean people really support Steve - they just don't support the even more unpalatable alternatives.
DeleteI can't remember ever seeing Steve look so lively or enthusiastic as he does in that photo toasting the Nippon executive, with Harold Norlund right by his side. A picture is worth a thousand words?
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Nippon, every smile from Tharinger is worth a thousand bucks. If he gets even a fraction of the big tax break he helped get for them, then no wonder he's smiling.
DeleteSold his house, sold his votes, sold his soul. Steve's all sold out.
DeleteHe's not done selling out so long as he's running for or holding public office. He obviously wants to keep the gravy train going for as long as he can. Other than that, I see no real driving interest that would keep him in there. I mean, what exactly is Steve Tharinger supposed to stand for, other than the well-being of Steve Tharinger?
DeleteGrant Munro, Larry Williams, Jim Hallett, Jim McEntire, Dan Gase, and of course, the queen of the con, Karen Rogers. The list of local elected officials who have used and abused their office in order to enrich themselves is long and keeps growing. If Steve Tharinger is the rare Democrat, the exception that proves the (Republican) rule, so be it. But no one should be too surprised by this type of behavior, especially in Clallam County.
ReplyDeleteYes, greed and corruption are everywhere, it's true, but in Clallam County they seem to be part of the very DNA of the political community. Perhaps this is due to there being so few jobs and economic resources here. But then again, perhaps there are so few jobs and economic resources here because of the endemic corruption.
DeleteKinda proves the point that relying on a few leaders to solve our problems, regardless of the political party they're affiliated with, is an out dated concept!
DeleteAs corporate driven consumerism has accelerated, along with the sole focus of "get all the money you can from the situation, regardless of impacts", both citizens and politicians seem to care mostly about money, and little else.
And, here we are.
Anyone who believes anything that Tharinger or Van De Wege say gets what they deserve. Yes, the rat Randazzo is gone, along with his twisted sister sidekick Jack Slowriver, but the rot in the local Democratic party is still there. Those who are not rotten, are clueless and apathetic, unwilling to see the weakness of their "offerings" to the public.
ReplyDeleteThe only good news for the Democrats is that their mouth-breather landlord, Tom Harper, has vowed to "never, ever" raise their rent. That way they can maintain a public storefront and boast of their "openness" while their top dogs continue to scam and scrape behind the scenes.
My issue with Steve Tharinger is how incredibly condescending he is to women. I've seen him in meetings, and in public events, and when a woman says something he often rushes in to talk over her, or waits until she's through and then goes on talking as though she didn't say anything. His wife seems like she's not allowed to speak when she's with him; she just follows him around looking meek. It's painfully obvious and fairly icky.
ReplyDeleteGiven what you say, and the history of the local Democratic Party's abuse of their female candidates, and the recent DV arrest of Tom Harper - who is the landlord for our local Democrats - I'd say there's a problem here, an institutional problem. Which makes the fact that Sissi Bruch says she "needs to learn more" about the problem with sexism in our community all the more ridiculous.
DeleteLook around, folks. We seem to have an abundance of abusive, sexist men.