Washblog

The hypocrite formally known as John Ahern

Christine of Progressive Majority lays the smackdown on John Ahern, exposing yet another instance of the 'having it both ways' logic of the current Republican party:

In February 2005, this article from the Spokesman Review reported that Rep John Ahern of Spokane voted against adding sexual orientation to the list of anti-discrimination laws. Apparently, he thinks gay people don’t need protection from discrimination.

But, hold the phone! Today Ahern decided there is a group of Americans who DO need protection from discrimination – American Christians!

Ahern announced on talk radio that people should call Governor Gregoire and complain that the “Capitol Holiday Kids’ Tree” in Olympia should be renamed the “Christmas Tree”, saying:The current display shows a lack of respect for Christian tradition.”

As with his anti-discrimination vote in February, Ahern has again demonstrated a personal policy of exclusion.

And a big amen for calling bullshit on this phony war on Christmas crap, Christine sums it up quite well:

Enough with this “War on Christmas” rhetoric we’re seeing from the Evangelical Republicans. We have enough to worry about in this world, and falsely creating the feeling that Christmas is under attack smacks of a bad Hollywood Christmas film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger – not something fit for discussion on the Sunday morning political shows.

City of Spokane Special Recall Election Results Thread

8:10 PM

RECALL YES  38,718  65 %

RECALL NO   20,681  35 %

Those Spokaloony liberals like good government, too

Spokane had some great returns Tuesday night, and a possible candidate to challenge anti-environment, Tom DeLay lackey, aka Cathy McMorris.

Looking at the numbers reveals some great news:

Mary Verner was elected to the Spokane City Council along with Al French, adding to the moderation of the Council. Both were elected quite comfortably, each garnering over 60% of the vote.

The City of Spokane Prop 1 passed. Prop 1 will raise $3.3 million a year via a property tax increase to maintain police and fire services at 2005 levels for both 2006 and 2007. The money raised will avoid laying off police and firefighters or closing fire stations. In addition, some of the money would be used to keep neighborhood libraries open five days a week.

Spokane County Prop 1 passed. This is the vote-by-mail proposition to change all of Spokane County over to an all vote-by-mail ballot. It passed easily at nearly 60% approval.

Spokane County Prop 2 passed, with nearly the same numbers as prop 1. Prop 2 raised the county sales tax 1/10th of 1 percent for mental health treatment services and therapeutic court programs.

Last, but not least, this tidbit courtesy of Joel Connelly:

McMorris is considered to have a safe seat in Eastern Washington. But Okanogan County rancher Peter Goldmark, former state agriculture director and scion of a distinguished Washington family, is exploring a run against her.

Anyone want to start a 'draft Goldmark' campaign?

Bye, guy! latest poll shows Jim West is 'going down'

Latest poll on the recall of Spokane Mayor Jim West -

More than six in 10 people responding to a poll said they would vote to oust Mayor James West if a special recall election were held today, a newspaper and television station reported Thursday.

The telephone poll of 1,108 city residents who are registered voters likely to vote in the Dec. 6 special recall election was the first snapshot of how Spokane voters feel about West over a City Hall sex scandal.

Over sixty percent want West out, almost guarantying he will be recalled:

When asked how they would vote, 62 percent of those responding said they favor West's recall. The poll found 29 percent against recall, with 9 percent undecided. The poll also showed dissatisfaction with West's performance in office.

Spokane Mayor recall signatures coming in

From the Spokesman Review:

Supporters of a recall of Spokane Mayor Jim West expect to turn in some 17,000 signatures this afternoon on petitions calling for a vote on his ouster.

When those petitions are submitted to the Spokane County Elections officer, author Shannon Sullivan said she will step down from the recall effort because she has “accomplished what I said I would do.

Thank you, Shannon!

More choices is more democratic

Good to see a pro-IRV letter in the Saturday Spokesman Review:

Why don't we give instant runoff voting a try in Spokane? Now that the courts have declared the "top two" primary unconstitutional, and voters disliked the "Montana style" primary used in the last election, let's try a voting method that is being used successfully and has been approved recently by the Legislature for use in Spokane
city elections.

Voters are able to rank their votes in order of choice in the general election. This eliminates the expense of the primary and maximizes voter participation. It eliminates the "spoiler effect" because if your first choice gets less than 50 percent of the vote, your second choice vote is counted.

More choices is more democratic and it's constitutional, too!

Julie Smith
Spokane

Spokane County Auditor recommends vote-by-mail

From the Spokesman-Review:

Voting in Spokane County will change by Jan. 1, to one of three options, County Auditor Vicky Dalton said Tuesday.

The cheapest of the three options – and the one that offers the most accessibility to voters with disabilities – is for all voters to get their ballots in the mail, Dalton said. That's the option she will recommend to Spokane County commissioners later this month, and they're set to make a decision on July 26.

Money is the primary motivator behind Auditor Dalton's recommendation. $3.5 million for voting machines that are unreliable, and an additional $100,000 per year in maintenance fees make the switch to an all touchscreen voting system very cost prohibitive.

The claims that voting by mail would encourage fraud are simply unfounded, and typically are talking points used by the electronic voting industry and its surrogates.

If you need an example of how reliable, fraud-free, and efficient Vote-By-Mail is, simply look to our neighbors in Oregon. The Secretary of State of Oregon has been singing Vote-By-Mail's virtues in legislative committees and in the press to get a law passed to bring Vote-By-Mail to Washington.

"It's more convenient for voters; it fits with the modern lifestyle," said Bill Bradbury, secretary of state in Oregon, where a citizen initiative made voting by mail a statewide standard in 1998. "It increases turnout and it provides you with an automatic paper trail with how people have voted."

Even our own SOS, Sam Reed, praises Vote-By-Mail, and debunks the fraudsters conspiracy theories.

Secretary of State Sam Reed said there's less room for error in voting by mail.

"It's going to simplify the process considerably and help avoid some of the mistakes we saw made during the gubernatorial election," he said.

He also said it's a higher level of security because unlike absentee ballots -- where signatures are verified against a voter's signature on file -- there is no way to verify the signature of a voter signing in at a polling site.

Reed said he understands the resistance of voters who are set on the polls and said he has suggested that counties make the current drop-off areas for absentee ballots -- required for people who don't want to mail it -- more ceremonial, with flags and a poll worker or two.