Clark County Washington is the largest county in what is considered Southwest Washington with a population nearing 450,000 people. With people often hungry for news, one would think an impartial news source would thrive catering to that population.
Unwittingly, the local newspaper of record, the Columbian, better known as the Lazy C reveals that they are considered a “mid-sized daily newspaper with a circulation between 25,001 to 65,000,” or at best less than 15% of the county.
While many reasons could be listed for such a minimal circulation in the county, partiality and lack of interest in many issues of concern has to be given attention.
While accused of being politically left and constantly denied by the Editor, it doesn’t take much looking to see that they indeed are a mouthpiece in favor of Democrats instead of an impartial source of political views.
Once again we see another legislative session in Olympia, Washington winding down with the usual prospect of going into special session to get important matters finished that for some reason, couldn’t be finished in regular session.
We see prospects of the special session centering around budgeting even though revenues are forecasted to exceed expectations by some $2 Billion, but are still over $1 Billion short of what spending is projected to be.
Last session the budget was put off due to focusing too much on homosexual marriage. Previous years we saw it put on hold until towards the end for a variety of reasons. We saw other pieces of legislation being placed in front of it, from tax increases, selection of a state rock or an official state dirt to drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens, several matters seemed to be placed before working out the budget.
Fresh off of his Friday March 22, 2013 closed door meeting with select supporters of the Columbia River Crossing project, the massive light rail extension project from Portland, Oregon that will leave Clark County’s struggling middle class taxpayer’s paying for decades on a project they voted down, Washington State’s newly elected Governor Jay Inslee released his awaited budget proposal today, March 28, 2013.
Apparently not content that the cost of the CRC is expected to hit as high as $10 Billion, once interest on bonds and cost over runs are factored in, Inslee’s budget proposal includes several tax increases, extensions and converting temporary tax increases into permanent tax increases, just about all of which will end up on the backs of the very middle class taxpayer Democrats continue to claim they support.
It was just prior to his inauguration in January 2013 that Inslee was citing no tax increases would be needed for him to handle the projected budget shortfall that is now exceeding $1.2 Billion, again.
Very craftily, he left open the idea of eliminating some tax breaks.
UPDATE: Orcutt has apologized for making the comment to the cyclist, but doesn’t retract the claim made.
It’s not often that I applaud a legislator for a tax increase, but when I see one throwing blatant hypocrisy back in the faces of those who deserve it, I have to give them credit for doing so.
Washington State 20th Legislative District Representative Ed Orcutt, a Republican has done just that and has the ardent bicyclers up in arms as Washington State Democrats are proposing a slew of tax and fee increases for an ambitious transportation bill.
Their measure also includes a $25 tax to be charged on bicycles costing over $500 along with a 10 cent per gallon increase in the gas tax, an increase in excise tax on car licenses, a hike in the hazardous substance tax and new county auditor fees for car license tabs and title transfers.
While many bicyclists aren’t all that much opposed to the increases, they are becoming very outspoken in opposition to a tax on their preferred mode of transportation, bicycles.
The deadline for bill cut-off passed yesterday in Olympia, Washington meaning, if the bill did not pass out of committee, it’s dead. Seeing some of the bills that did make it out of committee, while others were allowed to, or made to die is very disconcerting. It’s as if common sense has no place in our state legislature.
Probably the most needed bill, Liz Pike’s HB 1788 that would have permitted local school districts to decide on their own if qualified, licensed and properly trained teachers would be permitted to arm themselves to defend students should a shooter access the school, bypassing several layers of security and violating every existing gun law, as happens in every school shooting, was allowed to languish, dying in committee as chairs did not even wish to discuss it.
Troubling in this is that the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Seattle Democrat Rep. Jamie Pedersen, stated that he “was not receptive to the bill.” What is troubling, if not downright hypocritical, Pederson has the right to carry a firearm inside the Capitol, concealed on his body during session as there is no effort to end the legislator’s right to defend themselves on the floor of the legislature.
Patty Murray, Democrat Senator from Washington State, following the lead of all other Democrats, portrays herself as a “Champion of the Middle Class.” They swept to power in both houses of congress in the 2006 elections by that claim, bashing President George W. Bush and the spineless Republicans who failed to counter the claims with truth.
The middle class has never been worse off since.
Winning office in the early 1990’s as just a “Mom in tennis shoes,” the now 62 year-old has shown herself to be more of a “Mom in muddy shoes,” sparing no effort to retain her cushioned seat of authority, promoting a Progressive agenda on the backs of the middle class while catering to big labor and selected corporate special interests.
49th Legislative District Representative, Democrat Sharon Wylie has joined with 13 other Democrats in sponsoring a bill they claim is for “Promoting firearm safety through an education program funded through fees on firearms and ammunition and creating a sales tax exemption on gun locks.”
The bill, House Bill 1703 calls for implementing taxes and fees on sales of guns and ammunition within the state citing the need to fund an “education program” designed to reduce gun deaths in Washington State.
To do this, every gun sold will have a $25 fee attached per sale and ammunition would be charged a one cent tax per round.
Under performing just as expected, word is out that Monica Stonier, newly elected Democrat in the 17th Legislative District who narrowly defeated Republican Julie Olson for the seat left open when Tim Probst narrowly lost his bid to oust Senator Don Benton blew off the first four votes in the House, those vote being listed as “probably the most important votes this month.”
One was for an amendment to house rules to make the 2/3 majority vote for tax increases that 64% of voters approved part of rules. Stonier wasn’t there. The amendment failed along party lines.
Shortly after the vote, Tim Eyeman, who has sponsored the initiatives and got the petitions to the people for us to vote on the initiative, issued a press release that says,
There are times I am left thinking that the most ardent follower of this blog and Clark County Politics blog is none other than Columbian Editor Lou Brancaccio, who although relegates us to a realm of distant obscurity as well as the blame for the local paper of record seeing decreasing subscriptions rates, often targets us in his Saturday Press Talk column.
About an hour after the posts were put up, the missing paragraphs appeared in an updated version of the Columbian’s article as was acknowledged in my earlier post.
It seems everywhere we turn today, some Progressive twit is declaring what they want to be a “basic human right.” Abortion, birth control, medicine, healthcare, a home, public transportation, recreational drugs, food and any number of other wants are declared basic human rights that should just be given to them, free of charge with someone else footing the bill.
But it seems that when it comes to a job, that is not a basic human right and judging by the actions unfolding as the Michigan legislature passes Right to Work legislation, you should not be able to have a job or work for a paycheck unless you are held hostage to a union.
The election is over and once again, voters have chosen to keep the State of Washington under the grip of the tax & spend Progressive Democrats, apparently not the least bit concerned over their own financial situation of falsely believing someone else will just walk outside and harvest money off of their money tree to fund whatever dream those tax & spend Progressives come up with, unable to live within their means.
Two areas that have been contentious are transportation and education, neither ever having adequate funding for whatever is dreamt up or claimed needed by proponents.
Just today I received an email from the Washington State Transportation Commission for a survey addressing “Tolling and Road Usage Charge Assessment Study,” to weigh the public’s opinion on just where more tax revenue should be raised.
All expectations point to 17th Legislative District Senator Don Benton retaining his lead over challenger Tim Probst to keep his seat in the state senate. It’s been a very close and contentious campaign with Democrats throwing everything they could at Don to unseat him, including spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in bogus mud-slinging attack ads, painting Senator Benton as evil and uncaring as any human could possibly be.
In spite of coming very close to succeeding, Benton appears to be holding on to the win. Even though by a slim margin, a win is a win. Clark County Elections Supervisor Tim Likness states that even though the final results will not be certified until next week, it is not expected to change the outcome.
Although Senator Benton is labeled as one of the most partisan people in Olympia, his retaining the Senate seat is expected to finally bring about a more centrist oriented legislature with two moderate Democrats, Tim Sheldon and Rodney Tom indicating their desire to be more bipartisan and work more with Republicans that hard line Democrats in a “power-sharing” arrangement.
We always hear how we should reach out to our liberal ‘friends’ and seek common ground, how we need to stop the vitriol and mean-spirited attacks, even though they are slashing our throats, bankrupting us and wanting to control our lives when they cannot even manage their own.
So in that spirit of coming together and finding commonality with liberals, I present the following post election poem that I was sent.
The election is over, the talk is done
My party lost, your party won
Within the next 48 hours we should know who the next president will be. In spite of there being multiple choices on the ballot, it boils down to Republican Mitt Romney or Democrat Barack Obama who has led the country deeper into oblivion this last 4 years and currently trying to tell us how much better off we are.
Regular readers know that Mitt Romney was not my first choice, but he is who has prevailed through the primary elections and tedious process to come out ahead of several others as the countries choice to face Obama.
Throughout the process, Romney has articulated a different approach from that of Obama and the Democrats, one that I firmly believe will turn the country around and get us back on track to solvency and prosperity. One that will actually begin lowering the burgeoning unemployment rate we have seen over the last 4 years.
Obama came to office with high promises of “Hope & Change” and has failed. The Hope is gone, replaced by despair, higher unemployment than when he took office, more people dependent upon food stamps than ever before and a national debt increase in 4 years higher than any other president added in 8 years.
There is little doubt how the Washington State Democrats have pinned all hopes on former 17th Legislative District Representative Tim Probst to steal the State Senate seat held by Republican State Senator Don Benton for the past 16 years in order to retain the destructive majority that has led our state into such economic gloom we still see.
Clark County, where a large portion of the 17th district exists remain in its 4th straight year of double digit unemployment while these same deceiving Democrats continue to push for higher taxes and enabling more people to rely on welfare & food stamps.
We have focused on false and misleading claims by Tim Probst and PACs pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into attack ads designed to make the voters believe Don Benton is the worst person ever born, while trying to make Tim Probst appear like a sweet little angel.
He isn’t. In fact, he is far from it. Don’t let the boyish face and smirk fool you.
The Democrats burning desire to steal Washington States’ 17th Legislative District away from the Republicans continues. The “Lies, Deceit and Desperation” previously noted not only continue unabated, but have grown.
As previously noted, Democrats have decided to throw just about everything except the kitchen sink into their effort to defeat 4 time State Senator Don Benton and have no conscience on how they do it, not that Democrats were ever known for having a conscience.
It is being reported that they have recently poured nearly $300,000 towards races in the 17th, primarily to defeat Benton and some to ensure union backed activist Monica Stonier defeats Ridgefield School Board President, Julie Olson, although we know Senator Benton is their primary target.
This blog indicated what can be expected in this mass effort to retain and grow Democrats control of our state. Flyers received last evening shows how misleading and deceptive they intend to be to ensure Tim Probst is installed to do their bidding the next 4 years.
Democrats are once again all up in arms and throwing out their usual pre-election allegations, playing victim and crying how abused they are. Doing so keeps them from actually having to address issues, explain why party leaders in D.C. have not written and submitted a budget in over 3 years or locally, why taxpayers either remain ignored in the approval of Portland’s financially failing light rail being forced on us or why our votes are before a court to be invalidated when Democrats don’t like them.
So we see issues being created and legitimate forms of expressing displeasure with the current administration being exaggerated, embellished an naturally, declared racist in nature as if a cross was burning at a Ku Klux Klan rally.
Even Clark College entered the fray by holding a forum in their “Diversity Center,” ignoring that labeling a simple and legitimate personal protest as racist is as far from diverse as one can get.
I’m referring to the so-called chair “Lynching” recently revealed in Camas, Washington of course.
Clark County Washington is the largest county in what is considered Southwest Washington with a population nearing 450,000 people. With people often hungry for news, one would think an impartial news source would thrive catering to that population.
