The Great Clark County Collusion Caper Debunked

As we in Clark County are aware of, given we have been inundated for over a week now of article after article from the local mouthpiece hating the hiring of Don Benton to head the county department of environmental services, allegations of “collusion” have been raised in an effort to stir up citizens to support a recall of County Commissioners Tom Mielke and David Madore.

But those allegations are unfounded, they are little more than a fallacy trumped up by a few who see the overwhelming votes for both as interfering with the agenda previously seen from the County Commission and who wish to thwart the will of the county voters in changing the direction of the County Commission.

First of all, we need to establish what is meant by the term “collusion,” which means “an agreement between two or more parties, sometimes illegal and therefore secretive, to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair advantage.”

Kristallnacht at the Columbian

As we all know, Governor Jay Inslee snuck into town a couple weeks ago and issued marching orders to “increase the decibels” to shout down the struggling middle class taxpayers in Clark County who oppose being straddled with decades of increases in the gas tax, license fees, tolls and more to fund the CRC light rail project from Portland that they have repeatedly shown they do not want.

Apparently seeing an opportunity to try to derail the growing opposition, the Columbian mouthpiece is pulling out all of the stops to engage in a so called journalistic Kristallnacht assault on the choice of Sen. Don Benton to take over the vacant Dept of Environmental Concern for the County.

Since it came out Wednesday evening, we have been subjected to no less than 12 screeds objecting to the hiring, from articles, an editorial and Stephanie Rice’s hit pieces, 4 in a single day on the lazy c’s blogs.

Sunday’s John Laird rant can only been seen as the icing on the cake, or maybe better as the major window smashed by the jackbooted thugs in print as he falsely claims to have extinguished fires in opposition to the deeply troubled project.

The Columbian Gets It Wrong,,, Again

Wednesday was a huge day for the minions down at the Columbian. They got to bash Don Benton, David Madore and Tim Mielke, all at the same time!

As we now know, Tim Mielke and David Madore directed County Administrator Bill Barron to begin the hiring process of Don Benton to head the County Dept of Environment, setting liberal heads exploding all, especially Liberal Envirowacko commissioner Steve Stuart who unceremoniously referred to it all as “BULLSHIT!”

His so called apology for his outburst notwithstanding, it appears that he, Stephanie Rice, Lou Brancaccio and everyone else down at the lazy c got it all wrong, again.

Benton is being hired, that much is true, but the smoke screen of circumventing the process, Benton does not meet the minimum qualifications and more is all wrong. It also brings into question Bill Barron’s sudden announcement of retirement, adding to the drama of just supposedly out of control the conservative County Commission is.

As the Columbian Squirms

It is well known now that the CRC is a very unpopular project among citizens and many business owners. We know it, elected officials know it and of course, even though they try to deny it, the Columbian knows it.

We also know the Columbian is in the tank for the light rail project and instead of investigating numerous concerns reported over the years about the CRC, will run damage control trying to minimize those concerns.

They also have shown themselves unfriendly towards candidates running for office that openly oppose the CRC light rail project and many can attest, do not treat those candidates very equitably, digging up dirt, casting aspersions and opposing just about any candidate who runs against the CRC.

And yet, the Columbian was puzzled when some candidates began bypassing them during campaigns, seeking other outlets to reach voters.

Watergate, Journalism and then there is the Columbian

You might say 1974 was a watermark for the media, Journalism in particular. The diligent investigative journalism of the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein resulted in the only resignation of a sitting U.S. President as Richard Nixon was forced to resign over the scandal.

I missed much of it as I was stationed overseas in Germany during that time, after completing my tour in Vietnam. But we heard of the relentless pursuit of information on the cover-up and illegal actions of President Nixon. It was clearly a fine example of how dogged determination of scandal by the media could change the course of a country.

With that in mind, I find it peculiar to see Columbian editor Lou Brancaccio leaning on the investigative journalism of Woodward and Bernstein in his Saturday, April 27, 2013 editorial, Of Watergate, awards & stress. I find it so peculiar because the Columbian is anything but serious investigative journalism.

Judges and Voters and Scares, Oh My!

Submitted by Professor Robert Dean

The 170’ high Crescent City Connection Bridge blocks passage of a Carnival cruise ship on the Mississippi River at New Orleans

Paul M: Tap, Tap, meeting in session.

Paul M: I’ve called this emergency meeting of Identity Vancouver because, as you’ve already been told, the judge ordered us to let the people of the City of Vancouver vote on light rail.

All: Grumble. Shocking. Tea bagger…

Jim M: Yay!!!

Paul M: Excuse me? Jim, did you say something?

Applying the Paul Montague Method of Interpretation to the CRC Poll

As first mentioned on the Columbian and this blog in Of Increased Decibels, Cutting Bait and the Four P’s, the much anticipated poll results are in with Editor Lou Brancaccio claiming, “the poll showed slim support for the entire project.”

Of course, given the polling method chosen, targeting certain zip codes where support might be stronger than outlying areas within the county, it is no surprise and actually a result I would expect to show an even larger degree of support.

But is this really how the County feels? Does this interpretation really give the outlook of the majority within in Clark County? Lou Brancaccio seems to think it does. But what if we applied the same logic to this poll that Identity Clark County President Paul Montague applied to the overwhelming defeat of last year’s C-Tran Proposition 1 to increase sales tax to fund light rail operations and maintenance? (Video after jump)

Columbian Newsroom: Meeting of the Mavens

Satire by Professor Robert Dean

Photo by Troy Wayrynen http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/feb/05/columbian-out-bankruptcy/

Lou Brancaccio: Heads up! Gather round! Staff meeting, meeting of the Mavens!

CRC, the Columbian and the War on the Middle Class

It has long been shown that the Columbian, the so-called newspaper of record for Southwest Washington, is solidly in the tank for the effort to force Clark County to accept Portland, Oregon’s financially ailing light rail system by supporting the Columbia River Crossing project, falsely being sold as a “bridge replacement project.”

Replacing the aging spans is secondary to forcing light rail across state lines a short distance into our community, as was revealed early in 2012 by an Oregon State Supreme Court ruling in an unrelated case. To date, the Columbian has not acknowledged that revelation first made known in the Willamette Week article, The $2.5 Billion Bribe.

Far from being just an “ugly baby” we are somehow beholden to, as described in editor Lou Brancaccio’s Saturday Press Talk column, It’s an ugly baby, but it’s ours, it is in reality the epitome of the war on the middle class as expenses of this boondoggle fall directly on the backs of a still struggling middle class in Clark County trying to recover from 4 straight years of double digit unemployment.

When the Fringe Defines Who is Fringe

It seems wherever we look today, those who disagree with the powers that be are labeled “fringe,” meaning far out of their self-described norm. But funny that those who cry others are “fringe” fail to recognize that they are often more out of line with the long held norms that made the American experience as great as we once were.

Case in point, the Columbian newspaper, the local newspaper of record for Clark County Washington. It is not without reason that I often label them the unofficial daily newsletter for the Democrat Party.

No better example could be given that what we have often read from editor Lou Brancaccio, who tries to hide his own fringe left views in his weekly columns or, if stories I’ve heard around town are true, his treatment of others.

An Open Letter to Commissioner Madore

Commissioner Madore, David, let’s have a little chat. I’ve spoken to you in the past about this and now feel the need to discuss it openly.

Against all of the published odds and predictions, you won the election against incumbent County Commissioner Marc Boldt. You had a lot of support and faced the scorn of the Columbian that have ridiculed and demeaned you since you came out publicly against the CRC and light rail.

You invested a lot of your own money in the race, but had a grassroots following that the Columbian has yet to acknowledge, leading detractors who follow you around to frequently make the false claim of “you bought the seat.”

They are not your friends.

Columbian Gets It Wrong Again, In Favor of a Democrat – Updated

Once again we see the Columbian living up to their reputation of being the daily newsletter for the Democrat Party, hard pressed to give credit to Republicans for their work and crediting it to the newest, least experienced State Senator recently elected in the 49th Legislative District, Annette Cleveland, who’s main experience seems to be her boasting of coming from an ILWU family.

At about 6 AM this very morning, the Columbian posted online Tax bill brings lawmakers together with the claim,

“Senate Bill 5325, which seeks to add Clark County to a list of “rural” counties that receive .09 percent of their sales taxes back each year, has received support from both Democrats and Republicans from Southwest Washington. House Bill 1553 is the companion bill.”

“Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, sponsored the Senate bill with three Republicans.”

Doing the Brancaccio Mescolare

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.

Such is the case in his latest Saturday column that appears today, Sunday: A fun blog and conspiracies where two thirds of the column is devoted to “correcting” posts earlier this week exposing the papers obvious bias, The Columbian: Busted Again On Their Pro-Democrat Bias on this blog and Remember the democrats lying over Boldt getting booted out of the GOP? over on Clark County Politics where we shed some light on the bias of the Columbian favoring Democrats and a few missing paragraphs in an AP story showing a darker underside of the Democrat Party they claim does not exist.

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.

UPDATED: The Columbian: Busted Again On Their Pro-Democrat Bias

For some time we conservatives have complained about the Columbian newspaper’s bias in favor of Democrats, only to be met by Editor Lou Brancaccio’s reminders of they endorsed George W. Bush in 2004 and again endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential election.

Never mind that they refrain from publishing articles critical of Democrats nor do they publish article with glowing praise about Republicans, Brancaccio maintains they are even handed and do not favor either side, regardless of how many times we list their bias.

Once again we see a glaring example of their pro-Democrat bias and why I often label them the “unofficial daily newsletter for the Democrat Party.”

Columbian’s Rice Patting Herself on the Back (Again)

The Columbian has for several years now displayed a jealous attitude towards citizen blogs, often alleging that we are the reason their subscription rate continues to falter, we are not “professionals” and even so far as that we do little more than mislead the public. In reality, it is obvious they feel they are the only ‘bona fide’ source of information for Southwest Washington.

Seeing that their attacks against citizen blogs were not silencing us, someone at the paper decided they would do us one better and open their own blogs on their own website, apparently not realizing it was just an extension of their heavily biased newspaper by “professional journalists” who maintained their regularly seen bias on their blogsites, creating little more that a less restrictive site to bash and demean Republicans, especially 17th Legislative District Senator Don Benton, County Commissioner Tom Mielke and now County Commissioner elect David Madore.

A simple look at the interactions under many of their posts and lack of citizen comments shows that we who operate citizen blogs regularly see far more engagement and discussion of viewpoints than they do. That fact does little to dissuade the Columbian’s writers from puffing out their chests and boasting of how they are still better than their citizens they allege they serve.

Brancaccio Reveals Truth, Agreeing With Him Is ‘Nonconstructive’

Winston Churchill famously said, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”

Who knew that Columbian editor, Lou Brancaccio would present a perfect example proving the truth behind those words?

As we know, Lou does a regular Saturday column, “Press Talk.” In his Saturday November 17, 2012 column, Of good people and listening more, he is talking about a recent Fort Vancouver Regional Library Foundation’s Authors & Illustrators Dinner and Silent Auction he attended featuring “New York Times best-selling author Nicholas Sparks” as guest speaker.

Lou goes on to lament of what he got out of the talk, mentioning “volunteering” for doing something “rewarding” and in the bigger picture he asks, “Where do we go from here?”

Megalomaniac Jim Moeller Fires A Shot Across Lou Brancaccio’s Bow

The arrogance of 49th Legislative District Representative, Jim Moeller is well known amongst both supporters and opponents. In fact, he is about the most arrogant person I have ever met and I have met a lot of people over my years. His deeds and actions are classic examples of a Megalomaniac, someone “characterized by delusional fantasies of power, relevance, or omnipotence with an inflated sense of self-esteem and overestimation of their powers and beliefs.”

But his arrogant ‘shot across the bow’ aimed at the Columbian and editor Lou Brancaccio in Lou’s Saturday, October 27, 2012 Press Talk column, I love the 49th District!!! is so blatant it initially even took me by surprise.

Considering that the Columbian has endorsed Jim Moeller in every single one of his successful bids for state office, they frequently editorialize in opposition to his stance on many issues, mostly tax increases and wage and benefit increases for public union employees, while the private sector continues to struggle and tighten our belts.

Stephanie Rice, Allow Me To Introduce You To Google

Just about everybody is at least somewhat familiar with the internet today and the availability of ‘search engines,’ Google being amongst the most popular. Regardless of what is used, the internet provides us with a resource of information unlike ever before in our history.

That is why I am very surprised to see the Columbian, primarily Stephanie Rice being so unfamiliar with the prospects of searching for information before just blindly posting a candidates claim of “false” claims from his opponent.

We see the post on the Columbians All politics is local of Tanner calls out Mielke for false statements where yet again, Rice is quick to assail County Commissioner Tom Mielke and latch onto challenger Joe Tanner’s claims of statements made in a political ad by Mielke are “false.”

Had Rice bothered to check Google she would have seen they are not false at all and at worst, may have a wrong word.

The Columbian’s Hate Fest With the Electoral College

Seems once again, the responsibility of educating the college indoctrinated editorial board at the Columbian, the unofficial daily newsletter for the Democrat Party, falls on a regular High School Graduate. Every so often they seem to feel they are smarter than the framers of our constitution and founders of this great federal Republic, the United States of America. They are far from it.

The Columbian has a long history of hate towards the Electoral College system of selecting our President. It matters little to them that the system has worked just fine since its inception at the founding of our country, 4 times doing as designed to represent the will of the states and not the majority of people, the Columbian editorial board runs editorial after editorial bashing it, admitted to by editorial page editor John Laird as “one of my favorite crusades: bashing the Electoral College” in an October 12, 2008 editorial.

Lou Brancaccio’s “War on Women”

There is a reason pencils all come with erasers. We all make mistakes and get something wrong from time to time and responsible people will correct errors they make. None of us are above making errors and getting something wrong or even relaying something we thought we heard that actually was not what the other person said.

Newspapers especially have a commitment to the public to ‘get it right’ and often we see retractions or corrections published when they don’t. Let’s face it, reporters are only human and make mistakes and when such an error is pointed out, it is incumbent upon them to make such corrections.

Apparently not at the Columbian, though.

We all know the Columbian, the unofficial daily newsletter for the CRC & Democrat Party and their bias towards the left. But the email copied to me between Republican candidate for the 49th Legislative District, Carolyn Crain and Columbian editor Lou Brancaccio just boggles my mind.