Robin Bailey is running to replace Doug Ericksen as state representative. Check her website and her positions. Whatcom County would benefit greatly if she wins. Ericksen has not represented even his c
FoxNews.com posted fabricated Kerry quotes today - and was caught. Of course it was a “mistake” - but it had already done some harm. The reporter, Carl Cameron, is their reporter covering Kerry and he
by any political junkie from Whatcom County. Larry just barely lost to Suzanne Sinclair for Republican challenger to Rick Larsen for US Congress. You can download it from the link below, or you can go
The daily rate of deaths is the second highest since the war “ended”. And this is the 4th straight month of increased deaths. But daily we are told by the Bush government that things are getting better.
70 US Soldiers killed in September - so far. Another 10 of our kids may be killed by Friday, the end of the month, for a total of 80 - the fourth highest since the war “ended”. Wounded and maimed? Ver
Larry is running for Congress. He wants to replace Rick Larsen as the 2nd District’s Representative. He is a Republican but prefers to call himself a ‘New Republican’ because he has a broader view of
Even Harriet Spanel, our supposed liberal champion of fairness, was one of the leaders in the legislative process to weaken our votes. Last March she kept quiet and went along with the Democratic part
has just opened their new website. It is refreshingly easy to read and well organized It is now listed in the right-side column. They are providing a schedule of all local events. As we stare into the
We have passed 1,000 killed American soldiers in Iraq. 23 killed since last Wednesday when most of us were planning our Labor Day weekend. I hope you know that over 1,100 were “wounded” in August. Tha
I’ll be voting for Chuck Snyder for Superior Court Judge. He is impartial and has been dedicated for many years to being a fair judge. The fact that outgoing judge Nichols has endorsed him rate
I’ll be voting for Paul EveryHope over Dave Quall for State Representative in the 40th District. Quall willingly participated with the secret deal of giving us this horrible Primary Election process.
in 13 of the 18 months we have been at war in Iraq. 66 killed and over 500 wounded - most seriously. We will hit 1,000 killed on Sept. 9 - a week from today. And the Bush government can’t wait for the
has passed July and June already. It may become the 5th-highest month total of the 18-month-old war. At the current rate of killing, we will reach 1,000 by mid September.
Make it disappear. Never happened. The 205th Military Brigade - the outfit running the Abu Ghraib prison - has deleted the links to pages with photos of their officers and staff goofing off in Iraq. G
This morning the Rome Grange canceled the Motor Boats Off issue from their agenda at this evening’s Bill Mize Forum. Why? Threats and demands from the motor-boating community. Rational used to cancel:
The military records of Kerry and Bush are relevant. Both sides have spent millions because they think the American voters care. We are in a war and personal military experience is relevant.
Writer's notes: The candidates for State Representative in the 40th District Position 1 are: Dusty Gulleson (prefers Republican Party,) Chuck Carrell (prefers Republican Party,) Doug Revelle (prefers Happiness Party,) Mike Newman (prefers Republican Party,) Kristine Lytton (prefers Democratic Party,) Tom Pasma (prefers Democratic Party,) Thomas Boucher (prefers Democratic Party,) Justin Van Dyk (prefers Democratic Party,) and Donna R. Miller (prefers Republican Party.)
What follows are the two responses to questions I submitted to Chuck last Mon, Aug 2.
Why should I vote for you?
"I’m running this year because the Legislature and Governor continued their out of control spending habits despite our troubled economy, and we need to stop it.
The only way it will stop is to start electing strong leadership to the Legislature that can make the hard choices that will be needed.
I will not support any new taxes unless they will completely eliminate an existing tax and make the amount less overall to the people they affect.
I think people are taxed to their limit right now and the real long term solution is to have the state and local governments cut their spending and get back to the essential functions of what state government is supposed to do.
I will not accept money from, or be a representative for, any PAC or special interest group. That’s important when figuring out where to trim at least $3 billion dollars from our state’s budget next session.
When making cuts, these candidates will feel obligated to keep unnecessary programs due to the financial aid they received during their campaigns. The problem was highlighted this year, and electing those types of candidates will only bring the same issue to the next Legislative session."
What is important to you?
"The most important thing to me this next Legislative session is getting our fiscal house in order.
We need to simplify the tax structure and then get an accurate assessment of what the state budget will be.
Then we need to REALISTICALLY balance the budget. This means that we fund our most important things such as education and public safety first and then continue down until everything is funded or there is no more state money left.
When the state budget is down to zero then we stop funding programs. No matter how badly we want to fund a program, if the state budget is spent then they will have to get their funding someplace else besides state government.
Even within our top priorities we need to look at how to consolidate these agencies and programs to make them more efficient. We also need to look at reducing the middle management in these agencies and what I term “inner bureaucracies.”
Years of these types of hiring practices by state and local government has created an enormous drain on our resources and is not sustainable. Nor can we rely on Federal grants like we did this year to balance the budget."
