For the first time in quite a while, an out-of-the closet Republican has been elected in a Seattle-wide contest, albeit a non-partisan race. Jim Nobles, Republican, is the voters' pick for one of the two Seattle Popular Monorail Board seats (#9 in last link, above). Originally a monorail supporter, before the spectacular crash and burn of the project's finance plan, Nobles ran for office to shut the project down, a position that - as Andy notes here - voters also showed their support for tonight. He defeated incumbent Cleve Stockmeyer, a smart, capable, decent man who regrettably helped preside over the monorail train wreck.
Stockemeyer's fellow incumbent, also asleep at the switch as project finances headed south, Cindy Laws, lost to Beth Goldberg, who like Nobles campaigned on a pledge to eliminate her own job by shutting the monorail project down. (Laws, as you doubtless recall, boldly ripped back the curtain on the anti-monorail Jewish cabal of Seattle).
In non-partisan Port of Seattle contests, Independent and Dino Rossi supporter Jack Creighton defeated incumbent Lawrence Molloy, while former City of Seattle Treasurer and fiscal conservative Lloyd Hara defeated labor-union pick Rich Berkowitz. More here from The Seattle Times.
More good news: as expected, Tim Eyman's I-900 performance audits measure passed, too.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 08, 2005 11:47 PM | Email ThisWhere's the backlash against Gregoire and KC elections, guys? Is this your best spin?
Posted by: Amy Z on November 9, 2005 12:05 AMA democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury.
--– Alexander Tytler
...Good thing we have a Constitutional Republic. (in theory)
Posted by: Jeremy on November 9, 2005 12:15 AM- John Adams
Clearly, we can expect a gradual disintigration of our once great republic, and eventually the shackles of bond-age. Weep for America.
Posted by: HesDeadJim on November 9, 2005 12:25 AMStart the County Separation process, and start the recall process for Ron Sims and Dean Logan.
Posted by: Sailor Republica on November 9, 2005 12:59 AMI for one do not intend to be defeatist. It doesn't appear that we'll be able to blame this one on the King County Elections department, so lets look at what went wrong and how we can fix it next time. I've got a couple ideas.
You may think me crazy, but at this point I'm very optimistic. Sure King County's decision to re-elect Ron Sims will continue to make it difficult for Republicans to get elected statewide, but in twelve months we elect a legislature. King can't tip the balance in all of those races.
You want to change Washington? Start in your district. Hell, start in your precinct. Start in City Councils and School Boards around the state. Build from the ground up.
It may take ten years or twenty, but I see Red in Washington's future.
Posted by: Nathan Azinger on November 9, 2005 01:02 AMI have a lot of respect for Matt Rosenberg...but this is a little pathetic. Nobles was elected to shut down a project that - in a lot of ways - was started by conservatives.
http://www.bettertransport.info/pitf/confrenc.htm
Same way Nixon was very good at proving to the American public (and the Reagan generation) how you can't trust government.
Very effective.
Posted by: AmazedByRightWingHate on November 9, 2005 02:25 AMYou know, Nathan, you just committed an act of Sound Politics blasphemy.
Everybody here knows it was all a Dean Logan /Ron Sims conspiracy that cooked this entire election. I know I don't have any proof to back this statement up, but that never stopped Stephan and his sheep.
Get with the program.
Posted by: AmazedByRightWingHate on November 9, 2005 02:43 AMTie that in with the notion that conservatives seem only interested in ensuring the voting rights of theocratic parties in Iraq, and it's clear: I couldn't dig your political grave any deeper, myself!
Posted by: AmazedByRightWingHate on November 9, 2005 03:35 AMThat's not to say vote fraud and shoddy election procedures aren't significant or that they shouldn't be addressed, only that if the margin of defeat is large enough then vote fraud probably didn't make the difference.
I think that everyone here, contributor and commenter alike, would agree with that statement. Where we may disagree is how large the margin must be before fraud can be ruled out as a decisive factor.
As for myself, I think Jim Miller's estimate that fraudulent votes acount for somewhere between 1 out of every 100 to 1 out of every 1,000 ballots is reasonable. Given that, and assuming the current percentages remain largely unchanged, the margin of victory in all the important races will be well beyond what could be accounted for by even the most pessimistic estimate of vote fraud.
I can deal with that. So, I suspect, can my more emotional colleagues once they overcome the stress of the moment.
If, however, contests narrow significantly, all bets are off.
Posted by: Nathan Azinger on November 9, 2005 03:42 AMSo, off you go, probably not to work, but to get a latte, or a bong hit. Later.
Posted by: Danny on November 9, 2005 05:17 AMDo Any Of You Remember The Sharon Statement?
The Republicans are losing because they don't preach a conservative message any more. They have become the party of "everybody"...
It's pretty bad... they preached a strong conservative message to get in power, then abandoned that when they got the power.
Here's the Sharon Statement. This proceedec Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, etc.... we need to get back to our roots:
"Adopted in Conference, at Sharon, Connecticut, on September 11, 1960."
IN THIS TIME of moral and political crises, it is the responsibility of the youth of America to affirm certain eternal truths.
WE, as young conservatives believe:
THAT foremost among the transcendent values is the individual's use of his God-given free will, whence derives his right to be free from the restrictions of arbitrary force;
THAT liberty is indivisible, and that political freedom cannot long exist without economic freedom;
THAT the purpose of government is to protect those freedoms through the preservation of internal order, the provision of national defense, and the administration of justice;
THAT when government ventures beyond these rightful functions, it accumulates power, which tends to diminish order and liberty;
THAT the Constitution of the United States is the best arrangement yet devised for empowering government to fulfill its proper role, while restraining it from the concentration and abuse of power;
THAT the genius of the Constitution - the division of powers - is summed up in the clause that reserves primacy to the several states, or to the people in those spheres not specifically delegated to the Federal government;
THAT the market economy, allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand, is the single economic system compatible with the requirements of personal freedom and constitutional government, and that it is at the same time the most productive supplier of human needs;
THAT when government interferes with the work of the market economy, it tends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the nation, that when it takes from one to bestow on another, it diminishes the incentive of the first, the integrity of the second, and the moral autonomy of both;
THAT we will be free only so long as the national sovereignty of the United States is secure; that history shows periods of freedom are rare, and can exist only when free citizens concertedly defend their rights against all enemies…
THAT the forces of international Communism are, at present, the greatest single threat to these liberties;
THAT the United States should stress victory over, rather than coexistence with this menace; and
THAT American foreign policy must be judged by this criterion: does it serve the just interests of the United States?
Go back and read your posts. Perhaps you should be "amazed" by the beam in your own eye.
Posted by: ScottM on November 9, 2005 05:44 AMCarlson now becomes a three time loser . . . Governor, governor election trial, now this. Don't quit your day job, John. Politics isn't your bag!
But here is the really bad news for extreme right wingers.
TWO, count them TWO democrats elected governor in NJ and VA. Bush must be in Condi's arms with a hangover about now.
The Bush coattails suddenly got REAL short and the 06 Congressional elections are the right wingers to lose now. If the Senate switches parties, expect a REAL investigation of Bush's illegal war on Iraq.
Anyone got a frog march song for Bush?
Posted by: Manny on November 9, 2005 07:20 AMI'm so dismayed by all this but not surprised. King County is too liberal and virtually controls the entire state with its liberal whims. I had real hope for Irons because my liberal union-loving hubby decided to vote against Sims, but I guess there are not enough good honest freedom loving liberals like him. I must have found one of the only good liberal apples in all of the entire King County basket.
Posted by: NotSurprisedByLeftWingHate on November 9, 2005 07:40 AMSure, NJ and VA elected Dem governors, but that only replaced Dem governors.
Posted by: SouthernRoots on November 9, 2005 09:41 AMKeep after your representatives. 912 failed so now we need to hold government accountable for what they do with all of that revenue. In fact, now that 912 has failed, we need to hold the Democrats to all of their rhetoric about what would get fixed if only 912 was defeated.
Posted by: Jeff B. on November 9, 2005 10:07 AMAnd the 18 Republicans.
Posted by: Daniel K on November 9, 2005 10:32 AMThis is the fruit we harvest when we have Mr. Milke Toaste as our Secretary of State...nice guy, but no spine.
KIM WYMAN FOR SoS! (sorry...got carried away there)
:)
Posted by: Mr Write on November 9, 2005 12:13 PMAs you pointed out, the number of fraudulent votes would likely not be enough to impact outcomes, unless election results are very close. I think that will become more of a concern as time goes by, because I think the number of people divided over local issues are becoming more evenly split. Witness the Rossi/Gregoire debacle. And, as you may remember, the folks in King County were surprised at the ability of I-912 to make it onto the ballot at all. Yes, it was defeated by a comfortable margin - but it was not an earth-shaking defeat! Closer to home for me, Bellingham was very closely split on the decision to fluoridate their drinking water. A day after the election, it was too close to call. I'm not sure how that came out. That was a hotly debated issue!
Our sloppy system won't improve if we ignore it. And do you really want to go through another election like last year's? We should still be trying to fix the errors that caused that shipwreck!
Posted by: Peggy U on November 10, 2005 03:10 PM