Sound Politics: And speaking of silly endorsements

November 06, 2006

And speaking of silly endorsements

I was dumbstruck by the Seattle Times endorsement of reinvented-as-a-Democrat Rodney Tom over Sen. Luke Esser:

Tom offers the right blend of progressive politics -- pro-choice and stem-cell research supporter -- with fiscal conservatism that is in sync with his district.

Sen. Luke Esser opposes abortion rights and gay rights

This is a strange choice of issues given that abortion, gay rights, and stem-cell research are now mostly symbolic issues that are peripheral to the main business of the legislature; and that Esser has a greater claim to fiscal responsibility than Tom has.

Whatever Esser's personal opinion on abortion, it's a settled issue. There's not much he could or would do in the legislature to change that. What gay rights issue? The gay-pride-legislation-in-search-of-a-problem that passed last spring and for which the supporters couldn't trot out a single aggrieved victim of discrimination as an example why it was needed? Gay marriage? It doesn't have enough popular support for the legislature to reconsider DOMA any time soon. Even advocates like Jamie Pedersen recognize this. Stem-cell research? Esser supports stem-cell research, not that it should be the business of the legislature to micromanage basic research funding anyway.

As far as the claim of fiscal conservative -- The Times condemns Esser for his positions that voters should get to approve tax increases, and that school districts should have a supermajority before raising people's taxes. The Times praises Tom, for the opposite positions. Esser sounds like the more fiscal conservative to me.

If you want a genuine fiscal conservative, who, by the way, has won broad support among business and labor and environmentalists, then vote to re-elect Luke Esser.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 06, 2006 07:30 PM | Email This

Comments

1. I'll have a good election night if Reichert and Esser are re-elected. Both are good men, but beyond that, I DETEST both of their opponents. Tom because he's a backstabbing, whoring himself out litle creep, Burner because she is the ultimate joke of a candidate, the ultimate triumph of ideological purity over experience and wisdom.

Posted by: Cliff on November 6, 2006 09:16 PM

2. All he had to do to become a left media darling was say the magic progressive words of submission and suddenly, the evil Republican spell is broken and Rodney Tom can live happily ever after as a Democrat.

Yep, that's the make-believe land land of the left for you. They are happy and willing to support anyone who comes over to join them on the dark side.

Posted by: Jeff B. on November 6, 2006 09:21 PM

3. That's it! Work the idiots about human rights!

That didn't work for me. it was more issues then this crap! Women that don't want children should get fixed! Or is that sinful too?

I'm still voting REPUBLICAN! Even though I think we should help the ones that are here with ailments.

Don't sweat the small minute things like a persons reproductive system! We have bigger issues to face then that! So Vote REPUBLICAN!

Don't be a stupid state again Washington!!!

Posted by: dcat on November 6, 2006 09:49 PM

4. Off Topic but appropriate for tomorrow:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/04/us/politics/04lawyers.html?ei=5090&en=2662d2337c08335b&ex=1320296400&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1162882167-9Qd/sfxPxrI0Gj9ztLSnLw

"Lawyers and voting experts say they are especially watching the states with new voter identification laws, where they expect the laws to cause confusion and possible contention. Some of the new laws, in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Missouri, are being litigated. Voting rights groups in those states say they intend to interview people turned away because of a lack of proper identification."

I wonder how many shills will be hired to present incorrect ID at the polls, be interviewed by voting right groups, and suddenly have the correct ID and screaming they were disenfranchised.

Posted by: sillyguy on November 6, 2006 11:01 PM

5. "A back-stabbing, whoring himself out little creep." Hard to improve on that. I too wonder what it is that possibly makes Rodney Tom, who proposed to raise state taxes, voted to make it easier to raise local taxes, and believes that it is impossible to rain enough money on the WEA, a fiscal conservative. It's not like the Times has any idea itself. It's just words -- just a liberal newspaper struggling to come up with reasons to endorse the liberal candidate. There are few members of the legislature held in lower regard than he. I trust the voters of the 48th will have better sense than to put him in the Senate over a quality guy like Luke Esser.

Posted by: stu on November 6, 2006 11:56 PM

6. Esser's claim to fiscal responsibility ran out the window when he got sued for credit card debt.

I think the point you're making is Esser is more anti-tax than Tom. Fine.

But try and get anywhere on the Eastside from 3:30 to 7:30 and then say that taking care of government waste will take care of traffic. We need help out here. That's the point the Times was making, if I had to guess.

Posted by: Bell Dud on November 7, 2006 12:11 AM

7. Senator Luke Esser is smart, perceptive and impressive. By my observations, he is one of the very best legislators we have in Olympia. Sen. Esser has command of the important issues facing Washingtonians and inspires confidence. He deserves to be re-elected. The Times endorsement of his opponent is hard to take serious and should be disregarded entirely. I hope to see Sen. Esser victorious after today's election.

Posted by: Coop on November 7, 2006 08:57 AM

8. > Whatever Esser's personal opinion on abortion, it's a
> settled issue. There's not much he could or would do
> in the legislature to change that.

If the voters uphold the South Dakota anti-abortion law, that law will probably wind up before the Supreme Court. The Supremes could easily punt the matter of abortion down to the states.

Granted, this is all hypothetical, but it's good to have these guys on record.

Posted by: JohnA on November 7, 2006 11:07 AM