Comments

2

A glorious victory for Councilmember Sawant! Congratulations from Bellevue, the best place in King County for business.

3

I was, and am, opposed to the Sawant recall, and content that she was victorious.

To be sure, I think she's a terrible council member, and a complete egoist. But the people of District Three thought she was good enough to elect. The attempt to recall her, when she has less than two years left in her term, was both churlish and wasteful. Instead of developing a worthy opponent for the the 2023 election (not an aging club boy, like her last opponent) they did this. And they have apparently lost.

It's driven by the same sort of people who are telling eastern Washingtonians that there is a ghost of a chance to recall Governor Inslee. My question is who is bankrolling this nonsense, and what is happening to the money and data they are collecting? What's in it for them?

It all comes down to this: Republicans are horrible people and sore losers.

4

@3: What's your evidence any "Republicans" are involved in the Recall Sawant effort? You, of all persons, should recognize activist gay Democrats when you see them on Capitol Hill. Please stop drinking the Stranger's Kool-Aid; it's not healthy.

"But the people of District Three thought she was good enough to elect."

Yes, in 2019. Then she committed (at least) three acts of malfeasance, flagrantly abusing the powers voters in District 3 had recently entrusted to her. So, on the basis of her post-2019 actions, they have either recalled her, or over 49% of them have voted to recall her. Competitive elections between multiple candidates are when voters make leadership and policy decisions; a recall election is for deciding if the incumbent even remains fit to hold the office. It's a remedy devised and implemented for exactly this situation. You don't have to like it, but it is part of Washington state's constitution and laws, under which you have lived for decades. Want to change it? Start a petition. See if you can get a fraction of the signatures the Recall Sawant effort did.

(Oh, and you've worked in government for how many of those years, and you declare this one election, which happened only after thousands upon thousands of District 3's voters signed for it, was "wasteful"? Really? You see far worse, far more frequently than this once-in-a-blue-moon recall election, and you damned well know it. Anyone who has worked long enough in a large bureaucracy -- public or private -- has seen multiple vast wastes of resources.)

6

@4 She was elected again this week. Do keep up.

7

In any other publication, Durkan's idea to build 1000 housing units might have been actually discussed. To be fair, I'm surprised your editors let even that one sentence go by without some sort of caveat about how she's the enemy of the people.

8

The recall obsessives pissed away $35 million or more on nothing.

And yes, the recall was essentially right-wing. Recalling Sawant could never have resulted in anyone even remotely progressive being appointed in her place.

No one but centrists or conservatives would even have been considered- and especially not anyone who would ever have taken the side of the LGBTQ community or of tenants or the poor. And there was no such thing as a humane, egalitarian progressive case for removing Sawant at all. If there had been, Amazon & Starbucks and the Seattle Times would never have been involved in it.

And the only reason it was close was the insistence of the recall campaign on
turning in their signatures too late to put the recall on the November ballot, in order to reduce turnout as much as possible by making people vote on it in cold, dark December.

You anti-Sawant obssessives should have been satisfied with the chance to try and defeat her in '23. You put the whole city through your overfunded economic royalist tantrum and wasted everyone's time and your own class' money doing it.

You could have done something useful with that money-like building 2000 tiny houses- or a "dignity center" where the houseless could wash their clothes, take showers & maybe get some encouragement if they want to give themselves a better life- or, if you're one of those "it's the drugs driving it all" types, you could have built a free walk-in drug treatment/mental wellness clinic.

But instead of doing any of that, you wasted those millions pitching a fit for the SAKE of pitching a fit

And after all that, in the words of noted political analyst Willie Wonka, "You Get NOTHING!!!".

9

Recall Davison!

10

@8, $32M is waaaay off. Try $1M. Which will buy like 62 units by your own math.

11

That's why I have avoided subscribing to the Seattle Times. They would endorse the cadaver of Ellen Craswell for Governor if they could. (with apologies to her family.)

12

Re: Housekeeping

It would be super weird to watch porn videos with co-workers in an office setting, so I imagine The Stranger staffers be doing it remotely from home so they can masturbate.

13

"...unity with the political establishment means only one thing, betrayal."

She's right on with that. After her effectively winning reelection again, the back-stabbing recallers and sleazy, lying Suburban Times propagandists have now joined the other Republinazis in opposing democracy.

Comparisons to Tr666p are especially despicable, since he's always been a criminal grifter whose only goal is to line his own pockets, while Sawant's policies actually improved the lives of countless people/ex. the $15 minimum wage going national.

They fear and hate her because she's a person of color, a woman, highly effective in advocating for change, and she tells the truth.

14

@4:

Of course not. I mean, why in the world would Republican voters in the 3rd want to rid themselves of the pox of a vocal POC female socialist city council member who's stated goal is to support the working class and dismantle the Capitalist system from which the tony philistines who comprise the business class all benefit at the expense of nearly everyone else? It is inconceivable - INCONCEIVABLE! - that even a single GOP voter in Madison Park, Broadmoor, Madrona, Leschi, or Montlake would ever even consider such a ludicrous notion, amiright?

15

Does the Stranger have investigative reporters on the hunt for whatever facility between El Salvador and Miami and here that has Doug Ericksen on a ventilator?

16

@13: Hmm, but they don't fear and hate Lorena Gonzalez, or other women of color on the council. Maybe it's something else at play?

18

The whole Swant thing was loads of fun to watch. Having said that, I think next election I'll do a re-watch of "The Tudors" instead. Politics has so many similarities to the religious Catholic/Protestant/COE conflict. Same tribal mentality, same black and white 'good vs. evil' plot, but with much better costumes and production values, not to mention hot actors. Humans haven't changed much since the 1500s.

19

@ 16,

Sure, she’s the greatest local threat to their obscene wealth that they’ve looted from working people by setting the expectation that Plantation America’s masters will pay taxes and livable wages.

20

@16 Your point would be better if Lorena Gonzales had won the election for mayor.

21

Can I put a tent in front of Sawants house and vote in D3? Homeless people (sorry - tent dwellers and propane fire exploders) can vote in whatever district they decide to squat? Amazing. What a great city.

22

Hannah, your concern regarding whether or not Doug Ericksen is okay reveals how tragically little you know about him. Ericksen is neither a Washington State senator nor is he a hero. He's a fraudulent self-serving, fossil fuel industry pandering, pro-Trumpist shitbag who deserted his own constituents in the 42nd District for the sleazy way out. When not actively obstructing the passing of important legislative issues in Olympia (like reducing carbon emissions), he fled the U.S. to go play "Ambassador of Cambodia" before his latest stunt to go study the current dictatorship in El Salvador.
The sooner Ericksen dies if he isn't cornholed in prison first, the better.

@3 Catalina Vel-DuRay @8 AlaskanbutnotSeanParnell, and @13 & @19 Original Andrew for the WIN!! Bravo and well said. Hear, hear!

24

@22: Hannah was being blatantly facetious, tongue-in-cheek, satirical, - not concern trolling.

24

Sports news but nothing on the protest by Portland Timbers fans setting off pink smoke over the rapes that were never reported by a certain sports team?

Really?

Try REPORTING.

25

@10: I stand corrected on the expenditure levels, but the point remains valid that the recall effort was a waste of time and money and that nothing positive could have come to Sawant's district from replacing her with a bland, passionless
"probusiness" councillor who would always have taken the side of the few against the many.

This whole episode should never have happened.

26

@4 She wasn't elected, or even reelected. She was retained. Big difference.

Given the close margins, Sawant owes this particular victory to those who aren't particularly fond of her, but think the recall was bullshit. Her arrogance with regards to this particular fact is glaring. She acts as if this was some huge victory for the left, even though it is quite likely another leftist would have replaced her. It was, instead, a victory for sensible democracy. This was the equivalent of impeaching (but retaining) Bill Clinton because he didn't tell the whole truth about his actions with an intern. This doesn't rise to the level necessary for a recall, even though judges felt it was worth considering.

If she had done something horrible (like former mayor Murray) then she would have lost the support of other council members, and the mayor. You can see plenty of powerful people and organizations (including labor unions -- oh, the irony) who wanted to recall her (https://sawantrecall.org/endorsements/). Yet you don't see one representative. No one on the council, not even the mayor. Again, she was retained in part because while her fellow council members may not particularly like her, they don't think she should be recalled over this kind of bullshit.

Speaking of which, the bar should be raised for recalls. 2/3 sounds about right. If she really had done something terrible (like Murray) then many of her supporters would have turned against her (as they did Murray) and that type of bar would be easy to reach. A low bar -- even one requiring judges to verify a plausible case -- undermines the purpose of a republic. Representatives need to know they can take tough votes (or even engage in pointless demagoguery like Sawant) without fearing that a relatively small number of people (in a special election) can remove her.

Finally, her suggestion that Gonzalez lost because she wasn't far enough left is idiotic. Gonzalez lost because she never addressed Harrell on homelessness (even though her record is better than his) and Harrell is a fundamentally strong candidate. In a city wide vote, Gonzalez (or Harrell) would destroy Sawant. Hell, Oliver lost to a fundamentally weak candidate (Nelson) and I would say Oliver is a stronger candidate than Sawant. It is tough to run city wide with that sort of platform (you need to be better than both of them).

27

@25 -- I agree. This was a complete waste of time and money.

I disagree with you on the other point. I don't think Sawant would have been replaced by a bland moderate. There would have been pressure on the council (by people like me) to replace her with someone just as far to the left. Otherwise, this is merely a political recall, violating the entire point of recall elections. Oliver would have made sense (although I don't think she lives in that district). I guess we'll never know (which is a good thing).

Even if she was replaced by a bland moderate, that candidate would likely promise to be only a caretaker (not run for reelection). In a relatively short time, Sawant would run again, and we would be back to where we started. This gets to your overall point. The whole thing was pointless bullshit.

28

My first sentence on @26 should have referenced @4 (in reference to misanthrope writing that she was elected). Sorry for any confusion.

But since I mentioned @4, let me address something that writer mentioned. "What's your evidence any "Republicans" are involved in the Recall Sawant effort?".

For that, I quote this article (https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2021/06/28/58450679/the-recall-sawant-and-compassion-seattle-campaigns-have-a-lot-in-common) from the Stranger:

According to campaign disclosures, around $102,700 (or approximately 20%) of the recall money came from people who previously donated to statewide or national conservative campaigns. A little over 25% of those Republican boosters also donated to Donald Trump or to Trump-affiliated PACs such as the MAGA PAC or the Faith and Freedom PAC.

Are you saying that The Stranger is wrong in their assessment of the public disclosure data?

29

@11 pat L: +1

@24 a: ..spoken like a true MAGA concern troll, Elmer.

30

Doug's beginning to look a lot like Orange Turd...ev'rywhere he goes.....

Come on, folks,'tis the season! You know the words......

31

The Sawant recall was a giant waste of time and a travesty of the purpose of a recall. A recall should only be used to remove an elected for something egregious.

Yes, Sawant committed some minor campaign violations. Yes, leading protesters to Durkin's personal residence was dumb and invasive. But that is all trivial bullshit. She should have been fined, not recalled. And the recall effort was clearly pushed by political opponents that obviously wanted a do-over in an off-season election when they thought they'd have the advantage of super low voter turnout. That reeks of dirty politics more than anything Sawant was accused of.

I'm no Sawant fanboy. I liked the $15 minimum wage, but she has accomplished little besides that. She's bombastic and often cringeworthy. In my mind, she's getting more annoying over time. Much of her problems are self-inflicted, and I don't really feel sorry for her. I'd be happy to see her voted out in the next election if someone better comes along, which shouldn't be that hard.

But replacing her should be done through the normal election process, not a hamfisted hatchet-job bullshit recall.

32

Sawant, pied-piper of the strung-out and the ne'er-do-wells, lives to ride another day.
Good for her.
Keeping shit spicy around here.

33

Goodness. The anti-sawant trolls are as unhinged as the gun nut/anti-vax was.

It's surprising that the virulent anti-Sawant obsessives are even showing their face on public forums, since - - after millions and millions they spent of chamber of commerce, developer interests, Amazon and GOP stealth money - - the claimed ground swell of clear overwhelming centrist revolt failed to materialize. I'm as shocked as anyone.

Not really.

But I suppose this outlet is one of the few places they have to grind their troll axe nubs that isn't a social media anger-chamber.

Now, next time do it right: Get a candidate to run against her. That is how democracies are supposed to work.

If you find a candidate that isn't an obvious Amazon stooge, who knows? People might actually vote for them. Including me.

34

@31 Recalls are just two steps down from the phony voter fraud conspiracy and thee steps away from the January 6th coup.

There are bogus rightwing sponsored recall efforts across the nation right now. It is a part of the the GOP strategy to undermine confidence in democratic institutions. And as you can see from the most adamant here the propaganda for them works. People really convince themselves of their righteousness. The trolls here now have convinced themselves or are the way to convincing themselves that elections don't work. So they need petulant Takes Backsies when ever they need a leftist scapegoat to sacrifice.

36

@35 skid, there's a lot of hypocrisy involved (I think both recalls were wrong, and I don't like Sawant or Durkan) but no one but The Stranger wonks gave a shit about the missing texts. It was how she handled the 2020 protests and police response that voters turned against her.

39

@ leave your twisted fantasies out of this.

40

@37 "Dr"MAGAtroll_Phdumb: Gee, you don't sulk much for a sore loser. I was sure you'd have tucked in your shroom (provided you can find it under your beer gut), and sought the feigned security of Swifty's tree fort in Bellevue by now, seeking comfort in your usual misinformation glut of KVI and FOX TEEVEE. All praisin' yer Orange Turd and fartin' fer yer Free Dumbs!

@38: Piss on your male insecurity. Enjoy your golden shower.

41

@14: "It is inconceivable - INCONCEIVABLE! - that even a single GOP voter in Madison Park, Broadmoor, Madrona, Leschi, or Montlake would ever even consider such a ludicrous notion, amiright?"

Well, if you are going to hand them a recall election on a platter, I suppose they might. Other than that, Sawant has done pretty well for the GOP. Just sit back with the popcorn, watch the slow motion trainwreck-slash-gridlock and chuckle about how this is what you get when you let "the left" run things. The GOP has no hope of winning a representative in this district. Far worse for them if the seat went to an effective Democrat.

44

Hey Sun-big mouth. @43 etc. You are trolling, guess it’s time to start reporting you.

45

@44: Admonishing childish vile is not trolling LG.

47

@33: "Goodness. The anti-sawant trolls are as unhinged as the gun nut/anti-vax was."

That's because they're mostly the same five or six people...

@41: The GOP has tried to take this seat since districting was implemented in 2015 and they've failed - miserably and spectacularly - every time. As for "an effective Democrat", I suspect what you mean is a CENTRIST Democrat (AKA "Republican Lite"), one who would take up the banner for the poor, oppressed white upper middle and lower upper-class constituents of the district, because the gods know they've suffered so much.

@42: The "mainstream Democrat" of today is virtually indistinguishable from the Dan Evans/John Spellman Republican of 30 or 40 years ago; they've just shifted to fill the void left in the Overton Window as the modern GOP continues to careen into fascist/authoritarian far-right wing nuttery.

51

@43 "Dr"Cowardly_Yellow_Pages & @45 Elmer, the Ultra Maroon: Wow. You MAGA trolls are really scared of any woman of authority who gets things done, and despite a pathetically wasteful recall election still wins, aren't you? And anyone who aptly calls you on your bullshit gets threatened. Shrooms in a wad, boys? Add some shredded carrots, zukes, an a little pasta sauce to go with your phalli impudicus, and you'd be all set for an Italian dinner to whine over. Don't forget the whine!
Of course, you could always head on over to Swifty's tree fort for weenies and tater tots.
Oh, the irony-----you all gaslighted just to get dick.

@44 LavaGirl: Amazing, isn't it, how MAGA trolls get their shrooms so quickly in a wad?
And they're marching in lockstep with the ones headed for prison for high treason, violently attacking the U.S Capitol after a fair and just election on January 6, 2021, already serving time in prison, living on the streets from drug overuse, or raping and killing women and girls, unsatisfied until all women are stripped of our rights and afraid. Eliminate those vile, smelly little fungi growing between their wobbly little legs and they'd be even less than the nothings they are now.

52

Sigh

53

@52: Truth is the ultimate butt-hurt. Elmer.

55

@54. Lol Auntie G is hilarious and you're the punchline.

56

@55: There's no punch line without a joke so that's where you come in.

57

@54 & @56: Hit you wanks both where it really hurt, did I? OOoooooo.....

@54 Dr. Wankoff:....said the MAGA tool fartin' fer his Free Dumbs. How many quarters do you feed the machine to watch the mentally sick garbage you wish you could live but---OUUUUCH!---can't, 'cus the guy at the counter says it's illegal to rent it? You're so full of poison gas I'm surprised Swifty hasn't submitted a claim for EPA cleanup money for your turning his precious tree fort into a condemned outhouse. I notice that Swifty has been quiet lately. Your stench alone must have knocked him unconscious.

@55 Garb Garbler: Hitting TILT on Whack-a-Troll has gotten all too easy these days. What's totally batshit is that these MAGA Dumbfuckistanians seem to really want it badly, like demeaning sex they'll never get without paying for.

@56: You're so funny I forgot to laugh, Elmer. Now run along before your shroom falls off from all the butt whacking. Jesus, now you sound like Omega pledge Chip Diller in National Lampoon's Animal House: "Thank you, sir, can I have another?" Is Dr. Wankoff your official Neidermeyer?

58

@54 & @56: Any more gaslighting, boys, and you might blow up Swifty's tree fort.
And then where would you be?

59

Expected childish retorts. So spew us another, go ahead.

60

@59: ....said the resigning King of Pratfalls. Go look in your lethal fart-charred bathroom mirror, Elmer. Watch out for the skid marks. :)

61

And the hits just keep oooooon COMIN'!

62

@59: Maybe you, Swifty, Dr. Wankoff, and the rest of your fellow MAGA trolls should all ask Santa for whoopee cushions this year, Elmer. Gee, then you can audibly fart in unison, and form a new band: Dead Air. You'll be an instant hit!
How's it feel to have been whacked out of Zumdieck Park with three on? :)

63

@14: Scream all you want about your phantom Republican bogeymen, who infest the imaginary District 3 of your paranoid fever dream. "Republicans" have tried to "take" the District 3 seat since 2015? Egan Orion, Ernie Lou, and Harry Bridger II are all activist Democrats on Capitol Hill. CM Sawant just had 49+% of the most liberal electorate in the state vote for her recall. Your calling them Republicans won't help you, as @42 kindly advised.

@28: Nice job ripping my comment @4 out of context. It was in direct response to @3, where our very own (and usually-divine) Mrs. Vel-DuRay implied that Republicans were behind the Recall Sawant effort I challenged her to clarify that, but she has remained very quiet on the topic.

Try reading again what you quoted (and consider the source). 20% of Recall Sawnt's funds came from persons who had "previously donated to statewide or national conservative campaigns." These people magically become "Republican boosters" in the next sentence. But The Stranger has been referring to liberal Democrats here in Washington State as "conservatives" for this entire past election season, so there's no reason to equate donors to "conservative campaigns" with actual "Republicans."

Now, of the population who contributed "20%" of the Recall Sawant campaign's funds, about one-quarter contributed to Trump, or "Trump-affiliated" PACs. The Stranger doesn't give us a straight comparison of numbers of donors, but one-quarter of 20% is five per cent. Five. Which is about the expected value for number of Republicans in District 3 (Seattle gave a single-digit percentage of the vote to Trump in both of his election bids, but District 3 probably skews even lower than that.)

So, gay activist Democrats on Capitol Hill started the Recall Sawant effort, which then seems to have gotten donations from Republicans in approximately the amount -- five per cent! -- we would expect from their presence in District 3. Now, again: what evidence have we that "Republicans" were behind the Recall Sawant effort?

64

Keep going, the floor is all yours.

65

@26: "If she had done something horrible (like former mayor Murray) then she would have lost the support of other council members, and the mayor."

None of this makes any sense at all. Mayor Durkan asked the Council to investigate CM Sawant for exactly the same actions as would later appear on the Recall Sawant ballots. The Council refused, leaving the citizens of District 3 no option other than to attempt recall.

"If she really had done something terrible (like Murray) then many of her supporters would have turned against her (as they did Murray) and that type of bar would be easy to reach."

Your belief that the voters of Seattle would have recalled then-Mayor Murray for "things that happened 33 years ago or maybe didn't happen" has no basis in reality. The 2017 mayoral election featured Moon, who had begun her campaign by demanding Murray resign, against Durkan, who had begun her campaign by accepting Murray's endorsement. Durkan defeated Moon by over twelve percentage points. It's difficult to see a condemnation of Murray in that result.

In the 2021 mayoral election, CM Gonzalez made a point of explicitly recalling how then-CM Harrell had dismissed the allegations against Murray as, once again, "things that happened 33 years ago or maybe didn't happen." (He was speaking in context of demands the Council impeach Murray, which it refused to do.) Gonzalez lost in a landslide. Again, the actual votes, cast by real Seattle voters in real Seattle elections, do not agree with your assertions. There is simply no evidence to support the idea that Seattle's voters cared anything at all about unsubstantiated allegations made by felons.

66

@64: You're really more the floor show than I am, Elmer. I warned you about pratfalls.

67

fascinating

68

@67: Elmer, if you're fascinated by your pratfalls on so regular a basis, you need to get out of your mom's basement and come up for air more often.

69

A true case study, easily provoked and manipulated - as we see here.

70

@69: We already know you're easily provoked and manipulated, Elmer, especially by Orange Turd, Swifty, and Dr. Wanker. Perhaps a full frontal lobotomy could more accurately diagnose your stubborn batshit MAGA fixation.

71

She just can't help herself. No sense of self-restraint. Here's another example:

72

@71: "She just can't help herself. No sense of self-restraint. Here's another example:"
Where's YOUR self restraint, Elmer? Demonstrate that and we'll be able to return to the
comment thread for actual discussion on Hannah's article, not your usual spewing of hyperbull.
Isn't it time for weenies and tater tots at......oh, right, I forgot. You'll have to find a new MAGA hate rally gathering site now that Swifty's tree fort blew up. It must have been due to the toxic gas leak at the announcement of Kshama Sawant's victory over the 1%ers. Again. Somebody must have tossed a lit match in resignation. Dumb luck that.

73

@71: lol For some reason I can't quite shake off the visualization of your shell-shocked, char-blackened face covered in soot, and the nuclear glow of your troll-whacked butt cheeks, Elmer. Thanks for a truly unforgettable Christmas gift. Your WTF expression is priceless.
Now go chill and have some cocoa.

74

Two in a row. Obviously still unsatisfied. I guess we're in for another.

75

@74: "Thank you, sir, may I have another?" Dr. Wankermeyer must have quite a strangle hold on you with that paddle, Elmer Diller.
Remain calm.....ALL IS WELL!!!!

76

Not even self aware enough to be humiliated.

Another example:

77

63: OK...a handful of the recall crowd identified as "gay Democrats".

That doesn't mean that most of the LGBTQ community in Sawant's district were supporting the recall, or that there was any "progressive" case for it.

And it goes without saying that nobody in the LGBTQ community had any reason to feel that Sawant was not a passionate, effective champion for their cause, that she was any less pro-LGBTQ than Egan Orion would have been as councillor.

Yes, some recall supporters identified as Democrats and as LGBTQ- that doesn't take away from the fact that replacing Sawant with someone who was "pro-business"- as you would prefer- would be a victory for conservatism and the wealthy, while doing little if any good for anyone else, including the non-heteronormative.

78

@76: Give it a rest, Elmer. Nobody is on your side in whatever the hell that exchange between you and Auntie is, and the rest of us are sick of your crap.

Nobody finds you funny we're all sick of your shit.

79

It turns out the recall types were totally out of step with Sawant's district. To read their overbearing premature gloat-posts in the days leading up to the vote count, you'd have thought the recall would pass with 60%-65% of the vote.

It's now clear that, had it not been for the antidemocratic tactic recall supporters used in deliberately withholding the signatures they'd collected until it was too late to put the recall on the November ballot- a step they took just to force the recall into a stand-alone low-turnout special election- the "No" side in the recall would likely have been at least the same 51.8% vote share Sawant received in her '19 re-election campaign, and might have approached the 56% showing she had in 2015, against Pamela Banks, a supposedly "liberal" opponent whose campaign office was located in the Bank of America building.

80

@78 AlaskanbutnotSeanParnell: Thank you.

We now return to our regularly scheduled commenting on Hannah's article......

81

@78: You're entitled to your opinion. But review the comments, and ask yourself who's doing the insulting, and who's being civil.

82

BTW, they just announced that Doug Ericksen is dead:

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/washington-state-sen-doug-ericksen-dies/CHQDNGXJWJHODKOCYCBOKVQUEU/

Condolences to his family and friends.

83

@81: See Comments @53 and @78.

@82 AlaskanbutnotSeanParnell: Thank you very much for sharing the updated link. I actually find it quite a blessed relief that Doug Ericsen passed away. How fitting that the cause of death of yet another blatant science denier was from complications with COVID-19.

After my grievous misfortune of having met Doug Ericsen in person to know what a shamelessly corrupt, self-serving and heartless proTrumpist shitbag he was, I cannot honestly say I have anything in the way of condolences for his surviving family or friends (see my comment @22). Ericsen's wife is the single highest paid public school teacher on record in Washington State, and has enjoyed countless benefits when other state employees---including former Washington Governor Christine Gregoire---had to deal with severe cuts in salary in efforts to balance the state budget. The Stranger has also reported that Doug Ericsen illegally used campaign money to send his daughter to soccer camp. Since they benefitted from his corruption I don't consider them worthy of my sympathy. I have considerably more sympathy for members of the Lummi Nation whose soil, protected by a 1853 federal treaty, as well as the Salish Sea and the Strait of Juan de Fuca faced catastrophic damage when outside fossil fuel giants who Ericsen pandered to tried to install a shiny new coal terminal, profiteering at everyone else's expense. Washington's tribal nations must be rejoicing statewide.

I'm glad Doug Ericsen is dead. I fervently hope that his successor in the 42nd District is a Democrat and Whatcom County turns a solid blue. He made Dino Rossi and Tim Eyman almost look like saints. At long last Washington State legislature can move further forward without Doug Ericsen blocking progress. He can't hurt our state's economy, citizens' constitutional rights, or the environment any more than he already has. Amen. Roast in hell, Doug.

Now if every member of the GOP from Trump and its lawyers, lobbyists, fixers, bought and paid for judges, members of SCOTUS, trophy bitches, bimbos, and snotnosed heirs on down to the most gullible of MAGA rubes would keel over and drop dead, we just might get our democracy back before what's left of the United States gets entirely swallowed up and crapped out by the Texiban Dictators of Dumbfuckistan.

84

What concerns me now is if Tyler Byrd, another fossil fuel industry coddling MAGA wank currently on the Whatcom County Council might be all too giddy about running for the Washington State Senate seat in the 42nd District that Doug Ericsen just recently vacated.

85

@77: 'OK...a handful of the recall crowd identified as "gay Democrats".'

Egan Orion was head of the Pride Committee. Ernie Lou was founder of Three-Dollar Bill Cinema and has been a LGBTQ+ activist for decades. These are the gay Democrats whom CM Sawant attacked as right-wing Republicans.

"Yes, some recall supporters identified as Democrats and as LGBTQ..."

Your repeated efforts to minimize CM Sawant's lying attacks upon longtime civil-rights activists merely emphasizes just how unjust her attacks really were. American citizens have a right to petition our government for a redress of grievances, having an elected official repeatedly abuse powers of office created those grievances, and nothing you can write here will change any of that. You're the one siding with power -- and abuses of power -- against the citizens who protested such abuses.

"And it goes without saying ..."

Then why are you having to say it?

"... nobody in the LGBTQ community had any reason to feel that Sawant was not a passionate, effective champion for their cause,"

How about her personal attacks upon their community's leaders? How about her record on LGBTQ+ issues, which you somehow forgot to cite here? The stridency of the first, the paucity of the second, again just have you emphasizing the very point you're trying to shout down.

@79: "To read their overbearing premature gloat-posts in the days leading up to the vote count, you'd have thought the recall would pass with 60%-65% of the vote."

While you haven't actually cited those posts, or even quoted so much as a single word from any of them, the bald fact remains that an army of paid vote harvesters, funded by out-of-city money, scrounged up barely enough votes to give her a narrow, hollow victory over the voters who have lived in the district the longest. If it hadn't been a single-issue ballot in a low-turnout election, she might have been swept from office in the same landslide which ended Council President Gonzalez' political career, defeated Nikkita Oliver (again!), and put a REPUBLICAN in the City Attorney's office.

And you can stop smashing your broken straw man, of my supposedly wanting a "pro-business" candidate in the District 3 office. Even if your tired lie was true, the City Council would not have appointed a "pro-business" candidate to the District 3 office, and the voters would not have re-elected such a person. The simple fact is that the voters of District 3 have long since tired of CM Sawant's destructive antics, and there is now a sufficient number of them to occasion a recall election anytime she abuses her office. Given her loudly unrepentant refusal to admit she even did anything wrong, I'm guessing her next abuses of power won't be long in arriving.


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