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Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter #78

Enhancing Freedom, Opportunity and Cooperation in Puget Sound and Beyond

 Through informing and networking Liberals and Liberal Organizations.

 

Our vision is hundreds of thousands of well-informed Puget Sound Liberals working together.

 

July 13, 2007

 

 

 

Recommendations

 

·       Both Keith Scully and Bill Sherman for King

     County Prosecutor

·       King County Parks Levies #1 and #2

·       Alec Fisken for Seattle Port Commission

·       Gael Tarleton for Seattle Port Commission

·       Write in Brad Larssen for King County Council #6

 

·       Holly Plackett for Redmond Mayor

·       Brian Conlin for Redmond City Council #3

·       Richard Cole for Redmond City Council #5

·       Both Jessica Greenway and Penny Sweet for

     Kirkland City Council #4

·       Keri Andrews for Bellevue City Council

·       Josh Schaer for Issaquah City Council

·       Maureen Judge for Mercer Island City Council

·       Dana Stober for Kent City Council, Position 3.

 

·       Support Our Grocery Workers

·       Save Our Renton-Snohomish Rail Line

 

 

 

Quote of the Week

Some people believe that if anything is worth doing, it has already been done.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Political Priorities

 

·       Fair Elections and Open Government

·       Fair Taxes and Competent Spending

·       Investment for Productivity

·       Quality Health, Education, Jobs, Income and Retirement

·       Environmental Protection and Energy Independence

·       Personal Security and Equal Rights

·       Justice and Peace Everywhere

·       International Cooperation and Leadership

 

Conservatives oppose all of these.

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents   ** featured articles

 

Puget Sound Liberals

About Puget Sound Liberals

We Need More Correspondents and Members

 

Commentaries from Our Members

Sarajane Siegfriedt – Campaign for Clean Candidates  **

Craig Salins – Clean Elections Campaigns Are Working

Chris Stedman – Ron Paul Is Consistent, Not Democrats

Joe Lane – On Our Federal Debt

 

Liberals and Democrats

Eric Oemig – Master of Appropriate Technology **

Our Candidates Need Better Voter Databases  **

Republican Beliefs, Mostly Nonsense

Rodney Tom Joins Darcy Burner to Beat Dave Reichert

 

Nation and World

What about Republican Obstructionism?  **

Pelosi–Reid ‘Get-Out-of-Iraq’ Strategy is Winning  **

Our Iraq War Is Costing You $40 Per Month

Economy flat. Profits and Stocks Up.  Why?

Labor Unions Struggle to Unite Globally

 

State and Local

Tim Eyeman Strikes Again

Local Social and Democratic Party Pioneers  **

Life-Changing Movements

 

Links to Interesting Current News

 

Our Liberal Spirit

Values vs. Habits  **

 

Recommended Books

 

Lake Hills Liberals

Vigiling to Bring Our Troops Home Alive

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calendar of Events

 

File for all immigrant application forms before Monday, July 30th when fees will increase 50-100%.  Get help from consultant Grove Anschell 425-941-4204

 

Monday, July 23 on CNN – Democratic Debate

 

Continued on next page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Calendar of Events Continued

 

Tuesday, July 24 at 6 PM at Mainstage Comedy and Music Club (315 1st Avenue N, Seattle) – NARAL Pro-Choice Pop Star Karaoke contest and cocktail mixer

 

Thursday, July 26th at 6 PM at Spyros Pavlou’s home (9613 – 112th Avenue NE, Kirkland) – Gael Tarleton Fundraiser.  Greek food, drink & conversation. RSVP

 

Friday, July 27 at 6:30 PM at Ann Rolio’s home (16109 SE 5th Street) – Lake Hills Liberals Salon, including a Cajun buffet and presentation about impeaching Bush and Cheney and discussion led by 45th LD Senator Eric Oemig.  RSVP to davthom@att.net.

We Need More Correspondents and Members

Our membership includes virtually no one associated with environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, Futurewise, and others.  They seem little involved in Democratic party politics, so aren’t encountered at political meetings.  We have a few labor union members, but not nearly enough to reflect their numbers.  We also have few ethnic minorities, and have found in canvassing that they are generally not politically involved.  We do have gay and lesbian members, perhaps proportionate to their presence in our Puget Sound. 

 

We need correspondents in all these areas (environmental, labor unions, ethnic minorities and gay and lesbians) to inform us of their concerns, proposals and activities.  Please recommend correspondents to us (their names and emails) and help recruit members from these groups.

 

Commentaries From Our Members

 

Published in Seattle PI on Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Campaign for Candidates Who Vow to Run ‘Clean’

As a community activist, I am grateful for Chris McGann’s research into lobbying dollars spent in Olympia (July 2).  “These are your unelected officials in a way, because they are so influential. . . in developing, passing or killing bills,” said the Center for Public Integrity.

 

We seem to be divided into two camps: those of us who realize that our democracy is for sale to the highest bidder and are too discouraged to do anything about it, and those who are so angry that they feel they must do something about it.  I’m in the latter camp.

 

This unwarranted power means we won’t have health care for everyone because health care providers, insurers and big Pharma are collectively the biggest gorilla in Olympia ($3.7 million spent this year).

 

The public can take back the campaign process by funding it for any candidate who wishes to run “clean,” using a few tax dollars – about $6 apiece – in exchange for not raising private, special-interest money.

 

The real benefit (in Maine and Arizona) is a true citizen legislature where campaign time is spent listening to candidates rather than dialing for dollars.  Please ask legislators to support public campaign financing at all levels in our state.  Sarajane Siegfriedt

 

Clean Elections Programs Are Working.

Maine created a Clean Elections program in 1996, by citizen initiative.  Last year (2006), eighty-three percent of Maine’s state legislators ran using only Clean Money.  With over four-fifths of their legislators free of special interest, they have begun to make real progress on issues of public concern.  In Arizona, nine of eleven state officials were elected last year, running Clean – including Governor Janet Napolitano, who has run and been elected twice using that state’s Clean Elections program.

 

Other states are getting on the bandwagon – Connecticut, and selected districts in New Jersey.  North Carolina and New Mexico have public financing for judicial races.