Regarding the Doc Hastings Fundraiser at Wild Horse, a Republican friend of mine, has dubbed it the "Lovefest." Yet another Republican friend of the Tea Party persuasion finds it a disgusting use of taxpayer money in that PSE received a 26 million dollar windfall of sorts from the Stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) and now they are providing payola to politicians. To your neophyte chair of the Democrats it appears that this is now how things will work ever after, after Citizens United, and how things worked in the past. To my Kittitas Democrats who seem to have convinced themselves that the Republicans in Kittitas County have everything together in perfect harmony, I say not so, mon cheri.
I heard only good things about the Kittitas Democrats Fourth of July Activities. Second Vice Chair James Green and State Committeewoman Anna Powell literally and figuratively carried the party banner in the upper county Pioneer Day Parade. First Vice Chair Beverly Vifian, Treasurer Debbie Strand, Secretary Hanna Fredeen and Communications Guru Ben Oblas helped set up the booth with help from Ben's beloved Sara Oblas and the love of my life, Daryl Petrey, all volunteered at our table/booth at the City of Ellensburg's Fourth of July celebration. And last, but not least, we thank Bruce Tabb, an endorsed candidate of the Kittitas Democrats for city council and sitting Mayor of the City of Ellensburg, for his assistance and the assistance of the lovely Mrs. Mayor, Von Ellison.
Returning from my Fourth of July odyssey to all things Idaho, I stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center just outside of Baker City. Leading up to the center, highway signs announced that the roadside clean up was provided by the Baker County Democrats. Very beautiful and no trash and wonderful publicity for that county committee and our party. I was proud to be a Democrat. Good Job Baker County Democrats!
Looking forward, your Kittitas County Chair wants to have a little fun and perhaps is stepping over the bounds of decency, but would really, really like to ride an equine of the long eared variety in the Ellensburg Rodeo parade. If you have an animal of said ear length that can accommodate a person of size such as myself, I'd like to start tuning up both the long eared equine and my back end. I do not have any objection to riding a Republican owned equine of long ear length. Let the jokes from the peanut gallery begin . . . .
Showing posts with label wild horse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wild horse. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The Roslyn Shuffle
Funky stuff going down in Kittitas County and rumors of Republicans getting set to do the politcal version of the "Roslyn Shuffle."
It must be something in the water or the phase of the moon, because my inbox has been busier than normal and filled with many curiousities in regards to local political issues. Among the strangest of the strange, was a forwarded email advising of a reception planned by the Puget Sound Energy PAC out at the Wild Horse Renewable Energy Center to honor Doc Hastings and raise money for him on July 18, 2011. Proudly hosting the event are the three current sitting Republican Kittitas County Commissioners (Alan Crankovich, Obie O'brien, and Paul Jewell), my counterpart on the Republican side, Matt Manweller, and Representative Bill Hinkle. If you've been around Kittitas politics involving land use for some time you may find this particular cast of characters playing in this venue quite ironic.
I'm wondering just exactly what it is that Doc Hastings has ever done to warrant being honored by PSE or anyone else in the wind energy industry? Given that he voted against the stimulus spending and has criticized every form of stimulus spending put forth under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as implemented by the Obama administration except the Highway Transportation Funds, it cannot be a thank you for the recent stimulus funds that PSE received in 2010 to expand the Wild Horse Wind Farm. Or would it be to his general opposition to wind farms when the decision making process is not local, i.e. the EFSEC process leads to a final decision by the governor?
The local control issue is what has led Kittitas County to butt heads with a variety of state agencies. Commissioners Obie O'brien and Alan Crankovich often chant this mantra and have used it in regards to their comments on the wind industry. Exercising "local control" has taken the form of utilizing the prosecutor's office to litigate issues that many voters think should not be litigated. Or, as the independent candidate for Prosecutor in 2010 advocated, at minimum the commissioners should be required to hire their own outside counsel which would result in some small level of transparency as to the cost of such litigation. Right now it is deeply buried in the prosecutor's budget.
I do believe that had there been "local control" there would have been no wind farms in Kittitas County. Ever. And that includes Wild Horse. I have also witnessed more insiduous forms of "local control" which included a blatant threat made by Mr. Manweller against the then executive director of the local economic development group which took the form of advising her if she couldn't control the members of her board (and prevent them from supporting wind farms or bringing recall efforts) she would lose her job. Never mind that in most non-profits the board "controls" the executive.
Perhaps the oddest fellow playing the wind farm venue would be Paul Jewell who ran on a promise to extract royalties from the wind farms and may have won his commissioner seat on the basis of this false premise. Never mind that he was advised both before and after his election that there isn't a legal way to impose a royalty on a wind farm here in Kittitas County. Commissioner Jewell's most recent foray into places the county should not go includes a proposal to enter the water banking business in upper county by buying scarce water rights and allowing for "incidental uses" by certain select private citizens. This screams obvious potential "appearance of fairness" issues. There must be times that Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Neil Caulkins feels like a broken record when telling the commissioners no, no, and no.
Which only leaves Bill Hinkle who I know better than the other cast of characters. I actually do think Bill supported the wind energy industry here but he was late in formulating an independent identity on the issue perhaps due to some fence sitting behind the idea of local control and also due to his personal and political involvement with real estate developers (who by the way are not monolithically Republican) in the county. Of all the Republicans listed, I find his presence at Wild Horse the least incongrous. Which now brings me to rumors of Republicans doing the Roslyn Shuffle.
There is a joke in the Upper Kittitas County town of Roslyn about the dating scene among single adults. There is a limited pool of people to date, and, consequently, it is not unusual for a single resident in Roslyn to date someone who is an ex of a friend or relative, and have that friend or relative dating your ex, or your current partner's ex. This is referred to as the Roslyn shuffle. Rumors have circulated for months as to what Bill Hinkle will do next: He will run for state wide office, he will run for county coroner, etc. The current permutation involves Alan Crankovich resigning early, Bill Hinkle resigning early, Bill being appointed to County Commissioner (interesting because he is an Ex-Kittitas County Commisisoner), Matt Manweller, the current Republican County Party Chair, being appointed to fill Bill's legislative district seat, and so on . . . and some form of sinecure employment somewhere being obtained for Alan Crankovich in exchange for leaving early(interesting because I'd always heard he just wanted to sit long enough to get a minimal number of years in his county pension anyway). All of this occuring against the back drop of redistricting issues and additional rumors regarding more Republican elected officials in the county leaving early.
As a political neophyte and new county chair of the minority party it will be interesting to watch. And, the Doc Hasting event out at Wild Horse may well be the theatre for the announcement of the results of the shuffle and the Republican positioning of candidates for the next election cycle.
It must be something in the water or the phase of the moon, because my inbox has been busier than normal and filled with many curiousities in regards to local political issues. Among the strangest of the strange, was a forwarded email advising of a reception planned by the Puget Sound Energy PAC out at the Wild Horse Renewable Energy Center to honor Doc Hastings and raise money for him on July 18, 2011. Proudly hosting the event are the three current sitting Republican Kittitas County Commissioners (Alan Crankovich, Obie O'brien, and Paul Jewell), my counterpart on the Republican side, Matt Manweller, and Representative Bill Hinkle. If you've been around Kittitas politics involving land use for some time you may find this particular cast of characters playing in this venue quite ironic.
I'm wondering just exactly what it is that Doc Hastings has ever done to warrant being honored by PSE or anyone else in the wind energy industry? Given that he voted against the stimulus spending and has criticized every form of stimulus spending put forth under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as implemented by the Obama administration except the Highway Transportation Funds, it cannot be a thank you for the recent stimulus funds that PSE received in 2010 to expand the Wild Horse Wind Farm. Or would it be to his general opposition to wind farms when the decision making process is not local, i.e. the EFSEC process leads to a final decision by the governor?
The local control issue is what has led Kittitas County to butt heads with a variety of state agencies. Commissioners Obie O'brien and Alan Crankovich often chant this mantra and have used it in regards to their comments on the wind industry. Exercising "local control" has taken the form of utilizing the prosecutor's office to litigate issues that many voters think should not be litigated. Or, as the independent candidate for Prosecutor in 2010 advocated, at minimum the commissioners should be required to hire their own outside counsel which would result in some small level of transparency as to the cost of such litigation. Right now it is deeply buried in the prosecutor's budget.
I do believe that had there been "local control" there would have been no wind farms in Kittitas County. Ever. And that includes Wild Horse. I have also witnessed more insiduous forms of "local control" which included a blatant threat made by Mr. Manweller against the then executive director of the local economic development group which took the form of advising her if she couldn't control the members of her board (and prevent them from supporting wind farms or bringing recall efforts) she would lose her job. Never mind that in most non-profits the board "controls" the executive.
Perhaps the oddest fellow playing the wind farm venue would be Paul Jewell who ran on a promise to extract royalties from the wind farms and may have won his commissioner seat on the basis of this false premise. Never mind that he was advised both before and after his election that there isn't a legal way to impose a royalty on a wind farm here in Kittitas County. Commissioner Jewell's most recent foray into places the county should not go includes a proposal to enter the water banking business in upper county by buying scarce water rights and allowing for "incidental uses" by certain select private citizens. This screams obvious potential "appearance of fairness" issues. There must be times that Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Neil Caulkins feels like a broken record when telling the commissioners no, no, and no.
Which only leaves Bill Hinkle who I know better than the other cast of characters. I actually do think Bill supported the wind energy industry here but he was late in formulating an independent identity on the issue perhaps due to some fence sitting behind the idea of local control and also due to his personal and political involvement with real estate developers (who by the way are not monolithically Republican) in the county. Of all the Republicans listed, I find his presence at Wild Horse the least incongrous. Which now brings me to rumors of Republicans doing the Roslyn Shuffle.
There is a joke in the Upper Kittitas County town of Roslyn about the dating scene among single adults. There is a limited pool of people to date, and, consequently, it is not unusual for a single resident in Roslyn to date someone who is an ex of a friend or relative, and have that friend or relative dating your ex, or your current partner's ex. This is referred to as the Roslyn shuffle. Rumors have circulated for months as to what Bill Hinkle will do next: He will run for state wide office, he will run for county coroner, etc. The current permutation involves Alan Crankovich resigning early, Bill Hinkle resigning early, Bill being appointed to County Commissioner (interesting because he is an Ex-Kittitas County Commisisoner), Matt Manweller, the current Republican County Party Chair, being appointed to fill Bill's legislative district seat, and so on . . . and some form of sinecure employment somewhere being obtained for Alan Crankovich in exchange for leaving early(interesting because I'd always heard he just wanted to sit long enough to get a minimal number of years in his county pension anyway). All of this occuring against the back drop of redistricting issues and additional rumors regarding more Republican elected officials in the county leaving early.
As a political neophyte and new county chair of the minority party it will be interesting to watch. And, the Doc Hasting event out at Wild Horse may well be the theatre for the announcement of the results of the shuffle and the Republican positioning of candidates for the next election cycle.
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