I've logged many miles, in all types of weather, behind a car windshield the past few months for medical treatment and I'm looking forward to the bulk of my drive time to shift to court appearances, a little fun and meeting my volunteer commitments with the Washington State Democrats. The past few weeks of sunshine was a real blessing. Metaphorically speaking, the view through the windshield for our party locally is brightening as well. In 2008, locally and throughout the country, Democrats experienced the Obama campaign in a wave of excitement, that I'm not sure had been experienced with such intensity before. While the euphoria has subsided, and the political weather has varied and there may remain a variety of frustrations, the commitment to move forward down the road in support of President Obama and the middle class remains strong here in Kittitas County.
We’ve also just finished a very interesting primary season in which six Republicans and one Independent vied for two open county commissioner seats here in Kittitas County. Interestingly enough in the District 2 race, the endorsed Republican candidate, Steve Senger, failed dramatically. Del Knudson, one of our truly great local real estate agents and a long-time Republican PCO, also did not advance to the general election. Leading the race without doing significant fundraising and simply attending candidate forums, is Paula Thompson who is running as an independent. Gary Berndt, who for all practical purposes was a Democrat prior to running for county commissioner as a Republican, is running a close second behind Paula.
Many local Dems do not see the lack of a D behind either Gary or Paula’s name as problematic because they believe either candidate if elected will represent all the people of our county regardless of party affiliation and that Democrats and others who have not been listened to will now have access to the “courthouse.” While I have not personally experienced any action or response from a Kittitas County Commissioner that would lead me to feel as though my voice could not be heard, I have heard anecdotes that do help me to understand why others might feel that way. And past and sitting commissioners have engaged in prolonged bouts of boneheaded fighting of the wrong battles in terms of land use and water issues here in Kittitas County, at taxpayer expense.
In the District 1 commissioner race, Catherine Clerf, who like Paula Thompson, is well known across the political spectrum as an exceptionally dedicated advocate for sensible land and water use and the protection of Kittitas County’s agricultural economy, is mounting an aggressive challenge against incumbent Paul Jewell who is the endorsed Kittitas County Republican Party candidate. While many local Dems (but not all as Paul has a few Dems supporting him as well) and others often express concerns about Catherine’s ofttimes acerbic personality, they value her independence, consistent messaging and work ethic, even though they may not always agree with her. And, this includes several of the local Dems who might have been potential candidates in her district. As chair, I have to simply conclude that many of those potential Democratic Party candidates either see her as the right candidate for this time, or like Paula and Gary, a Republican who will listen and act for all the concerns of the people not just a select few.
In terms of the local superior court judicial race which is non-partisan, I marvel at the opportunity we had as a community to see three qualified candidates grow as members of the bar, members of the community, and as individuals. Each one of the candidates became a better person because they ran for the bench. And, we became a much more informed electorate about what the role of judges is at the local level.
Probably the greatest delight in the past eighteen months as the chair of the Kittitas Democrats, was to witness the emergence of a true citizen politician in Kaj Selmann who stepped up to “offer an alternative” to CWU professor and erstwhile conservative opinion purveyor, Matt Manweller. I am sincerely grateful to all the Democrats here in Kittitas County who are organizing to assist Kaj now that the primary is over. All of the difficult work that you are doing will help to build not only Kaj’s campaign, but will build our party’s infrastructure in Central Washington. To me that is the bright sunshine down the road for us in the local party. It will also help us to incrementally support our 8th Congressional District Candidate Karen Porterfield, Jay Inslee for Governor, Maria Cantwell as Senator, the entire slate of state executive office candidates that we endorsed at our last General Business meeting and President Obama.
