Author: jxindivisible

Lessons in Climate Science, Biology, and Religious Conviction

It is time to call it what it is: Global Heating. Warming fails to capture what’s happening. 

Although we in the inland Pacific Northwest have, so far this summer, been spared most of the pall of wildfire smoke that has blanketed the region in the summers of recent years, the sense that we have recently reached some sort of climate tipping point in the world is hard to miss. A “heat dome” sits over the Southwest as day and nighttime temperatures in Phoenix break records. Towns in Pennsylvania flood as six inches of rain falls in a single hour. Downtown Montpelier and many smaller towns in Vermont experience the third “hundred year” flood in thirty years as water rises four feet up the walls of downtown businesses. Ocean temperatures off Florida are breaking records as coral reefs are threatened. It’s not just here in the U.S. In Canada wildfires rage over vast acreages of dried-out forest in places we habitually think of as damp and cool. Smoke from these Canadian fires fills the air on our eastern seaboard. Further away and less noticed by most of us, areas on three continents suffer under oppressive heat and smoke. Wildfires rage in Greece. Iran is running out of water as it swelters in dry heat. Temperatures rose to 95 degrees Fahrenheit in Beijing in northern China—an unheard-of heat wave. 

For those who pay attention to science, the principles of global heating as a result of burning fossil fuels since the beginning of the industrial revolution have been known since the mid 1800s thanks to the work of Irish physicist John Tyndall and American scientist and feminist Eunice Newton Foote. More than a century later, in 1988, climate scientist James Hansen presented abundant evidence to the U.S. Congress that the temperature signals of global heating were already ominously measurable. At the time, Hansen naively imagined that Congress, having heard the alarm, would act to mitigate the threat. He badly underestimated the power of inertia and doubt underwritten by the fossil fuel industry. 

Jeff Goodell’s, The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet (2023) was recently discussed on Fresh Air. Goodell emphasizes that although the science of global heating is well understood, specific extreme weather events fueled by global heating, events becoming ever more frequent, are often grimly unpredictable. 

As a species we are not adapted to withstand temperature extremes like those we are now hearing about from all over the globe. Death from heat is real. Accounts of delirium and death of young people with core body temperatures as high as 110 degrees Fahrenheit after working in the Texas sun at 104 degrees ambient temperature attest to our fragility as humans. All the currently existing life on our planet has evolved to survive and thrive within what is a rather narrow range of temperature in the grand scheme of the universe and earth history. Successful biological adaption of a species to changes in climate and temperature takes thousands of years and many generations, not just the couple of hundred year time frame of global heating caused by human activity. We, as humans, smugly think of ourselves as “adaptable” to extremes ranging from the antarctic winter to summer in the Kalahari Desert—but some of the extremes of heat we are now experiencing are simply not survivable by the vast majority of humanity on this planet—and, eventually, there will be nowhere to hide. As the entire planet heats on average everywhere a couple of degrees (in Centigrade or in Fahrenheit) there will be nowhere to go to escape increasingly frequent uninhabitable extremes. (Air conditioners, Goodell points out, don’t reduce the net heat plaguing the planet, they just move the heat from one place to another—and often consume energy from the burning of more fossil fuels in the process.)

We—and certainly I—have been tempted to think of the predominantly Republican U.S. Congressional global heating inaction and denial is rooted purely in dependence on fossil fuel industry money and influence. According to this theory, Republican congresspeople actually understand the science of global heating, but evilly resist action because they have been bought off. The more worrisome truth is that many Republican U.S. Representatives and Senators, most especially “our” U.S. Representative from eastern Washington State, Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-CD5), are now and ever will be doctrinally incapable of understanding the science—or the threat of global heating—even as they hide their denial behind useful buzzwords. 

In particular, “our” Rep. McMorris Rodgers has famously proclaimed that she believes in the “literal truth” of the words in the Bible, including that the world as we know it was literally created by God in seven days. Unless she can engage in a spectacular example of cognitive dissonance (and there is zero evidence that she can or does), her fervent belief in the literal truth of the Bible precludes comprehension of humans’ dependence on the environment and humanity’s position as a part of nature itself. Furthermore, her belief blocks any understanding of species adaption to climate and the geological timeframe required for such evolutionary adaption to occur. By way of obfuscation, she has schooled herself to occasionally utter words like “renewable” and “sustainable”, words that serve as a smokescreen to offer solace to those of her constituents who might be concerned about the observed changes in climate. That said, she will never, ever cast a vote in favor of a bill that might involve the government in ameliorating global heating. (Of course, she will rise in high dudgeon to point at her defense of the Snake River dams as if this were a full proof of a commitment to confront the threat of global heating.) For McMorris Rodgers and the vast majority, if not all, of her Republican colleagues in Congress, the unregulated “free market” and the ever-greater mining and burning of fossil fuels are essential to the “progress” of humankind. “Full speed ahead—and never mind those pesky environmentalists! If the world overheats (and I’m pretty sure it won’t because God will save us) the righteous among us still have heaven to look forward to.”

Sadly, even if everyone in the U.S. Congress were scientifically in tune with the threat of global heating, taking action to avoid climate disaster will be challenging—and positive results will only emerge over decades. The sooner the federal government commits to the task the more likely we can avoid the worst consequences. No commitment will come about while modern-day Republicans retain a majority in either house of Congress. 

The first order of business is to expose the deficiencies in scientific understanding of current Representatives and Senators like McMorris Rodgers; then vote them out of office. Trying to change their minds is pointless. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. Espousing Christian faith is NOT synonymous with believing in the literal truth of the Bible and denial of science. 

It is important to recognize adherence to the idea of a 6000 year old earth and the literal truth of Creation in seven days is not a majority view in America, probably not even among self-described Christians. Much of Christianity, including United Methodism, the tradition in which I was brought up, considers the biblical creation story to be allegorical: “We find that science’s descriptions of cosmological, geological, and biological evolution are not in conflict with theology.”  It is worth noting there have been recent (and un-successful) efforts to change Methodist doctrine to an anti-science view. Christianity is not monolithic, and McMorris Rodgers’ views represent only some of those who call themselves Christian. The details of a legislator’s particular Christian faith are critical. We are fortunate to clearly understand McMorris Rodgers’ particular Fundamentalist, anti-science belief system. Keep it in mind as we contemplate the consequences to the planet of keeping such people in Congress. 

P.P.S. A high alignment rating with WeBelieveWeVote.com, however, conveniently declares to prospective voters that a candidate subscribes to anti-science Biblical Fundamentalism: “The Holy Bible is the supernatural, full, and inspired Word of God; it is inerrant, supreme, and final.” If you expect action to address global heating steer away from these people.

And Notes on the evolution of WeBelieveWeVote

If you haven’t turned in your ballot yet for the August 1 Primary Election, here are a few more thoughts. 

First, the links below go to two earlier posts on primary election guides and choices in case you missed them:

The Ballots “Dropped”JERRY LECLAIRE·JUL 14Read full story

School BoardsJERRY LECLAIRE·JUL 17Read full story

MORE ON SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES:

Some of my readers asked for positive rather than negative recommendations for school board directors. A good friend and defender of public school systems offered this, with which I agree:

“We have a LOT of Moms 4 Liberty Types running for school board locally. It’s critical they not gain more power if we are to protect public education and students.  

If you’re interested, here’s who I like for the primary:

Spokane County:

SPOKANE SCHOOL DISTRICT 81 No. 5 Mike Wiser

MEDICAL LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 1 Bryan Musser

MEDICAL LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 2 Alexis Alexander

MEDICAL LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 3 Laura Elliot Parsons

MEDICAL LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 4 Ron Cooper

CHENEY SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 4 John Boerger

CHENEY SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 5 Mitch Swenson

DEER PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT At Large 5 Eric Keller” 

Benton County:

Richland School District 400 No. 3 Chelsie Beck

Richland School District 400 No. 4 Katrina Waters

Richland School District 400 No. 5 Jill Oldson

Notes on “We Believe We Vote”

I continue to recommend WeBelieveWeVote.com (WBWV) as a NEGATIVE voting guide. The organization has evolved. Founded by Penny Lancaster in 2009 and registered to an address on the southern slopes of Mt. Spokane, “We Believe We Vote” filed with the Public Disclosure Commission as a Political Committee from 2013 to 2023. However, the last year WBWV reported raising any money was in 2021. That year, 2021, the filing claimed money raised of $135,944.08, a considerable sum, but expenditures of only $23,904.99. Donations to a Political Committee do not offer an income tax deduction to the donor. Worse (from the Committee’s standpoint), donors’ names and amounts donated must be reported to the Public Disclosure Commission—and they are available to see on the PDC’s website. 

This year, 2023, and perhaps last year also, WBWV has decided it’s a “508(c)(1)(a) ministry”, a way to make donations tax deductible to the donor and to shield donor names. Organizations that fall under the 508(c)(1)(a) exception to 501(c)(3) are “churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches”. That WBWV claims that it need not go through the paperwork to apply for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status based on the 508(c)(1)(a) seems a dubious idea. At least one website that offers advice to churches agrees. That said, the relatively new executive director of WBWV, Dale Whittaker, “holds a B.A. in Accounting from the Forbes School of Business & Technology at Ashford University [a for profit, online institution recently purchased by the University of Arizona and renamed], is an Enrolled Agent with the IRS, and currently runs a small tax practice.” His education and employment may or may not insure that using a 508(c)(1)(a) designation is defensible. The IRS’ definition of a church contains many elements WBWV does not possess. Mr. Whittaker responds to inquiry about a Form 990 filing with “We are not required to file form 990. We are not a 501(c)(3).” That statement alone, from what I can read, suggests that WBWV cannot legally claim that donations it receives are income tax deductible for the donors. I hope someone better versed in tax law than I will take this up.

Cruising through WBWV’s “Core Beliefs and Position Statements” reveals a Fundamentalist bedrock, “The Holy Bible is the supernatural, full, and inspired Word of God; it is inerrant, supreme, and final”; Dominionism, “The environment is provided for our use to produce food and provide resources for an abundant life”; “States Rights”; and Christian Nationalism. The attitude toward the poor and needy is straightforward: “Providing a safety net for the poor and needy is the responsibility of individuals, churches and local communities. It is not the primary responsibility of civil government to provide welfare assistance to the poor. The role of civil government is to protect citizens from foreign and domestic threats.” This is exactly the view expressed by the chairman of the SpokaneGOP, “Pastor” Brian Noble of the Assembly of God Church in Spokane Valley.

Candidates rated as “aligned” or “somewhat aligned” by WeBelieveWeVote, based on the above criteria (and others on the website) can be seen as generally supportive of a punitive approach to the “poor and needy” rather than supporting social programs; incapable of understanding the threat posed by global heating; and very receptive to imposing legal limits on a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body. I did not count them up but it appears to me that fewer candidates this year are willing to actually take the “Survey”. Those who refuse are labelled as “DNR” (which, for a physician means “do not resuscitate” rather than the “did not response” the website wishes to convey). Being labelled “DNR”, however, does not guarantee disagreement with WBWV’s “Core Beliefs and Position”. For that reason I find WBWV only valuable as a NEGATIVE indicator. Candidates will admit their core beliefs to WBWV that would likely not wish to be quoted on in a broader context.

Vote! (I dropped mine in one of the drop boxes yesterday. It only required four choices, even less research than I expected.) 

Keep to the high ground,
Jerry

A Local Developer’s ROI (Return on Investment)

In the 2019 election City of Spokane Mayoral candidate Nadine Woodward ran on the proposition that she would tackle the increasing presence of homeless people in downtown Spokane. In August of 2019 in a Facebook post she wrote, “Spokane developer Larry Stone has gone to great lengths and personal cost to document the serious problems facing our city.” Stone’s seventeen minute YouTube documentary video entitled “Curing Spokane” dramatized the issue and offered simplistic, law-and-order-based actions to save our downtown. The cost of producing “Curing Spokane” was not a campaign contribution, at least not technically, but it was almost certainly a significant help in Woodward eking out a narrow win in the November 2019 General Election. 

Two years later, in early 2022, Mayor Woodward and her administration were desperate to make homelessness less visible downtown. Camp Hope, established in December 2021, aggregated the homeless and represented a glaring reminder of the administration’s failure to provide basic shelter to its citizens in accordance with Martin v. Boise (2018). Mindful of appearances, the Woodward administration sought a location away from downtown in which to shelter the homeless more or less out of sight.

Several spokespeople for the administration have claimed that “100 other properties” were “evaluated”before selecting what became the TRAC Shelter (aka the “Trent Shelter”). “100 properties” always sounded a bit too glib. Of what did these “evaluations” consist? In any case the “100 properties” quote seems to serve as a measure of the Woodward administration’s desperation to buy or lease a property for the purpose of a shelter. Out of this supposedly diligent search, Woodward and company settled on a building then owned by “CDA Loon, LLC”, the building that would become the TRAC Shelter. Representatives of City government, including Woodward’s two conservative allies on the City Council, Bingle and Cathcart, toured the property on March 18, 2022. It was a “public-private partnership” that secured the Woodward administrations lease on the building—and, along the way, gave Woodward’s ally, developer Larry Stone, a lucrative, taxpayer-funded lease based mostly, it appears, on Mr. Stone’s financial capacity to buy the building.

Carl Sagerstrom of RANGEmedia.co, in a superb investigative article entitled “Big political donor bought the Trent shelter location for the city”, takes up the story. (I urge you to click and read the whole article—and to subscribe to RANGEmedia.):

When the city chose the property, Stone did not own it.

The building was owned by CDA Loon, LLC, an affiliate of Berg Manufacturing, which previously operated in the warehouse and had an active lease advertisement for the building. “The City approached the building owner through its [real estate] broker about a potential lease, but was not able to reach an agreement,” City Communications and Marketing Director Brian Coddington told RANGE via email. “The proposed use of the building was a sticking point as was the owner’s desire to sell the building.”

Larry Stone swooped in just six days after the Woodward administration’s March 18th tour. On March 24, Stone bought the Trent building for a sale price of 3.5 million dollars. Stone’s organization sent a draft lease agreement to the City the following day. Thus was born the “public-private partnership” between the City of Spokane, i.e. the Woodward administration, and Spokane developer Larry Stone. 

The property that became the TRAC Shelter was purchased, according to publicly available county property records, by “CDA Loon, LLC” in April of 2018 for 1.8M. Note (see Coddington quote above) “the owner’s desire to sell the building” in 2022. Obviously, in 2022, 3.5M was an acceptable sale price to “CDA Loon, LLC”, since that is the price at which Larry Stone snapped it up in March 2022. (The purchase price of 3.5M was almost exactly the county’s “assessed value” of the property.) 

The Stone’s five year lease of the TRAC Shelter building to the City contains an option for the City to buy the property, an option that is completely worthless. The option specifies a mechanism for Stone and the City to obtain an appraisal but no requirement to sell at any particular price. When the City Council entertained purchasing the property (as a way to save money in the long run), Stone had the City over a barrel. The appraisal came in at 4.1M, but Stone was quoted as saying he wanted “north of 8M”. Stone, a developer who didn’t acquire the 3.5M to buy the TRAC Shelter building by missing opportunities to profit, knows a good deal when he sees one. 

Larry Stone knows which side his bread is buttered on—and he wants to be sure that bread stays butter-side-up. Earlier this year he made donations to the current election campaigns of Mayor Nadine Woodward to continue as Mayor; candidate for City Council President Kim Plese; City Council Member (District 1, NE Spokane) Michael Cathcart; and candidate for City Council Member (District 2, South Hill) Katey Treloar (the one with the ubiquitous blue signs prominently declaring “non-partisan”). All four campaigns, wisely sensitive to the “appearance of corruption”, returned Mr. Stone’s money. (The transactions remain visible on the Public Disclosure Commission’s website.) 

But the story doesn’t end there. (See P.S. for more detail.) Thwarted by the earlier return of his contributions to his favored individual candidates’ campaigns, on June 9, 2023 and again on July 13, “Stone Lawrence B” contributed $15,000 to the “Spokane Good Governance Alliance”, a total of $30K, roughly 20% of the total receipts of the “Alliance” in 2023—and more than any other contributor (at the time of this writing). The Public Disclosure Commission reports that Mayor Nadine Woodward’s campaign has already received over $35,000 worth of “independent” support from the “Alliance”. Plese, Cathcart, and Treloar have received lesser amounts of “independent” support from the same entity. 

Mr. Stone is a smart businessman who knows that it pays to have allies in City Government—and he has the wealth to wield electoral influence. On account of weak restrictions (thanks to conservative undermining of campaign finance law in the Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC) Mr. Stone can exercise all his “free speech” rights his money can buy in backing the candidates he expects will support his financial interests. 

None of this is currently illegal, strictly speaking. It just smells really bad. Pay attention as you fill out your ballot.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. A “Political Committee” registered in the State of Washington with the Public Disclosure Commission can receive and spend any amount of money to influence voters for or against any candidate—as long as the expenditures are made “independent” of the candidate’s campaign—thanks to Citizens United v. FEC. 

Money finds a way. 

Spending money through a Political Committee offers contributors, be they individuals or businesses, a degree of anonymity as they wield electoral influence. Larry Stone contributed $15,000 to the ironically named “Spokane Good Government Alliance” on June 9, 2023. The “Spokane Good Governance Alliance” this year has a war chest of over $150K that comes from list of just ten contributors at this time, all tied to businesses with a pecuniary interest in the outcome of local elections. Mr. Stone’s $30,000 dwarfs the legally capped contributions that were returned by the individual candidates to whom he tried to contribute. So far the “Spokane Good Governance Alliance” money has gone mostly to advertising and political strategy companies in Arizona and Washington, D.C., entities that will flood the airwaves and the internet with advertising to influence your vote in this year’s local elections.

The Bannon Local Takeover Strategy at Work in the Current Elections

Notice: The WeBelieveWeVote.com Primary Voter Guide 2023 is now available. WBWV’s “alignment rating” is a strong indicator of adherence to the latest themes of the Republican culture wars, not an indicator of the Christian values with which I was raised. A high “alignment rating” is a red flag. Use WBWV as a guide to Republican extremism.

School Boards:

School boards are the new culture war battlefields. The strife is showing up on the local ballots you just received for the August 1 Primary Election. Until recently, it was rare in Spokane County for a seat as a school board director to attract more than two candidates. As a result, primary election ballots in Spokane County rarely featured more than one school board director contest. In striking contrast, the Spokane County Voters’ Pamphlet for the upcoming primary election contains fourteen pages of candidates school board director positions on six different school boards. That’s nearly a third of the publication. We who support public education ignore this at our peril.

Public school board “director” (member) positions are unpaid, time-consuming, unglamorous positions helping to manage the big picture of budgets and administration of public schools. Historically, school board director positions attract civic-minded individuals with a strong interest in supporting the mission of public education, not culture warriors intent on imposing an extremist ideology. 

The right wing effort to take control of school boards is fueled by a confluence of motivations often ginned up by fear-mongering propaganda. The takeover movement received a significant boost during the pandemic by feeding on manufactured anger over vaccines and masks. Those motivators have now morphed into some combination of opposing “comprehensive sex education”, “Critical Race Theory”, DEI (Diversity Equity Inclusion), SEL (Social Emotional Learning), and opposing any support for LGBTQ+ youth. Support for book bans may be subtle or overt. Softer ideological signaling is couched as support for “parental rights”, and “school choice”. 

With the waning of the red flag issues of masks and vaccine mandates it has become more challenging to sort out the school board director candidates motivated by hot-button, ginned-up issues from those with a genuine interest in fostering public education. Nipping off these ideologues in the current primary election ought to be easier than dealing with them in the November General Election—but the sheer number of candidates in some of these races makes that daunting. To that end, one group has searched through campaign materials and provided a rating system to identify “problematic candidates” for director positions. Limiting the list to Spokane County and only those who appear in the primary election (for now), the major red flags pop up in the Medical Lake School District. Indeed, the Spokane County Voters’ Pamphlet lists seventeen primary candidates for a mere four seats. Seven (listed below) of these seventeen primary candidates are considered “problematic” based on publicly available materials. 

Here’s a map of the Medical Lake School District:

Consider contacting people you know in the Medical Lake School District with the suggestion NOT TO VOTE for these candidates in the primary. There are better candidates available in all but the Director District No. 1 race. In that race I would favor Spillman over Johnson based on this Spokesman article. 

In the Cheney School District No. 5 position Ivan Khala is similarly identified as “problematic” on more subtle grounds. Mr. Khala is the single interviewee for this position on a podcast listed on “Right Spokane Perspective” (June 20), a Facebook group that backs folks like Mike Fagan and Rod Higgins. 

When the November General Election comes these listings of problematic candidates for school board director positions will expand—and I will try to address them.

When a school board majority is taken over by ideologues, the consequences can be grim, costly, and time-consuming. Voters in the Richland School District (Tri-cities) have gone to the trouble mounting a recall of three school board directors, including Semi Bird, now a far right Republican candidate for Washington governor in 2024. The recall appears on this August 1 Primary ballot. Recall proponents had to first run the gauntlet all the way to the Washington State Supreme Court, where their recall charges were deemed factually and legally sufficient. Then they gathered 18,000 signatures to place the recall on the ballot—a major, all-hands-on-deck effort. 

In neighboring Idaho a special recall election will be held on August 29th in the West Bonner County School District (including Priest River, Priest Lake, and Blanchard) after a 3-2 board majority of far right ideologues gained control in a sleepy election. They promptly appointed Branden Durst, a proponent of dismantling public schools, “an unqualified serial political entrepreneur and self-described ‘Christian populist’ who had previously been subject to a domestic violence protection order”, as the district’s superintendent. Read more about Mr. Durst here. 

Pay attention to school board elections this year—or risk the kind of strife and threat to your community’s educational opportunities that are demonstrated by these recalls.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

Orientational Aids–Find Your Way Through the Rhetoric

Ballots for the August 1 Primary Election in Washington State were mailed out this week. They ought to appear in your mailbox by this weekend. I hope this post offers tools you can use to orient yourself in this down-ballot, odd-numbered year, sometimes obscure election. 

Guide Links

A lot of information follows that you might find useful or interesting, but if you’re in a hurry to fill out your ballot my best recommendation is the progressivevotersguide.com. It is especially good for the City of Spokane, less informative for the City of Spokane Valley. Unfortunately, it is mostly silent on other municipalities in Spokane County and on most school board and fire district races.

Vote.wa.gov is very much worth a visit to explore your particular ballot. (See paragraphs below for much more detail on navigating that site.)

In most elections I also consult what I consider to be a valuable negativevoting guide, webelievewevote.com, but when I checked yesterday morning it was still “undergoing an update”. You might want to check in case they complete their update.

A Note on School Board Director Elections

Next Monday’s will attempt to address the School Board Director candidates that appear on these ballots. School boards have become a battleground. Vote well. There are at least three school districts in our region that are engaged in acrimonious recall efforts because they elected a board majority that is taking a wrecking ball to the school district. Recalls are much more challenging, costly, and divisive than electing reasonable people in the first place.

General Orientation and Some Rambling

These newly-mailed ballots are due to be turned in before Tuesday, August 1. They determine which two candidates advance to the Tuesday, November 7, General Election. (See P.S. below for more detail on how this works and why.) Orienting oneself in the electoral landscape is challenging for two reasons: 1) only those offices that have three or more candidates appear on the ballot and 2) the offices that appear on the ballot are for a hodgepodge of overlapping electoral districts: municipal (city) offices; school board “directors”, aka “members”; fire district “commissioners”; and various locally voted municipal and fire district “propositions”, some which involve bonds and levies. As a consequence, your neighbor across the street might receive a slightly different ballot (or none at all) based on differing electoral districts. (See APPENDIX below for links to the various district maps.) 

With all that, the August 1 Primary can be a bit obscure. Traditionally, on time ballot turn-in for the August 1 Primary is a rather low percentage of the ballots sent out. That’s a problem (think of the far right Steve Bannon exhortation to take over government from the bottom up—in this election that would be school boards and fire districts). Fringe candidates with a well-developed social media presence can advance to the November General election with only modest support thanks to voter inattention to the Primary election. That limits choices available to the broader electorate that pays attention in November. (This is also a prime argument in favor of Ranked Choice Voting.)

A Note on “Non-Partisan”

The offices that appear on this Primary ballot are nominally “non-partisan”. That is more than a little deceiving in our partisan landscape. Dyed-in-the-wool Republican ideologues running in the City of Spokane, for example, put out purposefully deceptive election signage with blue coloring and “non-partisan” prominently displayed (See Shawn Vestal on City of Spokane elections and Nate Sanford of The Inlander here and here.) 

“Your Spokane County Official Local Voters’ Pamphlet” and Vote.wa.gov

Many of us already received “Your Spokane County Official Local Voters’ Pamphlet”. It covers all the candidates and propositions that appear on a Primary ballot in any part of Spokane County. It is worth your time to check your registration and your particular electoral landscape by going to vote.wa.gov, keying in your name and birthdate, and clicking “Voters’ Guide”. The displayed page should offer you links to useful information about the candidates on your particular ballot.

Arguably the most useful link found at your vote.wa.gov page is the link to “Candidate Contributions”. Click on “Voters’ Guide”, then on the candidate’s name and find the “Contributions” link on the right side of that official candidate page. That link takes you to the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC). With a little bit of clicking around the PDC webpages you can learn who backs a candidate, which often gives a strong clue as to connections and party affiliations. For example, click “See Contributions” on City of Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward’s PDC page. The majority of major “individual” contributions (limited to $1200 per election per person contributing) come from names associated with developers, builders, and real estate agents. Some of these same individual donors will also contribute a lot of additional money to what are called “Political Committees” in Washington State (think “Political Action Committees” on a federal level), Committees that can make “‘independent’ expenditures” on behalf of candidates. These “Political Committees”, often with obscure names like “Spokane Good Governance Alliance” financed by a few wealthy donors, will bombard you with ads on TV, radio, paper fliers, and social media this election season. Pay attention to what organization it is that is trying to influence your vote.

Bottom line: do some homework, get informed, talk up what you find out with friends, relatives, and neighbors, and vote. Learn more about your location’s electoral landscape.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. Confusingly, not all the offices up for election this cycle appear on the Primary ballot. This can leave the voter wondering where the candidates are that they’ve been reading about. Here’s the answer: If there are only two candidates for a particular office they will first appear on the General Election ballot for November. What’s the game here? People steeped in electoral politics understand there are advantages to having their favored candidate appear in the Primary. Having a place on the Primary ballot enhances name recognition for the General; appearing on the Primary ballot gives donors a chance to contribute another $1200 directly to their favored candidate (the contribution limit is per election), money that could not otherwise be legally collected; and the vote tally from the Primary is an indicator of support (even if a wobbly one). One suspects that some candidates who never really mount a campaign are put forward (and, perhaps, the candidate registration fees paid) by electoral operatives solely for the reasons outlined. 

APPENDIX-LINKS TO MAPS FOR ELECTORAL ORIENTATION

WA/Spokane/City/County/District Maps:

A great interactive map for WA State CDs and LDs: [the Legislative and Congressional Districts are not at issue in this election cycle. They’ll appear next year.]  http://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/

City of Spokane, City Council District Map: https://my.spokanecity.org/opendata/gis/council-districts/

Spokane County School District Maps: https://cp.spokanecounty.org/scout/map/
(This is SCOUT, a digital map system with a huge amount of information maintained by Spokane County. It takes a computer screen and some time to acquire a few moderately nerdy map manipulation skills. For school districts select “Elections Features/School Director Districts” in the pulldown menu that looks like a stack of papers. You may also want to uncheck “Property Features/Parcels” under that same pulldown. School Director Districts appear and disappear depending on magnification. Select “Districts” below the map so that when you click on a particular location more specifics for that location will appear in the table below the map. All of this is easier when you’re actually doing it than it sounds from the description.

Spokane County Fire Districts: http://www.interceptradio.com/wiki/index.php/Spokane_County,_WA . You can also work backward on the SCOUT map by clicking on a location. The Fire District will appear on the table below the map for that location and then, by clicking “Show”, the extent of that location’s Fire District will show on the map. The City of Spokane’s Fire Department is overseen by City government rather than by community-elected board members.

Republican Disregard/Ignorance of Data

Local Republican electeds and candidates are using only their own prejudgment when they claim—or imply—that most homeless people in Spokane come from elsewhere. They ignore the fact that the last address of far more than a majority of homeless people in Spokane was local—the fact of which Republicans and your neighbors should be frequently and pointedly reminded. Government must be based on fact rather than deep-seated, erroneous prejudices. The actual, not-often-enough-repeated data is below.

The Point-In-Time Count, conducted in the last ten days of each January, is mandated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] of the executive branch of the federal government—and it is the very best objective data available on the homeless population. This is slide 4 from the presentation of the January 2022 Spokane Point-in-Time Count. 

The data gathered from the residents of Camp Hope, the now-closed encampment of homeless residents near Freya and I-90 that once numbered over 600 is even more revealing—and contrary to Republican data-less prejudgment. The following is quoted [with permission] from Maurice Smith’s forthcoming book, A Place To Exist: The True and Untold Story of Camp Hope and Homelessness In Spokane:

Of the 467 badged residents of Camp Hope, 83% said they came from “greater Spokane” (within 20 miles of the City), while 70.7% said they came from the City of Spokane. ENDNOTE: These numbers were fairly consistent with the 2022 Point-In-Time Count which found that 74% of those interviewed said they came from Spokane County. 79% of those from Spokane County said they came from the City of Spokane. 

Local Republican electeds and candidates either intentionally or wrecklessly ignore the data, playing to deep-seated fears. 

“There are more homeless people coming to Spokane because we are a compassionate community, and the weight of it is crushing downtown and all around the city,” [Kim] Plese [Republican candidate for City of Spokane City Council President] says. [The italics are mine.]

Incumbent City of Spokane Mayor Woodward, “I think we need to get to the point where we’re working to make homelessness less comfortable and get people connected to services.” (Were they “too comfortable”, one must suppose, she fears would attract more needy people.)

Former Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich in a September 22, 2022, letter to the Washington Secretary of Transportation in which he threatens to forcibly clear Camp Hope: “My plan is to provide bus tickets to the location of each residents’ [sic] choice, allowing them to reunite with family and to assist them in recovery.” (The pseudo-compassionate “plan” fails on the data that 83% of Camp Hope residents were already in their county of origin.)

Current City of Spokane Valley City Council Member Rod Higgins: They should just “move on to someplace that calls themselves a sanctuary city or something like that”. 

Even more pointedly, according to the chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party, Valley Assembly of God Pastor Brian Noble, it isn’t even the responsibility of government to consider the safety of homeless people. In his mind it is the responsibility of private non-profits (those without government funding) and churches—but, of course, not his church. 

The image of homeless people Republicans feel the need to project is that of lazy people looking to live off the “public dole”, an “other” that we must be careful not to attract to “our” city by offering too much in the way of shelter and services, lest we be overwhelmed, taken advantage of. In the Republican mind these homeless folk are, by and large, invaders of our fair city, attracted here to feast off our too ample public teat. We must take great care not to be seen as offering too much “comfort”, lest we attract more of them.

This mindset of othering the homeless (or the poor or people of color or…) as outsiders, essentially as non-citizens, plays well to some. “The system must be working. I’ve got mine. My home value has shot up. I’ve got my retirement lined up. I’m not responsible for those ‘other’ folk, those interlopers, those mentally ill, drug-taking ne’er-do-wells who lack all initiative to better themselves. The last thing I want to do is to understand the mechanism that rendered them homeless.” 

When you fill out your ballots (primary ballots are mailed this week) watch for this data-denial—and don’t be fooled by “non-partisan”-labelled campaign signs with blue trim. These people will all pay lip service to looking favorably on the Spokane Regional Authority for Homelessness, Housing, Health and Safety’s proposal. If elected, they will likely balk at supporting it for reasons of their underlying data-poor prejudgment. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. Consider mobility. Once a person is rendered homeless, out on the street or in one’s run down car or aged RV with all that remains of one’s belongings, just how mobile is that person? In that circumstance it is hard enough to protect one’s “stuff” while trying to make connections to basic local help. For most of these people the thought of traveling to, for example, sunny San Diego to “live the good life on the public dole” is unimaginable. That sort of mobility common to those with the means to travel, is nothing more than a pipe dream to those living on the streets.

Is this the soul of the national and local Republican Party?

Brian Noble wears at least two hats. He is the Pastor of the Valley Assembly of God Church on E. Broadway just east of Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley. He is also the new chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party, as a result of a Steve Bannon-inspired political coup in January of this year. (A coup you can read about here.) 

On May 18, 2023, Chairman Brian Noble interviewed City of Spokane Valley City Council Member Rod Higgins in a Facebook video posted to the SpokaneGOP’s Facebook page. Perhaps a third of the twenty-one minute video was a discussion between Higgins and Noble of the issue of homelessness, particularly as it affects Spokane Valley. Higgins comments centered on the common Republican lines asserting that providing any services to the homeless is “an enablement,” that the homeless need to rely on their “personal responsibility,” and that most homeless people, the supposed “9 out of ten who are mentally ill, drug addicted, or ‘just want to live on the street’” should just “move on” to someplace that calls themselves a “sanctuary city or something like that”. (Watch the video to for the full effect.) As a frequent flier with Cecily Wright’s Northwest Grassroots, a local far right organization that memorably hosted the white supremacist James Allsup, I suppose no one would expect anything less from Higgins. 

But then SpokaneGOP Chairman and Pastor Brian Noble felt the need to chime in:

[9:25] Brian Noble: “In fact when you look at it [taking care of the homeless] from a gigantic worldview, you know, the government’s primary job is the safety of its citizens—and it’s the church’s responsibility, the benevolence, of/for those citizens. And so, ahhh, I think when we back up, you know, there comes accountability when you do that through the nonprofits or the churches, right?  And I’m not thinking nonprofits that are just nonprofits based only, that are funded, by the government—but a “true” nonprofit.”

That seems perfectly clear. Our homeless neighbors—to Pastor Noble—are apparently not citizens of this country, since their safety, like surviving unhoused in the cold or the heat, avoiding starvation, protecting themselves from depredations by lawless people—for him—that doesn’t come under the rubric of the government’s primary job of ensuring the “safety” of its “citizens”. 

For “Pastor” Noble, no government money should be spent taking care of these non-citizens. Any help they receive ought to be supplied by churches or by “true” non-profits, defined as groups that receive no government-provided funds. Hmmm. One might imagine a line of mega-church pastors, including “Pastor” Noble, engaged in homeless outreach spurred on by the Christian spirit, right?

Well, one had best re-think that. Here’s Pastor Noble in his own words a little earlier in the video expounding on his interaction with homeless people:

[6:10] Brian Noble: “I know at Valley Assembly where I pastor I know that every day we’re addressing the issue [of homeless people]. We’re asking people to sleep somewhere else or, you know, as compassionately as we can, we’re giving them water or something to drink or eat and then trying to get them to move along, you know. It’s definitely an issue in the Valley as well.”

[8:00] Brian Noble: “We try to…you know…we try to show compassion but it’s very limited—and to get them to move along. We’re not disrespectful or anything, but we are firm—you’re not gonna be sleeping in our stairwells or whatever!”

Can Brian Noble hear the twisted-ness of his own statements? This, apparently, is the “Christianity” of the far right leadership of the local Spokane County Republican Party, a party that tasks church charity with helping the homeless—but sports a “Pastor” who quickly adds, “But not my church!” Listen for this contorted rhetoric and avoid the candidates who espouse in the lead up to the August 1 Primary Election due date. After all, Brian Noble speaks for the local Republican Party. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. I cannot now retrieve it, but early on in her administration I vividly recall Mayor Woodward, who poses as devout, quoted in a news article expressing surprise and disappointment that more churches hadn’t stepped up to the task of feeding and housing homeless people.