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This is quite a story, but it’s long. The plea is to help out a great progressive candidate settle campaign debt. Think of this as an email version of GoFundMe .(Except this isn’t “Me”) Click here to donate.

Dear Group,

I supported Naghmana Sherazi‘s candidacy for Spokane City Council, Position 1 of District 1 (NE Spokane, N of I-90, E of Division, i.e. Hillyard plus). This seat was just vacated by the hard right Mike Fagan. Fagan term limited out of the seat after two 4 year terms. However, do not conclude District 1 is all Matt Shea-style hard-right Republican. Consider that the other City Council seat from District 1 is occupied by Kate Burke, one of the most progressive voices on the City Council. (Kate was elected to her seat in 2917 over Tim Benn, an acolyte of Fagan, 4799 to 3430 votes.) 

Spokane District 1, while containing nearly the same population, consistently lags the other two City of Spokane Districts in civic engagement in voting. For example, in this August’s Primary election only slightly more than 9000 votes were cast in District 1 in contrast to roughly 16,000 and 18,000 in the other two districts. In District 1, even more so than the rest of Spokane, elections are determined by the level of voter motivation to actually cast a ballot.

I met Naghmana Sherazi at several local functions and fundraisers. She is bright, energetic, personable, and embedded in local community service organizations. (Click on her name above to read her bio.) I expected her story would resonate at the doorstep with registered voters who had been too discouraged or pre-occupied with making ends meet to participate in previous local primary elections. I knew she was committed to meeting as many of these voters as possible. Indeed, over the Primary campaign she knocked on over 6,000 doors. Kate Burke’s success against Tim Benn for the other District 1 seat in 2017 offered a lot of hope.

So what happened?

Running for office is complicated, even on a local level. It requires attention to accounting detail, website development and management, fundraising, and hours and hours knocking on doors and talking with potential voters. Even local candidacy is not for the naive, disorganized, or faint of heart. With help and encouragement from Emerge Washington, a group dedicated to helping progressive women run for office, Naghmana filed with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) on March 14th. 

Jerrall Haynes, a sitting member of the Spokane School District 81 School Board, filed with the PDC nine days later on March 23. Another progressive-leaning candidate with diversity credentials, Jerrall trailed Naghmana in fundraising (12K to Naghmana’s 21K) but persisted in his candidacy. The local Democratic Party, faced with limited funds and two appealing candidates, stood back and waited for the results of the Primary. 

Meanwhile, the two main Republican candidates for the District 1 seat, Michael Cathcart and Tim Benn, filed with the PDC on May 20 and May 29. two months after Naghmana and Jerrall. Benn is Mike Fagan’s protege. Cathcart is a builder who, among other things, sits in on the Governmental Affairs Committee meetings of the Spokane Association of Realtors, the group whose “independent” PAC spent $9,615.78 in “independent” support of his candidacy. 

The primary results?

Tim Benn     2,370

Michael Cathcart     2,121

Naghmana Sherazi     1,612

Jerrall Haynes     1,166

Benn activated Mike Fagan’s far right base. Cathcart benefited by his connections with the Realtors (all perfectly legal and “independent”, of course.). Naghmana and Jerrall awakened a bunch of disaffected voters by knocking on doors, turning out a lot of folks who ordinarily don’t pay attention to the primaries. BUT: they split the progressive vote. Now District 1 has a choice between two Republican political insiders, one with the support of builders and the Realtors’ PAC, the other with the support of the Matt Shea-allied far right. It is a sad choice delivered to the General Election ballot. 

I saw Naghmana again at a PJALS function last week. She remains enthusiastic about her efforts and sounds wants to remain engaged, but her campaign is $6000 in debt (not yet reflected on the PDC website).  A single wealthy donor cannot swoop in and pay off this debt, even if one were available. By law, the maximum any one individual can contribute to a candidate for the Primary is $500. Unlike a Michael Cathcart or an Andrew Rathbun (see P.S. below), Naghmana cannot afford to self-fund the campaign debt. She is a single mother of a teenager, living in an apartment. Her full time position as the Office Manager and Community Coordinator for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Gonzaga yields gross pay of $36,000 a year. She holds a Masters Degree and is working on a Ph.D. 

I want this Naghmana’s political enthusiasm to live on to run another day. I want her creditors to be made whole in a timely fashion without her paying the debt out of her wages. I encourage you to donate what you can here or send a check made out to People for Naghmana and send it to People for Naghmana, 8711 N. Colton St., Apt C, Spokane, WA 99218. (Donations to political campaigns are not deductible.)

 

I personally lack the temperament and fortitude to run for office. That makes it more important for me to support good people who have those qualities and share my values, people like Naghmana, with the skills to be effective and the enthusiasm and faith in our governmental processes to step forward and run.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. Read of the Rathbun shenanigans here. He has contributed 29K to his own campaign. He already used his personal wealth to break open the campaign cash box for Nadine Woodward’s mayoral campaign–before he shifted and settled in to oppose Karen Stratton in District 3 (NW Spokane). Rathbun is a Spokane landlord who (like Cathcart, Woodward, and Wendle) is supported by the mega-expenditures of the WA Realtors PAC. (“independent” expenditures…of course)

P.P.S. Naghmana was born in Pakistan and grew up in Karachi. She has six brothers and sisters. Her dad was a commercial airline pilot whose position afforded Naghmana and her siblings the chance to see some of the world. She moved permanently to the United States in 2008. She embarked on her City Council campaign less than a year after she became a naturalized citizen of the U.S., exhibiting a level of civic enthusiasm few U.S. natives possess.

Dear Group,

The “Independent Expenditures” by WA Realtors PAC stand out like a monstrous sore thumb. As of August 22, 2019, publicly available reports at the Washington Public Disclosure Commission show the WA Realtors Political Action Committee (WA RPAC) has already spent $175,044.20 in support of four candidates for positions in the City of Spokane municipal government, specifically, Woodward, Wendle, Rathbun, and Cathcart.

This is a Citizens United-enabled effective 50% addition to the campaign coffers of these four candidates. (Before the Citizens United Supreme Court decision of 2010 such expenditures were regulated and limited. Click the link for explanation.)

Let’s first look at where the WA Realtors PAC money comes from and where it is spent.( In a later I will try to address why WA RPAC is spending so much money on mail and internet in favor of these candidates.) 

A spreadsheet of all the donations made to the WA Realtors PAC can be downloaded from the WA RPAC’s listing on the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission’s website. Working with that spreadsheet it is easy to isolate all the contributions made to WA RPAC from Spokane and Spokane Valley residents. Those donations total $57,911.50. Well, that’s interesting. That means $117,132.70 of the money spent by WA RPAC to influence the City of Spokane Primary municipal elections came from outside the region. That outside-Spokane-and-Spokane Valley money is a quarter of the total amount of direct campaign funds spent on the primaries by all the mayoral, council president, and councilperson candidates combined ($487,669.94 according to the Spokesman).

If the WA Realtors PAC had the best interests of the businesses and workers of Spokane in mind one might expect the PAC would spend their $175,044.20 supporting local Spokane businesses. According to filings publicly available at PDC.org, every penny of that $175,044.20 was spent in Denver, Colorado, with a company called Access Marketing. Every penny went to buy “Online Ads” and “Direct Mail” with that Denver company. Not a cent went to a Spokane company or a Spokane worker. That’s what the Washington Realtors PAC thinks of Spokane business and Spokane workers..

Takehome message: The WA Realtors Political Action Committee is using money from elsewhere and they spending it elsewhere in an “independent” effort to buy the Spokane municipal elections for Woodward, Wendle, Cathcart, and Rathbun. Why is outside money trying to buy the Spokane elections? What does this PAC think it is buying? Who controls this PAC? Topics for another day.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. Of that roughly $58,000 from residents of Spokane and Spokane Valley $36,995 came in donations of $35 each from 1057 of the roughly 2000 dues paying members of the Spokane Association of Realtors (SAR). Mostly these are local realtors who simply check-marked the “donate $35 to RPAC” button when they renewed their memberships. Many had no idea they would be supporting a tight slate of Republican candidates for these nominally “non-partisan” positions.

I’m supposedly on vacation, but this ought not wait. I plan to publish it again on September 4 in place of composing another post.

Dear Group,

The Spokane County Interstate Fair runs from Friday, September 6, to Sunday, September 15. Matt Shea and his theocratic 51st Staters (State of Liberty) have reserved a booth at the Fair. That has become the subject of controversy. At the booth they will soft peddle the theocratic, revolutionary side of their idea. Surely, if you stop at the booth, you will hear talk of the “conservatism” of eastern Washington and how “we” in eastern Washington are always voted down by those terrible liberals on the west side of the state. You will hear how a 51st State (to be composed of what is now Washingotn east of the Cascades and, maybe, just maybe, parts of Idaho, Oregon, and Montana) will give “us” conservatives a greater voice. Everything presented will sound oh so reasonable to the average moderate conservative unfamiliar with the theocratic, militant background of this movement. 

Please click and read the Spokesman article by Chad Sokol “51st state supporters reserve booth at Spokane County Interstate Fair, draw scrutiny” from Saturday, August 24th. I want to provide a little background. René Holaday, aka Lady Liberty, hosts a “Liberty State Radio” podcast. Take a moment and listen to her introductory broadcast at the RedoubtNews.com website, “Liberty State Radio – Episode 19-01 – Intro” (If you’ve never heard of the “American Redoubt,” it is time. It is the descendant of the Aryan Nations. It has grown fat on electronic media in the Inland Northwest while we slept.)

Ms. Holaday in her podcast is far clearer than the folks who man the booth at the county fair will likely be. She is indeed the author of a book. The synopsis of the book at Amazon is a mandatory read: “The Perils of Sustainable Development.” The book taps right in to themes you can hear on youtube and from many pulpits in Evangelical churches: the evils of the United Nations, the “New World Order,” the threat to our “liberty.” Implied, but not quite stated, is the underlying sense of a grand, evil conspiracy against “us,” the chosen people. Be afraid, get ready to fight, the forces of evil are gathering against the Chosen, the End Times are nigh!

Ms. Holaday was recently fired from her position as legislative aide to Matt Shea. A less than careful reader of Sokol’s Spokesman article might suspect a rift between Shea and Holaday. Not so. As Daniel Walters explains in lengthy detail in an Inlander article referenced in the Spokesman, Holiday was not fired by Shea, but by Chief Clerk’s Office of the Washington State House of Representatives. She was fired for her involvement in Liberty State rallies. (Read the Inlander article. It provides a lot of detail.)

Holaday’s statement at the Liberty State rally last May, “It’s either going to be bloodshed or Liberty State.” was published in the Spokesman. Walters, of the Inlander, pressed Holaday for an explanation:

“What we’re doing with Liberty state, we’re offering a peaceful option of dividing the state rather than having to defend your rights in whatever way you decide you might need to,” Holaday says. “How much illegal stuff can be done before people can start feeling like they’re cornered? That’s why this Liberty state [proposal] is so awesome. It gives people the peaceful option and a legal way out where they’re not forced into that corner.”

Read that again: “..peaceful option…rather than having to defend your rights in whatever way you decide you might need to.” Holaday is just restating her “bloodshed” comment in different words. Wow. It’s Liberty State or armed revolution for her! This is scary stuff, well beyond just participating in a rally (the ostensible reason for the Chief Clerk to fire her). Notice that Shea, who routinely refuses to talk to the “godless” media, is mum.

Some might argue to “simply ignore them and they’ll go away.” It is way beyond that. In this era of organizing and propagandizing electronically, Holaday, Shea, Fagan, Benn, the Redoubters in North Idaho and all their fellow travelers have stolen the march while most us have slept. The Aryan Nations did not go away because they were ignored. Neither will their descendants. It is time to educate ourselves on the ideology of this movement, expose the candidates and elected officials who endorse it, shun them, and vote them out of office. People who tote assault weapons, train youth in “biblical warfare,” and threaten bloodshed if they don’t get their 51st State have no business with a booth at the County Fair.

Go to http://chng.it/pGgbbXddx7 and sign the petition. 

Please share widely. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

I know I’m suppose to be on vacation, but…

Dear Group,

I direct your attention to Wednesday morning’s front page Spokesman article entitled “Spokane Mayor David Condon, police Chief Craig Meidl say state Rep. Matt Shea is unfit for office” I recommend reading it carefully, with particular attention to who is mum and who is soft-pedaling. Explore the links to other articles on Matt Shea’s behavior and ask yourself what it says about an elected official or a candidate who does NOT call for Shea’s resignation. 

Ozzie Knezovich has condemned Shea’s behavior for years. In spite of Knezovich’s high profile opposition to Shea, every other local Republican elected official or candidate from McMorris Rodgers on down has winked and nodded. All either supported Shea or remained agnostic about Shea’s behavior. even as his infamy has spread to the national media. (See MeetMattShea.com for an up-to-date archives of Shea’s stunts.).McMorris Rodgers accepted Shea’s endorsement in last fall’s election.

Read the Spokesman article carefully. Take note that David Condon (Mayor of the City of Spokane) is the only elected official or candidate with strong Republican ties (besides Knezovich) newly willing to call for Shea to step down. What distinguishes David Condon from the rest of the pack? Condon is a lame duck. He is termed out of office at the end of this year. Condon is not dependent on Shea’s wing nut supporter’s votes to stay in office. The Republican candidate for Mayor (yes, I realize it is a nominally “non-partisan” race, but no one paying attention believes that any more), the Republican candidate to replace Mayor Condon, Nadine Woodward, “was critical of Shea’s words and actions, but did not call for his resignation.” Which camp is she in? Is she afraid she’ll lose if she riles Shea’s fellow travelers? 

The three Republican County Commissioners, French, Kerns, and Kuney, also declined to call for Shea’s resignation. Al French says, “it’s up to the voters to decide.” He doesn’t even want to suggest to his voting base that he, Mr. French, disagrees with Shea’s antics. What does that tell us about Mr. French?

Rod Higgins, the Mayor of the City of Spokane Valley, comes to Shea’s defense: “Spokane Valley Mayor Rod Higgins questioned the credibility of recent news reports.” This is the local version of screaming, “Fake News!!” Should we be surprised at Higgins? Hardly. He is on the same fringe with Shea. You can see him in action at a gathering of NWGrassroots at 38:36 in this video of the group hosting James Allsup, the white supremacist student activist at WSU who carried a torch at Charlottesville. 

What of Shea’s fellow representatives to the Washington State Legislature from Legislative District 4, State Senator Mike Padden and State Representative McCaslin Jr.? Padden wants the voters to decide. As a Shea sympathizer, Padden wouldn’t want to anger any of the base. And what of Bob McCaslin, i.e. McCaslin Jr., Shea’s sidekick in the Legislature? The Spokesman article never mentions him, a glaring omission for which McCasliin Jr. is no doubt very thankful…

What does it say about the local Republican Party that no one other than Sheriff Knezovich and lame duck Mayor Condon will call for Shea to step down? Contemplate that. Research the cast of characters in this article. Commit there positions to memory. Discuss them and their positions with all who will. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

Dear Group,

I think this sounds interesting. I plan to attend and I thought some of you might want to as well. Here’s the link: https://nextdoor.com/events/3149221/?init_source=other_share

The speaker is Matthew Avery Sutton, professor of history at WSU in Pullman and author of several acclaimed books in this subject area. The most recent is American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism from 2017. 

The Chosen Voters: Evangelicals in Modern America

South Hill Branch of the Spokane Public Library, 3324 W Perry St.

Tuesday, August 20, 6:30-7:30PM

Evangelical Christians are the strongest religious voting block in America, despite being a relatively new coalition. How did they come to hold such power? WSU historian Matthew Sutton traces the history of the religious right in America, from its early roots, to its rise to power under Ronald Reagan, to its enthusiastic support of Donald Trump. Feeling besieged by secularism, family breakdown, and government encroachment, evangelicals have taken to the pulpit and the airwaves to explain how Biblical end-times prophecies make sense of a ravaged modern world. What does this mean for our current political system, and how might the coalition change? Explore the history and meaning behind this uniquely American movement. 6:30pm @ South Hill Library

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. The next new post will be on September 4, unless something else like this comes up.

Dear Group,

I plan to return to MWF emails on Wednesday, September 4, when life in Spokane is supposed to return to normal after smoke season, the time formerly known as August. I may send an occasional email before September 4, but I need relief from my self-imposed thrice weekly deadline and from the overwhelming flood of material to learn and write about. It is time for a vacation.

The Spokesman on Thursday morning was rife with material worth reading and analyzing:

Realtors’ investment in Spokane elections pays dividends details the Association of Washington Realtors’ huge “independent expenditure” to buy their candidates a place on Spokane’s November General Election ballot. It is no surprise that the article is full of Nadine Woodward’s, Cindy Wendle’s, Andy Rathbun’s, and Michael Cathcart’s disingenuous claims of campaign’s independence of the Realtors’ money. Those words must be said again and again for the Citizens United (Part I, Part II, and Part III) ruling to offer legal cover from campaign finance regulation. The wealthy Realtors union (which, after all, is what the Association of Realtors functions as) won’t spend a couple hundred thousand dollars for nothing. What do they think they’re buying?

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers defends right to own guns, criticizes Donald Trump’s rhetoric in Spokane town hall deserves a thorough read. A more accurate headline would insert the word “lamely” before “defends,” but that would be too much interpretation of the content.

Spokane City Council president race narrows to contest between two very different candidates was in the print edition as “COUNCIL PRESIDENT: BEGGS OR WENDLE Fagan’s eight years on council will end.” Readers need to keep in mind that Wendle poses questions but proposed no solutions (a lot like Woodward). Beggs has a plan and is already enmeshed in the governmental mechanics of addressing the issues based on facts, while Ms. Wendle is planning, in her own words “to go find out what really the heck is going on.”  Wendle is a co-owner of Northtown Square Shopping Center, she manages a commercial real estate portfolio, and she is one of the candidates supported by the Realtors. If her real agenda were to understand and solve the problems of downtown Spokane she wouldn’t still be wondering what “is going on.”

From (only) the print version of the Beggs/Wendle article: “If progress has been made under current leadership, Wendle asked why she’s spoken with people afraid to go downtown and mothers afraid to take their children to a park.” There’s a very simple answer to that question, Ms. Wendle. It’s because you and your ilk never cease in your campaign literature and on Facebook to promote the idea that Downtown Spokane is a scary place to go. When did you last leave your shopping center?

Much to read, many people with whom to talk, much to think about, many doors to knock before November, but it is time to get out and breathe some smokey air. Until September 4,

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. For national perspective I recommend signing up for Doug Muder’s Monday emails, something you can do at his website The Weekly Sift in the lefthand column.

McMorris Rodgers is actually holding a town hall in Spokane. Wednesday, August 7, 2019 “Conversation with Cathy” Town Hall in Spokane When: 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM Where: Globe Room at Cataldo Hall, Gonzaga University Dear Group, McMorris Rodgers is back in area and back making the rounds of her supporters, carefully staying under the radar. The pressure is off. She’s confident. No longer do the ads on her website for her gatherings warn, **Space is limited. This event is first come, first served,** These new non-federal-election year gatherings, she believes, will be relaxed, with nice soft ball questions from the few faithful supporters who get her email invitations or bother to watch her website.  She needs to face questions on usurpation by the President of Congressional power (e.g. taking money from elsewhere to fund “the wall”), on immigration, on climate change, on white supremacy and violence, and she needs her answers recorded and dissected and amplified. Come to the town hall and have a “conversation.” Homework isn’t required, but might be interesting. What legislation she is sponsoring or cosponsoring in this Congress is available here. (Use the filters in the left hand column to see what she’s accomplished, e.g. click here to see the three bills she voted on so far this year that have been made law, that is, the Senate bothered to take them up and the President signed them). Here’s a link to a group that plans to attend the town hall: https://www.facebook.com/events/2384499241639929/ But don’t be too distracted today, Election Day, August 6:  Vote in the municipal elections if you haven’t–and remind everyone you meet to vote also. If you already voted, check at MyVote.wa.gov to confirm your ballot arrived. (Click “Ballot Status”). Not registered? Wonder where you ballot went? Jim Camden of the Spokesman reports it is even possible to fix that from 7AM to 8PM today in person at the main elections office, 1033 W. Gardner, or at the CenterPlace Event Center, 2426 N. Discovery Place in Spokane Valley Keep to the high ground, Jerry