Local Republican Soul-Searching

Dear Group,

This evening, May 20, a distinct group of local Republicans, “The Republicans of Spokane County,” (distinct from the larger and more extreme “Spokane County Republicans”) are meeting at 6:30PM at the Fairfield Inn on Argonne in Spokane Valley. I’ve reproduced the invitation, forwarded to me by a friend on their mailing list (the bold is mine):

Sharia Law, Antifa, Left Wing Extremism…….all the things we hate and stand against. 

Yet, when far right activities occur in our own back yard……….crickets.  Are we complicit?  What can we do? Are these two sides of the same coin?

Please join us at the Fairfield Inn on Argonne and Mission at 6:30, on May 20, 2019 for our May meeting featuring Senator John Smith.  John’s unique history gives him insights to the story you may not have heard.

We need to have a serious discussion as Republican voters on the direction we are heading in our region.

Please like our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RepublicansofSpokane/ and refer to our meeting post for more information!

Beva L. Miles

Chair

Republicans of Spokane County
http://www.republicansofspokane.com/

It seems that at least a few Republicans have gotten the message about Rep. Matt Shea (State Rep from Legislative District 4, Spokane Valley and points north). Shea has been featured in national media, most recently in yet another article in The Guardian on May 9. (That article provides a fairly comprehensive summary of Shea’s wingnut activities, ongoing for at least a decade. It is worth reading if you haven’t.)

The only Republican who has publicly called out Matt Shea and the lunatic wing of the Republican Party Shea represents is Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich. Others, particularly Washington State representatives from Legislative District 7 (NE Washington) specifically avoid the topic. McMorris Rodgers accepts Shea’s endorsement. (Is she fearful that if she were to come out against Shea she would lose her white supremacist and Redoubter support?) 

Who is “Senator” John Smith and what is his unique history that offers him insight? Mr. Smith was appointed to fill the State Senate position for LD7 (NE Washington) left open due to the terminal illness of Senator Bob Morton. (Morton was the man for whom McMorris Rodgers worked right out of Pensacola Christian College and the man on whose coattails McMorris Rodgers became a State Rep from LD7 when Morton became Senator.)

John Smith was appointed to the State Senate January 4, 2013 by the vote of 13 of 15 County Commissioners (of the five counties all or part of which are in LD7, Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille, most of Okanogan, and the northern part of Spokane ). Less than a year later to December 6, 2013 Mr. Smith was defeated by Brian Dansel in a low turnout special election. (Dansel was replaced by Shelley Short in 2017 when Dansel took a position as a “special assistant” in the USDA). 

A the time of his appointment Mr. Smith was vice chairman of the Stevens County Republican Party. What happened, what is his “special insight” that shines light on “far right activities” in eastern Washington? After all, Mr. Smith never won an election and served less than a year in public office.

For an eastern Washington Republican, Mr. Smith sounds like a pretty reasonable guy, at least in the Spokesman article about his appointment in 2013. His story might be worth hearing…

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. Do take note of the things “we hate and stand against…Sharia Law, Antifa, Left Wing Extremism” in the ad for this meeting. Why does this sound to me more like declaration of articles of faith than anything grounded in reality? Is anyone aware of any credible evidence of efforts to install Sharia law in eastern Washington? Activities of “Antifa”? I haven’t ever seen anything locally and very little nationally to suggest the workings of Antifa. These are boogeymen, straw men, whose only purpose is the inflame the followers. It is a sad commentary on the divisive tactics of the right. And what is “left wing extremism” exactly? 

P.P.S. The 2013 special election for Bob Morton’s LD7 Senate seat was one of those in which the apparent underdog (Brian Dansel) won. Dansel, age 30, was a Ferry County Commissioner with total of candidate contributions of $42,614.76 going against an (appointed) incumbent, John Smith, with $127,517.59 in contributions. Of those contributions Smith even had more in individual contributors and contributions than Dansel. Incumbency and a thrice over monetary advantage couldn’t cut it. What went on here?