Dear Group,
I understand the voters of the City of Spokane rejected Cathy McMorris Rodgers by a 14 point margin in the 2018 General Election. (See P.S.) Considering those 14 points, having “Favors Republican Party” as a label on the ballot in the City of Spokane ought to be electoral poison.
This was no more evident than in the Spokesman article by Adam Shanks that appeared Sunday, September 22, with the online title, Gov. Jay Inslee endorses Ben Stuckart, while Nadine Woodward bolsters support among business, law enforcement groups. In the face of Inslee’s unprecedented endorsement of Stuckart (for a non-partisan municipal race), Ms. Woodward is quoted, ““I’m running as a nonpartisan, that race is nonpartisan, so I have not sought out the endorsement of partisan elected officials. My priority has been to seek out endorsements of people who are involved in the issues that are important to me.” Whose endorsement might she otherwise seek? McMorris Rodgers? Matt Shea? Donald Trump? No, better for her not to go there…
Meanwhile, Stuckart has the endorsements of State Sen. Andy Billig and State Reps. Marcus Riccelli and Timm Ormsby, all Democrats representing Legislative District 3 (which largely overlaps the City of Spokane), and, “U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell has not officially endorsed Stuckart, but she headlined a campaign fundraising event for him on Friday.”
Nadine Woodward is just the most prominent among the slate of Republican candidates that wealthy interests, many from outside the City of Spokane, want to install as our city government. Woodward wants us to vote for her as the trusted non-partisan talking head on the TV in our living rooms. Woodward and her handlers really, really don’t want her Republican credentials front and center. The folks representing the Spokane GOP at the Interstate Fair, standing among their WeBelieveWeVote placards, apparently didn’t get the memo. When asked if they had any Woodward signs, they were anxious to reassure me that Woodward was “one of us” but that she was trying to keep it quiet for the purposes of a “non-partisan” election.
Cindy Wendle’s story is much the same. My friend and former neighbor, the one who asserted to me that Trump was a great President because “he moved the Embassy to Jerusalem” is related to Ms. Wendle. When I asked her about Ms Wendle, the first thought from my former neighbor wasn’t something about Ms. Wendle’s values or expertise, but rather, “She’s non-partisan!” How odd, thought I at the time, that a non-partisan candidate like Ms. Wendle should have her campaign paraphernalia prominently displayed at the Spokane GOP’s booth at the Spokane Interstate Fair while a staunchly Evangelical extended family member offers “non-partisan” as the first thing to be considered.
I want a City government that works in the best interests of the citizens of the City of Spokane, not a government stymied at every turn by Republican ideologues dressed up in “non-partisan” clothing whose elections have been bought by real estate special interests.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry
P.S. This general blueness of the City of Spokane precincts is visible on this map at FiveThirtyEight, after you enter “Spokane, WA” and click “Submit.” Seeing that blueness requires awareness of the boundaries of the City of Spokane, since the City is considerably bluer than its surround. The article, mostly based a study of the voting patterns within “Metropolitan Statistical Areas” (MSA) is also worth looking at more generally, but the text is a little confusing because it considers “Spokane” as the MSA rather than the municipal entity we are addressing here in this election. FiveThirtyEight (the number of electors in the Electoral College) is a polling aggregation website run by Nate Silver.