Links to Resources
| Jerry LeClaireJul 30 |
ERRATUM: In Monday’s post, Money Talking in the Spokane Primary, I incorrectly named Riley Smith as a candidate for the City of Spokane City Council from District 1 (NE Spokane). The excellent candidate I failed to name for that position is Luc Jasmin III. Riley Smith is another excellent candidate, but he is running for one of the seats on the Spokane Public School’s Board of Directors. I apologize for my error and thank the reader who noted it.
POST:
This coming Tuesday, August 3, is the turn-in deadline for the primary election. A wide variety of local seats on city councils, school boards, fire districts in Washington State are on the ballot. This year we have an additional resource, newly required by state law, the county-wide “Official Voters’ Pamphlet”s. Spokane County’s Pamphlet is helpful, but voting solely on this guide is guesswork. Here’s the link to get you to a digital copy (as well as other election resources). The result of this “top two” primary will determine which candidates appear on the ballot this November. Do some homework and vote—if you don’t you have no grounds to complain that you don’t like any of the choices this fall.
A great deal of information about these candidates, who they are, where they’re coming from, whether they’re qualified, and some idea of what they mean to accomplish can be had by visiting a few websites.
My starting point is The Progressive Voters Guide. The Guide’s assessment is well worth reading even if you don’t consider yourself a progressive.
The Washington Public Disclosure Commission offers a huge trove of information on the candidates’ fund-raising and alliances. Reporting to the PDC is required by law. Since it covers the entire State of Washington navigating the site is a little complicated, but it is definitely worthwhile because the data is authoritative. Click my Primary Guides for help in locating the race and candidates you want to learn about. One addition: Be sure to explore the “Independent Expenditures” tab on a candidate’s page to get a glimpse of special interest support.
WeBelieveWeVote.org is also useful, but perhaps not for the reason one might think. Digging into the site as described in Primary Guides will eventually lead the reader to a copy of the Questionnaire any candidate who responded at all was required to fill out. This Questionnaire is a straightforward litmus test for hard right Republican pseudo-religious ideology. The website speaks of “our Christian values”. The Questionnaire reveals those values to include things like protecting “States Rights”. I do not recall that as a Christian value I was taught in Sunday School. The survey responses are revealing—and there to see if you dig.
Vote 411. On the non-partisan end of things, the League of Women Voters’ Education Fund offers another great voters’ guide and pages of voting information on its Vote 411 website. On that page just enter your street address under Personalized Voting Information to see whom of the candidates appearing on your particular ballot have responded and what they had to say.
The Spokane Public Radio website is a little clunky to find one’s way around, but you can listen to interviews with many candidates by going to SPR’s search page and entering the candidate name.
Don’t procrastinate. Do your homework and turn in your ballot over the weekend (if you haven’t already). Let’s have the best choices we can get for the November general election.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry