Where Was Cathy?

“Our” Representative in the U.S. House

Three days ago, in the wee hours of last Saturday morning, the fractious Republican majority (by a margin of five) in the U.S. House of Representatives finally elected Kevin McCarthy Speaker of the House—on the fifteenth ballot. It was a spectacle the like of which has not been seen since the House majority was divided by the issue of slavery in 1855. 

And a spectacle it was. Kevin McCarthy essentially abdicated decision-making to a rabid minority of Republicans in order to become the Speaker of the House (and the second in line for the presidency after the VP). 

To finally gather enough votes McCarthy made multiple concessions to fringe right Representatives Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, and four others—not to finally garner a YES vote from them—but just to get them to vote “PRESENT” and thereby lower the number required. (For details on the 15 votes click here.)

What did he give up? For that, the best I’ve found comes from Tyler Durden writing on the web at ZeroHedge. Durden acquired the information second hand from Roger L. Simon, the perennial right wing opinion writer for the Epoch Times. Simon apparently got it in writing from a freshman Republican congressman. (Concessions like this aren’t usually made public—it’s too embarrassing.)

Here they are quoted from ZeroHedge:

  1. As has been reported, it will only take a single congressperson, acting in what is known as a Jeffersonian Motion, to move to remove the Speaker if he or she goes back on their word or policy agenda.
  2. A “Church” style committee will be convened to look into the weaponization of the FBI and other government organizations (presumably the CIA, the subject of the original Church Committee) against the American people. [The original Church Committee, led by Senator Frank Church (D-ID), investigated abuses by U.S. Intelligence agencies, particularly the NSA and the CIA in the 1970s.]
  3. Term limits will be put up for a vote.
  4. Bills presented to Congress will be single subject, not omnibus with all the attendant earmarks, and there will be a 72-hour minimum period to read them.
  5. The Texas Border Plan will be put before Congress. From The Hill: “The four-pronged plan aims to ‘Complete Physical Border Infrastructure,’ ‘Fix Border Enforcement Policies,’ ‘Enforce our Laws in the Interior’ and ‘Target Cartels & Criminal Organizations.’”
  6. COVID mandates will be ended as will all funding for them, including so-called “emergency funding.”
  7. Budget bills would stop the endless increases in the debt ceiling and hold the Senate accountable for the same.

Of course, points one through six will form the basis for political performance, since none of this (for the next two years) has a chance of producing legislation that could pass in the Senate. However, the United States government, as a whole, is still dependent on the U.S. House of Representatives to appropriate funds and raise the debt ceiling so that the government can continue to function. (See Origination ClauseArticle I, Section 7, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution.) 

Since 1995 Republican majorities in the House have precipitated a debt ceiling crisis four times, holding the government hostage by threatening to trash the credit rating of the country if their conditions aren’t met. (See herefor an excellent summary of the debt ceiling, its history, and how it has been used.) In 2011 Tea Party Republicans precipitated a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating with this tactic. The current House Republican majority is an even more extreme direct descendant of these Republicans. 

It should have escaped no one that Kevin McCarthy’s rise to Speaker occurred just hours after the second anniversary of the Trumpian insurrection of January 6th, 2021. In an interview following the 15th vote, McCarthy profusely thanked “President Trump” (notably not “former President Trump”) for his help in corralling the necessary votes from House Republicans. The new Speaker of the House performed obeisance to the man who tried, by force, to trash the peaceful transfer of power. Remarkable.

“Our” Representative

What was Cathy McMorris Rodgers’, “our” U.S. Representative to the U.S. House from Congressional District 5 (CD5), eastern Washington, role in all this?

On Saturday morning the Spokesman carried an article entitled “Northwest lawmakers reflect on second anniversary of Jan. 6 Capitol riot”. I searched in vain for a comment from McMorris Rodgers concerning the insurrection put in motion by the man she had called her “positive disruptor”, Donald Trump. I expect that if she had to comment it would have been along these lines:

[U.S.] Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho Falls, said he didn’t see any connection between the mob that besieged the Capitol and the group of hard-right Republicans who have blocked McCarthy from the position he had long coveted.

Let’s move on, nothing to see here. What horse manure. McCarthy’s obeisance to Trump after the vote is a glaring reminder that House Republicans are still carrying water for the man responsible for January 6th. 

McMorris Rodgers voted fifteen times in a row for Kevin McCarthy, wishing, no doubt, to avoid last week’s blatant reminder what the Republican Party has become. A haggard-looking McMorris Rodgers appeared in this clip from a Washington Post video that features Jim Jordan. Right after this clip she shakes her head in apparent disgust. 

Always remember, though, that McMorris Rodgers is the consummate Republican Party team player, almost never deviating from the prescribed vote. I think it is safe to assume that when a debt ceiling vote comes up later in 2023 that she will (quietly) vote with the Republican block to hold the government hostage as Republicans did in 2011. She will cast that vote hoping that centrist and independent voters won’t notice. If that happens it will be our job to watch closely, explain what she and her party are doing, and hold her feet to the fire.

Her only public comment after the s__tshow over the Speakership? Widely reported (flagged by Google Alerts):

“These concessions have been agreed to by our conference, and ultimately I believe it’s going to lead to a more people-driven legislative process,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). “It’s about restoring more power and decision making to the members.” 

All in for Team Trump—don’t look back at January 6th—nothing to see there. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. In a great opinion piece in the Washington Post Dana Milbank cataloged some of what was happening on the House floor during over this crazy weekof McCarthy’s self-debasement in pursuit of the Speakership:

This week, Republicans referred to one another as the “Taliban” and “terrorists” and “hostage takers.” They traded obscenities in a caucus meeting. One of the anti-McCarthy Republicans, Matt Gaetz of Florida, publicly called McCarthy a “squatter” for prematurely occupying the speaker’s Capitol office.

In an appalling scene on the House floor Friday night, Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the incoming chairman of the Armed Services committee, lunged at holdout Gaetz and had to be pulled away. 

There was only one upside to the anarchy: The government no longer controlled the TV cameras in the House chamber. Americans at home could watch leaders huddling with rebels, far-right Gaetz conferring with far-left Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and the serial fabricator Santos sitting alone, discreetly picking his nose.

Gaetz referred to McCarthy as “someone who has sold shares of themselves for more than a decade” to get the job.

The holdouts had been given essentially everything they had asked for — and still, the extremists demanded more. “A deal is NOT done,” Perry, head of the House Freedom Caucus, tweeted Thursday afternoon.

“Somebody should check and make sure Kevin McCarthy still has two kidneys,” Adam Smith (Wash.), top Democrat on the Armed Services committee, quipped Friday.

By Friday evening, the rebels could hardly believe the breadth of McCarthy’s capitulation. “We’re running out of things to ask for,” Gaetz marveled.

McCathy, during 14 separate votes, was blocked from gathering a majority of those voting by as many as twenty votes of his Republican colleagues.

The one thing McCarthy didn’t try? Negotiating with Democrats. They could easily have given him the votes he needs to become speaker, in exchange for concessions. But bipartisanship is a nonstarter in McCarthy’s caucus.

Rather than negotiating with Democrats and exhibiting the bipartisanship to which a few Republicans still pay occasional lip service, McCarthy caved in to the demands of the farthest right of the Republican Party, people who, by and large, openly supported the January 6th insurrection, people who would happily hamstring the federal government rather than legislate.

The Al French Way

One More Power Play Before the County Commission Gets More Complicated

First a plug for RANGE Media. RANGE is a new (started April 2020), local, digital news outlet with (currently) three young writers, Luke Baumgarten, Valerie Osier, and Carl Segerstrom, who publish two or three times each week. The articles include an end of week concise guide to local government meetings with links to agendas and more. Here’s an example from Sunday, December 18, that I found very useful in constructing this post: New year, new jail? by Valerie Osier. The RANGE articles provide a richness and clarity on local issues and local government actions that one finds only sporadically in local print and television outlets. I urge you to sign up for the RANGE emails. There is a free option. I finally signed up for a paid subscription. I urge you to join me in supporting their work. 

The Al French way on the Spokane County Commission

This month—finally—the Spokane County Commission, the legislative and executive power of the county, seats five commissioners instead of three. Amber Waldref and Chris Jordan, elected last November, were sworn in to two new seats on the commission in a well-attended ceremony held on the coldest day of 2022, December 22. (YouTube video here. See P.P.S.) The prior three member commission, the standard in Washington State for small counties, consisted of Al French, Josh Kerns, and Mary Kuney. All three were re-elected to the commission under the new by-district election format that (by state law) replaced the older election scheme. (In the old system commissioners first had to survive an in-district top two primary, but then were elected in a county-wide contest.) Mr. French narrowly retained his seat in the new in-district election format, garnering 23,786 votes (51.6%) over Democrat Maggie Yates’ 22,279. 

It is no secret that Mr. French in particular did not take conversion to the new structure of county government lightly: he mounted a legal challenge to the new state law that mandated the new structure, a challenge that went all the way to the Washington State Supreme Court. He and his fellow plaintiffs lost. Most county voters probably didn’t notice. 

With the composition of the Spokane County Commission changing at the first scheduled “BoCC Regular Session Meeting” this month one might have naively thought that significant not-time-critical decisions could wait until the new commissioners were seated in January. At least one might have hoped that a prospective vote on such a decision might be announced ahead of time so the public would have a chance to weigh in—but that’s not the Al French way. (See P.S.)

In the way of Al French, the published agenda for the December 13th meeting of the Commission, the last “Regular Session Meeting” of the year (ifyou could even find it on the county website), buried the matter of putting up a referendum for next November in the “Consent Agenda”—a part of the meeting meant for routine items. Here’s the entry under “d” of the Consent Agenda Items:

In the matter of calling an Election within Spokane County to be held on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, and submitting to Electors a Proposition to impose a Two-Tenths of One Percent (0.2%) Sales and Use Tax equal throughout Spokane County, as authorized by RCW 82.14.450, the proceeds to be used by the County, Cities and Towns within Spokane County for Criminal Justice,Public Safety, and Behavioral Health purposes.

Since the Consent Agenda items are supposed to be routine, there is no public comment. Mary Kuney was out of town on county business, so the meeting—and the voting—was all up to Al French and Josh Kerns. 

You would be pardoned if, after reading this Consent Agenda item in full, you still weren’t sure of the intended use for the new revenue. Commissioner Kerns provided a hint.

From the Spokesman article on the new tax referendum:

“We have kicked this political football around for over a decade,” Kerns said. “It’s time for the voters’ voices to be heard.”

The “political football” is, of course, a new jail. Remarkable. If “We have kicked it…around for over a decade”, what is the emergency that requires that two good ‘ole boys, in the last meeting before a major change in county governance, to vote in a tax referendum that won’t be on the ballot for eleven months? I guess it’s just the Al French way. 

Whether or not we should support a 0.2% increase in the sales tax levied in Spokane County, one purpose of which is to build a new jail, depends greatly on the specifics. French and Kerns (grandly identified as “the Spokane County Commissioners”) provide a “news flash” with few details but a lot of glossy language about “Criminal Justice Improvements”. One expects that the 2023 municipal elections will be all about “law and order.”

Choosing a rise in sales tax as the method of funding a new jail by declaring this referendum in the last days of the old commissioner regime is strategically preemptive. Why choose an increased sales tax, absolutely the most regressive tax option, the option that falls most heavily on those who can least afford the extra burden? 

One hopes that the Al French way will play less well with the new five member commission. Mr. French, the most powerful elected law-making official in Spokane County, has cast his shadow over the operations of county government for far too long. Perhaps his need to usher in this jail funding referendum in such a rush is a sign that Mr. French fears that his grip on the levers of local power are about to loosen.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. We saw another example of the Al French way of power in the Zoom meeting in which [we have to suspect] he engineered the firing of the Spokane County Health Officer, Bob Lutz, in the middle of the Covid pandemic—a firing for which Amelia Clark, his inept administrative ally in the Spokane Regional Health District, ultimately resigned. 

P.P.S. Attendees at the swearing in ceremony for Amber Waldref and Chris Jordan on December 22 noted that current Spokane County Commissioners Josh Kerns and Mary Kuney also attended the ceremony, but Al French was conspicuously absent. Perhaps he was out of town for the holidays—or perhaps this was just another example of the Al French Way—staying out of the limelight while pulling the levers.

Republican Manufactured Immigration Crises

Intended Consequence of Republican Messaging?

Drumming up angst over caravans of immigrants coming from Central America, “rapists and murderers” all, were a key feature of Trump’s 2016 campaign. Rampant immigration was the justification for his “Build the Wall” rallies. Fox News was especially good at breathless coverage of the latest caravan. More recently, Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis’, a presidential aspirant, and Texas Governor Greg Abbot’s heartless stunts shipping legal asylum seekers north to score political points remind us that immigration remains an issue that Republicans find useful. 

Surges of migration from Central America are usually covered in the media as caused by gangs, political repression, and poor economic conditions in some Central American countries. But why do surges seem to happen in the lead up to elections, just in time to rile up fear and hate for electoral advantage? 

Thanks to Martha Raddatz and Thom Hartmann and a basic understanding of how people are motivated to make desperate migrations, we may have a better way of looking at the phenomenon. Start by asking yourself if you’ve ever heard a Democrat say anything about “open borders”. Then remind yourselves of the unified buzzword messaging that the Republican Party and right wing media are really good at.

I’ve copied Hartmann’s article below. I don’t always agree with the opinions he expresses in his almost daily The Hartmann Report, but I always find it interesting reading, and this time I really think he nailed it. 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

The Dirty Game Republicans are Playing with Desperate People’s Lives

Who on Earth would want to send thousands of desperate people to our Southern border just in time for every midterm facing a Democratic president? Who would be that crass and cynical?

Thom Hartmann Dec 20

Just a month ago we finished President Biden’s first midterm election and, as predictably as the sun rises in the east, right around election time and for the months afterward a wave of refugees and immigrants have shown up at our southern border.

This happens every two years when a Democratic President is in office. And finally the US news media seems to be getting a clue as to why. More about that in a moment.

Notwithstanding Fox “News” hysteria about a “caravan” of immigrants heading for the border during Obama’s last year as president, in the months leading up to the 2016 election, by that time, as Politico noted:

“In fiscal year 2017, the last year of the Obama administration and the first of Trump’s, 303,916 migrants were arrested by the Border Patrol. This was the lowest level in more than three decades.”

The last big “surge” was two years earlier, five months before President Obama’s second 2014 midterm elections. You may remember when the southern border was suddenly overwhelmed by an unexpected wave of immigrants and refugees and it was all over the news with apprehensions at 220,000, up from just 96,000 the non-election year before.

The crush of people “somebody” had sent to the United States was so intense Obama had to declare it an “urgent humanitarian situation,” thus enabling him to mobilize more resources to block or deal with the seemingly-unending stream of desperate humanity.

The same thing happened, mysteriously, during Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign; the severity of the border crisis during that election year led to President Obama taking executive actions that included creating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and an expansion of provisional waivers.

Who sent them and why do they so conveniently and predictably arrive just in time for elections (and echo for a few months afterwards)?

During Obama’s first midterm election, the fall and winter of 2010, another “sudden wave” of immigrants provoked Arizona to put into law the notorious “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.”

It famously allowed Arizona police to stop and even arrest people they suspected may look like “illegal immigrants,” and required police to investigate the immigration status of all persons detained. It was so odious that four of its major provisions were declared unconstitutional two years later by fellow Republicans on the US Supreme Court.

The wave of immigrants who hit our border in 1998, Bill Clinton’s last midterm election, was so severe that he initiated the Border Safety Initiative (BSI) and cut a joint-cooperation deal with Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo.

Four years earlier, the surge that showed up for the 1994 midterm election caused Clinton to produce and implement the first Border Patrol Strategic Plan.

Who on Earth would want to send desperate thousands of people to our Southern border just in time for every midterm facing a Democratic president? Who would be that crass and cynical?

ABC host and reporter Martha Raddatz interviewed Texas Governor Greg Abbott last weekend. As if on cue, he insisted the sudden tsunami of immigrants and refugees on his state’s southern border was all Biden’s fault.

But — finally, after decades! — a reporter had heard enough Republican bullshit about immigration and the border.

“You talk about the border wall, you talk about open borders,” Raddatz said to Abbott, “but I don’t think I’ve ever heard President Biden say, ‘we have an open border, come on over.’

“But people I have heard say it are you, are former President Trump, Ron DeSantis; that message reverberates in Mexico and beyond. So they do get the message that it is an ‘open border,’ and smugglers use all those kinds of statements.”

Bingo.

Whenever there’s a Democrat in the White House, literally hundreds of Republican politicians step up to the microphone or tell their local newspapers and radio stations about how the president has suddenly “opened up America’s southern border!!!”

It’s a lie, but they amplify it as hard as they can.

Those news stories and press releases make their way via social media and the internet to desperate people in Venezuela, Central America, and Mexico. Impoverished people there aren’t knowledgeable enough about American politics to see the message for the cynical political ploy it is, so they abandon home and family to begin the dangerous and often deadly trek to the US.

Democrats don’t say our borders are open, and, as far as I can tell, never have. In March of 2021 the rightwing Washington Examiner newspaper went on a search for Democrats proclaiming that we’d “opened!” the southern border in the first months of Joe Biden’s presidency.

They found nothing. Well, they found that both Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema had called the situation on our southern border “a crisis,” as well as a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan who was merely acknowledging the surge of immigrants. And a single Democratic mayor in Texas who also said it was a crisis. That’s it.

But literally hundreds of Republican politicians, just like they do every two years, have spent the past few months proclaiming to every despairing potential refugee south of our border that the door is wide open. Just google “open border” and “congressman,” “congresswoman,” or “senator” and you’ll get a list too long to print.

At the top of that list just from the past few months, of course, you’ll find the most contemptible Republican demagogues:

— Ted Cruz wants everybody south of our border to know that the “Biden Open Border Policy [is] A Very Craven Political Decision”;
— Rick Scott wants everybody to know that “Americans Don’t Want [Biden’s] Open Borders”;
— Marco Rubio says there’s “Nothing Compassionate About Biden’s Open Border Policies”;
— Rand Paul is so extreme he tells us Senator Rubio “is the one for an open border”;
— Josh Hawley says “Biden’s Open Border Policy Has Created a Moral Crisis”;
— Tom Cotton “Insists the Border is Wide Open”;
— Ron Johnson wants the world to know that “Our National Security is at Risk Because Democrats have Turned Border Security into a Partisan Issue”;
— Marjorie Taylor Greene “BLASTS Open Border Hypocrites”;
— Mo Brooks opposes “Socialist Democrats’ Open Border Policies for Helping Kill Americans”;
— Lauren Boebert says the “Root Cause” of the open border crisis “is in the White House”;
— Matt Gaetz “revealed a complex and deceitful agenda by Joe Biden’s Democrat administration to evade our Southern Border law enforcement”;
— Gym Jordan says “Biden’s Deliberate Support of Illegal Immigration Could Lead to Impeachment”;
— Kevin McCarthy says the Biden Administration has “Utterly Failed” to secure the “open border”;
— Elise Stefanik proclaims “Biden’s Open Border Policies have been a Complete Disaster.”
— Tom Cole’s website features “Biden’s Open Border America”;  
— Bob Goode brags about introducing legislation named the “Close Biden’s Open Border Act”;
— John Rose “Calls Out Biden’s Open Border Policies”;
— Paul Gosar claims Biden is “Destroying America with His Open Border Policies”;
— Roger Williams complains about the “Democrats’ Open Border Problem”;
— Tom Cole wants the world to know that Biden’s “open border policies have given the green light to migrants and bad actors from around the world…”;
— Gus Bilirakis “Denounces Dangerous Open Border Policies on the House Floor”;

The list goes on and on.

Democrats, on the other hand, only want people coming into the country legally and have tried to deal with the issue responsibly. That’s why they don’t shout so loud it can be heard in Venezuela that the US border is “open.” Most, in fact, refuse to even use the phrase, because it’s a naked political lie.

Every two years, this misanthropic Republican crew provokes a crisis on America’s southern border because it plays into their narrative that Democrats are encouraging more Brown people — “soon-to-be Democrat voters” they call them on rightwing hate radio — to come to the USA to “replace” good upstanding white people.

Lest you think this biennial Republican rhetoric isn’t a cynical political ploy but is, instead, a good-faith effort to identify and fix a problem, look at the vote recently on legislation that would update our immigration system and fund a more effective border patrol. Only five Republicans could bring themselves to say “yes” to doing something about this situation.

Image
From Rhonda Harbison on Twitter

Republicans are playing a dirty game with people’s lives. Somebody needs to ask these degenerate political SOBs:

“What it would take for you to leave your home with all your possessions in a small bag and travel a thousand miles on foot risking rape, robbery, kidnapping, torture, and the murder of yourself and your family members?”

There’s not a single Republican in Congress with half the courage of these men, women, and children who have risked everything — including their own lives — to answer the “Open Borders!!!” call the GOP puts out every two years just to score political points against Democratic presidents.

Thank G-d for Martha Raddatz. Hopefully more reporters will start asking Republicans why they hang out the welcome sign every two years and then blame Democrats when desperate people answer their call.

News Over the Holidays

Where was our attention focused?

Since Christmas there has been a welcome lull in local, regional, and even national news. Stories seem to bubble quietly in a cold, wet winter background as we slide into the new year. The filling of my email inboxes, text messages, and cell phone push notifications blessedly slacked off for the holidays. 

Of course, the right wing rage machine kept cranking away. My electronic feed from the Epoch Times continued apace. The Epoch Times is considered eminently trustworthy, a must-read “news” outlet, by an alarming number of my Republican friends and acquaintances. The ET presents me with a steady stream of click-bait headlines worthy of the old National Enquirer, headlines suggesting new ground-breaking information about the horrors of vaccines, Hunter Biden’s laptop, and the revealed injustices against “free speech” on Twitter before Elon Musk welcomed back trolling misogynists, white supremacists, and Christian Nationalists. 

The one story that was fed to us every day over the holidays by local (and national) news outlets was the grisly murder of four young students at the University of Idaho. The publicly know facts remain slim: three young women and one young man were murdered, apparently in their sleep, in their apartment, by at least one assailant wielding a sharp weapon on November 13th. After more than a month a 28 year old Ph.D. student in the department of criminal justice and criminology who was studying at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, a short drive away from the U of I, was arrested in Pennsylvania and charged with the murders. He will be extradited. That is most of what is publicly known, and yet the reading and watching public all over the nation seems insatiable for every detail and the media obliged (or was it the other way around?). 

I am as horrified by this story as the next person—but reading each succeeding article adds very little to what I actually know. One day there will likely be a trial, then a book, then maybe a documentary like the recent Netflix series on Jeffrey Dahmer, but for now most of what we read and hear is speculation, quotes from (usually un-identified) sources said to be friends, relatives, and acquaintances of the victims and the accused—plus a accusation made by one deranged Texas TikTok mystic. Nonetheless, the articles keep appearing—and we keep reading them. 

I find myself stepping back to ask why we, and the media, are so captivated by this particular murder story while most unsolved murders, even local ones, disappear from the news in a just a few days. I suspect that the answer lies in our inability to mentally distance ourselves from these young people and their families. These were promising lives of three young women and one young man snuffed out in their prime for no reason we can identify. There is no hint of nefarious activity that might, in some warped person’s mind, have marked them for murder, nothing about their behavior that can set them apart from the people we are, were, or know. Their deaths are terrifyingly random and far too close to home geographically and emotionally. They remind us of our own, our children’s, and our friends’ potential mortality. We cannot look away—and, importantly, the mostly white, college-educated reporters covering these murders also cannot look away—it is all just too close. The articles keep coming and we keep reading with morbid fascination. It would be good of us to remind ourselves why we cannot break free—and to remember that other crime victims probably merit—but often do not receive—such rapt attention.

I mostly do not do Twitter, but occasionally I get wind of something that makes me smile. I leave you today with a link to 19 year old Greta Thunberg’s deflation of puffed up he-man Andrew Tate, a put down that not only rocketed to one of the most liked tweets of all time, but which may have led to Tate’s and his brother’s arrest soon thereafter in Romania on a charge of human trafficking. The exchange was covered by dozens of media outlets. It case you missed it, here’s a link to one of them. Good for Greta!

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

Christmas to New Year Break

And an Interesting Reading Recommendation

I plan to return to writing next week on January 2, 2023. The City of Spokane City Council and Spokane County Commissioners don’t re-convene until next year—and I need to recharge my batteries. 

Meanwhile, for those of you who were never quite satisfied with the story that Santa Claus originated from the particularly generous 4th century Roman Catholic bishop Saint Nicholas (with many subsequent cultural modifications), there is another story from far northern Europe that, for me, offers a better explanation of how flying reindeer became part of the story that most of us grew up with in the North America. 

Here’s the link: The Hidden History of Santa Revealed! (To read it you may need to click a “No Thanks” button to get past the subscription offer.)

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

Camp Hope in the Cold

Monday’s Mayoral Press Conference

As we descend into subzero temperatures this week, Mayor Woodward on Monday held a press conference flanked by Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl, Spokane County Sheriff-elect John Nowels, and Spokane County Commissioner Mary Kuney. The next morning Dan Simonson’s listserv, [ShelterSpokane], featuring all the articles he could find on homelessness from the last 24 hours. (Sign up to receive the [ShelterSpokane] listserv emails by emailing <dsimonson@mac.com>. It is a great way to keep up with this issue.) 

The Mayor’s press conference was covered by the Spokesman, KHQ, and KXLY. The three article titles are listed below with the full text of each article following in the same order. Reading them one after the other, all of them descriptions of the same press conference, is an education in how people can see and hear the same event differently. The differing accounts remind me of the parable of the blind men and an elephant. Each blind man, having touched a different part of the animal, comes away with a different idea of what an elephant is. 

Even more telling is this: In the Spokesman the reporter does not choose the title for the print version of the article. Emry Dinman’s “Cold snap could leave unhoused vulnerable” becomes, in the print version renamed by the editor, “With bitter cold on the way, Spokane city, county leaders say hands are tied on Camp Hope”. The digital version title evokes sympathy and concern while the paper version’s title sets the reader up to read the article as a discourse on the political conflict over the fate of Camp Hope. 

There are a couple of lessons here. First, to hope to understand what happened one needs to read or listen to more than one news source. Second, everyone has a filter, a filter that is conditioned by the experience of a lifetime. If you want the complete picture you need to view the press conference yourself. Sadly in this era of digital media, despite a lot of searching I was unable to find a video of the event. (If any of my readers finds one, please send me the link by “Reply” email.)

My particular take home messages from all this coverage (seen through myfilter):

  1. Mayor Woodward continues to appear more interested in getting Camp Hope dismantled and out of the public eye than she is in making sure homeless people don’t freeze. In the midst of a cold snap—and still with inadequate numbers of beds in her city system to accommodate all those at Camp Hope, she wants to blame the temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge for limiting her option to forcibly close the camp. 
  2. Sheriff-elect John Nowels, at least at first blush, comes off as less combative than out-going Sheriff Knezovich. He at least acknowledges that the “outreach” performed by a battalion of law enforcement officers carried out at Camp Hope may only have succeeded at “upsetting some people”. Still, he wishes to blame their reception “on calls for camp residents not to interact with police”. Many or most of Camp Hope’s residents have experienced law enforcement “sweeps” of homeless camps. What prevents him from understanding that “outreaching” law enforcement officers bearing papers saying the camp will be closed might be perceived as threatening, and that non-engagement might be the best course for all concerned? 
  3. Woodward remains severely math-challenged. She says there were 332 people at the Trent Shelter (TRAC) last weekend, and “we are prepared to go to 350 and beyond”. Camp Hope was still home to at least 377 souls—and all their belongings. How do you fit 377 people and all their belongings in 18 beds—or even in the “beyond” that Ms. Woodward hand-waves into existence? The space has only recently been approved by city departments for 350 “guests”. There is something wrong with her blaming a federal judge for blocking her option of forcibly closing Camp Hope when the city has no place for them to go. 
  4. With no physically realistic place to go, for the people of Camp Home the threat of losing digits or a life in the subzero temperatures this very evening is better addressed by reaching people where they are—as Julie Garcia of Jewels Helping Hands is actually doing—providing space heaters (see the end of the KHQ article). Meanwhile, Mayor Woodward holds press conferences… 

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

The Spokesman-Review

Cold snap could leave unhoused vulnerable 

KHQ

Spokane officials address homelessness crisis, shelter system as a cold snap settles in

KXLY

Spokane officials provide update on Camp Hope developments

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Cold snap could leave unhoused vulnerable 

By Emry Dinman

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

The week ahead is expected to be exceptionally cold, with Thursday’s temperatures forecast to drop below zero, and as hundreds of unhoused people in Spokane remain sleeping outside.

At a news conference about Camp Hope, Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward speaks to the media in front of Spokane County Commissioner Mary Kuney, left, Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl and Spokane County Sheriff-elect John Nowels on Monday at Spokane City Hall.

During a Monday press conference alongside Spokane County Commissioner Mary Kuney, Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl and Spokane County Sheriff- elect John Nowels, Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward told reporters that ongoing legal battles in federal court had limited the options available to quickly move people out of Camp Hope, the city’s large and controversial homeless encampment.

A recent restraining order issued by a federal judge temporarily barred a sweep of the camp or widespread arrests without individual probable cause. The next hearing in that case is scheduled for Dec. 28.

Though Woodward said this order had stymied efforts to quickly close the camp, she reiterated that she wanted to get people out of the cold and assured residents and businesses around Camp Hope that they had not been abandoned.

“Families, business owners, employees, students and school staff have endured a great impact and we have to remain solution focused,” Woodward said.

She emphasized that local hospitals are full, and with dangerously low temperatures forecast for the week ahead, Woodward said that it is imperative for the homeless to utilize local shelter services. She also called on service providers currently working with Camp Hope residents to extend their assistance to the Trent Resource and Assistance Center, the largest component of the region’s homeless shelter system.

However, there are not enough shelter beds available now or in the near future to house all of the homeless at Camp Hope, either at the Trent shelter or elsewhere. As of Monday night, there were 91 shelter beds available throughout the Spokane system, according to sheltermespokane.org, far less than what would be required to house those staying at Camp Hope, let alone all homeless Spokane residents.

The Trent shelter is currently permitted to hold 350 people, not including up to 25 staff members, according to reporting by Range media. Woodward insisted Monday that the capacity of the Trent shelter could be “flexed” up to 450 beds and that the city doesn’t want to turn anyone away, but added that the Salvation Army, which manages the shelter, does not currently have the staffing to safely do so.

“That’s what we’re working on,” Woodward said.

But Woodward, Kuney, Meidl and Nowels largely avoided addressingn the lack of shelter space Monday, short of calling for the state to provide more funds. Instead, they blamed ongoing court battles for “limiting our ability … to move people into a warm place.”

The restraining order, issued Dec. 12 by U.S. District Court Judge Stanley A. Bastian, restricts local law enforcement from forcibly evicting residents, arresting them without individual probably cause or using infrared technology to surveil the camp.

The order came days after at least a dozen law enforcement officers from the Spokane Sheriff’s Office, Spokane Valley Police Department and Spokane Police Department arrived at the camp unannounced on Dec. 6 and handed out leaflets stating “this camp is to be closed.”

The leaflets, which officers and deputies handed out again on Dec. 7, also provided some information for homeless services, though camp organizers said the information was already widely available and the leaflets contained inaccurate information.

Though law enforcement have stated that the outreach was intended to connect residents with services, camp organizers and residents called the exercise little more than an attempt to intimidate. They pointed to the number of law enforcement personnel, as well as the warning of impending closure.

Nowels disputed that characterization, saying that law enforcement conducted themselves professionally and only arrived in large numbers for their own safety.

Though Nowels said Monday that he was unsure if the outreach had any effect “other than upsetting some people,” which he blamed on calls for camp residents not to interact with police, he said the outreach would have continued if not for the judge’s order. Though the restraining order makes no mention of barring further outreach, Nowels said he did not expect the sheriff’s office to do so again during the current legal battles.

But Nowels insisted that traditional law enforcement action will continue at and around Camp Hope.

“We need the citizens and businesses who live and work in that area to know that we hear them and that we’re going to do everything in our power to help address the crime that is unfortunately occurring surrounding that camp,” he said.

According to Meidl, crime has surged in the quarter-mile around the camp since it opened last December, up 79% compared so far this year when compared with 2021, or 62% when compared to a three-year average.

In response to the increase in crime several months ago, the police department stationed two officers outside the camp to be a visible deterrent and to respond to calls.

Meidl said this presence has cost city taxpayers $400,000 in overtime, despite concerns raised by city leaders that overtime costs have been out of control. When asked whether those officers had lowered local crime rates, Meidl did not have clear answers.

“What I’m hearing is that, instead of having a lot of the individuals who like to like to bring drugs and other things into that camp, it’s pushed them a little bit further out into the neighborhoods,” Meidl said. “So we’re still having an issue with crime.”

Julie Garcia, founder of the organization Jewels Helping Hands which manages Camp Hope, said that she doesn’t believe the increase in crime in the area has been caused by residents of Camp Hope.

She claimed that the residents of Camp Hope are closely monitored to prevent criminal activity. Instead, she said that there are a number of other homeless encampments in the area, and blamed a rise in crime on those camps.

Local law enforcement officials have accused Camp Hope organizers of refusing to cooperate with police, including by interfering during the “outreach” activities earlier this month by warning campers to stay in their tents and not interact with officers or deputies.

Garcia has conversely accused local law enforcement of declining to arrest troublemakers in the camp and dragging their feet when called on for help.

During Monday’s press conference, Nowels stated that local law enforcement has recently made several arrests of people in possession of firearms, stolen vehicles and large quantities of fentanyl.

Garcia stated she believed she knew of a single individual who had been arrested that fit Nowel’s description, but argued that camp organizers had been trying unsuccessfully to get law enforcement to trespass him for nine months.

“We have continually asked for assistance,” Garcia said. “We try to do everything we can to get law enforcement involved when we know of any crime happening inside the camp.” Emry Dinman can be reached at (509) 459-5472 or by email at emryd@spokesman.com.

Julie Garcia – Founder of Jewels Helping Hands

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KHQ

Spokane officials address homelessness crisis, shelter system as a cold snap settles in

Woodward acknowledged conditions at the shelter should have been better from the start. “We’ve made some mistakes, I’ll just tell you that. We’ve learned,” she said.

SPOKANE, Wash. –  At a briefing on Monday afternoon at the Emergency Operations Center—the Spokane region’s response to Camp Hope—officials touted improvements to the Trent Resource and Assistance Center (TRAC). They also discussed the outreach efforts to camp residents by Spokane police officers, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office deputies, and members of the Spokane Regional Behavioral Health Unit (BHU). It’s the first briefing they’ve held on the matter in nearly a month.

“As we speak, updates are being made to TRAC,” Mayor Woodward said.

Woodward stated the updates will include building 350 better-quality beds with privacy screens, adding another shower trailer, office space, and storage units.

Those beds are being built by a team of more than 100 community volunteers, with hopes to have them ready at TRAC by the end of the week, according to the city.

Woodward acknowledged conditions at the shelter should have been better from the start.

“We’ve made some mistakes, I’ll just tell you that. We’ve learned,” she said. “We’ve never had a facility like this that can accommodate this number of people, ever. It’s all about getting people the help that they need and to move them along in their journey out of homelessness.”

Sheriff-elect John Nowels praised deputies, officers, and the BHU for their outreach efforts at the camp two weeks ago, playing body-cam video from inside the camp to show interactions between law enforcement and camp residents, stating it disputes claims by those who called their resource flier hand-out intimidating to residents.

“Their actions were everything but what was just described,” Nowels said.

Despite that, the temporary restraining order signed by a judge last weekprevents officers and deputies from going into the camp unless they have probable cause for an arrest.

“The temporary restraining order does not preclude us from doing that [making arrests], nor should it,” Nowels said. “I think everybody agrees that we need to keep the community safe, but we also need to keep the law-abiding and innocent people living inside that camp safe as well, and we will do that.”

To that end, Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl said there has been a 79% spike in crime in the quarter-mile radius around the camp from the beginning of the year through the end of November.

“When you look at violent crime in the city, 2% year-to-date [increase] compared to last year,” Meidl said. “When you’re looking at property crime across the city, you’re looking at a 19% [increase]. So, the numbers surrounding that camp within a quarter-mile are up exponentially more than the rest of the city.”

Woodward said they’ve continued to have weekly conversations with the Washington State Department of Commerce, Washington State Department of Transportation, and Empire Health Foundation. Both Woodward and Nowels described those conversations as recently centered on repairing and rebuilding relationships to find a way forward.

With bitter cold temperatures expected this week, both the City of Spokane and service providers at the camp are preparing for the cold snap.

Woodward said at this afternoon’s briefing that 332 people stayed at TRAC over the weekend and emphasized that no one was turned away by staff.

TRAC is the crux of the city’s inclement weather policy—whether with extreme heat, extreme cold, or smoke.

Last year, the city opened up an emergency warming shelter at the Spokane Convention Center, but Woodward says that’s not on the table right now.

“Even though we had 332 [people at TRAC] over the weekend, we are prepared to go to 350 and beyond,” Woodward said. “Those new beds will be in place on Thursday, and we don’t want to turn anyone away. If that means a mat on the floor to increase capacity there, then we will do that.”

That raises the question of capacity restrictions at the facility.

“Our building inspector indicated that because of the size of the facility, that it could be beyond 600, but we have to make sure we have the staffing for that as well,” Woodward said. “The Salvation Army has been working to increase their staffing to accommodate the surge that we’re expecting to see this week because of the below freezing temperatures.”

At Camp Hope, Julie Garcia from Jewels Helping Hands said that each camp resident—whether they’re in a tent or an RV—has been given a space heater.

Garcia said the two warming huts inside the tent will be open 24 hours, and the resource tent and its heaters will be open until 5 p.m. each night.

Garcia also stated providers have continued to offer rides to some place warmer, such as TRAC, if a resident wants to go.

“We have prepared as much as we can prepare,” Garcia said. “Everybody here knows that we will take anybody to any place else that they’d like to go. Other than that, we can hunker down and try and get them through the next week.”

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KXLY

Spokane officials provide update on Camp Hope developments

Posted: December 19, 2022 2:29 PM Updated: December 19, 2022 6:46 PM byEsther Bower

SPOKANE, Wash. — City officials provided an update on the status of Camp Hope, along with recent developments at the homeless encampment.

Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward, Spokane County Commissioner Mary Kuney, Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl and Spokane County Sheriff-Elect John Nowles all spoke on Monday.

Woodward said changes are coming to the Trent Resource Center. The mayor also said there is litigation working its way through and comments are limited because of the pending legislation.

Legal action has been filed against the City about the homeless encampment over the last couple of months. The most recent action taken was a temporary restraining order signed by a federal judge that prohibits law enforcement from doing a full sweep of the camp.

A court date has been moved numerous times about the county’s litigation brought against Washington State. As of now, a date is scheduled for next week, but that could change again.

The Mayor says the updates are based on feedback from people living at the camp and the Salvation Army. The mayor said 332 people stayed at the Trent shelter Sunday night and no one was turned away following reports that Trent was turning away people.

Woodward said they are bringing 350 new beds to Trent and partitions are being installed to increase privacy. There will also be more hand washing, shower and storage space at Trent.

“We have to remain solution-focused,” Woodward said.

Kuney said she was worried about the upcoming cold weather coming to Spokane, adding East Sprague doesn’t deserve the camp anymore. She says people who live and work there feel unsafe.

County Commissioners have given $500,000 to improve Trent. Kuney says volunteers are putting beds together right now to help those experiencing homelessness sleep somewhere safe and warm.

Meidl said they have been tracking crime at Camp Hope since it first started in December of last year. Police say they’ve seen a 58 percent increase in calls for service since the fence was put up in October. Since October, crime had gone up 85 percent in the area. The OT for extra patrol costs the City $400,000.

“Homelessness is not a crime,” Nowels said. “Being unhoused is not a crime.”

Nowels said people are using criminal behavior to pay for drug addictions and other ways to support themselves, adding those kinds of things need to be addressed.

Law enforcement went to Camp Hope unannounced two weeks ago, giving resource flyers to people living at the camp. Nowels says accusations made that the sheriff’s office was harassing and intimidating people at the camp when they were there is inaccurate. Nowels added that the process of handing out flyers was “community-oriented policing.”

The sheriff released body camera videos from when they visited the camp two weeks ago. These videos were not requested by the media.

Nowels said they had very few interactions with campers because many people were inside their tents or RVs.

With brutally cold temperatures this week, many will be looking to find a warm place to stay for the night. The Convention Center was used last week as a temporary warming center. The Trent Resource Center is the City’s newest shelter, resource center and emergency warming center. The mayor says the space there can hold 600 people.


Anyone wishing to join: please send an email to <dsimonson@mac.com>.
 
Also, visit our website for resources regarding homelessness in Spokane –https://sites.google.com/view/shelterspokane2022/home

Marge Greene Comes to a Party Near You

What does it mean for our region?

When convicted felon and retired General Michael Flynn and his ReAwaken America Tour came to Post Falls in September peddling Christian Nationalism and election denial it posed a dilemma: highlight it or ignore it? After all, there were a number of local Republicans peddling the same sauce at the same time (Bob McCaslin, candidate for Spokane County Auditor, for example), but none of those peddlers announced they were attending Flynn’s show, nor, as far as I know, did any of them appear on stage with Flynn and company during their two day Post Falls departure from reality. 

That local/regional Republican political calculus must have turned the corner, however. Sensible people should take notice. The Kootenai County Republican Party recently announced they are bringing in, as their keynote speaker, an even more prominent insurrection promoter and election denier than Michael Flynn, not just for a monthly meeting, but for their February 11 Lincoln Day Dinner to be held at the Coeur d’Alene Resort. 

Northwest Georgia’s U.S. Rep. Greene’s recent comments delivered at the New York Young Republican Club about her role in the January 6th attack on the Capitol, as reported in the very conservative New York Post, are beyond the pale:

“I want to tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had organized that, we would have won. Not to mention, we would’ve been armed.”

Hearing that, I cannot get out of my mind the image of a man carrying a Confederate Battle Flag in U.S. Capitol. Abraham Lincoln, were he to hear Greene’s words and look down on the Kootenai County Republicans at their Lincoln Day Dinner in February, would be astonished and dismayed at the turn of events. Members of the Party that he founded to oppose the spread of slavery hosting a firebrand speaker from Georgia—a woman who plainly states her support for a second insurrection—that she would have done a better job—would be gut-wrenching for the dinner’s namesake. 

Image matters. That the Kootenai County Republican Party is hosting a woman who claims her armed insurrection would have succeeded should be found revolting by anyone remaining among local Republicans who respects the rule of law and the principles over which the Civil War was fought and won. Lack of repudiation from remaining local Republicans not allied with the extremist leadership of the local party over this choice of speaker is a sign of rot. 

Where does this woman, Marge Greene, come from? What is her origin story? She wishes to portray her credentials as those of a successful business woman who worked her way up the ladder. The truth is closer to an entitled rich girl seeking her niche by exploring the world as a serial “True Believer” in right wing Christianity, the redemptive value of bodybuilding, and immersion in and espousal of QAnon’s whack-o cesspool of fringe conspiracy theories. A lengthy article in the January/February 2023 issue of The Atlantic titled “Why Is She Like This?”, subtitled “On the ground in the Georgia congresswoman’s alternate universe,” is well worth the time investment to click and read in its digital form. 

Sadly and alarmingly, in the end, Marge Greene is probably a fitting speaker for the current local/regional Republican Party leadership to choose for their signature annual celebration, the Lincoln Day Dinner. One can only hope that any remaining reasonable Republicans will find the leadership’s choice a step too far.

Keep to the high ground,

Jerry

P.S. Imagine for a moment the furor that would ensue among local Republican mouthpieces if a local Democratic organization dared to invite Alexandria Ocasio Cortez to speak—and AOC is advocating working within government, NOT for violently overthrowing it. 

P.P.S. “The True Believer” by Eric Hoffer, often referred to as “the longshoreman philosopher”, published in 1952 and referenced above, is key to my understanding of the serial fanaticism of the type Marge Green represents. I read Hoffer’s work a half century ago, but I often return to its insights on fanatics and mass movements. Wikipedia offers a good summary.