It's about time we have a candidate in this state who calls for realistic solutions on the energy front. While nuclear energy has been demonized by those on the left it remains a viable, cost effective remedy to our energy woes. France, China, and Japan all use nuclear energy and are reaping the benefits, while we remain stuck in our "Three Mile Island" mentality.

The blatant hypocrisy of those on the left regarding our energy crisis is mind-boggling. They are quick to point out the cost of a gallon of gasoline but continually undermine our efforts to become less dependant on foreign oil.

Steve Beren, candidate from the Seventh Congressional District, advocates a comprehensive energy plan that would reverse this trend and move America forward on one of the most important issues of our time.

 

Geesh, I wish the editors of the Tri-Cities Herald would at least pretend to be objective observers of state politics. Last Sunday they offered an editorial column criticizing the Governor for her inaction on the Areva unranium enrichment plant, which will be built in Idaho, instead of Richland, Washington. The Areva contract would have brought a hundreds of high paying jobs to the Tri-Cities, along with a boost to the local economy.

The Herald's editorial board laced their criticism with so many qualifiers they sounded more like a teenager miffed at her bff, than a professional news team. Take a look at this:

It's an election year, and Rossi and his party will try to find a political advantage in anything Gregoire says or does. But politics aside, the criticism is deserved.

They had to make sure that Rossi's criticism was dismissed, even though they agreed with it! And how about this part:

For a lot of critics, a chance to dump vitriol on Gregoire will be the one bright spot in this scenario.

Don't count the Herald's editorial board in that group. We've long considered Gregoire a good friend to the Tri-Cities, even...

The compelling need for a "guilty but insane" verdict option in Washington, which would prevent certain violent offenders from slipping through loopholes in the criminal justice system, was highlighted in my previous posting.

But reform must not end there. While the question of whether a defendant is mentally competent to stand trial is more complex, the applicable law in these cases also must be changed in this state. Those accused of violent crimes must not be allowed to escape answering forever the charges against them --and even walking free again -- which is what existing law makes possible. In fact, it is far easier for such a violent defendant to escape both accountability and supervision than an unsuspecting public realizes.

"Exhibit A" on this count is a travesty within Washington's criminal justice system, which had its tragic origin in Des Moines seven years ago and still drags on in King County Superior Court. In March 2001, Richard and Jane Larson, along with their grandson Taelor Marks and his girlfriend Josie Peterson, a popular high school cheerleader, were brutally slain at their home in Des Moines. Two days later, Leemah Carneh, who allegedly was obsessed with Miss Peterson, was...

The Washington Education Association has a serious image problem and recent events have not been kind to their cause. Being that I respect the teaching profession so much, I always feel sick to my stomach when I come out criticizing them, but the WEA makes it too easy.

The National Education Association, along with its state affiliates, such as the The Washington Education Association, seem incapable of impressing the taxpayers with a sense of confidence that they are actually committed to education issues as they claim, or even to the best interests of teachers, which is their primary charter.

Consider what some national polls have revealed in the past. While they show a clear majority of Americans think poorly of our education system as a whole, when asked how they feel about the state of education in their own schools, the results are quite positive. I think it's because most parents, myself included, really appreciate how hard our teachers and local administrators work for positive outcomes in the classroom.  We don't want to be unsupportive of our teachers.

Yet, time and time again, education unions routinely block sincere efforts and good intentions by the private sector....

Guilty or insane? Or, even, mentally competent to stand trial? Judges and juries are often required to decide between guilt and insanity in cases of violent crime; two of which are currently playing out on opposite ends of this state. How they answer these questions has a profound impact, not only on the defendants but, on the lives of many others as well.

Yet, Washington law deprives them of an option already on the books in a number of other states that serves justice and protects the public. The time to allow a "guilty but insane" verdict in this state is long overdue. However, the need for immediate reform doesn't end there. Laws to determine the ability of defendants to understand the charges against them, and assist in their defense, must be retooled so those who have committed violent crimes remain locked up forever, when evidence clearly shows they are guilty, even if they are mentally unfit to stand trial.

The insanity defense is being employed in the high-profile case of Naveed Haq, who killed one woman and left five others badly wounded in a shooting at the Jewish Federation in Seattle in July 2006. Mr. Haq's attorney...

Dino Rossi recently responded to Governor Gregoire's inaction regarding a $13.2 million dollar math and science grant offered by the National Math and Science Initiative. Full story here:

Redmond, WA - Dino Rossi today called on Governor Christine Gregoire to provide leadership and help secure the $13.2 million grant offered by the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) to expand and improve Advanced Placement courses for low-income children.

"On education, we should do what's in the best interest of our children, not respond to what the adults are squabbling about. The state government has a miserable record lately when it comes to helping improve math and science skills for students.  The NMSI is an organization with a proven track record and to see this money turned away is a scandal," said Dino Rossi.

"The incumbent is facing a $2.5 billion deficit next year. This is no time to be saying 'no' to additional money, especially when it will improve math and science skills for students in low income areas.  The incumbent needs to try and fix this problem, even if it means standing up to...

On March 17, 2008, my state representative from Normandy Park announced that she would end her political career. After 10 years as a legislator in Olympia, Shay Schual-Berke (33rd District, Pos. 1) will retire. As fate would have it, we both spent our early years in Green Neck, New York before settling in Normandy Park. The similarities end there. While I left the radical egalitarianism of the sixties behind me, she still enhanced and embodied the ethos of the welfare state. In the world of the "haves" and "have nots" she believes only government policy can equalize the terrible inequities in American society.

No one could doubt where Shay Schual-Berke stood on any issue. Touted as the, "only M.D. in the Legislature her public prescriptions have caused more harm than good. The Dr. had a government "fix" for every crisis. Her three major accomplishments to achieve a "brave new world" were in areas of health care, children's issues and education.

She was a crusader in expanding a comprehensive socialized health care system. Her good intentions resulted in many insurers leaving Washington State, due to excessive regulations. By removing competition in the marketplace many small businesses could no longer...

The campaign is moving forward. Dino Rossi has a great organization across this state and the Veterans Coalition is just the newest, most exciting one. Pierce County and King County are both marching ahead with grassroots organization.

The goal of the Veterans for Dino Coalition is to organize military veterans and their families for Dino's campaign. We are finding tremendous energy from vets and even families of active duty military who are not technically veterans yet, but inspired by the camaraderie and energy behind Dino.

Military veterans comprise over 15% of the voting age population in our state. This is a huge constituency that tend to lean to the center-right on the political spectrum. Military members and veterans as well as their families typically share values of service to country, limited government and property rights.

The effort to organize the veteran and military vote for Dino has launched in Pierce, King and Benton Counties and is beginning to activate in Skagit, Thurston and Snohomish counties.

Look for a "Veterans for Dino" booth at the Steilacoom July 4th celebration and "Vets for Dino" activity at the South Sound Ronald Reagan Republican Club dinner on Thursday,...

There is nothing more certain than the choice that faces us this November in the race for Washington State Governor. For three and a half years Governor Gregoire has failed on every account to bring new ideas to very old problems.

A most pressing issue is our state's transportation problems. In the last twenty years our state population has increased by nearly 20 percent with practically no expansion of roads to accommodate this increase.  The ill fated Proposition 1 transportation package submitted to voters last November was a project of monumental proportions, but loaded with an agenda governed by special interest groups who are intent on forcing people out of their cars and into mass transit.

The fact that citizens were forced to read through such a ridiculous and complicated proposal that required nothing short of multiple degrees in accounting, engineering, urban planning and design, demonstrates the vacuum of leadership in Olympia.

Here's the bottom line. People want to spend less time in bottleneck traffic congestion. The state's own audit of the Department of Transportation (WSDOT) noted that the department has shown a consistent failure to prioritize traffic congestion as the number one problem our...

Congressman Dave Reichert is running for re-election as Representative of the Eighth Congressional District. He is facing the same opponent he defeated in the '06 election.

Representative Reichert has a very impressive resume. He was a member of the Air Force Reserves from 1971-1976. He joined the King County Sheriff's Office in 1972 and became elected sheriff in 1997. Dave Reichert was elected to Congress in 2004 and serves on three committees, including Homeland Security, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Science and Technology.

By way of comparison, here is a brief glance at his opponent as she eloquently discusses key issues impacting voters in the Eighth District.

 

Congressman Jim McDermott has quite a track record. Whether he's violating Federal Law and House ethics standards by leaking illegally taped telephone conversations, or traveling to Baghdad during the run-up to war, "Baghdad Jim" continues to astonish us with his deft ability to undermine our nation's interests.

At a May 3rd meeting at the Rainier Community Center, McDermott referred to our troops as "mercenaries" and said, "The American people are sitting asleep at the switch." He also stated, "we're losing in Afghanistan."

McDermott's Republican opponent in the November election, Steve Beren, was in attendance and took the opportunity to challenge the congressman, in an open letter, to a series of broadcast debates.
 
If the debates happen, Congressman McDermott will have to find time between all the side-jobs he will be working to pay off the $700,000 he was recently ordered to pay, by a federal appeals court, in the taped telephone call matter.

On May 5th, Dino Rossi made a surprise visit to Rhonda Ray Wells' home in Auburn, WA to thank her for being his 30,746th  campaign donor. Dino has now officially surpassed the total number of donors he had in 2004, with still six months to go in the campaign! Even better, Rossi and Gregoire are neck and neck in the polls and in campaign cash.

At this point in the 2004 race, Rossi still trailed Gregoire significantly, due to his lack of name recognition, yet he still went on to win two of three ballot counts. The final ballot count, as we all know, ended with Rossi behind by a mere 129 ballots. The legitimacy of that final ballot count was widely criticized and questioned,as revealed in a post election poll which found that 53% of Washington residents believed that Rossi won the election and only 36% believed Gregoire won.

The tactics used by liberal activist group ACORN and the general sloppiness and inconsistency of voter registration rolls across the state inspired Wall Street Journal columnist, John Fund, to finish a book in progress, called "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy."

Over...

This time last year I got an up close and personal lesson in market economics. My children had finally reached their goal of saving their money to buy the latest Nintendo game system. So, on that exciting day, off we went to buy the new game for the family. Except that we couldn't find one. Every store was sold out.

The only way we could acquire one of these golden eggs from Nintendo was through ebay, but only if we were willing to pay about three times the retail value. This was a lesson in supply and demand. When demand exceeds supply, the value of whatever is in demand goes up proportionately. If we want lower prices, we have to reduce demand and/or increase supply.

Street-smart people know this. For Pete's sake, even drug dealers and comic book collectors' know this. Somebody needs to tell the democrats this. Based on New York Senator Chuck Schumer's response to President Bush's speech on energy policy last Wednesday, they seem ill informed of this basic economic premise regarding the relationship between oil prices and supply and demand of oil products.

Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna recently completed an investigation...

On November 5, 2008 another Tim Eyman sponsored initiative will be on the ballot.

In my judgment, Initiative 985-Reduce Traffic Congestion has less to do with concrete plans to mitigate traffic than to address the culture of our state government. Taxpayers must liberate themselves from bureaucratic gridlock before they can travel from Federal Way to Seattle in less than 30 minutes at more than 40 miles per hour.

Traffic congestion is a huge and complex problem that cannot be resolved with standard government solutions. Taking pragmatic and manageable steps forward can be the first step towards traffic relief.  In Olympia 128 government agencies have been involved in planning the war on traffic. In 2002, the voters rejected referendum 51 that would impose a $7.8 billion "fix" that would start projects without any firm completion date(s). This is the same Department of Transportation that oversees the inefficient State ferry system, which has shown total disregard for internal fiscal accountability for 19 consecutive years.

The question posed to voters is as follows:
In order to prevent an all-day rush hour in the Puget Sound region will you give career politicians and unelected bureaucrats a blank check?

Or, is...

Overburdened Washington taxpayers again are taking aim at high property taxes.

And who can blame them? Certainly not the Democrat-dominated Legislature.

The state budget has increased from $18 billion in 1987-89 to about $68 billion in the current biennium. Just this year, Gov. Chris Gregoire and her spend-and-tax legislative allies turned a $2.1 billion surplus into a $1 billion deficit.

"Gov. Gregoire spent taxpayer dollars like a drunken sailor," Luke Esser, chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, remarked at the time.

"Actually, that's an insult to drunken sailors," Esser added. "Drunken sailors at least only spend their own money."

That's one key reason why the League of Washington Taxpayers launched on April 30 a campaign to place Initiative 1030, which will enact significant property
tax relief, on the November ballot.   

The other is that, despite sincere-sounding promises to ease their burden, lawmakers turned their backs on property taxpayers again this year.

Before the measure can be placed before voters, however, at least 260,000 valid signatures must be collected and submitted to the Secretary of State in the next two months.

I-1030 proposes major reform by reducing both property taxes...

Let's kick things off with a question posed, once upon a time, by a candidate seeking our nation's highest office; "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" The electorate answered with a resounding "no" as Ronald Wilson Reagan defeated one of the most ineffectual presidents in our nation's history.

Fast forward 18 years and that same question can be asked of Washingtonians regarding our state's governor's race. "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" How do we define "better off"?

In the last four years Governor Gregoire has increased spending by 33 percent. She has raised taxes nearly $500 million dollars, and slammed commuters, at the pump, with the largest gas tax increase in state history.

Her glaring inability to adequately address key transportation issues, from increased traffic congestion to compromised infrastructure, has left her with scarce credibility on a key issue affecting the quality of life for many in our state.

Washington's business climate has not faired much better under Christine Gregoire's stewardship. Our state has the unenviable distinction of having one of the highest small business failure rates in the country.  In fairness, she has...

As anyone who is remotely familiar with our state's political leanings knows, the Evergreen State has been consistently "blue" for a very long time. (Ronald Reagan was the last Republican presidential candidate to carry the state) Needless to say, we are long overdue for a forum that provides a fresh, right-of-center perspective on issues affecting those of us in the great northwest.

The focus of Red County Washington will be on providing insight into local and statewide political issues that impact the lives of Washingtonians. Occasionally, we will give voice to national issues as they relate to, and influence, our state. With the presidential primary season in full swing, our governship up for grabs, local races, and various Initiatives headed for ballots in November; we will have plenty to cover.

My name is Michael Kerr and I am the editor of the Washington State wing of the Red County blog network. I am a lifelong Seattle area resident and have been involved in local politics for sometime. As a passionate advocate for limited government and a laissez-faire economy, I have, on frequent occasion, seen various shades of red as those in our state's capitol have trampled and undermined...