It's election time. Out here, we got our ballots last week and mail them in before 05 November. Since I've voted already, I have a few comments for the chatteringpolitical class. Don't expect me to be nice.
- I try very hard to avoid the ad hominem fallacy in electoral politics. It's sort of a corollary of "a stopped clock is right at least once a day" (it might be a 24-hour clock!). I make an exception, however, for rabid "antitax" advocates, whose actual position is uniformly "let's you and him pay for the services and infrastructure that disproportionately benefit me." Especially when said advocates are in contempt of court — again — for longstanding campaign problems.
So bite me, Tim Eyman. I voted in favor of "maintaining" all of the targeted taxes that your initiative a while back put on the ballot as entirely misleading "advisory measures." I voted against your wet-dream Initiative 976, which would (among other things) destroy public transportation throughout Puget Sound. Because it's not 2327Z, so the clock is not showing the correct time. (BTW, Mr Eyman, I'd love to see your DD214 or Peace Corps equivalent demonstrating that you successfully completed an actual term of public service.)
- If you're running for reelection as county sheriff — a position that should be for qualified nonpartisan professionals selected and supervised by elected officials, and not for direct election, just like judges and prosecutors should be — in a community with an increasing proportion of non-WASPs, you'd be highly advised to (a) ensure that your campaign photo doesn't look like you just took off your hood and (b) deemphasize the coded "qualifications" that scream "disciple of Bull Connor" to anyone who knows diddly-squat about the historical not-quite-but-nearly uniform misconduct of American sheriff's offices regarding civil rights and equal protection.
- If you're running for mayor in a college town, you should strongly consider not putting coded "no immigrants need apply" language in your campaign literature, and you should probably not include coded "I work for the 1%, for inherited wealth, and for real-estate developers" language and positions everywhere. Bonus: This miscreant claimed that he's going to avoid engaging in partisan politics in a community (and county!) in which almost all offices are nonpartisan… meaning that he's going to drag partisan politics in.
- If you're running for county executive, you probably shouldn't trumpet your objective to increase housing supply in the face of longstanding, severe water-treatment issues in the county, other significant infrastructure and public-access problems — especially when you're being endorsed by the 1%ers, the real-estate developers, and the Chamber of Commerce (which, around here, acts like we're in Pleasantville, especially including its demographics). That you did so by explicitly citing a need for more rental properties without regard to making it possible for renters to move "up the ladder" is just a bonus.
- Nobody should ever be running for a position supervising elections. Ever. Does the concept of "conflict of interest" even matter?
- Even if you're running unopposed for office, you should take advantage of the opportunity afforded by state law to provide a free statement for the voter pamphlet. Otherwise, snarky SOBs like me might write in a vote for "Leave Vacant — Candidate Refused to Confirm Qualifications."