Republicans took joy in this story by The Seattle Times' Tan Vinh, who reported that the Seattle Hempfest turned into a bit of a Kerry rally.
"Amid the bong sales, the drug-reform speeches and a certain aroma that permeated the annual pro-marijuana festival yesterday, Hempfest was also a venue for another cause: getting John Kerry to the White House. Regulars who attend the two-day festival to hear the usual cry of 'legalize marijuana' also found organizers campaigning to get pot users to vote for Kerry. About 100 Democratic activists passed out Kerry/Edwards buttons and stickers and tried to register voters yesterday at the 13th annual gathering at Myrtle Edwards Park along Seattle's waterfront. With an expected 150,000 visitors over two days, Hempfest is billed as one of the world's largest pro-marijuana rallies. As organizers see it, that's a gold mine for Kerry, since the crowd is largely anti-President Bush."
Chris Vance, state Republican Party Chair, quickly sent out a press release.
“Seattle’s annual celebration of loony left counter-culture shows how out-of-step John Kerry is with average American voters,” said Vance. “There was already ample evidence that John Kerry’s attitudes on marijuana are out-of-step with mainstream America.”
The only substantive charge Vance makes with respect to Kerry and marijuana is this:
"Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John Kerry wrote a letter to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration urging approval of an application by the University of Massachusetts to grow high-quality marijuana for medicinal research. ('Senators back UM medical marijuana' Daily Hampshire Gazette, 10/28/03)"
In fact, however, most polls show that 70 percent of Americans favor the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, (most recently for example, three-fourths of residents of Alabama (!) said they favored legalization for medicinal purposes) and a substantial amount favor de-criminalizing marijuana (which, in any case, Kerry doesn't support.) Kerry advisers, like Rand Beers for instance, include a number of prominent drug warriors.
The reason we bring all this up is because the public is way out in front of the politicians on the drug issue (Ralph Nader, Howard Dean, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tx, and a few others aside), and we'd like to see an actual honest debate about it, rather than Republicans labeling Democrats potheads and Democrats, uhh, tripping over themselves to seem tough on drugs.
Once again, there will be no debate on the war on drugs during this election.
The Fifth Congressional District
Kevin Graman of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane reports on a debate among the three Republicans vying for Rep. George Nethercutt's seat in Congress. They agree on just about everything:
"At the end of a recent debate, the three Republican candidates for the 5th Congressional District found themselves at a loss. They'd just been asked what, besides their experience, distinguished them from each other. From the occupation of Iraq to stem cell research, they had just spent an hour agreeing with one another and the Bush administration on nearly every major issue of our time."
The winner of the primary will take on Democrat Don Barbieri, a well funded challenger. The seat was once held by former Speaker of the House Tom Foley, and Dems hope for a pickup there.
"This primary campaign season, state Sen. Larry Sheahan, state Rep. Cathy McMorris and Spokane lawyer Shaun Cross have been running on their resumes. McMorris, who grew up working for her family's Kettle Falls orchard and fruit stand and became the first in her family to graduate from college, has represented the 7th Legislative District since she was appointed to fill the seat in 1994. She was the first woman to become state House minority leader in 2002. Backed by former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, her base is in the northeastern Washington counties she has represented. She was recently endorsed by the Washington Farm Bureau."
"Cross, born into a prominent Ritzville family, first pursued a career in physics and engineering, but for 25 years has been an attorney, the last six years as head of the largest law firm in the region. He insists his lack of political experience should make as little difference to voters as it did when Nethercutt or Foley were elected. He has served as chairman of Spokane's Public Facilities District and was instrumental in securing the Spokane Convention Center expansion. If not for his decision to run for Congress, he would be president of the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce now."
"Sheahan can claim both legislative and business experience, having represented the 9th Legislative District since 1992 and working as a partner in his family's Rosalia law firm since 1986. He was appointed in 1999 to fill a vacancy in the state Senate, where he was elected majority floor leader last year. He also points out that he is the only one of the three candidates to have represented any part of Spokane Valley. He has been endorsed by many local politicians and the state's most prominent law enforcement unions."
Tim Eyman and the tax burden
Tim Eyman's anti-tax crusade received a blow from the state Dept. of Revenue last week, when it released a report showing that the tax burden on Washington residents is lower than at any time since the early 80s.
This from AP:
"A new state report contends that the state and local tax burden for Washington residents is at its lowest level since 1981. Tim Eyman, who has made a career out of pushing tax-cutting initiatives, denounced the report by the state Department of Revenue as an election year tactic to reduce support for his measures.
'A government agency can say that the tax burden isn't that bad, but anybody reading their tax bill will quickly dismiss that notion,' Eyman told The Spokesman-Review newspaper for an article Friday. 'In particular, property taxes are obscene and unsustainable.'
Using information from the U.S. Census, the state Department of Revenue found that state and local taxes in Washington reached a peak of $123 per $1,000 of personal income in 1995. The tax burden dropped to about $101 per $1,000 in 2002, the most recent year for which data was available. Washington's tax burden hasn't been that low since 1981, when the state was struggling with a severe recession. 'It's one of the lowest ratios of taxes to income that we've got on record' since 1960, said Mike Gowrylow, a spokesman for the agency. On a per-capita basis, the report said, Washington's state and local taxes are 15th highest in the nation."
The Stranger on Rossi
Finally, The Stranger's Sandeep Kaushik profiles Dino Rossi, concluding he's a great salesman with a great personal story, and a very conservative agenda.
"But if you do happen to check out the engine -- and it's not so easy, given all the glare coming off the chassis -- you'll find that Rossi is really a rather conventional apostle of Bush-style conservatism: Government exists to enable business, not to curb the social dislocations caused by the hard realities of capitalism, and to promote 'traditional' (read: conservative Catholic) values. Rossi's dog, aptly enough, is named Dubya. Big tax breaks for business subsidized by cuts to social programs? Sure. Rolling back important regulations? Gotta get rid of all of that damn red tape that's stifling our economy. Law and order, deference to authority, black-and-white delineations of right and wrong...."
Sorry, Sandeep, but we have no choice but to cut you off there.
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