Tuesday, October 23, 2018

DIRTY ELECTION TRICKS

TODAY at The Stand — PDC complaint filed regarding GOP mailings — The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO and several other groups whose logos were misappropriated in the mailings filed a complaint with the PDC accusing Glen Morgan, whose political committee sent the mailings, of willfully violating state campaign laws. They are asking that the matter be referred to the state Attorney General’s office, which can impose more severe penalties and fines than the PDC.

► From KUOW — ‘Deceptive’ mailings prompt Democratic protest, campaign finance complaints — “This is dirty politics at its worst and we are absolutely livid about it,” said Washington State Labor Council President Jeff Johnson.

► In today’s (Longview) Daily News — Progressive groups file complaint against Glen Morgan for campaign mailer — “This is a new low for Washington. Republicans have become addicted to bald-faced lying and shameless deception, and it has to stop,” said Fuse Executive Director Aaron Ostrom.

► In today’s Kitsap Sun — 26th District mailer encourages write-in for ex-candidate who doesn’t want the job — “Don’t vote for me, please,” urged Nathan Schlicher, who’s voiced his support for Democrat Connie FitzPatrick in the race against Republican incumbent Jesse Young. “This is a clear deception tactic.” Said FitzPatrick: “It’s more dirty politics that distracts from the real issues.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — Connie FitzPatrick, a Navy veteran and small business owner, is proudly endorsed by the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Her opponent, Rep. Jesse Young (R-Gig Harbor), sponsored legislation to make Washington a so-called “right to work” state in order to weaken unions and lower wages. Only a handful of extreme Republicans supported his bill, so it never came to a vote. Young has twice been fined for illegally mixing legislative and campaign work, and was disciplined for creating a hostile work environment for his staffers.

► In the (Aberdeen) Daily World — Mailer urging write-in vote for Purcell over Frasier in the 19th draws fire — “Some of my neighbors got a mailer, funded by wealthy Puget Sound area donors, attacking me and asking voters to write in my friend and supporter Teresa Purcell for state representative, even though she isn’t running,” said Democratic candidate Erin Frasier. “This is just more of the dirty politics that distract from real issues facing Southwest Washington families.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — Erin Frasier has been enthusiastically endorsed by the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. She is a workforce development leader, educator, and mother of two whose family has farmed in rural Lewis County for four generations. Frasier has taught at Grays Harbor College and helped develop programs to assist workers in a changing economy. She SUPPORTS our state’s minimum wage and paid sick leave standards, as approved by voters. Frasier’s opponent, Rep. Jim Walsh (R-Aberdeen), voted AGAINST raising the minimum wage and AGAINST allowing all workers to earn paid sick leave. (Voters later passed an initiative approving both changes.) He also voted AGAINST the Washington Voting Rights Act to address discriminatory voting systems and AGAINST allowing more workers to join together in unions.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Progressive groups file complaint over phony write-in ads –The newly formed PAC sent mail ads to voters in the 6th Legislative District urging them to write in the name of Joe Pakootas for the open Senate seat (who is not running for election), rather than Democrat Jessa Lewis, who is on the ballot running against Republican Jeff Holy.

EDITOR’S NOTE — Jessa Lewis is proudly endorsed by the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Lewis is the Eastern Washington Director of Healthcare for All–WA, a non-profit focused on ensuring all Washingtonians have access to affordable health care coverage. Her opponent, Rep. Jeff Holy (R-Spokane),  also voted AGAINST raising the minimum wage and AGAINST allowing all workers to earn paid sick leave.

► From the Rachel Maddow Show — Republicans turn to dirty tricks as 2018 election approaches — Says Rachel (starting at about 11:00): “This Republican dirty tricks campaign all over Washington state to try to split the Democratic vote… is an effort to try to flip the State Legislature in Washington or at least to stop Democrats from taking more Republican seats in the Legislature.”

► In the Olympian — Groups file complaint over ‘misleading’ mailer in Thurston County commission race

► From The Hill — 107,000 purged from Georgia voter rolls for not voting in past elections — Georgia officials removed an estimated 107,000 people from voter rolls because they decided not to vote in prior elections, according to a new report. An APM Reports analysis found the voters were removed under the state’s “use it or lose it” law, which starts a process for removing people from voter rolls if they fail to vote, respond to a notice or make contact with election officials over a three-year period.

THIS WASHINGTON

► From AP — Changes to overtime rules could increase worker eligibility — Proposed changes to Washington state’s overtime rules could make more professional workers eligible for time-and-a-half pay.

ALSO at The Stand — State moves to restore OT pay protections — After four decades of inaction, L&I releases “pre-draft” towards updated overtime rules that could restore protections to hundreds of thousands of salaried workers.

► From the Rolling Stone — Something’s brewing in the Deep Red West — When Washington state Rep. Matt Shea (R-Spokane) looks out before him, he sees a mostly male crowd in militia T-shirts smiling back. Gathered across an expanse of suburban grass, they hold yellow Don’t Tread on Me flags. A handful carry AR-15s and are dressed in tactical camouflage vests loaded up with ammunition. It’s a hot August Saturday at a public park in Spokane, Washington… All around, people wear T-shirts and fly flags bearing eagles and declaring that “Free Men Don’t Need Permission” to bear arms. The mood here — through the messaging and the speakers and the literature being sold at tables — is that there is a problem in America, a sickness, a disease only these people have opened their eyes wide enough to see…. Shea, a four-term elected official now running for a fifth, rarely sees any blowback for the things he says or for the fact that in his nine years in office he has allied with some of the most high-profile conspiracy theorists and anti-government extremists in the American West. “I think it’s a lack of awareness,” says Ted Cummings, his Democratic opponent. “When you tell someone your state representative is a fascist, they are taken aback and they say, “That’s crazy. That can’t be so.'”

PREVIOUSLY at The Stand — It’s up to Republicans to hold Rep. Matt Shea accountable (by David Groves, March 21, 2016) — Don’t hold your breath awaiting any ethics investigation, discipline or accountability for this embarrassment of a legislator. That is, unless the Republican Party decides to stop turning a blind eye to the crazy, indefensible actions of its own.

LOCAL

► From Crosscut — I got a raise, but I’m still angry with UW (by UW postdoc Michelle Tigchelaar) — I just got a raise, but I am not celebrating. No, I am livid. Why? Because while I am getting my raise, dozens of my co-workers at the University of Washington are unfairly being denied theirs. Instead of investing in the people who make our university a global leader in research and teaching, the UW administration is gambling with our livelihoods to gain short-term leverage in bargaining.

► In today’s Seattle Times — A tale of two Seattle job markets for low-wage workers in new minimum-wage study — Low-wage workers who started out working more hours also saw the most benefit from an increasing Seattle minimum wage.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Seattle City Council to take close look at proposed police-union contract after call to reject it — The Seattle City Council will conduct a careful review of the city’s tentative contract with its rank-and-file police union to determine whether it conforms with police-accountability reforms.

► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Spokane City Council approves rules restricting Border Patrol searches at bus station — After hearing testimony from a crowd of medical students, immigrants, lawyers, pastors and activists, the Spokane City Council approved an ordinance restricting the U.S. Border Patrol’s search of buses and access to city property that is not open to the public.

THAT WASHINGTON

► In today’s Washington Post — The Republican tax cut is a big, fat failure (by Catherine Rampall) — It has achieved none of the things that Republicans promised it would. It didn’t reduce deficits. It didn’t target the middle class. And it didn’t win goodwill with voters. Yet, for some reason, President Trump wants to do it all over again… in the next nine days, no less.

NATIONAL

► From SB Nation — Dodgers players and employees are the latest to cross hotel picket lines in Boston — While in Boston for the ALDS at the beginning of October, Yankees players crossed a picket line while staying at the Ritz-Carlton Boston. As union members themselves, it was an incredibly bad look for the team at the time. Now, the Dodgers have done the same thing while in Boston in advance of Game 1 of the World Series against the Red Sox on Tuesday.

EDITOR’S NOTE — The Entire Staff of The Stand never thought we’d ever say this but, “Go Red Sox!”

► In the Virginian Pilot — How Ford and the UAW cut a deal to bring Ranger back to the U.S. — A secret meeting in 2015 between Ford Motor Co. and the UAW led to job security and a sigh of relief among factory workers three years later as they begin manufacturing the Ford Ranger midsize pickup truck at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne.

► From MarketWatch — Wages for the 1% just reached their highest level ever — The average wage for the top 1% of income earners hit $719,000 per year in 2017, up 3.7% on the year, exceeding their previous peak. The average wage for the top 0.1% reached $2.7 million in 2017, the second-highest level ever, just 4% below their level in 2007. However, wages for the 0.1% rose 8% on the year in 2017.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.