From Stark
Since our robust debate on coal trains and the mayor’s race seems to be in danger of dying down, here’s a new provocation for both sides–a press release from Kelli Linville:
(Begin press release) Bellingham mayoral candidate Kelli Linville has been consistent about her stance on coal from day one. She does not support exporting coal or any other non-renewable natural resource. She does not now nor has she ever supported a coal terminal at Cherry Point.
Her opponent has released a new campaign piece that implies she supports a coal pier.
“Dan Pike’s campaign has paid for and distributed a doorbell piece that has taken my comments about the Gateway Pacific terminal out of context,” Linville said. “I have worked against exporting and burning coal for many years. Misrepresentation of facts does not serve the public, and what my opponent is doing is dividing our community.
“Our next mayor will be faced with an exhaustive number of questions that must be answered so our downtown and waterfront will be redeveloped and jobs created, our drinking water source will be protected and our neighborhoods will retain their character while meeting our affordable housing, growth and safety goals.
“The Gateway Pacific project is a critical issue, and the public needs to stay involved. I will vigorously ensure that we are engaged in the scoping and permitting process from beginning to end to ensure our interests are represented.”
(End Press Release)
As some of you noted in the previous post, Riley Sweeney has a blog entry on Political Junkie that includes a picture of the doorknob literature that Linville is incensed about. Sweeney also offers critical commentary.
Riley,
Sorry if you thought I was insinuating. Let me repeat (for about the 12th time). What action have you taken on behalf of the Linville campaign to ge tthe crass video taken down? And how many times have you included a link to the video in an e-mail (be very careful, before you answer).
Given the depth and strength of Pike’s opposition to the SSA project, it is ludicrous to call it election season antics. Contrast it to the streams of Linville supporters, many of whom have also actively championed the project, who parrot the line about how the mayor can’t do anything anyway, no jurisdiction, Dan used to be against it, and posting Hitler videos? Dan has shown how he opposes it. He’s been doing it. He is having a demonstrable effect on the process. Even if I believed Kelli actually opposed the project, all I hear from her team is surrender to the process, some dirty politicing, try for a few mitigation dollars, and some unapologetic support for the terminal. Sorry, folks, but we need action. And we already have it. Go Dan.
Getting a video taken down is not a simple matter, unless the original poster is willing to do so.
@Apexnerd, that’s not the issue. I’ve been asking Kelli or Riley to publicly denounce it and ask that it be taken down. That’s all.
@pollyanna- I suppose you also think Mayor Pike should publicly denounce the completely disresptful link posted by your co-hort GHK and insist he take it down?
A link posted as his proof to a question from the blog master about a some other unsubstantiated smokescreen he threw out there.
That’s probably ok by you, because it fits your opinion.
HM, please furnish a link. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
And while I’m not sure who you are, let me assure you I am not a mouthpiece. You may not like my address or my level of education, but I am a property tax-paying local citizen in Bellingham who is mad as hell about the prospect of the coal terminal being rammed into our community, and the nastier and nastier tactics being employed to assure that end. Who are you?
Your kidding, right?
Its in this thread. I would hope you could just scroll up. It’s mentioned by 2 or 3 people in this thread.
Did you not even read/follow the whole thread? Or just the parts you like?
It kinda takes a little of the steam out of your outrage. Maybe it’s not offensive to you, so you actually don’t know what I’m taking about.
Anne-Marie Says:
October 18th, 2011 at 2:44 PM
“This public exchange re: the video has probably given more publicity to the video than any privately forwarded emails ever could have.”
pollyanna Says:
October 18th, 2011 at 4:45 PM
Riley,
Sorry if you thought I was insinuating. Let me repeat (for about the 12th time). What action have you taken on behalf of the Linville campaign to ge tthe crass video taken down? And how many times have you included a link to the video in an e-mail (be very careful, before you answer).
Riley Says:
.
Thought I was just reading and learning about the lengths of denial and deception by the Linville camp regarding her distortions and political gamesmanship about the coal train issue and ended up getting a two-fer scandal.
Nice.
Regarding the Nazi thing, I’m not the one who made it up, I simply reiterated a very well-known rule around the Internet, Godwin’s Law.
Godwin’s Law states “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.”
Over time, Godwin’s Law has basically morphed to mean that, essentially, when you invoke Nazis or Hitler, you by default have automatically lost the argument.
It’s perhaps the simplest, most crude type of argument that takes absolutely no imagination or intelligence to invoke, therefore, it’s a nonstarter and you lose.
Very simple.
HM, are you referring to 10/10 actions? You do realize, don’t you, that GPT didn’t announce the contract with Peabody until this year, right? No one had any idea until that moment what SSA actually planned. Goldmark didn’t know when the Cherry Point Aquatic Reserve Management Plan was finalized, in spite of assertions by Warren or Oplinger. And certainly Pike had no idea when he was hoping beyond hope they would FINALLY build the terminal permitted in ’97 and create some jobs. Our misfortune that no one cares about creating those jobs unless they can make billions of dollars exporting coal to China, and it took us a while to figure that out.
Correction: Pike took a couple of months, after we knew what they proposed, to take a position. But that was it. When did GPT announce the contract with Peabody, and when did Pike announce his position in opposition (immediately after his forum). Linville villified him for not waiting for the process to ensue. Now she wants to claim she was always an opponent. She is the worst kind of politician, and her failure to address publicly the bunker video is merely video testament to that fact.
Wow, the Pike camp has done a really good job of shifting attention to Kelli’s position with regard to SSA, which is ultimately not under the City’s control. How about more attention to issues under the Mayor’s control, including Pike’s actions as Mayor?
He has taken positive action on some matters, but how do you overlook his decision to allow the Port to dump dioxin on an area of the waterfront that will be developed for residential and shoreline park uses? An 8 million dollar over-water walkway was shoved down our throats, despite objections by Sierra Club, People for Puget Sound and Resources. The project violated Lummi treaty rights, and because they will not approve this project, more than .5 million has been spent on a stalled project. His Staff is making it as difficult as possible for me to obtain information on this issue, and the public process on the Waterfront has been flawed, at best. Pike and his Staff have failed to respond to the Asian Clam infestation in Lake Whatcom, Lake Padden, Whatcom Creek, and who only knows where else, with the urgency it deserves. In fact, how did Pike and his Staff miss the fact that invasive clams have been here for at least 2-4 years if the Lake is such a priority?
In my opinion, Pike does not live in a glass house.
Sam,
+1 for a “blast from the past.”
Wendy,
I’m sure if that Lake Whatcom Czar were appointed by now (campaign promise not fulfilled), they would have caught the infestation.
That said, you are right that this is a fantastic obfuscation of the original point of the article; did Mayor Pike deliberately misrepresent Kelli Linville’s position on a coal terminal at Cherry Point?
Bring all the Nazi videos and red herrings you want up, the fact remains that the door hanging is a deliberate misrepresentation of Linville’s position.
No, he didn’t misrepresent her position. If his political Achilles heel is focusing on a priority issue where he is stronger than she, so be it. At the end of the day, I would rather hold his feet to the fire on issues such as invasive clams than Kelli. Wendy, do you for one moment think Linville will serve us better on water quality issues? If so, what is your basis for so saying?
I find the win at any cost approach of the Pike campaign incomprehensible. The doorbell piece knowingly distorts Linville’s position on the proposed coal terminal. This is not the kind of politics Hamsters will support. Sorry to see it, Dan.
And sometimes red herrings are elephants.
Elephant. Red herring. No matter what animal, it does not change the misrepresentation that Pike’s campaign made in those fliers.
Pike is growing desperate, how can anyone not see right through his behaviour?
Northwest Air Pollution Authority and the County both get chances at stopping the Coal Port, the Mayor’s office does not.
This lying about Ms. Linville’s Coal Port position is just a giant distraction in hope that people won’t examine Mr. Pike’s actual record in office.
Lake Whatcom? Fail.
Waterfront toxin clean up? Fail.
Giving Key to City to Jon Stewart. Fail.
Supporting Initiative Rights with Red Light Camera Scam? Fail.
Maintaining integrity of Greenways funding and future levy’s. Fail.
Maintaining support and respect of Police Guild and City Employees? Fail.
Adopting and affecting a Cambridge accent at age 48? Success! Vote for Thurston Howell III !
Hey Dan and Kelli – the Mayor’s job is for 4 years!!!
One of you will have 1,460 DAYS of issues!
The whole “coal” thing is ONE issue.
If the future of Bellingham has come down to this one issue, as you both think it has, heaven help all of us! Not only is it ONE issue that will take years to go through the process, ultimately at the end of the day YOU don’t get to vote one way or the other! Imput and maybe some influence? Yes. But no Mayoral decision!
The City you both state you “LOVE” needs a MAYOR. Not another politician looking for a job!
I actually thought I knew who I was going to vote for. This last minute krap slinging has soured me to both of you. So tell you what – Ballots arrive this Friday. Would one of you please show us THE MAYOR in you and act like a Mayor we’ll get for the next 4 years?
Another day of pure enjoyment, what a great country!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
There’s one thing you guys are missing, no matter who gets elected we still have to worry & prepare for what the CDC has been warning us about:
http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
@edward: It might be a mistake to confuse Linville and Pike with their most zealous partisans, who probably comment on this blog without direct orders from campaign headquarters.
John: While I will agree with your comment regarding the zealousness of their respective campaign partisans, I would certainly think that IF Dan and Kelli did not agree with or condone the actions, then they would chime in on this.
With the ballots coming out on Friday, now is not the time to lose sight of the actual job they have chosen to seek: the offcie of Mayor, for the people of Bellingham.
Excellent point regarding the other issues. Pike was FOR the coal port initially until the public turned fully against it. Then, he used it as a lightning rod to divert attention to is failings as Mayor.
Is the Permit office reformed? No. Is Lake Whatcom more protected? No. Is the waterfront process moving along smoothly? No.
He did sign a Red Lights Camera deal, without public input, with a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. He did commit us to a fiscally not sustainable purchase using the bank’s appraisal for the Chuckanut Ridge property. He’s been busy. Just not for things that he campaigned on and promised to work on.
So, it’s easier to talk coal, coal, coal than his record. Because, his record isn’t a winning one.
Pollyanna – I missed the Hitler rants, but Whatcom County GOP chairwoman told be that she knew that the terminal would not be good for the Ferndale area, but that I should consider the greater good. Never expected to hear Marxism from the chairwoman of the GOP.
Insight – the original article regarding the signs and the Linville non-support of the coal terminal, made it clear that Linville is opposed to a dedicated coal terminal, but not to the project itself, as long as coal is not the only cargo being shipped. Now, it was a statement by a supporter or campaign aide, not from Linville herself, so take it for what it is worth.
I have reached a peak of understanding here :
There is a difference between flip flopping, pandering, and responsiveness. Yet, all three are the same thing with different style.
When politicians are a bull in the china shop, they are called unresponsive and tone deaf, and the voters complain… except for the issue group who comes out a winner, who calls the politician a “leader” and “showing leadership” for disregarding the dissenting view.
It’s two differing leadership styles :
Pike brashly supported the project, then brashly opposed the project.
That’s responsive. He listened to his constituents and went with them.
Frankly, I want the king to notice the townspeople with torches, and fix their ills.
Linville was more withdrawn, measured, and careful as facts came to light. She did not give the project a big thumbs up. She looked before she leaped. She lines up her ducks.
One of these two people will have the launch codes to Bellingham’s missles and checkbook.
Pick your leadership style.
Personally I’s prefers the sheriff in the doorway that tells the mob, there’s gonna be no lynching, we be having a fair trial, instead of a mayor who offers to tie the knot, don’t ya know!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
Now real estate professionals around the county are joining in the fight against coal trains.
Google: Whatcom Real Estate Professionals Against Coal Trains.
“Now real estate professionals around the county are joining in the fight against coal trains.
Google: Whatcom Real Estate Professionals Against Coal Trains.”
They’re cowards.
Of course, that’s just my opinion.
John, for sure a lot of Linville shock troops love to post here, but for months now Linville has let this silly game play and her latest conversion is not much different than many of the other obfuscations and prevarications spouted by her personally since she first told friends she would not oppose Pike and then jumped in once she got her keister run out of Olympia. But with a lack of any hard , insightful or even questioning probing from the so called press, she and they have run a campaign of pseudo transparency worthy of the swift boaters.
@curmudgeon… you refer to anti-coaltrain realtors as cowards?
If it were certain that the project were going to be a boom to the overall economy here (like the way that Georgia Pacific was a jobs hub), that might be a selling point, however… as for property values : train noise and disruption, and toxins from coal might affect quality of life and sellability of homes anywhere near the train traffic. So the question is how much “greater good” is gotten by how many actual jobs, compared with how many home owners have their homes turned into low-rent low-value coal train zone homes. Same happens when a new airport or massive increase / expansion of airport service occurs near a residential area.
It’s a valid argument for realtors to be talking about.
If the Gateway project were offering 1200 permanent jobs, and more like having a Boeing plant or a Microsoft campus in our local job market, you would find a much higher support for it. More people would think that the downsides outweighed the benefits in this desparate economy.
.
Richard, What is the upside of this terminal, 200 jobs over ten years is nothing and that is based on POSSIBLE expansion.
Weigh that against the health and environmental threats, which are pretty well known, as well as the decreased property values and I don’t really see much in this project for Whatcom County. Even the construction jobs will mostly go to out of the area, firms who will bring in their own skilled laborers.
Even the tax revenue from the terminal will not stay in Whatcom County, due to rules in the Growth Management Act. Almost of the tax revenue will go to the state general fund. So, we need to watch state agencies very closely. The state has a vested interest in seeing this project go through, more than Whatcom County.
The market is drying up for US coal to China as Australia further prostitutes itself and China modernizes and moves away from it……coal is a dinosaur industry that has outlived it’s usefulness and become the destroyer of the planet ….enough is enough….