From Stark
A group of 13 Republican precinct committee officers issued a press release today announcing that they support Kelli Linville for mayor.
The 13 are Gabe Martin, Jill Brown, David Ladiges, Barb Del Wraa, Bruce Ayers, John Busch, Jan Brown, Bill Geyer, Terry Montonye, Jon Soine, Kathy Kershner, Lurene Gisee and Dusty Gulleson.
“As Republicans, we value efficient local government, clear budget priorities, and leadership to deliver quality services to the public,” the press release said. “The mayor sets the tone for embracing fee enterprise and individual initiative, economic growth and equality under the law. At this time, for the next four years, we believe the best candidate to be the next mayor of the city of Bellingham is Kelli Linville.”
Linville is seeking to unseat incumbent Mayor Dan Pike.
Just to review the math that myself and others have referred to on other posts :
Primary results were :
40% Pike
40% Linville
17% Steve Moore (R)
So if those proportions hold out, then whomever gets more than half of Steve Moore’s solid Republican voting base, would have the advantage in the Bellingham mayor’s race.
The only paths to victory would be for Pike or Linville to :
1. Keep most of their base of voters from the primary, plus get more than half of the Moore (R) voting base.
or
2. Get nearly half of the Moore (R) voters, plus steal some Dem votes previously favoring their opponent.
or
3. Get hardly any Moore (R) voters, and somehow steal 25% of their opponent’s voting base.
These are the only three versions of the math that I can see happening. So if, for example, almost all Republicans broke for Kelli, then Pike would need to convert one quarter of Kelli’s existing Dem support base to switch alliances and vote for him, to make up for her (R) support. That or for Dan to co-opt a combination of Dems and (R)’s that would otherwise support Linville.
A majority of Republicans will support coal, because of a preference for commerce, and a distrust of global environmental policy.
There is no Bham mayor candidate who is in favor, or even “on the fence” about coal.
However, the (R) voters may evaluate HOW each candidate says no to coal, and how they may be perceived regarding being calm, thoughtful, methodical, and willing to look at other commerce alternatives.
.
‘fee enterprise’ or ‘free enterprise’?
I don’t see a mention of coal in the statement, unless “free enterprise” is code for “Coal Trains” or some such nonsense.
“There is no B’ham mayoral candidate who is in favor, or even “on the fence” about coal”. – Mr. May
I guess as of this week, that may(?) be a true statement.
Glaringly obvious that the reason for the lengthy fence riding by Ms. Linville was due, just as Mr. May suggests, to the desire to win over some republican support. Not to mention previous campaign contributions and close ties to the SSA camp, also disclosed here not long ago.
Tough to see any self respecting dem supporting those tactics, but we’ll see.
My bet is Mayor Pike has the twenty five percent dem “cushion” needed.
well curmudgeon,
Linville should be thankful, that a coal trains have been replaced, with that new, quiet, clean, non-polluting diesel driven model, driving by her house, compared to?
Real Coal Trains!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OgSNQOTw2U&NR=1
More nutty nonsense from Worst_Ever_43. No mention of the fact that Pike copied Linville’s position on GPT. No mention of the fact that Linville was unequivocal in her opposition to a Coal Pier or Coal Port at GPT, when Pike was fully in support of coal. No mention of the fact that the cited contributions are when Linvillle represented the entire 42nd LD, which represents a diverse set of interests, including refineries. No mention that Linville was THE celebrated leader in Olympia for reducing CO2 emissions in Washington State. No mention of the fact that she’s always opposed coal—exporting it or burning it here. And no mention of the fact that by the standard given, Hans Dunshee, the “Great Green Giant of the Washington Legislature,” should voluntarily step down from office. Once again, more divide-and-conquer political games that have nothing—absolutely nothing—to do with the facts. Pure craven politics. Nothing more. Oh, here’s a recent blog entry from Mr. Stark. It speaks for itself:
“Out of curiosity, I decided to take a peek at the 2010 campaign contributions to State Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-44th. The Sierra Club describes him as “the Great Green Giant of the Washington Legislature.”
His campaign contribution list for 2010 includes contributions from Puget Sound Energy, tribal casinos, hospitals, optometrists, Walgreens, Waste Management Inc. — as well as $500 from Pacific International Terminals, the SSA Marine subsidiary in charge of the Gateway Pacific Terminal project, and $150 from Craig Cole.”
@ Richard: Don’t forget one thing. In past city elections, thousands of people who skipped the primary showed up in the general election. Vote totals tend to be a lot higher in November. Those first-time voters are the black box of this very close election. Who are they and what are they thinking about? (I suspect that none of them are Politics blog commenters!) Are they happy with the status quo? Do they have positive associations with the familiar name “Kelli Linville?” We will see.
It’s also possible that significant numbers of Steve Moore voters won’t want to vote for either Pike or Linville, and will leave that spot blank on their ballots.
“These are the only three versions of the math that I can see happening.”
Or progressive voters who didn’t vote in the primary wake up and realize that Linville’s the stealth candidate of those who want to get back to business as usual in Bellingham.
Or the poor misguided Dems who thought Kelli was one of them regain their senses.
After her last loss, Kelli lamented, ‘after all these years of compromising my values to get elected, the Republicans still voted me out.’
She still doesn’t get it. Ingenuousness isn’t ingenuity. And compromised values are … well, compromised values.
Seems like an awful lot of “splainin’ ” being (still) done by Linville’s supporters.
Not rocket science.
If a person takes a definitively strong stance on a political hot button issue early, like Mayor Pike,
then the questions about where you stand cease.
If one doesn’t, like Ms. Linville, AND a story breaks about your previously close ties (campaign funds) to the
business and it’s spokespeople, then you likely will (understandably) face questions until election day.
Politics 101, it seems.
Wow! Can it get any clearer for progressive and conservationist voters in Bellingham?
Geyer, Ayers and Kershner want “free enterprise and individual initiative, economic growth …” and don’t like Pike.
Hey Dave, that ain’t even code. That’s the mantra of the landed gentry locally who need a government that will enrich their lives again.
Maybe Linville can make Geyer planning director! Will get them UGAs expanded then. Hallelujah!
As recently as week before last, Kelli’s interview in the Cascadia Weekly revealed that she still stands astride the coal train. Read it yourself: “If its primary purpose is to ship coal, then I oppose it.” IF it is primarily a coal train. SSA’s application filings last February made clear that 80 percent of what it ships will be coal, and the other commodities, if they come at all, will be way down the line, if the market justifies. She’s either dissembling or she’s confused about the central issue in the race. Being cozy with coal port Republicans may not be reason enough to vote against her, but she shouldn’t try to confuse the question.
@GHK–you knew that Geyer actually used to be planning director, right?
It’s “kirsch”, of course.
Still a liar.
Of course ya did Kirsh,
And why would anyone have trouble figuring out Ayers is Elfo’s Chairman of the “Over the survey line” Committee, of Elfo’s Donut Shopp Investigations.
Contact: Bruce Ayers, Chair
Re-Elect Bill Elfo Sheriff Committee
Tel: 671-8200
E-mail: bruce@Sheriffelfo2011.com
How else does one stay out of jail, these “ARE” the Good Old Days!
From its inception, the Linville campaign has attracted broad grassroots support throughout the community. As a lifelong Democrat, it may seem unusual for her to have some Republican precinct committee officers take it upon themselves to recommend Kelli to voters, but this is, after all, a nonpartisan race with two Democrats running for mayor, just as we have two Republicans running for county executive this time. People need to make a choice not based on party, but on which candidate would best serve the whole community.
kirsch –
I read the PCO’s card and it actually said:
“The Mayor sets the tone for embracing free enterprise and individual initiative, economic growth, equality under the law.”
From your comments above, I gather you do not favor those principles. Glad to confirm that fact.
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