>Democrat seppuku: The impact of Baird’s sell out on the WA-03 and Denny Heck.

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Baird knew he was damaged goods from the moment he relied on a bogus death threat as a reason to avoid facing his constituents.

But we all knew that when push came to shove, Baird would be a solid “yes.” on the Obama socialized medicine bill, particularly since his vote has been so easy to buy in the past.

The question for us now is this: what is the impact of his political treason to his district?

Well, he was already counted in the “yes” column for this leftist political sepukku. But the focus now shifts to the rather gutless Denny Heck.

Heck, who apparently failed to learn from Brokaw’s cowardice in failing to take positions in the commissioner’s election back in 08, has refused to tell us what his vote on this abuse of the people would actually be. And his cowardice equates to a “yes” vote… and his “yes” vote equates to political suicide.

State Senator Craig Pridemore (D-Communist) is already a political dead man walking because of his “pour-gasoline-on-himself-and-light-it” rabid leftist vote which bears no resemblance to what the people of this district want. Combining stupidity with an inability to raise money isn’t a career enhancing move.

But now Heck is showing the kind of cowardice he would show in the unfortunate event he were to win this seat. And what we don’t need is a clown who lacks any political courage holding this seat.

After all, that’s what we’ve got now… and why would it make any sense to elect two sellouts in a row?

David Castillo, I am sure, thanks Brian Baird for helping him win this district. Heck…. not so much.
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>What does Baird’s endorsement of Heck mean?

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Our soon-to-be political-late congressman, Brian Baird, has rarely been one for timing.

His “yes” votes on debt-incurring, horrifically expensive bills like the porkulous, which easily violated his self-imposed but frequently ignored 72 hour review rule are proof of that.

So now, in the midst of the most recent stirring of his bogus death threat brouhaha, Baird does Heck the dubious favor of “endorsing” him.

No amount of money will get Heck elected, although he is most likely the best of the leftists running.

His lack of guts in refusing to take a stand on the horrific Health Care (and anything else we can jam in it, like student loans) reform bill is his doom. One need look no farther than Pam Brokaw’s failure to take positions on the megacasino and tolls to see that political cowardice doesn’t do particularly well as a platform plank.

Adding the “kiss of Baird” to his campaign will not help. Pridemore is a fringe-leftist, reeking with political corruption, so he’s out. None of the others are to the right of Marx, so they’re out. Looks like the only thing good coming out of this will be money for the Dotzauer slime machine.
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>The Columbian finally gets around to reporting what I had last month: The FBI "death threat" report on Baird

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I posted, in its entirety, the redacted FBI report that I requested last December.

The local paper, which frequently accesses this blog, knew at least two weeks ago that I had the report they’re finally blabbing about now.

They also know that the report was closed back in mid-August.

So now, we get 2 different stories, one here and one here.

Now, this paper has repeatedly proven itself to not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. But the irony of all of this is that Lou Brancaccio, in charge of the zoo, has routinely bad mouthed and dissed the local blogging community. And I DO mean “repeatedly.”

Yet, I managed to scoop him by a good two weeks. Now how could that be possible?

And this nonsense about the case being closed on November 10th is just that. The case was closed the day after it was opened. (“Incident close request sent 2009-08-14 19:59:46.0”)

So, I guess my concern is this: why did the paper wait so long to report this?

And how is it that my little ol‘ blog could scoop such an august, professional journalism organization?
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>Report on my Brian Baird/FBI FOIA Request.

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You learn a lot about things in the Administration by interacting with it’s Agencies.

On December 3, I requested a copy of all death threat investigations against Congressman Brian Baird. The mandated turn-around time for that request is, under federal law, 20 days.

I received the investigation yesterday via fax, although they indicated they had sent it to me on January 29.

Once I called them (again) and asked them about it, they actually faxed the completed, moderately redacted report to me that day, for which I am grateful. (11 pages total)

The upshot of the report is this:

On August 13, 2009, Capitol Police notified the FBI that on August 11, at 2124, a “threatening message” was left on the voice mail of Baird’s Washington, DC, office.

The message, by it’s nature, included the originating number of the phone call. Further identification was provided by the caller, who IDENTIFIED HIMSELF.

The message, a quoted in the report, is this:

“Brian, [REDACTED] here. You think we’re all Timothy McVey[sic] types, huh? I’d keep a close eye out for those Ryder rental trucks if I were you. You never know when one might show up. Bye.”

The call originated from Wichita, Kansas.

The next day (August 14) an Special Agent of the FBI and someone referred to as a “TFO” attempted to interview the self-named individual, but missed him at his residence. A few minutes after leaving his residence, the “TFO” received a phone call from the subject on what was identified as the subject’s cell phone.

What transpired next, quoted verbatim from the report:

[REDACTED] advised [REDACTED] that indeed he did place the phone call to Congressman Baird, but he certainly did not intend this call to gain the attention that it obviously did. [REDACTED] advised the number [REDACTED] was his DSL computer line, which can be accessed and used as a telephone. [REDACTED] advised after observing Congressman Baird in a television interview the night of 8-11-2009, where he stated the people opposing Obama’s Health Care Bill were reminiscent of Timothy McVeigh. [REDACTED] became upset and verified by calling Baird’s telephone number.

[REDACTED] advised he left Congressman Baird a message stating that if he was going to consider the opposition, which included [REDACTED] to be McVeigh type[sic], then he better be watching out for the Ryder trucks. [REDACTED] advised in no way did he intend to cause any problems, and certainly he was not going to go out and rent a Ryder truck and do harm, nor did he now anyone who would. [REDACTED] advised he was venting his frustration and utilized his freedom of speech and certainly was not a terrorist. [REDACTED] advised he has worked for [REDACTED] Wichita for [REDACTED] years and was not a trouble maker. He advised he was so sorry if he had caused the FBI to spend any amount of time or money to track him down in response to his phone call.

[REDACTED] also advised that just last night, he also called a Georgia Senator in response to calling people “Racist” just because they opposed Obama. [REDACTED] was advised that many people share his emotions and feelings, but there are better ways to express them. [REDACTED] agreed, and again apologized.

TFO [REDACTED] and SA [REDACTED] terminated the phone interview, satisfied that [REDACTED] posed no threat to conduct any acts of terrorism. [REDACTED] considers the investigation closed due to [REDACTED] lack of any past criminal activity other than several local speeding violations, as well as his admitting the phone call was his way of venting frustration.”

Created 2009-08-14 19:07:44

Incident close request sent 2009-08-14 19:59:46.0

This is the report without further comment. I am going to review the timing of the report and threat, used in part as a justification to avoid holding a town hall meeting. But one thing is clear: less than 72 hours after making the report, Baird knew it lacked substance and stood as no possible source of harm for him.

There was no mention of a “faxed death threat” provided by the FBI, under the auspices of my search request, Subject “BAIRD, BRIAN/ALLEGED DEATH THREAT.”
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>What do Stacy Sellers and Jaime Herrera have in common?

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Who here isn’t familiar with the Sellers debacle?

Sellers, who, at the time was mayor of Washougal, felt compelled to go to Vegas on “official business.” While she was there, she decided that the taxpayers of the city of Washougal should pay for her alcohol, and some high priced meals.

Stacy Sellers is having a tough week. Perhaps she deserves one, since, according to the local version of Pravda, Sellars charged, among other things, a “…$57 ‘surf and turf’ dinner. An $88 bottle of wine. A $72 bill at the Eye Candy Lounge & Bar.” while on some sort of “official trip” to Vegas…. although why a trip to Vegas for the mayor of Washougal would be official is, perhaps, a subject for another post. (Take some time and run a google search on the “Eye Candy Lounge & Bar” for pictures of others engaging in some distinctly “non-mayor” like activities. I guess what happens in Vegas is reported in the Columbian.)

Just yesterday, KOIN 6 reported on Brian Baird’s abuse of the travel system where he decided he needed to spend a fortune to go on vacations masquerading as a “fact finding trip,” a trip that a local travel agent booked for roughly one half the cost charged by Baird.

Erstwhile political opportunist Jamie Herrera seems to share the traits of both Baird and Sellers.

In August of 05, Herrera went on one of these “fact finding trips” to Spokane, where Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA05) maintains a district office.

Instead of sending one of her own staffers already in Spokane for this “fact finding,” McMorris-Rogers instead seems to have sent Herrera. That sending Herrera was apparently a complete waste of money is a subject for another post. That issue aside, here is the rather disturbing travel voucher, filled out by Herrera and signed off on by her boss and mentor, Congresswoman McMorris-Rogers.

Now, the questionable aspect of this trip aside, where the main issue of concern for me comes to the fore is here:

Somehow, Herrera managed to spend $475.48 for meals on a 3 day trip to Spokane… and her boss, McMorris-Rogers, approved that cost!

Are you kidding me?

I used to LIVE in Spokane. That much money would feed a family of four for three weeks, and Herrera went through that BY HERSELF, in THREE DAYS?

Shades of Stacy Sellers.

And, just like Jon Russell, who approved Seller’s charges since he was in overwatch of the credit cards for Washougal, McMorris Rogers approved this outrageous charge paid for by the taxpayers of the United States.

It seems to me that Sellers and Baird and Herrera are all the same… and Russell and McMorris-Rogers blow off this kind of stuff all the time.

As for me, I don’t want any of them either in my government… or in elective office.

Because if any of them gave a damn about us… we wouldn’t have heard about any of this.

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>Brian Baird: Cowardman (XXXVII) Maybe it’s because he was a little too "expensive."

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Haven’t heard a heck of a lot since our Cowardman made up an excuse to avoid running for re-election.

Baird spent a lot of our money to take trips. On many of them, he decided that it would, apparently, help his “research” if his wife accompanied him.

I’m not exactly sure how that works. But KOIN 6 news has been bull-dogging Baird’s travel proclivities in a way that actually reminds me of something approaching journalism, a characteristic long since missing from our local paper, which essentially has acted as Baird’s PR arm for a decade.

Here’s part of the story… the rest is on their web site.

But first, I just fricking hate it when elected officials and or their staff take advantage of the tax payer for their little vacations, eating expensive food that most of us can’t afford, playing us for suckers while they “research.”

Sickening.

Congrats to the KOIN 6 news team who has been on this for a long time.

WHY QUIT NOW?

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Congressman Brian Baird announced that he would not seek re-election on Dec. 9. It was a surprising move considering most political pundits figured he would be re-elected fairly easily.

A common question raised by his announcement was, “Why quit now?”

At the time of his announcement, Baird said he wanted to spend more time with his wife and twin sons.

KOIN Local 6 repeatedly tried to get a statement from the Democratic representative of Southwest Washington, but Baird denied all requests.

Baird had been under fire recently for traveling to South America and Antarctica to study climate change. A Wall Street Journal article estimates Baird was one of the most expensive travelers, racking up $500,000 visiting 10 countries during five trips in 2008.

The trips led to the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act in March, which will allocate $96 million over the next four years to study decreasing pH levels in the oceans. The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 also came about from the trips. Learn more about the Act by reading the specifics about the bill here and here.

More:

Gotta wonder. Why is he refusing interviews? Did he get a death threat from a member of the media?

>Cowardman chickens out: Baird won’t run for re-election

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Seeing the clearly printed writing on the wall, our local Cowardman Brian Baird announced he’s not running for re-election.

To the leftists out there mistakenly believing that this district was safe for the left, this announcement makes it so obvious that even they now recognize what anyone with any political sense (which, by definition, excludes leftists) already knew: that the Cowardman was toast.

So, what does that mean for leftists? Not much. They have little to zero chance in the 3 no matter who they run

it’s unlikely that Baird did this out of a clear blue sky. The question becomes, however, who is the leftist heir-apparent to the Cowardman?

I hope Steve “Cold Hard Cash” Stuart runs, myself. I’m gonna pound him like a drum whether he runs for Congress or the county anyway, but I do like the idea of spreading my wings and beating on this clown like a rented mule.

Rumor has it that the most arrogant, self-centered and self-impressed politician that ever lived, one Jim Moeller, was looking into it. In many respects, this will be much like bees to honey.

Suddenly, the 2010, which is shaping up to be horrific for anything democrat, just got worse.

And, BTW, Brian?

Good riddance. Except for carrying our despicable rag’s water, you were, on the whole, worthless anyway.
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>The Political Lie and how to curtail them.

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The political question is when is a lie a lie?

Those having read my modest effort here already know I have little patience for that sort of thing. Unfortunately, here in Washington State, political lies are perfectly legal.

That’s why we receive so many of them.

Lies at the national level are well known…. well known, yet we continue to tolerate them.

Is it any wonder that the so-called “birther” movement exists? How can they believe their government?

Here locally, the more ignorant GOP’ers banded together to elect a lying scumbag as mayor of Vancouver… a lying jerk (Tim “The Liar” Leavitt) who manipulated people into actually believing he opposes tolls… which, of course, he does not do… not unlike the scumbag mayor of Portland who lied over and over again about having sex with a teenager. He lied, and attacked his accusers when he KNEW they were telling the truth.

And he still remains mayor of the zoo known as Portland.

And when that awful truth about the tolls becomes known, what happens then?

Absolutely nothing.

And because nothing will happen, what kind of message does that send to current and future politicos?

Why NOT lie? It doesn’t cost me anything, and hell, if I lie well enough, I just might get elected!

So…when do we believe? When are we supposed to believe the words spewing from the mouths of the vipers that lead us in government?

We’ve spent billions and billions on an increasingly more apparent scam known as “global warming,” in everything from getting rid of freon (R-12) (that requirement alone enriched corporations like GE to the tune of tens of billions as people swapped their refrigerators, cooling systems and air conditioners in everything from houses to cars) to nonsensical measures here locally such as requiring certain utilities to produce percentages of power only from so-called “green sources.”

Does that mean that I believe no steps should be, or should have been taken to reduce pollution? Of course not.

But we as a nation are poised on a precipice to act in the best interests of the liars and swindlers who control the White House and almost every level of government down to cemetery districts.

My question: Where’s the outrage?

We have been abused in every imaginable way… tens of billions of dollars added to the costs of almost everything… cars, power, housing, an almost unimaginable list including crap like forcing even bakeries that make our bread to filter and recycle their air… so we no longer smell the wonderful smells of bread baking as we drive by those companies… because that smell was “pollution.”

Where’s the anger?

Our government, who must have had people within who knew the truth of it as far back as Eisenhower, people that remained silent… lied to us. Over and over and over again, while they forced us to pay and pay and pay.

And it seems like few of us give a damn.

Well, I have a plan to help end this abuse of the taxpayer, of the people.

It’s a simple plan, really. And it goes like this:

If, as a part of your campaign, or as a part of your job while in office, you lie to us… then you lose your job and you can be held personally, financially and criminally liable for your lies.

There is no “first, second or third” offense. If you lie ONCE, you’re gone. And you lose your cloak of immunity.

Imagine, how much cleaner campaigns would be.

Imagine how much smaller our debt would be if, for example, the empty suited moron running the country had been held instantly accountable for lying about how high unemployment would rise when the porkulus scam was implemented. Do you think for one second the lying scum running this country would have come out and claimed that passage of this scam would result in an 8% unemployment ceiling if they knew they would be held accountable for their claims?

How do we do it? Well, I’m working on that. We could force each elected official to sign an undated resignation as part of their oath of office.

Who would apply the standard? I haven’t figured it out, yet. But this is a discussion that we must have or else we will continue to be buried in lies and debt and erosion of our rights… and the blood of our men and women as a result of the clueless idiot running the show.

But this bizarre idea promulgated by leftist whack jobs that we do have recourse at the ballot box, as if that plan would undo the damage the corrupt liars are doing to us every day, is simply not enough. We must put our leaders on notice. And we must do it now.
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>In the interest of fairness: Baird’s response to the "Why?" did he vote "No" on the Pelosi Debacle Health Care Bill.

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I have my own conclusions for another post, but this is important reading for those who want to be fully informed.

Baird Healthcare Response 112009 http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=22817446&access_key=key-1hsgfg02lcrhnr6v4qvl&page=1&version=1&viewMode=list
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>Since we already have a coward representing us in Congress, why would we want Jon Russell?

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I have posted just under 40 times since August about the fake death threat fiascoes wherein our current Cowardman, Brian Baird, has shown a level of cowardice almost unfathomable in it’s depth and breadth.

There is no doubt that Baird is a political dead man walking. The next general shapes up to be a bloodbath of 1994-esque proportions. That, of course, begs the question: why would we want to replace one coward with another?

Washougal City Councilman Jon Russell set local speed records in tossing now former Mayor Stacee Sellers under the nearest bus in his haste to avoid any responsibility for the credit card/$100,000 debacle… all the while, neglecting to mention that HE, PERSONALLY, was among the three member committee with personal oversight over the use of the city’s credit cards.

Now, it’s bad enough that he lacked the ability or interest to actually EXERCISE that oversight. And now, people are actually starting to ask: why hasn’t Russell been held accountable for HIS failure to do HIS job in the midst of all of this?

Instead of taking responsibility for his actions, Russell engages in Obamaesque excuse making, shucking, jiving, ducking and running. And what’s his explanation?

Why, it’s this:

10/30/09

Dear Russell for Congress Supporters,

As I am sure many of you have read in the papers, the City of Washougal is undergoing a special investigation by the State Auditor to track down over hundred thousand taxpayer dollars and other mismanagement issues by the current Mayor. I take no delight in leading our council in an inquiry of our current Mayor’s troubles. Mayor Sellers appointed me to the Washougal Parks Board and eventually was the tie breaking vote to have me appointed to a seat on the City Council in 2006. However, after I won election in 2007, I began to see some things that raised big red flags. Here are some examples:

1.) While having a city finance committee, in title only, they did not meet to discuss expenditures in a coordinated fashion. Usually, whatever councilmember was available to quickly review the expenditures would sign off on the accounts payable. Even those not assigned to the committee signed off on accounts payable. In 2009, I asked to be appointed to the finance committee in hopes of moving the committee into a functioning body that would meet routinely to scrutinize every expenditure. I brought forward the idea on several occasions, but there was no desire on behalf of others to make such a commitment.

2.) Our Mayor created an internal rule that Council members could not ask anything of department heads. All correspondence had to go through the Mayor. Department heads were instructed to not to speak with Council members. This made the Council’s job very difficult when seeking to provide substantial oversight of the administration. Again, I was the only one to question this internal rule.

3.) For two years I have been asking for a profit-loss statement for the different city events that the administration had sponsored. Those profit-loss statements never came.

4.) Over the last year we have lost two substantial members of our city staff, our city administrator and finance director. These two individuals left abruptly to take jobs elsewhere. It is my opinion that these two departures some how factor into the bigger mystery that now confronts us.

Rightfully so, this is a very difficult time for our city as we endure public ridicule and scrutiny. I would appreciate your prayers as we work through the administration’s chaos and try to bring a clearer picture to the citizens of Washougal. I am convinced that with a newly elected, conservative Council, coming in January, we will provide a way out of the disaster created by this progressive administration.

For years I was unable to rally any alarm because of the extreme loyalty of the progressive majority on the Council, which followed the Mayor in lockstep. At that point I started to piece together a plan to bring about a conservative majority on the Council. In 2008 I was joined by one other conservative and by the summer of 2009 we gained another. On the eve of the 2009 election, we stand to take a conservative majority on the Council. In the meantime, we in the minority have had to endure policies and procedures that have made us very uncomfortable.

This experience has given me a deeper appreciation for what I am trying to do on a national level. We need sweeping government reform, which brings more accountability to government and places more scrutiny on government than on individuals. Too much control in the hands of the few will always result in disaster and corruption. As your next Congressman, I will fight for open and transparent government. The people deserve to know the truth.

Sincerely,

Jon D. Russell
Republican for U.S. Congress
(WA-3)

Good.
God.

I have never in my life read such a huge crock of self-serving cow manure in the entirety of the twenty-plus years I’ve been following politics.

Here, for the time-impaired, is the Cliff Notes version of why Russell thinks he bears no responsibility for his failure to act under these circumstances.

Never one to avoid contriving a political gain from something, even when he clearly shares fault; Russell is thrilled to find something he thinks he can twist to his advantage. He was placed on the city finance committee, and never saw anything worth mentioning until the Sellers stupidity. He comes up with a dozen different lies to support his failure to first, act, and second, do anything about a set of nonsensical, unenforceable and “unofficial” rules that precluded siting council members from exercising their First Amendment rights to talk to anyone they want, whenever they want, PARTICULARLY when Russell failed to DO anything about any of these so-called “internal rules.”

I would ask you, gentle reader, this one very big question:

If our erstwhile Congressional wannabe lacked the testicles to take on a low-rent lowlife like Sellers….

…. what makes anyone believe for one second that he has what it takes to go up against Pelosi, Reid, or that empty-suited anti-American racist bigot running the show?

In short, why would we replace one coward, Baird; with another coward, Russell?

Do you think for one minute that *I* would have settled for being put off, ignored, intimidated?

Is this clown so helpless that he couldn’t have written the county or state auditor’s office, asking for assistance and an investigation LONG ago if he saw (but as it turns out, failed to act on) so many “red flags” he allegedly observed?

He almost clownishly mentions that

“In 2009, I asked to be appointed to the finance committee in hopes of moving the committee into a functioning body that would meet routinely to scrutinize every expenditure.”

So, tell us again, Jon… why is it that YOU couldn’t have done this ON YOUR OWN???? Like it or hate it, THAT WAS YOUR JOB, A JOB YOU ASKED FOR.

And then this laughable pap:

For years I was unable to rally any alarm because of the extreme loyalty of the progressive majority on the Council, which followed the Mayor in lockstep. At that point I started to piece together a plan to bring about a conservative majority on the Council.

“Unable to rally any alarm?”

What the hell does THAT mean?

I was “unable to write and provide facts causing an investigation to the State Auditor’s office.” I was “unable to call a reporter.” I was “unable, for that matter, to even call Lars Larsen.”

There is a major difference between “unable,” and “unwilling.”

So, here we have it. When allegedly confronted by incompetence and illegality, what did our young, crusading, city councilman do?

Why, he did absolutely nothing.

Well DONE, Mr. Russell. My confidence in your incompetence increases by the second. And the sure knowledge that you share the trait first mastered by Baird; specifically, that you won’t take responsibility for any of the many things you do wrong reinforces to me my decision to do everything I can to keep you out of any elective office that includes me.

“Restore ‘trust’,” Mr. Russell? The only thing your lack of character and integrity does to me is restore nausea.
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