All over America establishment politicians are being challenged. Challenged to stop the self-serving behavior. To stop the special interest corruption. To stop the incompetence.
This is happening in Clark County. ClarkCounty.info has dozens of vetted stories about the corruption and incompetence of the local establishment politicians and nearly all senior bureaucrats. It’s real. It’s pervasive. And there’s a growing and resolute force that’s trying to stop it, just like what’s happening all over our country.
This challenge is being resisted by a number of forces including a well-heeled donor class who gain financial or cultural benefits from supporting the establishment. They enjoy the status and the adoration from establishment movers and shakers at all levels of government.
This Clark County establishment hasn’t had it easy in the last four or five years, as regular citizens have become organized to push back. The establishment has had some luck in recent years with passing a new county operating plan called ‘The Charter’. The Charter was motivated by those who sought to reassert the legacy establishment’s control. They got another boost when Marc Boldt was elected last year. Boldt was simply the guy who would be willing to follow the general plan of the local establishment so long as they helped him keep a government job and maintain the facade that he was important. It was about that simple with Boldt, evidence of how pathetic a county political leader he is. The last bit of luck the establishment had was to get the chameleon Julie Olson elected. She claimed to be an independent conservative in her campaign. Instead, she’s shown herself to be a willing facilitator of the corrupt big-government agenda with this legacy establishment. The key handlers in the local establishment know the county majority is slightly right of center, so they wisely found complicit Republicans to run, who would be comfortable in a government-knows-best culture where the ends justify the means.
This brings us up to today. The establishment has developed and now recruited two more ‘flexible Republicans’ in an effort to fully stack the deck against the citizens. If they win these two races, they’ll have five establishment politicians on the Clark County Council. To help this along, local businessman David Nierenberg has funded a Political Action Committee (PAC) with $50,000 to help push these establishment candidates to win their races. The candidates slated for support are John Blom and Jennifer McDaniel. The reform candidates, who have been and will continue leading the deconstruction of the local establishment, are David Madore and Eileen Quiring.
Nierenberg is a prolific donor to Washington State Democrats as is demonstrated by a history of his donations at the Public Disclosure Commission. Nierenberg has also been a large donor to the Washington state Democratic Party – a 2008 Seattle Times story said he and his wife had given $110,000 in the previous five years. He was close to Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire, and served on her council of economic advisers. He has no history of supporting small government advocates or reformers. Instead it’s establishment all the way. That is, ‘Who’s in power’.
The local old media’s reporting on this matter is another ‘Alternate Universe’ report. It’s full of comments about the reformer councilors Tom Mieke and David Madore being the problem, when the problem is the self-interested establishment. The Columbian article says a part of the new PAC’s mission is to restore common courtesy, common decency, and common sense to the government of Clark County. This is laughable, as the truth is this small local political ruling class that Nierenberg seeks to empower, will bring the opposite of these things. If this PAC is successful common courtesy, common decency, and common sense will be further set back.
Regardless of the outcome of this election, these establishment politicians need to be challenged until the day they either reform their ways or they leave in shame. The reformers, including ClarkCounty.info, understand the corrupt and self-interested establishments don’t go away quietly. They will scream, cry, lie, and wiggle, and this is unavoidable in a reset. This battle has been heating up for four years and the bad news for the establishment is we’re only getting started. Resolute citizens with truth, high-tech skills, and sufficient financial strength will almost always be victorious against the self-centered arrogant and corrupt establishment. It’s a story told across America today and has been told in all human societies over and over again.
We remind readers that dozens of carefully vetted articles on ClarkCounty.info delineate the corruption, incompetence, and arrogance of the establishment that Nierenberg and his advocates are attempting to empower.
Finally, one should look at the commentators on the Columbian blog to see who’s thrilled with this PAC. When reviewed late on June 14th only hardcore liberals were singing Nierenberg’s praise. This says volumes about the real agenda and what will result.