The race we like to refer to as the (McDermott) Hunger Games just took another messy turn. Three current Seattle Democrat officials are vying to replace (finally) retiring Congressman Jim McDermott in the 7th Congressional District. They are State Senator Pramila Jayapal, State Representative Brady Walkinshaw, and King County Councilman Joe McDermott (no relation to Jim McDermott).
Thus far, the candidates have been rather polite to one another – though the fact that Jayapal is certainly open to attack due to the fact that she does not actually live in the 7th CD. Perhaps because they all occupy the far-Left of the political spectrum, and thus do not disagree on a whole lot, the relatively polite tone among the candidates is not all that surprising at this early stage.
But, all that began to change last week.
According to liberal blog Publicola, Councilmember McDermott is not happy with the fact that Sen. Jayapal skipped her lesgislative work – and the final vote on the state budget for a fundraising trip. As Shift reported, Jayapal was one of five senators who did not bother to show up for the vote. Instead, she was in Washington D.C. giving a speech and attending “campaign functions.”
McDermott’s campaign released the following statement:
“It is very disappointing that Senator Jayapal would skip dozens of votes in the legislature to raise money from big money donors in New York and Washington.”
Jayapal attempted to explain away her choice to prioritize her campaign to represent a congressional district that she doesn’t even live in over doing her job representing the legislative district she does live in by claiming she agreed to give a speech in D.C. long before she knew the 2016 legislative session would go overtime. There are, however, three problems with Jayapal’s excuse.
First, considering who the governor is, she should have known better than to assume session would wrap-up on time. Every year under Jay Inslee’s watch, the legislative session has featured at least one special session.
Second, Jayapal is not being entirely honest about what her speech in D.C. entailed. A Super PAC called the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Victory Fund hosted the speech. The PAC attempts to elect Asian Americans like Jayapal. It’s the PAC connection that has McDermott’s campaign calling foul. Via Publicola:
“McDermott’s camp says Jayapal’s connection to the AAPI PAC demonstrate her ties to Citizen United era secret money and outside PAC dollars—or, in an unfortunate turn of phrase, ‘dark’ money, as the McDermott press release stated. McDermott has taken a pledge to reject outside PAC money spending during the campaign.”
Third, Jayapal could have made her speech and been back to vote for the supplemental budget agreement if she really cared about representing her district. Rather than catch an evening flight to be back in time for the vote, Jayapal chose to attend a fundraiser in (as Publicola puts it) D.C.’s “yuppie” Dupont Circle neighborhood. Jayapal followed-up the D.C. event with another fundraiser in New York hosted by Manhattan socialite Claire White.
As a state official, Jayapal would have been prohibited from fundraising for her legislative campaign. However, a loophole in the law allows fundraising for federal races. Her actions, nonetheless, confirm where her priorities lie.
With McDermott making the first real attack, the (McDermott) Hunger Games is just heating up. We expect it to be an entertaining race among the liberal candidates.
So, let the (McDermott) Hunger Games continue.
It is wonderful that Jim McDermott is finally leaving office! Always thought it would be in handcuffs though.
Agreed. It should have been in handcuffs….
Which crime(s) has he committed? (Please bear in mind, “being liberal and getting re-elected” is not an indictable offense, no matter how much you might want it to be.)
Here’s a felony Baghdad Jim received a pass.
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/16/us/inquiry-on-gingrich-call-to-look-at-plausibility-of-florida-couple-s-account.html
McDermott should have gone to jail…..you would have…..
For more examples of despicable and shameful acts of this scumbag, use Google….
No, I didn’t ask you for your opinion of what crimes he had committed. I asked you for the actual crimes: indictment, prosecution, conviction, sentence. (You know, the whole “day in court” thing that you seem to believe has been replaced by Google.)
If you did the same thing bub, you would be in jail for it….for a few years. IT IS NOT MY OPINION, it is a mater of fact.
What Baghdad Jim did was illegal.
The fact he was not prosecuted was more due to his political connections than his innocence.
Don’t be such a partisan tool.
You really need to work on your reading comprehension.
Your opinion is not a fact. Your opinion does not have the status of a fact. No one is required to pretend your opinion has the status of a fact. No amount of your repeating your opinion will give it the status of a fact.
Now, either tell us on what date, and in which court, Rep. McDermott was convicted of a felony, or stop making false accusations. Your choice.
You should follow your own advise about working on your reading comprehension however…..
It is a fact Baghdad Jim passed along recordings of phone call….
It is a fact it is a felony.
It is also a fact, you would have gone to jail for the same act but the old goat got a walk due to his influence…..
(a typical democrat hypocrite of the Clinton order)
Deal with it.
What, no space aliens? You’ve really got to work on your conspiracy theory, pal.
Here’s a simpler explanation for why he wasn’t indicted: exposing the fraud that was the Republican House leadership back then isn’t a crime. YOU may claim that exposing their failure was a crime, but nobody around here has ever agreed with you on that — as Rep. McDermot’s re-election numbers have always shown.
But hey, by all means, feel free to keep whining about a twenty-year old story which nobody ever believed. It doesn’t make you look like an embittered sore loser at all. (Trust me on this.)
The crooked old’s goat shady career is nearly done and and there is nothing you can do about it.
They day he leaves office for good, WA and the US Congress will several steps closer to being less corrupt.
Age has caught up with him; history will judge him as a scumbag; just like honest and informed people do now.
This is indeed an unjust end to person who hurt his community, state and nation for his own political and personal gain……
Perhaps he will receive a more appropriate judgement in the great beyond ;where rank has no meaning, all truth is known and punishment hot and everlasting….
So, that’s a “no” on you having evidence of McDermott having committed a crime, then? Why not just admit it?
“… history will judge him as a scumbag; just like honest and informed people do now.”
History will speak for itself, and if there is any justice in this world, it will record your painfully foolish gullibility for the miserable, humiliating failure of critical thinking that it obviously is.
Your impotent yearning for revenge against a beloved member of the Seattle political community says a lot more about you than it ever could about him. Looks like you’re living the very agony you cruelly wish upon those who are better than you. Enjoy.
” if there is any justice in this world, it will record your painfully foolish gullibility for the miserable, humiliating failure of critical thinking that it obviously is.”
Project much?
Nope. I’m not the one still regurgitating a foolish tale from almost two decades ago.
But let’s have some fun, and do you the incredible disservice of taking your claim seriously. The persons who claim to have made the tape pled guilty to a misdemeanor, yet you’d have a prosecutor request a felony conviction for McDermott’s having exposed the tape. Why would a grand jury do this?
Let’s assume that somehow happened. As even you noted, the felony charge requires the conversation to have been intercepted. And how did the Martins do this? By driving along a highway and simultaneously remaining within range of a low-powered radio. As McDermott’s defense lawyers would certainly point out, James Bond is a fictional character, and even he needs Q to supply him with a gadget to do this.
I am so glad this felon is out of office.
I hope, somehow, he gets to experience some payback for all the pain and suffering he has caused others while he was posing as a public servant…..
“…Jayapal is certainly open to attack due to the fact that she does not actually live in the 7th CD.”
Shift seems to think this is incredibly important, while presenting no evidence of anyone in the 7th District actually caring about it.
(Well, I guss anything is better for you guys than asking why the 7th Distict’s diverse population has rejected your ideas and candidates for decades now.)
So the guy is going to make it out of office without going to jail. Now THAT’s a crime.