Today is Election Day for the 2015 primaries. Other than a couple of special elections for state House (including in the swing 30th legislative district), this election cycle is largely focused on local government positions. Oddly enough, no one appears to have given the Washington State Democrat Party the memo.
A recent fundraising email from the Democrats accuses Republican lawmakers of causing a “marathon legislative session” and gridlock in the state Legislature. For that reason, they beseech their supporters for money to defeat GOP candidates. The email reads,
“We’re just days away from a critical primary election here in Washington. If we’re going to elect Democrats and take back the Senate in November, we need to know we have your support right now.
“Washington Democrats have a real shot at ending Republican obstruction in Olympia, but we need your help to ensure we have the resources necessary to fight for Democrats every day between now and November’s election…
“Our Republican legislators are putting their own political gain ahead of the needs of hardworking families — and we’re sick and tired of it! It’s time to elect leaders in Olympia who will put people ahead of politics and find solutions that help families.”
The email reveals the absurd and desperate tactics Democrats have resorted to in order to attack Republicans. Democrats’ blaming the Republicans for gridlock in the state Legislature is blatantly false. And, it’s almost laughable when one knows the facts.
Democrats, due to their refusal to give up on or even vote on their tax-raising agenda, forced the legislative session to drag on into July. Democrat House Speaker Frank Chopp and his fellow Democrat House leaders could not get 50 votes on the tax-raising budget they desperately wanted. In other words, they could not convince enough members of their own party to go on record voting for historic tax hikes.
Rather than vote on the Senate-passed budget which was finished during the regular session, Chopp kept holding his breath, hoping to force tax increases through. So, they passed what amounted to a spending package instead of a complete budget. Inevitably, House Democrats knew that the final budget would not include the taxes they based their 2015 message on. Chopp’s refusal to even bring the proposed taxes to a vote unnecessarily prolonged the budget negotiation process.
But, that’s not all. Right when everyone thought the state Legislature would finally adjourn, Senate Democrats backtracked on a previous agreement and refused to vote for the suspension of the Washington Education Association’s (WEA) money grabbing initiative, I-1351. Their refusal threatened to blow a $2 billion hole in the state budget. Ironically, at the beginning of the legislative session, Senate Democrats chastised Senate Republicans for what they referred to as an “irresponsible” plan to deal with I-1351. Thankfully, Democrats retreated from their unpopular position after less than a week.
As misleading as the Democrats highly hypocritical accusation that Republicans caused legislative gridlock is, the party leaders need even more deception to try and pry money out of their partisans. The email asks supporters to donate to the party on the basis of taking back the state Senate from Republicans. However, there is not one single state Senate seat up for election or even special election in 2015.
Democrats cannot “take back the Senate in November” because there are no Senate races up in November. Essentially, Democrats are raising money by making blatantly false statements. They are knowingly lying to their supporters to trick them out of their money.
The Democrats deceptive tactic should come as no surprise. After all, the party appears to be merely taking a page out of Jay Inslee’s how-to-deceive-people-for-donations handbook.
Throughout the 2015 legislative session, Inslee sent emails to supporters on issues and bills in front of state lawmakers. The emails asked recipients to “support specific initiatives backed by Inslee and to add their names to petitions.”
The nature of Inslee’s emails led to a complaint filed by Susan Hutchison, chair of the Washington State Republican Party, with the state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC). The complaint alleged that our green governor violated state lobbying laws with emails that amounted to personal grassroots lobbying, using campaign funds. Though the PDC decided to let Inslee off the hook, it did force his lawyer to admit Inslee was lying to his supporters.
Inslee’s representatives told investigators that “names and emails of respondents were entered into campaign databases but no petitions were ever created or sent to lawmakers” though the emails led supporters to believe they would be. Inslee’s lawyer claimed that the campaign “did not use the responses to present a petition or similar message to state legislators.” By every indication, Inslee’s lawyer admitted that our green governor lied to his supporters.
So, just how desperate—and unethical—have Inslee and the state Democrat Party become? Well, they appear to have reached the point where they believe it is acceptable to exploit their own supporters for monetary gain via highly deceptive claims. It’s more than a little pathetic.
You can check out the Democrats’ full email below.
It would be faster and less deceptive if the DNC just made a tax on registered democrat voters. HA! I wonder how many would turn tail .. at least until they were told “it’s for the children.”
No $hit!