Today I voted for Peter Goldmark. I got home from work and found a Cathy McMorris piece in my mailbox. Her timing is great (ballots just dropped yesterday), but the piece seems a little strange so I thought I would share it with all of you. In it she makes four claims. Goldmark is wrong on taxes, terrorism, education, and agriculture. A few of the reasons she cites are the typical Republican talking points. But, she also makes some very odd claims.
On taxes, she notes that while Goldmark was Gov. Lowry's Ag Director, state taxes increased to a record high (cause and effect, Cathy?). On terrorism, she provides the following quote from Goldmark about the Military Commissions Act: "I must confess, I don't know the details of the bill that was recently passed. But I do know that many are very concerned..." (oooh, others' concern...I'm scared!). On education, the only point McMorris offers (all the other sections had two or three bullets) is that Goldmark voted to increase tuition every year that he was a WSU regent (she's silent on K-12). On agriculture, she points out a couple places where fees were increased while Goldmark was Lowry's Ag Director. I am not familiar with agriculture policy at all. But, that is kind of the point. I, like most 5th District residents, live in urban Spokane. She can't come up with any broad agricultural policy issue that I would understand as an urban voter? Of the four issues, she only addresses taxes on the pro-Cathy side of the piece.
Are these really the best criticisms of Goldmark that she can come up with? It's downright encouraging!
The strangest part of the whole piece is the layout. It has two sides--one side pro-McMorris and the other anti-Goldmark. I happened to pick it up with the anti-Goldmark side up and it took me a full minute to realize that this was a McMorris (and not a Goldmark) piece. There is a huge picture of Peter that looks like it came from the Goldmark campaign. They didn't doctor it to make him look sinister or put a "no" symbol over it. His name is also prominently featured at the top. She also does not indicate anywhere that Goldmark is a Democrat or that she is a Republican. In fact the only time party is mentioned is when she says she works with her "Democrat colleagues". That seems very odd for our conservative district in Eastern Washington.
All I can say is that Cathy must be scared!
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