If you know anything at all about Washington state politics, this news will make no sense. Why would even one Democrat endorse Pam Roach, a conservative Republican who has been shunned by other Republicans?
If you’re not from WA, I’ll give you some background about Senator Roach, her politics, and her district.
I know that she’s only one state senator out of 49, but it’s a funny story. More below the fold.
The City of Auburn
Auburn is a suburb about 25 miles south of Seattle and about 12 miles east of Tacoma. It’s near Kent and Federal Way. About 60,000 people live there, which makes it the 13th largest city in WA. Auburn was originally called Slaughter, Washington, after Lt. William Slaughter, who died in an Indian skirmish in 1855. At one time, the main hotel in town was called "The Slaughter House." In 1893, a large group of settlers from Auburn, New York, moved to Slaughter and petitioned the legislature to rename the town to Auburn.
The Muckleshoot Indian Reservation (and Casino) lies within the city limits. Auburn has a supermall, an outdoor amphitheatre that seats 20,000, and a race track (for horses). I believe Boeing has a facility somewhere in or near Auburn, too.
Current residents of Auburn include the rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot (most famous for "Baby Got Back") and Rep. Dave Reichert (Republican from WA-08). People who grew up in Auburn and graduated from high school there include Governor Christine Gregoire and the architect Minoru Yamasaki (who designed the two World Trade Center buildings in NYC (RIP)).
Pam Roach, A Typical Right-Wing Republican
Roach was first elected to the State Senate from Auburn in 1990 and has been re-elected every four years since then, although the last two elections were relatively close:
She won 52-48% in 2002.
She won 53-47% in 2006.
She’s a Mormon who is strongly anti-abortion, pro-prison, anti-tax, and pro-gun. She gets low ratings from progressive groups such as NARAL and the ACLU and high ratings from groups such as the NRA, BIAW, and EFF. In 1996 she supported Pat Buchanan’s Presidential campaign. Typical right-wing Republican (although every once in a while she supports something good, like mobile food banks for the rural poor).
And she seems to have a problem controlling her anger. She once threatened one of her own staffers with a gun. She once exploded in anger when someone removed flowers from her desk. Then, in January 2010, there was this headline from the Seattle Times:
GOP caucus bans state Sen. Pam Roach, tells her to get anger counseling
State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, has been banned from the Senate Republican caucus after colleagues told her she has repeatedly mistreated staff and should get counseling to manage her anger.
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The letter from her caucus said its workplace policy states senators "shall not engage in any behavior or make any comments which are demeaning and/or derogatory toward people" if it interferes with their work or creates an "intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment."
The letter, dated Jan. 20, says Roach has "violated this policy on numerous occasions. Your conduct has been the basis for action on five separate occasions" in 1998, 1999, 2003, 2008 and 2010.
Her own party doesn’t even like her very much. And yet, three Democrats have endorsed this right-wing (and often-angry) Republican. WTF? To understand why, let’s look at the...
2010 Primary Results
WA Senate District 31
Pam Roach (R) 40.90%
Matt Richardson (R) 22.79%
Ron Weigelt (D) 19.82%
Raymond Bunk (D) 16.48%
WA recently switched to the (incredibly idiotic) top-two primary system. The top two vote-getters in District 31 were Republicans; the two Democrats split the Democratic vote. In the November general election, voters will see two Republicans on the ballot and no Democrats.
A few days ago, horsesass.org ran this story (which is worth looking at because it has several links to various other stories, including the incredibly funny rant about someone removing flowers from her desk (sorry, I couldn't figure out how to embed the audio file in a diary)):
Satan dons parka as Democrats endorse Roach
The 31st officially became the stupidest, most pathetic and most completely dysfunctional legislative district in Washington state yesterday, as three "prominent" Democrats (you know, about as prominent as a Democrat can be in cousin-marryin’ country) issued a press release announcing their endorsement of too-crazy-even-for-the-Republican-caucus state Sen. Pam Roach. Really.
So what prompted Yvonne Ward, Karen Willard and state Rep. Chris Hurst to make such a "painful and necessary" decision? Well, Sen. Roach may in fact be a gun-toting, mouth-foaming, flower-avenging wingnut, but unlike her general election challenger, fellow Republican Matt Richardson, at least she doesn’t, um, "sexually assault" young girls.
And, lest you think that the charges of sexually assaulting young girls is just a bit of political mud-slinging... Before you say, "But in our system, Richardson is presumed innocent until proved guilty..."
Matt Richardson was charged with sexually assaulting two young girls over multiple years. He pled guilty to the charges. He then engaged in a pattern of seeking positions in schools with young children while hiding his history.
So Pam Roach – the right-wing Republican with an anger-management problem – will almost certainly be re-elected once again because her Republican opponent is a scumbag child molester and because our state has a crappy top-two primary system.
And that’s why three Democrats endorsed the despicable Pam Roach. At least she's not a child molester.