As my man Howard Dean would say, we need to fight every race, from the Presidency on down to the school board. Well, this is a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone - a good friend of mine is running for a City Council seat in Newcastle, Washington, and he's exactly the kind of smart, driven, no-nonsense Democrat we need to support.
The other bird? The guy he's running against is the Executive Director of The Discovery Institute: the very group that has pushed "intelligent design" into our national debate, rekindling the concept of Creationism in public school science classes.
More on the flip.
Meet Dan Hubbell
http://vote.danhub.com/
Dan is a great guy, techie, and father of two cute kids. He's lived in the city of Newcastle, Washington (south of Redmond, and east of Seattle) for five years, and has been an active member of the community, serving on the Planning Commission for the last four years. In that all-volunteer role, Dan was elected Chair twice, and has led Newcastle's booming development with a smart balance between enviro-friendly growth and property-value concerns.
Dan is also a Democrat, and even though this is a non-partisan race, this is one of those classic times that votes can start one political career while nipping another in the bud.
The Other Guy
http://www.stevenburi.com/
Steven Buri is the Executive Director (and a Vice President of) the Discovery Institute, a Seattle-based think tank that deals with local transit issues....and "intelligent design". Yeah, I don't know how those things fit together either. It is under the auspices of this group, and the "science" they sponsor that we are having the current debate about Darwin versus Creation through an Intelligent Force (read: God).
http://www.discovery.org/csc/
In Washington State we have a Public Disclosure Commission, which requires all candidates to file contribution reports. Buri's reads like a who's-who of the State Republican party, and the Discovery Institute leadership.
Now, I'm not saying Buri is a bad guy--I don't know him. But I don't trust the Discovery Institute, and I don't trust their agenda. Newcastle City Council has nothing to do with school curricula, but what if he runs for School Board, or State Legislature next?
Help Dan
Alas, there are no WA-PDC compliant ways of accepting online donations for down-ticket races like this (we need you ActBlue!) You can snail mail a contribution to Dan, if you wish by check or money order:
Elect Dan Hubbell
9137 122nd PL SE
Newcastle, WA 98056
IMPORTANT: If you do send a contribution (thanks!) please also include your employer and your job title - this information is MANDATORY under Washington State Public Disclosure Commission reporting rules. Contributions not including this information will be returned, which is a postage and time hit for Dan's campaign.
And just in case: there is a $300 contribution limit - but Unknown Greater Intelligence bless you for wanting to contribute more!