Fred Jarrett Defects from the GOP!

[ottermax]

Not that big a story, but it happened in my district. It's interesting to see the change in the politics of the Eastside suburbs in just a decade. So much has changed!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004071276_jarrett14m0.html


The Democrats are now in firm control over the legislature.

[Ogre Mage]

This is similar to then Republican Rep. Rodney Tom's defection to the Democrats in 2006 when he ran for state senate in the 48th District.  Tom won and so will Jarrett.

Frankly I think it is telling of how right-wing extremist the Wash. State Republican Party has become.  The Democratic majorities in the state legislature are a lopsided 32-17 (Senate) and 63-35 (House).  One wonders how much worse things will get for the Republicans, especially given the recent scandals involving Reps. Richard Curtis and Jim Dunn.  It's not like the national climate is favoring them.

[Meeker]

Such a great moment. Zero Republicans now representing the Eastside... warms my heart.

For those not keeping close tabs on the joke that is the Republican caucus in the Washington State House of Representatives, here's what's happened over the past month or so:

- Two members resigned to take lobbying jobs, both of whom were considered rising stars
- One member made a sexist remark to a female at a party and was stripped of all his committee assignments and pressured by the minority leader to resign even though he represents a swing district
- One member had to pay the largest ethics fine in state history after she used state resources to promote her daughter's business
- One member resigned because he was caught having sex with a gay prostitute
- And now one member has switched parties and they've lost their last moderate member

Did I mention the House Democrats have 5 times as much money as them?

[Vasall des Midas]

- One member made a sexist remark to a female at a party and was stripped of all his committee assignments and pressured by the minority leader to resign even though he represents a swing district

What!? I suppose this was just a pretext?

[Grad Students are the Worst]

Such a great moment. Zero Republicans now representing the Eastside... warms my heart.

5th district (Sammamish Plateau down to Maple Valley and out to North Bend) is still triple-Republican, although at this point it's federally Democratic, so I'm not sure they can keep that up forever.

Other than that, the only other representative is another moderate in a Democratic district, Skip Priest down in Federal Way.  And the Roaches, if they count, even though they're also Pierce County, and the son lives here.

Legislative split-wise, west of the mountains, we're now 77.0% Democratic, 22.1% Republican, 0.9% Tim "Democrat because I want to win the General" Sheldon.

On the East, it's pretty much still Idaho: 81.8% Republican to 18.2% Democratic.

That's quite a geographic split.

[Grad Students are the Worst]

- One member made a sexist remark to a female at a party and was stripped of all his committee assignments and pressured by the minority leader to resign even though he represents a swing district

What!? I suppose this was just a pretext?

Hard to say.  I'm not totally sure that the Washington GOP is together enough to have pretexts. 

The district is an exurban Clark County seat that's got a pretty decent Republican clip (Bush by 8.4), but it's also the sort of district where something like that would not play well.  The Republicans are probably better off with a different candidate in 2008.  Jim Dunn (the rep in question) had a margin of 0.9% in 2006.

Maybe it'd be more accurate to say that the clip is conservative than Republican.  In any case, they regularly re-elect a mainstream liberal Democratic rep by good margins.  Clark County is a politically weird area.

[Vasall des Midas]

Ah, blessed be the powers of google.

One House member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the latest incident was one of several over the years in which Dunn crossed a line in dealing with women.

"Jim has a long history of sexual complaints," the legislator said.

Dunn said one of those complaints, involving pornographic images e-mailed to his computer while he was on the House floor, was filed by a female legislative aide in retaliation because she knew she was about to be let go.

The Columbian, I think the source was called.

[Grad Students are the Worst]

Ah, blessed be the powers of google.

One House member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the latest incident was one of several over the years in which Dunn crossed a line in dealing with women.

"Jim has a long history of sexual complaints," the legislator said.

Dunn said one of those complaints, involving pornographic images e-mailed to his computer while he was on the House floor, was filed by a female legislative aide in retaliation because she knew she was about to be let go.

The Columbian, I think the source was called.

Yeah, I remember hearing rumors about Dunn.  Even in 2006, which was a fairly bad year for Republicans in the 17th in general, his margin of victory was too low to not be caused by some minor scandal.

I'd be surprised if he hung on until 2008.  In fact, he got very lucky in late balloting in 2006.  He was losing at first.

A picture is necessary for full effect

[CultureKing]

Such a great moment. Zero Republicans now representing the Eastside... warms my heart.

5th district (Sammamish Plateau down to Maple Valley and out to North Bend) is still triple-Republican, although at this point it's federally Democratic, so I'm not sure they can keep that up forever.

Other than that, the only other representative is another moderate in a Democratic district, Skip Priest down in Federal Way.  And the Roaches, if they count, even though they're also Pierce County, and the son lives here.

Legislative split-wise, west of the mountains, we're now 77.0% Democratic, 22.1% Republican, 0.9% Tim "Democrat because I want to win the General" Sheldon.

On the East, it's pretty much still Idaho: 81.8% Republican to 18.2% Democratic.

That's quite a geographic split.

Why oh why do I have to be represented by Tim Sheldon!??!?
We've tried almost everything to get rid of him, take him out in the primary, take him out in the general with a green canidate or a liberal republican, basically none of it works because the Olympia and Shelton newspapers talk of him as a "maverick" when really he is just a republican. (he doesn't switch parties because his wife won't let him)

[Grad Students are the Worst]

Such a great moment. Zero Republicans now representing the Eastside... warms my heart.

5th district (Sammamish Plateau down to Maple Valley and out to North Bend) is still triple-Republican, although at this point it's federally Democratic, so I'm not sure they can keep that up forever.

Other than that, the only other representative is another moderate in a Democratic district, Skip Priest down in Federal Way.  And the Roaches, if they count, even though they're also Pierce County, and the son lives here.

Legislative split-wise, west of the mountains, we're now 77.0% Democratic, 22.1% Republican, 0.9% Tim "Democrat because I want to win the General" Sheldon.

On the East, it's pretty much still Idaho: 81.8% Republican to 18.2% Democratic.

That's quite a geographic split.

Why oh why do I have to be represented by Tim Sheldon!??!?
We've tried almost everything to get rid of him, take him out in the primary, take him out in the general with a green canidate or a liberal republican, basically none of it works because the Olympia and Shelton newspapers talk of him as a "maverick" when really he is just a republican. (he doesn't switch parties because his wife won't let him)

What an electorally convenient demand for his wife to make. 

[Meeker]

Such a great moment. Zero Republicans now representing the Eastside... warms my heart.

5th district (Sammamish Plateau down to Maple Valley and out to North Bend) is still triple-Republican, although at this point it's federally Democratic, so I'm not sure they can keep that up forever.

Ehh, the 5th's Western fringes could barely be considered Eastside. The district is really a rural eastern King County district. But I suppose you have a point. We'll get those three eventually however...

Although Cheryl Pflug is one of the coolest names for a Senator ever, so maybe she can stick around.

[ottermax]

Such a great moment. Zero Republicans now representing the Eastside... warms my heart.

5th district (Sammamish Plateau down to Maple Valley and out to North Bend) is still triple-Republican, although at this point it's federally Democratic, so I'm not sure they can keep that up forever.

Ehh, the 5th's Western fringes could barely be considered Eastside. The district is really a rural eastern King County district. But I suppose you have a point. We'll get those three eventually however...

Although Cheryl Pflug is one of the coolest names for a Senator ever, so maybe she can stick around.

I would call it Eastside. It was once very rural, but most people are now suburban commuters in the 5th district. Issaquah and Sammamish are entirely suburban, and are a bit like Bellevue a couple decades ago.

Does anyone know if they ever redistrict the legislative districts in Washington? I'm sure they do, but when?

[Meeker]

Such a great moment. Zero Republicans now representing the Eastside... warms my heart.

5th district (Sammamish Plateau down to Maple Valley and out to North Bend) is still triple-Republican, although at this point it's federally Democratic, so I'm not sure they can keep that up forever.

Ehh, the 5th's Western fringes could barely be considered Eastside. The district is really a rural eastern King County district. But I suppose you have a point. We'll get those three eventually however...

Although Cheryl Pflug is one of the coolest names for a Senator ever, so maybe she can stick around.

I would call it Eastside. It was once very rural, but most people are now suburban commuters in the 5th district. Issaquah and Sammamish are entirely suburban, and are a bit like Bellevue a couple decades ago.

Does anyone know if they ever redistrict the legislative districts in Washington? I'm sure they do, but when?

We redistrict every 10 years (after the census) using a panel of retired non-partisan judges. Same way we do our Congressional districts.

[Grad Students are the Worst]

I would call it Eastside. It was once very rural, but most people are now suburban commuters in the 5th district. Issaquah and Sammamish are entirely suburban, and are a bit like Bellevue a couple decades ago.

I suppose it'd be more accurately to say the 5th is a suburban district with exurban surroundings.  Developments like Snoqualmie Ridge are really what's driven the growth in the district.  There is a lot of empty-ish land, but 56% of votes are in incorporated areas, and even most of the unincorporated precincts are in developments like Klahanie, outside of Sammamish.

The housing density on average is suburban-comparable, even if overall the density isn't anywhere near Bellevue's or anything.

[Gravis Marketing]

Does anyone know if they ever redistrict the legislative districts in Washington? I'm sure they do, but when?

If this is triggered by the map in the newspaper article, I'm betting they were just lazy and didn't look up the districts in effect in 1995.

[ottermax]

Does anyone know if they ever redistrict the legislative districts in Washington? I'm sure they do, but when?

If this is triggered by the map in the newspaper article, I'm betting they were just lazy and didn't look up the districts in effect in 1995.

Yes, I was wondering about that. That's why I wasn't sure if they did redistrict the legislature.

[Meeker]

IIRC, the districts don't change that much after redistricting. But those are the wrong boundaries from 1995.

[bgwah]

Such a great moment. Zero Republicans now representing the Eastside... warms my heart.

5th district (Sammamish Plateau down to Maple Valley and out to North Bend) is still triple-Republican, although at this point it's federally Democratic, so I'm not sure they can keep that up forever.

Other than that, the only other representative is another moderate in a Democratic district, Skip Priest down in Federal Way.  And the Roaches, if they count, even though they're also Pierce County, and the son lives here.

Legislative split-wise, west of the mountains, we're now 77.0% Democratic, 22.1% Republican, 0.9% Tim "Democrat because I want to win the General" Sheldon.

On the East, it's pretty much still Idaho: 81.8% Republican to 18.2% Democratic.

That's quite a geographic split.

YOU STOLE MY INTERESTING STATISTIC YOU JERK.

Go figure all three districts I've lived in are triple-Republican.

The Democratic Party's next goal (after finishing up with suburban Seattle and Vancouver) is to get the rest of Spokane's votes, and then target Eastern Washington. We need to get the Hispanics voting. We need to run Montana-esque candidates for the other areas.

And oh man, of all the major Republican candidates for President, I think Huckabee would do by far the worst in Washington. He'd drag down Reichert and Rossi.

[HardRCafé]

Whereas Fred Thompson would carry King County handily!

[Grad Students are the Worst]

Whereas Fred Thompson would carry King County handily!

Your sarcasm is better when it's not so empty.  Giuliani would do well in the Eastside.  Quite well.

[HardRCafé]

I know.

[bgwah]

Whereas Fred Thompson would carry King County handily!

Who still considers him a major candidate? lol

[HardRCafé]

My county clerk, my uncle, and no one else in the whole wide world.  I thought all last month he had dropped out.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

*sigh*

I don't think my Party - and its leadership in certain states - will be happy until we have given away every seat until we are left with one "pure", "conservative" alderman district somewhere in Utah, and then we'll kick that person out of the Party for being Mormon.

[So the Heroes Fall]

Whereas Fred Thompson would carry King County handily!

Your sarcasm is better when it's not so empty.  Giuliani would do well in the Eastside.  Quite well.

What, that area only votes based on abortion and thus would vote for a fascist who wanted to continue indefinitely a very unpopular war just because he happened to be pro-choice (despite his pro-choice opponent)? Is that what you're saying?