That Washington
Uneventful in Everett; Candidates Go Through the Motions at Labor Debate
Last night's highly-anticipated debate in Everett featuring all six Democratic candidates in the race to replace former US Rep. Jay Inslee in the newly drawn 1st Congressional District was a disappointment. (Inslee, who's held the seat since 1999 has resigned to run for governor.)
The debate was sponsored by the Washington State Labor Council and without audience questions and lacking any follow-up questions from KCTS moderator Enrique Cerna, who simply read the WSLC's batch of litmus test soft-balls verbatim ("would you support legislation that would strengthen OSHA?"; "would you oppose 'free trade' agreements that don't protect workers' rights?"; "would you support funding for infrastructure projects that create good jobs?"; "would you support a national right to work act?"; "would you support allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year to expire?"), the evening was a tiresome exercise in canned platitudes from the pack of lefty Democrats.
It turns out they all want the Bush tax cuts to expire--plus they want a more progressive tax code without corporate loopholes. Laura Ruderman: "The idea that tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires create jobs is the biggest lie." ... Darcy Burner: "Stop pretending like subsidizing millionaires and billionaires is good public policy."
Oh, and none of them support "right to work" either, and they all like OSHA.
Follow my tweets from Everett here.
Conservative Democrat state Sen. Steve Hobbs, who the WSLC tried to take out in 2010, did stray from the party line a couple of times--he supports running coal trains from Montana through the district for the Cherry Point port ("let's admit it, it will create jobs"), and he's also for privatizing some government functions if it's more efficient ... (Suzan DelBene pretty much summed up everyone else's answer with her own: "privatizing is an attack on workers' rights.")
Follow-up questions certainly would have been helpful. For example, Hobbs, who led the fight in the 2011 legislative session to reduce workers' comp payouts, got away with answering the OSHA question by saying he was a champion of workers' safety.
Another follow-up question ... for perhaps the oddest moment of the night: Burner said that she's met with the Taliban (she reports that they're "very bad people"). When--and under what circumstances--did she meet with the Taliban?
Everett Herald political reporter Jerry Cornfield has a report on the debate, which also featured Independent outlier Larry Ishamael (who supports "right to work") here.
The debate was sponsored by the Washington State Labor Council and without audience questions and lacking any follow-up questions from KCTS moderator Enrique Cerna, who simply read the WSLC's batch of litmus test soft-balls verbatim ("would you support legislation that would strengthen OSHA?"; "would you oppose 'free trade' agreements that don't protect workers' rights?"; "would you support funding for infrastructure projects that create good jobs?"; "would you support a national right to work act?"; "would you support allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year to expire?"), the evening was a tiresome exercise in canned platitudes from the pack of lefty Democrats.
It turns out they all want the Bush tax cuts to expire--plus they want a more progressive tax code without corporate loopholes. Laura Ruderman: "The idea that tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires create jobs is the biggest lie." ... Darcy Burner: "Stop pretending like subsidizing millionaires and billionaires is good public policy."
Oh, and none of them support "right to work" either, and they all like OSHA.
Follow my tweets from Everett here.
Conservative Democrat state Sen. Steve Hobbs, who the WSLC tried to take out in 2010, did stray from the party line a couple of times--he supports running coal trains from Montana through the district for the Cherry Point port ("let's admit it, it will create jobs"), and he's also for privatizing some government functions if it's more efficient ... (Suzan DelBene pretty much summed up everyone else's answer with her own: "privatizing is an attack on workers' rights.")
Follow-up questions certainly would have been helpful. For example, Hobbs, who led the fight in the 2011 legislative session to reduce workers' comp payouts, got away with answering the OSHA question by saying he was a champion of workers' safety.
Another follow-up question ... for perhaps the oddest moment of the night: Burner said that she's met with the Taliban (she reports that they're "very bad people"). When--and under what circumstances--did she meet with the Taliban?
Everett Herald political reporter Jerry Cornfield has a report on the debate, which also featured Independent outlier Larry Ishamael (who supports "right to work") here.
