Olympian Endorses Karen Valenzuela

The Olympian announced today its endorsement of Karen Valenzuela for Thurston County Commissioner.

The editorial board previously endorsed Valenzuela last autumn in 2009. Recommending her re-election to a full four-year term, the Thurston County newspaper said "Like last year, Valenzuela has demonstrated her leadership abilities through a tough economic downturn. We believe Valenzuela’s grasp of planning and development issues, her collaborative approach to decision making and her leadership and experience in local government, make her the superior choice for Thurston County commissioner."

The Olympian's endorsement lauded Valenzuela's sound fiscal management and difficult choices, noting "Valenzuela has been forced to tackle some tough issues in her first 18 months on the job and deserves credit for making hard budget choices that eliminated 12 percent of the county work force."

"I'm grateful for the support of our community," said Valenzuela upon hearing the news, "I look forward to a serving Thurston County for a full, four-year term."

Thurston County Democrats,

Thanks to your help, we knocked on over 13,000 doors, made over 14,000 live phone calls, and raised over $66,000. Kim and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the hard work and sacrifice that so many people put into our campaign!

I also want to thank my Democratic opponents in the primary race – Stew Henderson, Judi Hoefling, Steve Robinson, Fred Jensen and Jeremy Miller. We should all be proud of the clean, issue-focused campaigns we ran.

Now it is time to rally the Democratic family as we face a conservative Republican in the General Election. I respect deeply my Republican opponent for his courage to run. We both have young families and a desire to serve our community, but that’s where the similarities end. Make no mistake; I will NEVER let this get personal. I will, however, engage my opponent with every ounce of passion and conviction I have when it comes to matters of critical policy differences – and there are many. It is time to debate the issues!

I seek a progressive future that focuses on tax reform in order to fund education, programs for the vulnerable, and resources to address our global imperative – climate change and environmental protection. My opponent has already made it clear that he supports the thirty-year failure of trickle-down economics. He seeks additional tax breaks, a further gutting of public programs, and “faith-based” delivery systems to replace essential public services. He also states that he remains skeptical about climate change -- unbelievable!

To bring our progressive message to every voter in Thurston County, I need your help now. Please, click here to contribute to our campaign so we can kick-off our general election efforts with an aggressive outreach.

I look forward to policy-centered debates with my Republican opponent on the critical issues facing our community. I urge you to look at the comprehensive tax-reform plan I offered during our primary campaign – click here to read the plan. This is a perfect example of where progressive risk-taking is needed, not more of the status quo. In a community defined by public service, I will never shy away from defending public employees, the critical services we provide, and the necessary revenue to fund those critical programs!

Please, visit www.ChrisReykdal.com to endorse my campaign, volunteer, and to make a contribution of $250, $100, or $50, or whatever you can afford. With hotly contested races for the U.S. Senate and the 3rd Congressional District, Republicans are highly motivated, and I assure you, my opponent will leverage that energy in our race for the 22nd District. We will not take this race lightly and I ask for your support today!

Again, thank you so much for all you’ve done for our campaign to date. Please help us onward to victory in November by donating here today!

With warm regards,

Chris

Democrat Candidate for Thurston County Auditor Ric Abbett responded to public criticism of incumbent Kim Wyman today with his own ideas to improve the Auditor's office performance. Election officials say they still are investigating why computer problems delayed the release of online vote totals for up to 90 minutes the night of the Aug. 17 primary election. Extra loads paralyzed the state system and made it impossible for election workers in Thurston County and other sites to immediately feed in their results.

" There is no excuse for making local voters wait for state and regional tabulations. County vote totals should be posted immediately at 8:00 pm on election night at thurstonvotes.org as a policy without fail. Then they can be uploaded to the Secretary of State site for statewide totals on other races", Abbett pointed out. Wyman has agreed and claims it won't happen again, saying she that is her Plan B for the Nov. 2 election. Wyman said Tuesday that she plans to have her county results posted directly to the thurstonvotes.org site in a plain format before sending them to the state. Once that is done, Wyman said, her office will upload results to the state elections system, which automatically adds the Thurston votes to the statewide tallies in state and regional races. "This never should have happened in the first place, commented Abbett, " my priority would have been to the county residents". Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/08/25/1346371/too-much-traffic-delayed-counts.html?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted&qwxq=6989761#Comments_Container#ixzz0xk6oFLog.

On another issue regarding the Voter Pamphlet, Steven Baxter of Tumwater wrote in the Olympian, "There was a lengthy statement “for” the propositions, but the statement “against” stated, “No one could be found to write a statement against,” for example the Intercity Transit Authority’s Proposition 1. I find the auditor’s “against” nonstatement to be absurd. There were many votes cast against each of these propositions, yet the auditor’s office couldn’t find (didn’t look for?) someone to write an “against” statement? Next time the auditor cannot find someone to write an against statement, they can call me. If I can’t write one, I’m sure I can find someone who can."  Abbett agreed that extra efforts should be made to provide voters with information they need to make critical decisions, adding " people have also complained loudly that the Voter Pamphlet didn't include statements from judicial candidate races and federal Congressional and Senate races. There is plenty of space available if changes are made to the format without adding costs. I will assure they can perform their civic duty." He also noted that the majority of voters rely on the pamphlets as their source of information to make decisions.

Read more: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/08/26/1347755/no-balance-in-voters-pamphlet.html#ixzz0xkPSjygp

Volunteer Office Managers needed for Denny Heck's campaign!
We need some dedicated volunteers to help us keep things moving in our
front office!  We are looking for someone than can commit 4 hours per
week, or more, for the duration of the campaign, to help with the
Admin office.

Office Volunteer - Duties and Responsibilities

Duties:
Answer phones and manage general office correspondence
Greet office visitors
Help with office up-keep and organization

Assist in various office projects like mailings, research and more!
Contact Julia at (360) 878-9144 or email
julia@dennyheckforcongress.com for more information and to volunteer!

THANK YOU to the citizens of Thurston County for your recent of showing of support in the August 17th primary election.

Preliminary results are incredibly encouraging - we're leading our Republican opponent with 53.5% of the vote.  

I am so thankful for your growing support.  This is our largest margin of victory in the 3rd Commissioner District yet, after receiving 44% of the vote in August 2009, and 52% within the District in November 2010.

I am confident that, with your continuing support, we can win again this November.  I look forward to a full four-year term at the Courthouse, working for you to achieve our shared vision for Thurston County: a sustainable economy, great schools, thriving local farms, and a healthy environment. 

Thank you for your support, your volunteer hours, your donations, and your vote.  We're almost there!

Paid for by People to Re-Elect Karen Valenzuela, Democrat, 120 State Ave NE, #135, Olympia, WA 98501.