Greetings Conservatives!

Fair Debrief

Fair results posted in the Sounder here.

A statement by SJC Republican Party, passed as a resolution of the Central Committee, and signed by 12 conservatives myself included, was published in all three papers (here in the Sounder). We received more harassment at the county fair than in any year previous. It will be in the print versions this coming week.

The paper also ran a short peice about the protestors at our booth, which was the most commented article I’ve ever seen. Thank you to Michelle Loftus for standing up on that thread. I was there working alone the night the protesters came, along with my girlfriend who didn’t want to be home on a Friday night (a decision she regrets I think). I went out and talked to the protesters, introduced myself, shook hands, smiled, laughed — afterwards I noticed a blogger taking footage looking pretty disappointed.

Still, one man did get in a shouting match with a Republican walking by, and another was pretty mouthy despite the organizer’s stated wish of a quiet protest. Most were polite, even accomodating me by telling me that they wern’t coming back the next day. Overall I didn’t particularly mind, though it was in bad taste. It was the daily harassment from random people that was the biggest problem.

You may have seen our car tab price reduction initiative petitions in our fair booth, backed by Tim Eyman. When discussing whether we would make this initiative available to people coming to our booth, I asked Mr Eyman what the service being cut would be if we reduced the tax. He said it would be Sound Transit. Sure enough, this week I saw the headline “Sound Transit’s Lynnwood extension running $500M over budget.” Bloated budget, inefficient routes, Sound Transit is indeed a disaster. But while they get plenty of funding, our Ferries go ignored.

Immigration and the “Sanctuary County” Measure

Even as the Trump administration moves to expand deportation dragnets, he also moved to push for immigration reform — which he actually got criticized for anyway — our own county has passed a measure (Sounder) designed to oppose the application of our country’s immigration laws.

Many of us did oppose it. We had very little time to do so, literally two weeks from the time it hit the news to the time the county council passed it. I know that people in liberal circles had heard about it, but it just shows how divided American political life really is that I never heard a peep about it — nor did any other conservative.

Hayley Day, in her editorial for the Journal noted this failure of the media, and also noted that the substantial objections and reasoned concerns by many, most notably County Prosecutor Randy Gaylord, went entirely ignored. You can watch the Aug 15th meeting here.

Originally the press was reporting that there was no opposition, but this was changed after we called them on it. Overall, the local media has turned out to be pretty critical of how the county council handled all this. Many locals did speak out:

• My letter, in the Sounder here and the Island’s Weekly. “Opposition to sanctuary county measure”
• Kathy Schwartz in the Sounder here or Journal: “Shocked by immigration initiative passing”
• Barry Cave, in the Journal, “Against immigration initiative”

We also had a small committee to put a “con” statement in the voter’s guide, which turned out to be unnecessary, and several people at the county council meeting (thanks to one couple, you know who you are!).

It might be worth looking at the County Council Update: “Over the last month, the San Juan County Council has discussed issues including population projection, a local immigration initiative and protection of Southern resident killer whales.” (Island’s Weekly)

You can read the text of the resolution on the County Council’s website here (pdf download), from this page.

Housing Markets in the NW

“King County home prices grow $100,000 in a year for first time; West Bellevue jumps 41 percent” (Seattle Times). Reflecting that, “Housing bubble fears stronger in Washington than in any other state.” (also Seattle Times) Two relatives of mine recently went house shopping in Seattle, and even a very high income buys a very modest house.

• Amazon is a big part of that: “Thanks to Amazon, Seattle is now America’s biggest company town.”
• Two articles, here and here covered Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods.
• When we think of big Seattle area companies, we are used to thinking of Boeing and Microsoft, but Amazon has a larger presence than them both.  Amazon is also building brick-and-mortar bookstores (Seattle Times). Seattle residents make up an important part of tourism here.
• Seattle is struggling to cope with it’s housing issues associated with its economic prosperity: “A candidate for Seattle mayor says the city should consider taxing nonresident homebuyers and a City Council member has looked into it. But city lawyers say it would be illegal and the King County assessor says it could stoke discrimination.”
  • In reply, “Seattle mayoral hopeful Cary Moon hit back at opponent Jenny Durkan Tuesday as the candidates sparred over how the city should deal with its affordable-housing shortage.” Yes, it’s far away, but how Seattle handles this may impact how our county council handles our own housing issues.
• In our county, the Journal ran an article “Understanding the valuation process for your real estate.”

Local and State News Digest

• The Seattle Times published an editorial titled “Keep a sharper eye on farmed-fish industry.” Salmon are anadromous, meaning they spawn in rivers (as every NW resident knows).
• The mixing of local stock with farmed fish (marketed as “Atlantic”) as they head for rivers is a disaster for the industry, though it remains to be seen how severe.
• Our local news addressed this too, see the Island Guardian here. The Sounder has an in depth article on this as well, found here.
• WDFW encourages anglers to fish for escaped Atlantic salmon in the San Juans here. Report catches here.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to reinstate former Bremerton High School football coach Joseph Kennedy, who lost his job after he refused to stop praying on the field after games. Seattle Times.

In what the Seattle times called “A fitting tribute,” the Olympic Wilderness was renamed for former Republican Gov. Dan Evans. The ceremony took place on Hurricane Ridge, surely one of the most beautiful places on earth. Seattle TImes.

Seattle has an unusual system whereby residents get vouchers that they can give to candidate campaigns of their choice. The first major accusations of corruption surfaced this week, when a candidate was accused of defrauding the democracy-voucher program. Seattle Times reports.

Hyak out of service next Wednesday, Aug. 30. Sounder Reports.

There is a vacant fire commission seat, Journal reports.

Popeye, the harbor seal, bites a tourist, Journal reports. Be warned: violent mammal attacks may cause collapse in local tourism. Not really. Just trying to find a way to justify including this. The seal actually jumped out of the water to grab hold of the tourist’s arm. The port director responded here.

This nondescript article in the FreeRepublic offers one remarkably plausible explanation regarding the Scaramucci, Priebus, etc. events. First line: “Apparently, liberals and never-Trumpers are so isolated in their political circles that they have no concept how things work in the real world of business and corporate America. For example, they completely fail to grasp the concept of the “hatchet man.”

WA State Republican party released a statement on Charlottesville, posted on our website here. Fox News had an excellent opinion peice on Charlottesville here. Note also CityJournal, “Whose Next, George Washington?”

Calendar

SJC Council Monday Meeting
August 28, 2017, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM @ Council Hearing Room

SJC Council Tuesday Meeting
August 29, 2017, 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM @ Council Hearing Room

Noxious Weed Control Board Meeting
September 1, 2017, 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM @ WSU – Skagit Campus

Greetings Conservatives!

“Sanctuary County” passes

You may have heard that the county passed a sanctuary county measure. The media is saying that nobody spoke against it. That’s not actually true. We sent in several letters, had a con statement for the voter’s guide, and we did have one couple show up and brave the crowd at the Aug 15th meeting.

However, with very little time to fight it, many of our most active people gone, and everyone else severely overscheduled I do think all of us in the Republican party fell short, both membership and leadership. As it turned out, the Prosecuting Attorney opposed it as well and provided some of the stiffest opposition. In the end it didn’t matter.

I think the left is so determined to oppose President Trump that sanity has left the building. This is not good policy. Every country in the world has immigration laws. And our county just said that the law doesn’t matter. In fact, it made it illegal to enforce the law. I’ve spent my whole life studying other langauges and other cultures. I believe everyone is better off under the rule of law.

If you don’t like how this turned out, please consider becoming a more active member of the party. We are always short handed, and we simply can’t muster enough people in a pinch as with this summer.

This week, due to the fair, I am deferring all other business to next week. 

We do still need help with our booth

We are short on Fri/Sat. 

Signup on SignupGenius here 

or search  “2017 GOP County Fair Booth#157 Near Main Entrance”

Click “Sign Up” at a time slot

Then scroll down and click “Submit and Sign Up”

Alternately, contact Michelle Loftus  

meloftus@centurytel.net or 360-378-4738

***We still need 2 tables

and a carpet for the booth***

—

Nathan Butler

Chair, San Juan County Republican Party

Email: sjcrpchair@gmail.com

“No matter how conservative your views may be, unless you do something about it you really aren’t that conservative.”

Greetings! 

If you are directed here from the newsletter, note that SJI received a shortened version of this email.

We still need people for the fair. Click here to sign up. We are very short on Friday and Saturday. We also need some help with setup and takedown.

Our other urgent need is the sanctuary county issue. We need people to write letters (contact info here) and show up to the Aug 15th county council meeting where this will be discussed. One conservative who attended the most recent council meeting overheard someone say “Well, no one opposes the sanctuary county measure…”

Yes, it’s sensitive, but you can make your point without making your neighbors egg your house. I know of only two letters (one is mine, forthcoming) and the 3 person con committee that have stood up on this. Frankly, I’ve heard a lot of bluster about this, and now it’s time to stand up and be counted. I have a job, a boss, a reputation, and a family like anybody else. So do the others who have stood up.

Not that there is never a good reason not to, but I don’t think as many people have an excuse as think they do. Enough said. Next topic.

Medical Services on Orcas and Lopez

You may have noticed last week that there was a guest article in the Lopez paper, the Islands Weekly, by several important EMS and Fire Department leaders on Lopez. They contended that under the new management of the Lopez Medical Center (under the provisions passed a few months ago by Lopez residents) by the UW, there will be no emergency care at the medical center.

In the past, when emergency care has been needed residents have been taken to the Medical center (it was this way in Friday Harbor before PeaceHealth was built as well).

This week, a guest editorial by the UW in response contended that they are looking at treating patients in the Lopez Medical Center. The original piece never claimed that residents would lose emergency services — there is still EMS on Lopez — in fact it went out of it’s way to point that out. But because this is not something people think about everyday, it may have been something that readers didn’t realize. It was interesting to see how the Lopez center is handling it.

On Orcas, the same issue is being dealt with. However, it appears that the UW center on Orcas will not be providing emergency assistance in conjunction with Orcas EMS. The Islands Sounder ran an article titled “UW Medicine presence will not affect island EMS services.” This is no doubt true, but it was never contended that EMS would be discontinued. What is in question is what happens after EMS gets to your house. Are you flown off? Treated on-site? Or taken to the Medical Center?

It is important to note that past arrangements that allowed a patient to be flown off island, their insurance billed, and the remaining portion simply written off — has been discontinued. To my knowledge that is true everywhere in the county. It is now the case that if you are flown off (and unless you have Medicare, this can cost $20,000; with Medicare it’s still several thousand dollars), you will be billed for what your insurance does not pay.

Airlift insurance is very cheap, but you have to remember to get it beforehand. There are two: one for fixed wing (Island Air Ambulance Membership Program), the other for emergency helicopter transit (Airlift Northwest). You can find an information sheet about both here (opens a .pdf, your browser may give you a warning but it is from a safe source).

Don’t be like the folks who ignored the warning about the distracted driving law that I posted for several weeks. This is a real thing, and it could happen to you.

Con Statements

We have covered the con statement for the proposed sanctuary county. There are several ballot measures that are still unaddressed. We lack the manpower to do all of this and need knowledgeable people who are willing to step up (or at least willing to learn). The Orcas Island School District has placed two measures on the ballot, and the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District is proposing a one-year levy for 2018.

This week the Orcas School District published in the Sounder a statement about their budget. Do you agree? To be frank, I haven’t had time myself to research this. As with any large organization, no one person can know it all. But I am concerned that these measures will be voted on without anybody making a serious attempt to study and respond regarding to whether these decisions are wise and fiscally sound. We need 1-3 people for each levy (the Orcas levies we can have the same committee do both) willing to do the ground level work on this.

Don’t assume someone will do it. There’s a good chance we will not find someone. Everyone else has the same reasons you do. And it’s summer! So I get it. But I feel it’s my duty to try and find people, so here we are.

Local and State News Digest

“The Skagit Valley College San Juan Center in partnership with Orcas Island Rotary seeks broad community input to help identify Orcas Island’s education and training needs.” You can take the survery here. Direct questions to Tom Ritter.