2020 primary, introduction and important notes

Introduction

Welcome to the mostly new and slightly revamped 2020 primary edition of Marianne’s Politiblog. We have now suffered through the first Washington presidential primary and are pretty much stuck with the result. 

Time to move on to the Washington-specific primary, and it’s a doozy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many candidates on one ballot. 36 for governor alone. This has led me to try to cut a corner or two (it didn’t work) and not research every candidate. As much as I could cut back was to simply say “also ran” for the many candidates who merely entered their names and never did anything else. 

I am hereby advocating for minimum standards for filing as a candidate. They should 1) be able to write a coherent sentence. 2) be able to articulate the job description of the post for which they are filing. 3) have sufficient internet know-how (or the funds to hire that know-how) to create a net presence. Most particularly in our new COVID limited world, voters should not have to go out physically to find information about candidates. In that regard I have to give credit to the Democrats, the Republicans, the Progressives, Indivisible, the League of Women Voters, and probably some I’ve overlooked for their work to present the candidates and their platforms.

UPDATE - Now that I've figured out how to update the blog without adding whole new posts, I will be inserting updates in red. Check them out below. 

7-23-20 Update about Dave Paul and his downright toxic opponent. See under State Legislature.

7-24-20 New update re: Nathan Howard. See under County Commissioners.

7-27-20 New update re: Jason Call. See under Congress

So, on to the basics:

First, you need to know that you are registered to vote. To check, go to https://weiapplets.sos.wa.gov/MyVote/#/login 

Ballots are supposed to go into the mail on July 15. Look for your ballot, and if you haven’t seen one by about July 24, contact the elections office. 

The deadline for registering on line and by mail is July 27, but I am informed that because the office is closed, they will continue to accept on line registrations after that date. For more information call 360-679-7366 or email   elections@islandcountywa.gov. Because they’re not open to the public right now you need to deal with them electronically or via phone. I am told you can still change your address or register right up to election day by filling in the necessary paperwork and dropping it into the ballot box in front of the elections office in Coupeville. 

I called the elections office in mid-June to ask about several issues and was very favorably impressed. I got a tutorial on how signature verification works and what they do to assure that every vote is counted. Then I asked about the health and safety of the people counting the ballots and was given a guided tour of all the things the office is doing, including the Plexiglas “sneeze shields” as they are evidently called, and even clear plastic curtains to separate workers at tables, so they can see each other and talk, but stay safe. While the offices will open to the public for the election(s), hours will be limited and there will be a requirement for all PPEs. No mask, no gloves, no service. I had the distinct impression that they had thought through all of the issues quite thoroughly and have come up with good solutions. One issue I hadn’t considered was that of the vote count watchers. They are considering simply adding cameras and putting the whole event on line. They’re also talking about installing view windows into the counting rooms. As of today, July 13, that issue remains unresolved. 

So, to make your vote count, do one of the following:
HOT NEW BULLETIN - DON'T TRUST YOUR BALLOT TO THE MAIL. 
The newly appointed postmaster general has actually mandated the slowing down of mail delivery. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/15/how-trumps-war-postal-service-could-create-an-election-nightmare/   Getting your ballot to the PO by Monday may not get it to Coupeville by Tuesday. Take the time and energy to find one of the 6 ballot drop box locations below to be sure your vote counts. 

Drop your ballot in one of the 6 ballot drop boxes before 8:00 pm on Tuesday, August 4. They are located at:

    Island County Elections Office - front parking lot

    400 N Main Street    Coupeville

    Trinity Lutheran Church - side parking lot

    18341 Hwy 525    Freeland

    Ken’s Corner Shopping Center - in front of the stores

    4141 Hwy 525 (at Langley Road)    Clinton

    Island County Camano Annex

    121 N East Camano Drive    Camano Island

    Langley Post Office - front patio

    115  2nd Street        Langley

    Oak Harbor City Hall

    865 SE Barrington    Oak Harbor

And here, once again, is Marianne’s regular disclaimer: I would never presume to tell you how to vote. That is very much your business. I’m merely telling you how I intend to vote (or how I would vote if I could in any particular race) and why. You can make your own decisions from there.

I find I have to add a caveat: Yeah, there's a "donate" button on the blog. But I will not accept donations from any candidate on the ballot. Its a matter of appearance of fairness. If my opinion could be bought, I would be no more than another avenue of campaign advertising. My opinions are my own, thank you.

Once again, whatever you do, VOTE. And make sure everyone you know votes as well. Feel free to share this information widely. We have all learned from painful experience these last 3.5 years what happens when the wrong people are in positions of power. And, for that matter, here in Washington, what happens when the right people are in power at a difficult time.

We are now seeing camouflaged stormtroopers (to quote Nancy Pelosi) on the streets of Portland and other cities. There is a very real growing concern that these troops may well be posted at certain polling places to "guarantee the safety of the voters." Aren't we glad we vote by mail?

Table of Contents

Be aware that because there are so many candidates and so many offices, I have had to break up the blog into numerous separate posts. Look for the menu down the right side of the page. Here are the positions on the ballot this time, in the order I found them on the sample ballot:

US Congress

Governor

Lieutenant Governor

Secretary of State

State Treasurer

State Auditor

Attorney General

Commissioner of Public Lands

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Insurance Commissioner

Legislative District 10

Senator

Legislature, position 1

Legislature, position 2

Island County Commissioners

District 1

District 2

Sorry, I just don’t have it in me right now to dive into the issue of the Fire/EMS levies.

No doubt you have been seeing signs for Superior Court judge candidates. Those are not on the ballot. They will be on the November ballot.

Every issue of the blog, I get requests and demands from people to “just give me the crib sheet so I’ll know how to vote.” It doesn’t work that way. I put literally hundreds of hours into each of these blogs, and I expect you to read at least some of the candidate info. I’ll cut you a little bit of a deal, though. I have arranged each office so that the last one on the list is the one I intend to vote for, so you don’t really have to wade through all of them - but I will consider it cheating! I really think it is important to know who some of these other candidates are and what they are trying to foist on all of us. Ok. End of lecture. Happy reading.

R-90, Comprehensive Sexual Education

There is one major issue that you will see arising time and again with state level candidates, and that is Sex Ed. It shows up mostly in the Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction races. It came up so often that I had to write a separate entry to explain what its all about. Here it is:

Superintendent of Public Instruction vs R-90

Before getting into the weeds of who all is running for this position, I have to get into the one single issue that is frying all of their cookies, namely ESSB 5395, a bill which passed last year “concerning comprehensive sexual health education.”

R-90 is a referendum which most likely will be on the November ballot, seeking to reverse this legislation. To hear the referendum sponsors – and many of them are running for Superintendent of Public Instruction on this very platform – the bill directs schools to teach babies what to do in bed. Needless to say, this is way beyond exaggeration and off into la-la land. 

The law requires that any public school which offers sexual health education must meet the following standards:

- medically and scientifically accurate

- age appropriate

- appropriate for students regardless of gender, race, disability status, or sexual orientation

- includes information about abstinence and other methods of preventing unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

These standards are worded broadly to allow for local decision-making.

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), in consultation with the Dept of Health, must develop a list of sexual health education curricula consistent with these guidelines. This list must serve as a resource, be updated at least annually, and be available on line. 

Public schools offering sexual health education are encouraged to review their curricula and choose a curriculum from the list. Any public school offering sexual health education may identify, choose, or develop any other curriculum, if that curriculum complies with certain requirements (as listed above). 

Parents or legal guardians may excuse their children from such instruction by submitting a written request to the school. Parents and guardians may review the curriculum on request.

In 2019, legislation directed the OSPI to convene a work group to:

- review the relevant provisions in the K-12 learning standards

- review existing curricula to identify gaps or potential inconsistencies with the learning standards

- consider revisions to relevant provisions in statute

- consider the merits and challenges of requiring all public schools to offer comprehensive sexual health education to students in all grades by September 1, 2022.

The work group published its report in December 2019. and all members agreed that students from K-12 would all benefit from such education. There was concern expressed about age-appropriate instruction in the early grades, so the work group recommended that any requirement clarifies the expected content of instruction, especially in grades K-3.

In 2019, legislation provided that Social-Emotional Learning help students build awareness and skills in managing emotions, setting goals, establishing relationships, and making responsible decisions. The legislation directed OSPI to adopt standards and benchmarks and revise as appropriate.

The sexual health curriculum is to be introduced to grades 6 – 12 in the 2021 - 22 school year and to all grades in 2022 - 23. This curriculum will consist of 1 hour/year for grades K-5 and 2 hours/year for grades 6-12.

The major focus of this education will be on “Affirmative Consent”, teaching children that they have a right to say no to unwanted advances, as well as something they call ‘bystander training,’ which in this context seems to mean “see something, say something.” 

For grades K-3 the content will be Social-Emotional Learning.

For grades 4 -12, the curriculum must include

- physiological, psychological, and sociological development processes

- development of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills to communicate, respectfully and effectively, to reduce health risk, and to choose healthy behaviors and relationships based on mutual respect and affection, free from violence, coercion, or intimidation.

- health care and prevention resources

- understanding the influence of family, peers, community, and the media

- affirmative consent and recognizing and responding safely and effectively when violence or a risk of violence is or may be present, with strategies that include bystander training.

What I take away from all of this is that the schools have figured out that children are being confronted with situations they do not understand. For their safety, they need a certain level of awareness at an early age, about saying no or telling a trusted grownup when something untoward happens. And as they grow older they do need to learn about peer pressure, dealing with one another in a respectful manner, and all the other points raised. It seems to me an unfortunate choice of terms to call this ‘comprehensive sex education.’ Rather, this is education in growing up safely and decently. 

So of course there’s a whole gang yammering about debauchery of small children. One wonders how many of them have read the actual language of the bill.

Ok, now you know what they’re all carrying on about.

And with that, we will finally get to the actual positions and candidates.