Election 2006: Take the high road

Seattle PI Editorial on the phone calls:

"Election 2006: Take the high road
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
It's good to hear GOP senatorial candidate Mike McGavick say he's going to take the high road in his campaign against incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell. Perhaps he'll set a badly needed example for his party.
McGavick, former Safeco chief executive, pledged during meetings Thursday in Washington, D.C., with senior Republicans to shun the all-too-common highly negative campaign approach.
McGavick should call the Olympia-based Speaker's Roundtable. The Republican-linked outfit drew howls of protest in January when it sent phony sex-predator notification postcards to voters saying their legislators had gone soft on sex offenders.
The group was perpetuating the same fraud last week with automated phone calls to 10,000 homes in Snohomish County, warning that a dangerous, unidentified sex offender 'has been released into your community.' The recordings lamented that Democratic Reps. Hans Dunshee of Snohomish and John Lovick of Mill Creek refused to vote on a bill to lock up child rapists for life."

The op-edgoes on to point out that our local legislators voted along with all the others to impose tought 25-life sentences on sex offenders.

Unfortunately, they didn't set penalties for political hate groups.

VanBlog by Vanguard: GOP fake "sex offender" mailing

VanBlog by Vanguard: GOP fake "sex offender" mailing

This post has nothing to do with Jeff Sax, as far as I know, except that it is the current example of the type of smear tactics used by Republican Operatives in our area, and demonstrates that the telephone calls about a "sex offender" that we all received this week are an attempt to smear our local Democratic legislators as well as others throughout the state.

This type of scare tactics ought to be beyond reputable candidates and their supporters, but unfortunately is not. The best way to combat it is to expose it for what it is: a despicable attempt to scare the electorate into voting for Republicans who will supposedly "protect us". Since it is becoming increasingly obvious that instead of protecting us, the Republicans in power are robbing us blind, driving us into debt, and threatening our rights, the voters are beginning to understand that voting for a Republican will not make us safe from anyone, be they terrorists or sex offenders.

The fact is that the problem of sex offenders is a complicated one, best worked out by neighborhoods with the help of their local law enforcement. The group that is making the phone calls is attempting to stir us all up, to blame our legislators for not "fixing" the problem, and implying that if the other party were elected the problem could be "fixed".

We don't need their interference in our local neighborhoods and politics. We do need more discussion and dialog about how to deal with things locally, and our elected officials and law enforcement personnel are providing that. If we as citizens aren't satisfied with what is being done, we need to work through our local channels.