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Link: Shirley Sutton Sweeps King, Snohomish counties Democrat endorsements

Shirley Sutton Sweeps King, Snohomish counties Democrat endorsements

“Shirley Sutton, candidate for the 32nd LD State Representative, Position 1, has swept sole endorsements from: King County Democrats, Snohomish County Democrats and the 32nd Legislative District Democrats.

Ms. Sutton, former Lynnwood City Council Member, career educator and community organizer, is challenging incumbent State Representative, Cindy Ryu.”

Meetings about replacing PSE with a publicly owned utility

Saturday, February 1st – TWO EKC PUD Launch EVENTS – Bellevue & Woodinville:

1. EKC Public Utility District # 1 Launch (Bellevue, Mercer Island, Beaux Arts, Clyde Hill, Hunt’s Point, Medina, Yarrow Point)

See official web page about the Bellevue event here: https://www.ekc-pud.org/calendar

Eastshore Unitarian Church – 12700 SE 32nd St, Bellevue, WA 98005, 10:00 – Noon

AND…….

2. EKC PUD District #7 launch (Woodinville, Redmond, Kenmore, Bothell, Duvall)

18900 168th Ave NE, Woodinville WA 98072 (Northshore UCC), 10:00 – Noon

PSE is the dirtiest electrical utility in the state. It emits more greenhouse gases than every other utility in the state–combined. It’s among the most expensive and least reliable. PSE bet big on natural gas in the 1990s, and are doubling down today. They are actively fighting to ensure that dirty fossil fuels are used for the foreseeable future.

PSE lacks an interest in our welfare and local values

The Eastside is one of the world’s premier tech industry centers. 60% of our electricity coming from fossil fuels is embarrassing. We’re buying more electric cars than just about anywhere else, but we’re charging them up with coal and natural gas.

We can do better. We have to do better for future generations. We don’t have a lot of time to cut back emissions, but PSE burns more fossil fuel than it did 10 years ago.

PSE can’t kick its fossil fuel habit, even if it wanted to. We should form a public utility district to replace PSE. Help us get one on the ballot for 2020.
Keep in mind, switching to a public utility makes financial sense as well.

The alternative is to keep burning fossil fuels, letting our grid deteriorate, and sending a tenth of our power bill off to private equities and investment banks.

Wednesday, January 29th, 6:30 pm, Eastshore Unitarian Church – 12700 SE 32nd St, Bellevue, WA 98005

350 Eastside – Sunrise GND Launch Party

We were unable to have our January 15 meeting due to weather, but here is a treat not to miss!

350 Eastside is supporting the Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal Campaign by joining in a nationwide kick-off event from 6:30 to 8:30 with video and a discussion of strategy and program for the rest of 2020.

https://www.facebook.com/sunrisemvmt/videos/192348015250893/

Salomon’s campaign, and special interests, spend over $235K to unseat progressive State Senator Maralyn Chase

Stand For Children and Washington Realtors Political Action Committee, together with Jesse Salmon’s campaign, have spent over $235,000 to unseat Senator Maralyn Chase, according to the Public Disclosure Commission website.

This PDC page lists independent expenditures for the Jesse Salomon campaign, reproduced below:

In addition to benefiting from those Independent Expenditures, the Salomon campaign itself spent $158,810.66. (source)

Direct (non-independent) contributors to the Salomon campaign include Monsanto, Chevron, and Merck.

Stand for Children cloaked their identity on some flyers by donating to REALTOR PAC for hit flyers. See this article for more on the weird web of connections between SFC and REALTORS PAC.

What does Stand [for Children] stand for now?

  • Closing neighborhood schools
  • Expanding charter schools
  • Evaluating teachers using unreliable standardized test scores
  • Replacing teachers with “online learning”

Who does Stand really speak for? Not parents. Not children.

SFC is a front for corporations, hedge funders and investment bankers who have thrown their wealth behind a national campaign to destroy teachers unions and privatize our public schools. Bill Gates, the Walmart family, New Profit venture fund, J P Morgan Chase, etc. have donated millions to SFC over the past 2-3 years, allowing it to expand to Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.

Local one-percenters who donate to Stand For Children include Connie Ballmer, Jeff Bezos, Vulcan Inc., and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The PDC website is not always clear.  Viewing various of their pages reveals more and more about the web of donations.

Stand for Children’s and WA Realtors’ suspicious campaign spending

According to the state Public Disclosure Commission, STAND FOR CHILDREN PAC spent $456,189.36 in 2018, much of it for “MAILER Independent expenditures” and “DIGITAL Ad Campaign Independent Expenditures.” Here’s a partial list of their expenditures.

Itemized expenditures: 456,189.36

…..

“Stand for Children  is a front for corporations, hedge funders and investment bankers who have thrown their wealth behind a national campaign to destroy teachers unions and privatize our public schools. Bill Gates, the Walmart family, New Profit venture fund, J P Morgan Chase, etc. have donated millions to SFC over the past 2-3 years, allowing it to expand to Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.” More about SFC here: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/parents-know-the-truth-about-stand-for-children/
You can see the candidates SFC supported in 2018 here.

This query page at the PDC website says that STAND FOR CHILDREN WASHINGTON PAC paid $32,250.00 to WA REALTORS PAC, in 2018.

WA REALTORS PAC, 2018

Cash contributions: 1,096,130.38
In-kind contributions: 90,878.50

Top 45 contributors to this campaign

Amounts shown are aggregate totals of cash and in-kind contributions.

Why is STAND FOR CHILDREN giving money to the realtors’ PAC?

WA REALTORS PAC spent  $1,697,622.64 in 2018.  What are they trying to buy?

Jesse Salomon, candidate for State Senate in the 32nd LD, is a beneficiary of spending by both these PACs. According to this PDC page, Salomon received:

Friends of Cindy Ryu, Elect Jesse Salomon and Elect Lauren Davis used the deceptive name, “Democratic Team” to hide their identities to contribute “Est 28K.”  All of these are listed under “Contributions to Salomon.” I wonder if it’s a campaign violation for other candidates to mis-identify themselves as ‘Democratic Team.”

Unlike her opponent, Senator Chase does not rely on deceptive negative ads, nor take the big bucks from Monsanto, Chevron, Merck and pro-charter school privatizers such as STAND FOR CHILDREN.

Seattle Public Municipal Bank Forum, Dec 10

Join

Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata,
State Senator Bob Hasegawa,
Gwen Hallsmith of the Public Banking Institute,
the Seattle Public Bank Coalition,
and experts in public banking for a

public forum on

A Municipal Bank for Seattle

Dec 10 at 7pm

University Methodist Church, 1415 NE 43rd St, Seattle

Seattle could have a public bank for public lending. Once the city capitalizes the bank, it can act like any bank by creating loans for local needs.

1. Public banks can lend for local needs at rates that the global Wall Street banks are unlikely to find attractive.

2. A public bank can reduce a city’s reliance on expensive private bond issuance, reducing the costs of capital projects by 30-40%.

3. A city government can finance its projects through its own bank. The city earns interest, making more projects possible or lowering the tax burden.

4. A public bank as it grows, can partner with community banks and credit unions to support small business with lending at reasonable rates.

Sponsors

Seattle Public Bank Coalition
www.seattlepublicbankcoalition.org
Public Banking Institute
www.publicbankinginstitute.org
University Temple, United Methodist Church


Quote from Martin Luther King County Labor Council Executive Secretary/Treasurer David Freiboth:

We are all too aware of the misery wrought upon ordinary citizens by an under-regulated and out of control financial sector. After years of deregulation the banking system is no better than it was preceding the Great Recession. That reason alone is enough to bring some sanity to our financial sector through public banking.

DeFazio on the secret Trans Pacific Partnership "free trade" negotiations

US Representative Peter DeFazio addresses Congress on the pitfalls of the secret “free” trade agreement known as the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement. This video predates Japan joining the TPP . . . listen to the “hit” the US car industry will take with Japan joining . . . it also predates US Representative Alan Grayson actually getting a chance to view the document, who ultimately said it was a “huge punch in the face to the middle class of America.” He further said, “The TPP is nicknamed “NAFTA on steroids.” Now that I’ve read it, I can see why. I can’t tell you what’s in the agreement, because the U.S. Trade Representative calls it classified. But I can tell you two things about it.1) There is no national security purpose in keeping this text secret.

2) This agreement hands the sovereignty of our country over to corporate interests.”

Final conclusion from US Representative DeFazio, “Kiss our economy good bye if this secret agreement goes through.”

Watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdulbFcyC-c#t=115

Please find your STATE ACTION GROUP atwww.facebook.com/ExposetheTPP.USA Join other concerned citizens in your area to help stop the TPP and Fast Track. NO ON TPP Flyers and other resources available here too.

My letter to the man who now has the power to reduce Bradley's sentence

My letter to the man who now has the power to reduce Bradley’s sentence: Major General Buchanan,

The persecution of Bradley Manning, who honored his duty by reporting war crimes, is a dishonor to the U.S. military and government. The abuse he has suffered in prison is a crime, prohibited both by Geneva Convention and the U.S. Constitution.

The most significant crimes in this case were perpetrated by the U.S. military and the U.S. government. I am outraged and shamed by the violations of our constitution, international treaty and the abuse of the rights of U.S. citizens. Our country and the U.S military must be held to higher standards than this!

Please reduce Bradley Manning’s sentence to time served.

Thank you, Linda Boyd

Call the new general’s Public Affairs Office at 202-685-2900

Political movements as spiritual conversion?

I have said that a ‘movement’ may be only possible if people experience a political shift on the level of a spiritual conversion. Here it is at work! When they get arrested, they’re calling it “bearing witness.” These people know how to send love and support to those who are willing to sacrifice their personal comfort for the cause. I spent a summer in Raleigh, and found it to be a segregated town, with a noticeable number of people involved in the arts and alternative lifestyle. These people are tapping into the better parts of deep culture and are worth supporting.

9 Ways to Organize the Next Civil Rights Movement