In spite of what fringe leftist try to claim, it is well known in Clark County that the newspaper of record, the Columbian has earned the reputation of also being known as the unofficial daily newsletter of the Democrat Party. Nowhere is this seen any better than in their Political Endorsements.
Every election, while a few token Republicans earn their endorsement, by and large the bulk go to Democrats, any Democrat in some cases even though the paper admits the Republican is the better candidate. Their reasoning given with some endorsements is not only inconsistent, but borders on outright hypocrisy.
Case in point is their 2012 endorsement in the general election for County Commissioner. Two districts are up for election and in both the primary and general election, they chose an all Democrat field. When their chosen Democrat did not win in our top-two primary, they still chose the Democrat, even though one claims to be a Republican still.
Incumbent sell-out Republican Marc Boldt and challenger, Democrat Joe Tanner receives the nod, as we all expected. After glowing praise is heaped on both endorsed and their opponents, incumbent Tom Mielke and businessman David Madore, both Republicans are soundly trashed and denigrated, a curious recommendation is added to the bottom of the article.
“These races are very much ‘up for grabs’ and, for two reasons, no conclusions should be drawn from the Aug. 7 primary. First, primary voting for county commissioners is confined to districts; now the voting in both races is countywide. Second, voter turnout was 30.7 percent in the primary, but it’s expected to top 80 percent in this election. In 2008, the number of District 2 voters soared from 20,860 in the primary to 166,666 in the election. In District 1, the voter count rocketed from 28,798 in the primary to 168,617 in the election.”
Besides Tom Mielke besting Joe Tanner by some 4,000 votes in the primary and David Madore besting Marc Boldt by nearly 700 votes, their recommending pay no attention to the primary results in this race is quite curious considering in the endorsement of Democrat Monica Stonier over Republican Julie Olson for the 17th Legislative District Representative, position 1 seat, they recommended the following.
“Julie Olson of Ridgefield has an edge in elected experience as a seven-year school board member. She understands the synergy between private and public sectors and would make a fine state representative. Stonier came out ahead in the primary, and we give her the nod as the better of two good candidates.”
Stonier bested Olson by about 600 votes and in that case, winning the primary is the reason they see her as the better candidate.
But remember, in the case of the two County Commission seats, both Republicans winning by even larger margins should not matter.
It’s well know that the editorial board despises both David Madore and Tom Mielke and will not publish a kind word about either. They try to mask their displeasure with both men as lighthearted at times, but it still comes through. But let’s face it, they would endorse a yellow dog before they would either man.
It also shows their political endorsements are not based upon what may be best for the community and state, but who will use their office to promote the ill-fated Columbia River Crossing project.
Take their endorsements with a large grain of salt, if you pay any attention to them at all.
