Since 2002, Democrat 49th Legislative District Representative Jim Moeller has successfully warded off challenges to his seat by some very capable Republicans, often winning by large margins exceeding 60%. Obviously, he is an effective campaigner, but 5 consecutive wins seems to have gone to his head as today we see him wearing his arrogance over those wins on his sleeve as proudly as he does his homosexuality.
He is well known for snarky comments left for constituents who disagree with him as much as he is his love of taxing the pants off of his constituents (no pun intended).
But his effectiveness in the Washington Legislature is questionable. Yes, he is very effective at pushing through special interest matters while ignoring the growing budget gaps every session, but a quick look shows that his district, the 49th is much worse off today than it has been for some time.
The 49th, wholly contained within Clark County struggles in its 4th year straight with double digit unemployment. When I contacted Mr. Moeller, along with several others back when Oregon passed their massive anti-business tax increase (measures 66 & 67) outlining we had a “golden opportunity” to attract those much needed jobs to Washington State, he responded,
“Thanks for your email. Yes! I saw the wonderful election results last night from our neighbors across the river. Although, we clearly differ on the two measures effects on small business, one thing we do agree upon, this is a great opportunity for Washington!
And what a victory! This was not just another liberal Multnomah County election result but a state-wide repudiation of the failed fiscal policies of conservatives that the only way to create prosperity is to cut taxes and shrink government services. Clearly the voters understand that simply cutting taxes and basic government services like education cannot continue and have any semblance of public education – the hope for our future, or other essential services for our elderly or disabled.
Although we have a very different tax system here in Washington we (like Oregon) will look at targeted tax increases (along with cuts and efficiencies) to help fund the basic building blocks of prosperity like education and public health and freight mobility. We will focus on rebuilding the economy and the creation of jobs in Clark County and across Washington by keeping our eye on the ball and the basics that gave us the prosperity to start with.
Finally, this was a great opportunity to affirm that progressive taxes on the successful and the wealthy is supported by the public when the voter knows what the taxes from the two measures will be used for.
Thanks for writing Lew, please write again.
Sincerely,
Rep. Jim Moeller”
I don’t know about you, but that reads to me that we don’t need to attract new business and their jobs to Washington, but that we should follow Oregon’s lead and tax the daylights out what business we have left in Clark County!
Since then we have seen Jim Moeller write and pass a ridiculously confusing “Candy Tax” that was overturned in the very next election by citizen initiative by a wide margin.
For right at a decade, Jim Moeller has sat in the majority in Olympia writing checks constituents cannot afford and building his ego and arrogance, but nowhere is this displayed more than in his dismissive attitude for so long when it comes to serious red flags raised pertaining to the Columbia River Project and dragging Portland, Oregon’s financially troubled light rail across the state line and into our community, even though voters have indicated more than once that we do not want it.
I have long been curious why such strong support in the face of so many troubles with the project, often assuming his allegiance lies more with Portland, Oregon that with constituents in the district he swore and oath to represent.
Today, October 18, 2012 in the comments below a Columbian article poo pooing the latest revelations for a forensic audit of the project, he confirmed my suspicions with his reply to my comment that our questions have long been ignored or silenced,
“Or is this just one more issue for you to hide behind and try to delay if you can’t outright kill the project and push your radical right-wing agenda while keeping Clark County from joining the 21st century with a new bridge and light-rail that connects it to the economic powerhouse accross the river and fuels 60,000 jobs a day? Whew! :-)” (emphasis added)
Confirming to me what I read in his previous statement on attracting jobs an business to our community, it is clear that Jim Moeller has no interest in that, but is only interested in keeping businesses in Oregon’s Multnomah County with our citizens forced to pay Oregon’s income tax and spread their money within Oregon, not our own community.
He shows no intention of helping our still struggling community recover. Instead, he would rather our community continue to be drained of our dwindling revenues and they be sent to Portland, Oregon to bail them out from their own folly, at such a time we need to beg for federal funds to keep a much needed fire station open and keep Police on our streets.
He ignores the crime that seems to follow light rail, that doesn’t matter to him any more than growing jobs in our own community matters to him.
You would think he believes he has been elected 5 times to the Oregon Legislature instead of the Washington Legislature since clearly his heart lies with Oregon over constituents in his district, the same ones he is suing to invalidate their votes last election.
Add to this the arrogance of an elected official telling a constituent, “I don’t give a damn what your opinion is.”
Clearly, if we in the 49th Legislative District, Clark County and Washington State are ever to recover from this economic nightmare we remain mired in, we have to replace arrogant, self-serving politicians like Jim Moeller who are more interested in supporting communities outside of our own state than they are with looking out for those who elect them.
Moeller has outlived his usefulness to the 49th and must be turned out this election. Again we see a Republican challenger with the credentials and experience running against Jim Moeller who actually cares about the community she lives in and wishes to represent our interests, not those of Portland, Oregon.
I invite you to look at Carolyn Crain and support her. While you’re at it, give Debbie Peterson and Eileen Qutub a serious look too and let’s start pulling ourselves out of this mess we have been put in by the likes of Jim Moeller.
They want to represent Clark County citizens before Portland, Oregon’s citizens.
