Jeanne E. Stewart
It has long been maintained that the facebook page, Clark County Citizens for Good Governance (C3G2) is not only a hate site, set up from the failed effort to recall County Commissioners Madore & Mielke after they hired Sen. Don Benton to head the Department of Environmental Services, but a bunch of liberal hypocrites as well.
While that description certainly does not apply to every single member, some joined primarily to lurk and some are more moderate than others, it certainly applies to some of the more active members posting there daily.
Nowhere was this attitude seen better than during last year’s elections in not only advocating for a change to our county charter, but in their support of former County Commissioner, Craig Pridemore to fill the seat abandoned earlier in the year by Democrat Steve Stuart over former Vancouver City Council member, Jeanne E. Stewart after she identified herself as a Republican.
Pridemore is well known as a former County Commissioner, former State Senator, failed candidacies for Congress as well as State Auditor. But, he is a Democrat and that is all that mattered.
Ms. Stewart, on the other hand, is well known for her citizen advocacy on the city council, always carefully studying issues and making decisions based on their best interests and their views. But, she announced her views are closer to those of a Republican, raising the ire of many active members of C3G2.
This blog, although ignored by both the Stewart campaign and the RPCCGOP last year, advocated for Ms. Stewart on the basis of her qualities of citizen advocacy over partisanship.
In my post “Do You Want a ‘Functional’ County Commission?” I wrote;
“This may be difficult to grasp for some people, but Jeanne Stewart is the best hope to stop what you may see as Madore’s push, if she sees something that she feels might not be as beneficial to citizens as it could be.”
The Lazy C made their usual anti-Republican screeds, smearing her after reports of donations became known in their Oct. 6, 2014 editorial, In Our View: Who Owns Stewart? Many negative comments left are active members of the C3G2 page.
At the same time we would read on C3G2 comments such as;
Andrew Cleveland (husband of State Senator Annette Cleveland) “Those two [Madore & Stewart] are joined at the hip.”
John Kilvik “Let’s not forget how Ms Stewart blamed the Columbian for the loss of her council seat in the last election and accused the paper of falsely exposing her political and financial dependence upon Comm Madore. Her complaints then were as duplicitous as her recent statement claiming no knowledge of Madore’s attempt to circumvent campaign finance law.”
Melissa Smith (Camas City Council member) “Sorry but I voted for Craig Pridemore. We don’t need anymore Madore puppets.”
Pat Jollota (former Vancouver City Council member) “I worked with Ms Stewart for many years. I voted for Craig Pridemore.”
Lora Caine “She lost last time, she can lose again.”
Melissa Smith (Camas City Council member) “Madore LOVES her!!! That is all I will say.”
Brittny Houghton (on Ms. Stewart’s Win) “I’m disgusted.”
Cheryl Bledsoe (on Ms. Stewart’s win) “Text message from a friend: ‘Memo to All County Employees: Dust off your resumes’!”
Esther Schrader (on Ms. Stewart’s Win) “Look at it this way: now we will get to see how the Charter works under the worst of circumstances.”
Debbie Nelson “Stewart’s campaign was bought. What she does for it is still TBD.”
Suffice it to say, Pridemore losing as he did to Jeanne E. Stewart was not well received at C3G2. The above is just a small smattering of negative comments against Jeanne Stewart throughout the campaign and after her win.
But, a funny thing has happened since she won a seat on the County Council, as they are now known since the misguided County Charter passed.
Suddenly, with Jeanne Stewart acting and doing exactly as this blog said she would do all along, C3G2 now claims her as one of their beloved and have began fawning all over her, quickly casting their obsessive dislike of her aside.
Now we read comments such as;
Esther Schrader “Yay Jeanne! I knew you could do it!”
Michele Wollert “Before the election I — and many others — wondered if she would be an independent voice. This vote — for me — proves she certainly has that ability. And she should be commended for it. I commend her for it.”
Melissa Smith (Camas City Council member) “Did Mielke do kind of of veiled snarkiness at the end towards her about making rookie mistakes and she should have learned from the padt. Just because she is getting tired of hearing Madore’s ‘Opinions’ without any substantiated facts? I applaud her for that.”
Allan Jones “There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that we have a winner for a councilor in Jeanne Stewart! Can we please clone her?”
Michele Wollert “Also a tip of the hat on this day to Jeanne Stewart, who diplomatically reined in David Madore’s need to argue and defend against every citizen comment presented.”
Jeanne Caswell “Yay Jeanne – keep up the demand for good governance.”
Rachel Richardson Niten “J-STEW needs TONS of kudos. She is for the people and what the people want…”
John Laird (ex-political page editor for the Lazy C) “As for Jeanne Stewart: Thank God! Yea Clark County!”
As can be seen, their attitudes have changed, drastically. Gone are the snarky quips demeaning Ms. Stewart or comments of Craig Pridemore should have won.
Even the so-called newspaper of record, the Lazy C (the Columbian) has come up off of their erroneous claims made when endorsing her city council opponent in 2013. They claimed then;
“Jeanne Stewart has maintained a steady watchdog role on the council, but her contributions to the council and enthusiasm for the job are on the wane. And with the arrival of two highly capable challengers, we believe it is time for a change.”
And;
“We’ve endorsed her in previous council races, but she has built no meaningful alliances on the council and repeatedly has clashed more than collaborated with colleagues over C-Tran, waterfront redevelopment and other key issues. Stewart was unable to compellingly explain to The Columbian’s editorial board why she didn’t file to run for mayor.”
How their tune has changed now that it is seen she is performing exactly as I predicted and was ignored, both by the RPCCGOP and campaign members that ran her campaign.
I was to be discounted and irrelevant because I also do not follow lock-step either with the local GOP or Councilor Madore, seeing long ago what a charlatan he really is, willing to step on others to make himself look good and up to date on matters of importance, even if means stealing from them.
I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising to see the hotheads in control of the RPCCGOP now demeaning Ms. Stewart, as can be seen in reader comments under the article “Stewart offers plan for savings.”
Personally, I am very pleased that Ms. Stewart did win and remain pleased with her actions on the county council.
She is very likely the least partisan Politician I have ever met, having consistently placed the needs of citizens above partisan politics.
