Clear choices, old and new
Published 6:00 am Saturday, October 28, 2006
In June 2005, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee and other House Democrats introduced legislation addressing the most critical issue of our time: our nation’s addiction to foreign oil and fossil fuels generally. The New Apollo Energy Act (its name honors the quest to put a man on the moon a generation earlier) would have used tax incentives to develop clean energy industries and conservation by consumers, with a goal of achieving a new standard – a future – of national energy independence.
The GOP majority, meanwhile, devoted its clout to a different agenda. Giving billions in new subsidies to oil companies and pushing anticonsumer legislation (via the House), and trying to cut the state’s minimum wage and drill the arctic wildlife sanctuary for oil (via the Senate) were among their priorities.
Which priorities are closer to the values of Bainbridge voters? Our incumbents know, and the Review endorses Democrat Jay Inslee for a fifth term representing Washington’s 1st Congressional District, and Democrat Maria Cantwell for a second term in the U.S. Senate.
Inslee’s tenure has been well documented in these pages, on issues ranging from the Iraq quagmire (he opposed it from the outset) to local favorites like the internment memorial. He’d be a more effective player still should his party reclaim control of the U.S. House. Inslee’s energy bill, for instance, never emerged from committee, the victim of House leadership so intensely partisan that under its procedural rules, the minority party is prevented from offering amendments to or even debating legislation, let alone seeing its own bills reach the floor for a vote.
Cantwell, in her first term, battled to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and protect the waters of our own Puget Sound from the ravages of Big Oil. More recently, she helped beat down attempts to weaken the state’s minimum wage and to stick area utilities with millions in losses incurred in the Enron meltdown – tough and worthy fights all. Like Inslee, she can be counted on to tackle practical issues of relevance to this district with another term.
With the current administration and its Congressional allies demonstrating little interest in domestic agendas of benefit to the average American, such challenges often fall to state, county and local government. Fortunately, a slate of candidates offers some measure of confidence. In the 23rd District House race, incumbent Democrat Sherry Appleton has worked on issues from low-cost prescription drugs to public school funding to the cleanup of polluted Hood Canal – a practical agenda for real-world problems. In the 23rd District’s other House contest, island Democrat Christine Rolfes demonstrated enough smarts and political savvy in her six years as a Bainbridge councilwoman to suggest she’d be effective in Olympia. She’s popular in this community for a reason: like Inslee, Cantwell and Appleton, she shares its values.
Finally, in the race for the Kitsap County Commission, we would probably endorse Republican incumbent Patty Lent for a second term. Unfortunately, you won’t find her name on the ballot. A political moderate, she was the victim of a primary-election purge by her party’s conservative wing. As to those seeking the vacant seat, we have little idea what we’d see from Democrat Josh Brown. But given the company his opponent keeps – a property rights group that rails against growth management at every turn – we have a pretty good idea what we’d get should Brown lose. That’s enough to earn a nod for Brown by default.
At the federal level, we believe the rhetoric and substance of six years of one-party rule have stifled honest discussion of critical issues facing our nation at home and abroad; islanders can do their part for change, ironically, by sticking with their Congressional and Senate incumbents. Closer to home, several state and county candidates clearly embrace issues relevant to Bainbridge Islanders – education, health care, the environment. Support them as well, with your vote.
