Category: Party Politics

Posted inParty Politics

Dwight Pelz to retire as Washington State Democratic Party Chair in February

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

For­mer King Coun­ty Coun­cilmem­ber Dwight Pelz, who has ably led the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty for more than three fourths of a decade, announced today that he will retir­ing as state par­ty chair on Feb­ru­ary 1st, 2014, the date of the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee’s next meet­ing in Van­cou­ver. In a let­ter copied to […]

Posted inElections, Party Politics

Washington State Republicans elect Susan Hutchison to be their new chair through 2014

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

A suc­ces­sor to Kir­by Wilbur has been cho­sen: For­mer KIRO-TV anchor Susan Hutchi­son has been elect­ed as the new chair of the Wash­ing­ton State Repub­li­can Par­ty. At a meet­ing in Spokane Sat­ur­day after­noon, Hutchi­son defeat­ed the sit­ting inter­im GOP chair, Luanne Van Wer­ven in a runoff vote after two oth­er con­tenders were elim­i­nat­ed. (The final vote […]

Posted inBreaking News, Party Politics

Kirby Wilbur resigns as Washington State Republican Party Chair, effective immediately

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Well known con­ser­v­a­tive Kir­by Wilbur is resign­ing as the chair­man of the Wash­ing­ton State Repub­li­cans, the par­ty has announced. “I am resign­ing as the chair­man of the Wash­ing­ton State Repub­li­can Par­ty, effec­tive today at 5:00 PM,” Wilbur said in a news release dis­trib­uted to reporters only a few min­utes ago. ““I have been offered a […]

Posted inEconomic Security, Legislative Advocacy, Open Government, Party Politics, Policy Topics

Rodney Tom to constituents: “I believe my credentials as a Democrat are rock solid”

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Since announc­ing on Mon­day that he has decid­ed to join with Tim Shel­don in engi­neer­ing a new Repub­li­can major­i­ty in the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate, Med­i­na’s Rod­ney Tom has been field­ing phone calls and emails from unhap­py Demo­c­ra­t­ic con­stituents in the 48th Dis­trict who have told him in no uncer­tain terms that they regard his actions […]

Posted inLegislative Advocacy, Party Politics

Rodney Tom, majority leader of Rodney Tom and Tim Sheldon, claims Lisa Brown’s office

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Rod­ney Tom, the for­mer Repub­li­can turned Demo­c­rat turned de fac­to Repub­li­can, admit­ted today while talk­ing to the Capi­tol press corps that he’s “expect­ing” to take over cur­rent Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Lisa Brown’s cor­ner office in the Leg­isla­tive Build­ing, even though he will be the cham­ber’s “major­i­ty leader” in name only. Tom is evi­dent­ly eager to get his […]

Posted inLegislative Advocacy, Party Politics

Republicans seize control of state Senate with the help of Rodney Tom and Tim Sheldon

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Sen­ate Repub­li­cans announced today they have for­mal­ly reached a deal with Rod­ney Tom and Tim Shel­don (of the 48th and 35th Dis­tricts, respec­tive­ly) to run Wash­ing­ton’s Sen­ate for the next two years, which means that Democ­rats will be in the minor­i­ty for the first time since the 2006 ses­sion. At a press con­fer­ence in Olympia, […]

Posted inElections, Events, Live Coverage, Party Politics

LIVE from Charlotte: What a week it’s been so far at the Democratic National Convention!

by Linda Jenkins

Hel­lo from Char­lotte! I have been think­ing about how to best sum­ma­rize my expe­ri­ences in the Queen City for some time. What do I tell peo­ple back home in the Pacif­ic North­west about my expe­ri­ences here? Well, to put it suc­cinct­ly, I am all fired up and ready to go. Char­lot­teans have been very hos­pitable to us. […]

Posted inElections, Events, Live Coverage, Party Politics

LIVE from Charlotte: DNCC moves Thursday evening events to Time Warner Cable Arena

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

The fourth evening of the 2012 Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion will take place at Time Warn­er Cable Are­na instead of Bank of Amer­i­ca Sta­di­um as pre­vi­ous­ly planned, con­ven­tion orga­niz­ers have just announced. “We have been mon­i­tor­ing weath­er fore­casts close­ly and sev­er­al reports pre­dict thun­der­storms in the area, there­fore we have decid­ed to move Thursday’s pro­ceed­ings to […]

Posted inElections, Events, Live Coverage, Party Politics

LIVE from Charlotte: Schedule of speakers for Wednesday, September 5th, from the DNCC

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Good morn­ing from Char­lotte! Today is the third day of Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion week here in the Queen City. This after­noon, we will recon­vene for our sec­ond gen­er­al ses­sion of the week at 2 PM Pacif­ic. The DNCC (Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion Com­mit­tee) was kind enough to release a sched­ule of speak­ers for this evening’s program […]

Posted inElections, Events, Party Politics

LIVE from Charlotte: Michelle Obama electrifies Time Warner Cable Arena

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

That. Was. Incred­i­ble. If you’ve been fol­low­ing the DNC from home, then you just wit­nessed, along with us, one of the great­est speech­es ever deliv­ered at a Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion… Michelle Oba­ma’s cul­mi­nat­ing prime­time address, in which she elo­quent­ly laid out the case for Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma’s reelec­tion. To say that the speech was a […]

Posted inElections, Events, Party Politics

LIVE from Charlotte: Washington State’s view inside Time Warner Cable Arena

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Hel­lo again from Char­lotte! We are just an hour away now from being gaveled into ses­sion here at Time Warn­er Cable Are­na. To be hon­est, this are­na feels like the keep at the cen­ter of a giant urban fortress. I had to pass through sev­er­al lay­ers of secu­ri­ty to get in here, includ­ing a maget­nome­ter and […]

Posted inElections, Events, Party Politics

LIVE from Charlotte: Schedule of speakers for Tuesday, September 4th, from the DNC

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Good morn­ing from Char­lotte! Today is the sec­ond day of Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion week here in the Queen City. This after­noon, we will be offi­cial­ly gaveled into ses­sion by Con­ven­tion Chair and Los Ange­les May­or Anto­nio Vil­laraigosa. The DNCC (Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion Com­mit­tee) was kind enough to release a sched­ule of speak­ers for this evening’s […]

Posted inEvents, Party Politics

LIVE from Charlotte: Washington Democrats hold evening reception at Mac’s Speed Shop

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Good evening from the City of Trees! Tonight, the Wash­ing­ton State Democ­rats are cel­e­brat­ing Labor Day and the 2012 Demo­c­ra­t­ic Nation­al Con­ven­tion with a spe­cial evening recep­tion at one of Char­lot­te’s best eater­ies… Mac’s Speed Shop, renowned in Char­lotte for its beer and bar­be­cue. Mac’s is ours for the night, and we’ve tak­en full advantage. […]

Posted inElections, Events, Party Politics

LIVE from Charlotte: CarolinaFest in pictures

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Good after­noon from Char­lotte! Today, in hon­or of Labor Day, and to thank the peo­ple of Char­lote for wel­com­ing us to their fine city, the DNC is throw­ing a big par­ty called Car­oli­naFest in Uptown. It’s essen­tial­ly a big, fes­tive street fair, with a tem­po­rary food court, big stage, aux­il­iary stage, and lots of tents […]