Comments on Oly Folly, Year 2

Josh - in two weeks this session will be forgotten. Please spare us a bit, Josh.

Chopp is in a safe district and he speaks for a lot of Seattle quite nicely on the long term. Or, the newbie grouch from Mercer Island was to take his place?

Dying by cutting your belly open is nice theater, but not the game in Oly. If you have the votes, voila, new law ... many of which are not needed at all.

@1 - As one of Chopp's 43rd District constituents, I'm nothing but disappointed with his overall performance this session. At this point, he's certainly not getting my vote in his next re-election bid.

@1 is right. It'll be forgotten. Unless there's a serious candidate to challenge the Speaker. Which will be hard to find in such a safe district with such a powerful incumbent.

I think the question Young Dem should have asked is "how do we get Chopp out of office?" Considering that there's an expectaction that the youth vote will be a major factor in 2008... could the Cap Hill youth vote fire Speaker Chopp?

Is it worth electing a Republican, knowing we can toss him/her out after two years? Will there even be an R to vote for?

Is there any Dem who would run against Chopp that could raise money and have enough name recognition to challenge the Speaker, and who wouldn't face (or care about facing) any political repercussions if s/he loses?

I'll vote for just about anyone to get that man out of office, but...

@3 - Doesn't necessarily have to be a Republican. I think maybe a Green would have a better chance, although admittedly it still is a long shot due to the power of incumbency.

@4 Good point. I often forget the third parties.

You're the one who's embarrassing, Josh, for misrepresenting to your readers what's attainable.

There aren't the votes for this stuff right now, and the Speaker is elected by his caucus members, who represent THEIR constituents, and not commenters on Slog.

In other words, he can make his wishes known, but he can't control the members' votes.

And nobody is going to unseat him. The Cap Hill Youth vote? ROTFLMAO! Ain't happening!

Be a journalist and not a shill, Josh. We have the same agenda, but your view of how to get there is relentlessly and increasingly at variance with reality.

@ 6,

I don't follow you Ivan @ #6. Who's Feit shilling for?

Also, he doesn't appear to saying anyone is going to unseat Chopp or run against him.

Please explain your point cuz I don't get you.

Chopp is protecting the Governor. And until she's elected with a very comfy mandate, she is going to pick and choose very carefully what she lets onto her desk to sign.

@6 Speaker Chopp represents this Slog commenter, much to his chagrin.

I bet lots of other Slog commenters and Stranger readers live in the 43rd as well. Something tells me that's sorta the Stranger's home turf.

As to unseating him (@7, @6 was referring to me @3), why not? Incumbency does not confer invulnerability, nor does a lock-solid district. Thinking nationally, three off the top of my head--NJ-CD 12 in 98, MD-CD 4 a few months ago, IL-CD 14 yesterday...

Even a strong challenge from the left might force Chopp to represent his constituents rather than the housing and roads construction industries he seems to represent now.

Anyway, as long as you think Chopp is invulnerable, why got all worked up because some wacky fools like me dream of a day when Jamie Pedersen and Ed Murray have a progressive seatmate for the 43rd?

Jamie, Jamie - above

Is that the same Jamie the Stranger worked against about a year ago? Worked against big time

Frank Chop is not vulnerable at all

I hear you on all of them except for the grocery bags. THAT'S just stupid. Come on Josh become a little more versed in reality.

"10) A bill to protect student free speech."

Goddamnit, wa.gov needs to label links that are PDFs. So now that Firefox is done crashing, can someone give me the shorthand of this bill? The title is a little vague.