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Friday, September 14, 2012

2012 Did Noel Frame Admit Ignorance on Coal Trains? Let's Go to the Tape.

Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 2:36 PM

There's been a lot of chatter—including in the comments here—about damning video that shows 36th District candidate Noel Frame admitting ignorance on the coal train issue.

Here, finally, courtesy of the Goldy and his video-grabbing skills, is video of a May interview conducted by the 36th District Democrats, in which (at 0:48) Frame says: "I will be the first one to admit this is not something I know extensively." She also says a lot of other things:

All in all, it's hard to watch this video and not come away with the sense that Frame gets the most important part of the coal train issue: they're not good for the environment or her district, and she's unconditionally against them.

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Also wasn’t May several months ago… Couldn’t Noel have educated herself about coal trains in the ensuing 4 months?

Posted by Chef Thunder on September 14, 2012 at 2:53 PM

That's Tarleton's smoking gun? Really? Noel sounds like a reasonable progressive to me.

Posted by opengov on September 14, 2012 at 2:55 PM

A question. Between Gael and Noel (and by the way, "Gael and Noel" has a certain ring to it), who's the next best thing for those environmentalist, pro-transit 36th District voters who saw their guy (Brett Phillips) get eliminated?

About the coal trains, I remember reading Goldy's article and coming away from it feeling they ought to be stopped, but this is one of those issues where I'm so glad we have this little thing called "representative democracy" where we the voters don't have to make these calls ourselves. I'm presuming this issues is relevant to this race because there's some way the state legislature could step in to stop the trains.

Posted by cressona on September 14, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Good to hear rich, white Americans liberals that it's not ok for poor Chinese to have affordable energy sources.

Posted by The Chinaman on September 14, 2012 at 4:23 PM

@3, "I'm presuming this issues is relevant to this race because there's some way the state legislature could step in to stop the trains."

That presumption is incorrect. The state legislature can do nothing whatsoever to stop the trains. The federal government could stop it. The Whatcom County Council could deny the land use permit for the export terminal and force the coal to go to another port, most likely constructing a new one in Canada. But the legislature can't do anything about it, and there isn't much of a reason to have it be so hotly debated in this race.

Posted by c'mon girlfriend on September 14, 2012 at 4:35 PM

This is a non-issue in this race. Both candidates agree that coal trains are bad, but Frame is trying to draw a contrast where none exists. Down the line they will vote the same on the issues. What matters is who will be a better representative and a better leader, and that's Tarleton.

I'm not sure why the Stranger keeps coming out so strongly against Gael. I find it baffling.

Posted by wbenpackard