And The Walls Came Tumbling Down

The downfall of Oregon's four-term governor should be a cautionary tale to our Washington politicians, whether they hold office in Olympia or in our local rotten boroughs. It's quite the story, and the Washington Free Beacon has a good summary of the money and political relationships at work in Kitzhaber's downfall. If you read the linked article, imagine the howling there would be if you were to substitute "Koch" for "Steyer" in the report.

Shift WA summarized the situation by saying,

In June 2014, Shift exposed a series of emails that reveal how Jay Inslee’s green agenda is heavily influenced by outside extreme environmental organizations and paid-for political consultants. In fact, Shift discovered that the very environmental organizations caught in the Kitzhaber scandal—the Tom Steyer-fund Energy Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund—are at work in Inslee’s administration. Despite the scandal that unfolded in Oregon and the newfound relevance of Shift’s investigation, most media outlets in Washington State are still not paying attention. Austin Jenkins picked-up on the link between Kitzhaber and Inslee in a recent article for the Northwest News Network, but it’s not enough. Inslee is picking winners and losers, just as Kitzhaber was caught doing. Unfortunately, in our state, the winners are Inslee and the extreme environmental industry and the losers are hardworking Washington families. Inslee is a part of what has become an environmental political complex. Just like Kitzhaber, he is part of a system that runs on hypocrisy, corruption and selfishness wrapped in a veil of self-righteousness. 

This is the same circus, just different clowns.

Ditto at the local level. Same circus, different clowns. We have all seen our local political environmental complex divert public resources to its own advantage. Surely this is corruption of the political process, but what about genuine scandal ... the kind of corruption that makes headlines, ends careers, and takes down politicians and career bureaucrats? That doesn't happen here, does it?

Has there been any long-term misuse of funds, retaliation against whistleblowers, crony no-bid contracts, lame pretexts to try to get the sheriff's department to act as henchmen, or interference with the duties of an enforcement officer? That sort of thing doesn't happen here, does it? ... in one of the 50 places to see before you die? ... in one of the best coastal small towns?

But wait, there will be more ...