Some of the local elections have featured some good and bad things.

Mike McGavick, running against Maria Cantwell has hit upon a new strategy:  Ideas.

While he started in the time honored fashion of "look how bad She is" he moved on and is not denouncing the entire Washington DC culture.  As Eric at Sound Politics said:

Mike McGavick has a relatively new radio ad (the 4th option under "ads" here) up with is worth a listen. The ad hits Congress, and members of both parties, for lack of spending restraint in Washington, DC. It also opposes tax increases (including presumably opposing efforts to keep the Bush tax cuts from being made permanent).

It’s an effective ad for several reasons. One, despite the value of the civility theme in an anti-incumbent year, we’re at the point in the race where candidates need to be talking about issues. Two, the ad hits on an issue where there is cross-party consensus: federal spending has run amuck. Third, it touches on an issue that stokes the Republican base: protecting the tax cuts which are actually lowering the deficit and stimulating economic growth.

In short: more please.

Agreed.

Another interesting twist in that race is the revelations that Maria has some close personal financial dealings with a lobbyist, whose projects she earmarked for funding.  The Vancouver Columbian says:

In the past year, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, has helped secure $9.6 million in federal funds for a dam project at Lake Tapps (east of Tacoma) and $2 million for a biotechnology company.

On face value, there’s nothing wrong with that. But as more details are known about these deals, red flags start to rise. And the more Cantwell has to defend herself, the more clear it is that she would be better off preventing the red flags in the first place.

Red flag 1 The two projects are clients of Ron Dotzauer, a lobbyist who managed Cantwell’s 2000 campaign. But that doesn’t matter, a Cantwell spokesman insists; she worked on that federal funding, with others in the state delegation, before Dotzauer began lobbying for the projects.

UPDATED and bumped: 

This Just in: 

Chief Judge in Saddam Trial Replaced

The chief judge in Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial was replaced Tuesday amid complaints from Shiite and Kurdish officials that he was too easy on the deposed Iraqi leader.

It was the second time that a chief judge was changed while Saddam was on trial; in each case there were accusations that Saddam was allowed too much leeway in court.

Abdullah al-Amiri was replaced on the five-member panel by his deputy in the trial, Mohammed al-Uraibiy, a court official said. The new chief judge is a Shiite Arab, as is al-Amiri.

The Iraqi High Tribunal, the country’s supreme court, sought the change and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki approved it, a government official said. Both officials asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Finally, a system that rewards stupidity with the right reward.  That judge made remarks that were at best, giving the appearance of a conflict of interest.  Removing him and trying to return the trial to an aspect of seriousness is crucial.

If they plan on having the court continue to be a circus, they should just take him out and shoot him and be done with it. 

God knows he deserves it. 

The whole point of this trial is that Saddam would be brought to justice by the testimony of the people he abused.  His guilt is a foregone conclusion, but his trial and conviction would bring closure un real and symbolic ways.

One side note:

Can we please figure out how to do that here?  We have several judges who should be dropped a few notches…make your own list.  But I tell ya, if there was a sense of accountability to the judges for nthe ridiculous rulings they issue, maybe they would find their misplaced common sense.

Maybe the judicial branch would return to its proper place. 

More on that locally tomorrow, when the State Supreme Court election results are in…

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