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.

Red flag 2 Dotzauer owes Cantwell money, a personal loan between $15,000 and $50,000. Cantwell’s office says that, too, does not matter. She had made a fortune, wanted to help a friend, and it’s cynical to imply that her public actions were tied to a private loan. And for full disclosure, Cantwell has always reported her loan to Dotzauer (who served as Clark County auditor, 1974 to 1982.)

…

We’re not saying Cantwell did anything wrong, but if she’s smart enough to make that much money and smart enough to be the great senator she claims to be in her current campaign, then she’s smart enough to manage red flags about conflict of interest.

This is pretty worrying, and one wonders why she was not more concerned with conflict of interest.

Darcy Burner, candidate for Congress,  may face the same issue if she is elected, as her husband is involved in the Microsoft PAC.

Dave Ross, a former congressional candidate himself has passed on the genes to his daughter Caitlin, who is running for a state house seat.

She has a fairly clear message:

Ross defines herself as a more conservative Democrat than some of her fellow party members. She’s a practicing Roman Catholic and believes in personal responsibility. She also believes it’s important not to lie, cheat or be wasteful, either of tangible things such as money or intangibles such as trust.

Other ideals Ross hopes to take to the Legislature are fiscal responsibility and a respect for the region’s agriculture.

She won’t promise to lower or eliminate any taxes, but she does believe tax policy needs to be under constant review to determine what’s working best for the state and its residents.

She also believes tax money needs to be spent responsibly.

Unfortunately she has a slight issue with personal honesty and responsibility,at least where voter registration is concerned:

Thanks to April Coggins for reminding me to check the Washington State Voter Database at Sound Politics.

Caitlin F. Ross, born Dec. 31, 1983, registered to vote at 1021o E CONNOR RD VALLEYFORD, WA on July 5, 2006.

A Caitlin F. Ross, born Dec. 31, 1983, also registered to vote at 40e SE DEXTER ST PULLMAN, WA on June 28, 2006, just a week before. Ross is marked as an active voter in BOTH locations, having last voted on Nov. 8, 2005

(Note -  The reference to last voted was only at one location, the Pullman address-  there is no indication that she double voted-  LSU)

Ms. Ross filed for her candidacy on July 27, 2006. This database was up-to-date as of August 7, 2006. April informs me that she called the Whitman County Auditor, and Ross did cancel her Whitman County registration.

What was interesting about the article above, was that other people then just her are registered to the same first address in Pullman:

Other residents registered to vote at 1021o E Connor Rd. in Valleyford are David L. Koch, Ross’s campaign adviser and Spokane County Democratic PCO, and a James A. Chase.

Other residents registered to vote at 40e SE Dexter St in Pullman are Jane F. Guido and a Robert Mark Hamilton. Jane Guido is the State Committeewoman for the Whitman County Democrats.

To Sum Up: Ross registered to vote in Whitman and Spokane County a week apart over the summer. Both addresses apparently are the homes of Democratic Party officials. Ross filed for her candidacy in the 9th District three weeks later.

Carpetbagger?  Perhaps.

The campaign for the Washington State Supreme Court has been pretty ugly with some horribly negative ads (from both sides) being released by the candidates or their supporters.

And in Snohomish County 20% of the mail ballots are expected to be disqualified because the voters did not follow directions.

I have said previously that I think the standard should be "if you’re too stupid to follow simple directions, then go home, no vote for you" and apparently Snohomish agrees.

There will be, at this point, no indiotic attempts to determine voter intent in Snohomish.

Good.

More later.