In Defense of Democracy

 

FORMER PRIME MINISTER YULIA TYMOSHENKO & LAWYER

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, an opposition leader and political prisoner who has been imprisoned since 2011, regularly defends her integrity, democratic ideas, Ukrainian nationalism, and a broader economic association with the wider Europe.

Note:  To see Tymoshenko's website, please click on the caption under the photo above.

 

[Originally published on Commoner under the title "Yulia Tymoshenko: For Freedom's Sake."]

The Stolen Election

The 2004 stolen primary election, regarding the 9th District Congress race, that has never been discussed by the mainline media nor addressed by Rep. Adam Smith, is still waiting to come out into the broad open, and thus to stop Smith's steady progression of becoming yet another congressman-for-life in Washington, D.C.  The rightist Democrat was the beneficiary of the election that year as a result of him facing the wrong and misapplied challenger in the '04 general election.  I actually won the G.O.P. '04 primary, but the victory was snatched from me as a result of the incompetency of then Director Dean Logan and his King County Elections Dept., which never investigated their audit log problem properly or at all.  Public officials in various places all over Washington state are aware of the '04 primary malfeasance by the Elections Dept. (not properly attending to finding out what happened to missing audit logs), and in regards to an outsider or outsiders (outside of Elections) stealing an election electronically through remote control.  No mainline media reporters in or outside Washington state have ever felt it necessary to investigate that election since no Establishment politician was affected. 

Now, as I prepare to wage another campaign for the same congressional seat 10 years later, I will continue bringing up the stolen election and how Adam Smith benefitted from it, even though unwittingly, until the truth comes out.  Smith had no involvement in the theft, I stress that he was an unwitting beneficiary, but it is likely that he knows about the circumstances surrounding the primary and has kept mum about it.  So has the U.S. District Attorney for Western Washington, Jenny Durkan, kept mum, as she very likely knows more about the circumstances surrounding that primary than Smith does (neither she nor her office ever replied to an inquiry about the election that I made).  The F.B.I. was respectful, however, and they did reply to me and implied that something was not quite right about that election, although they could not intercede since the statute of limitations had run out by the time that I knew about any of this (2010).  The mainline media in Washington has been disgraceful as they jumped all over the Rossi - Gregoire imbroglio in the same year, 2004, but stayed as far away from the 9th Congressional district primary as they could.  Hopefully, the new 9th District campaign by me will resurrect new interest in the stolen election (by the alternative media and others) and thus put pressure on the mainline media to do the job that they failed to do in '04.

Note:  Investigative journalist, Tom Flocco, published this report about the '04 primary on Nov. 2nd, 2004.

-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Congress (Washington 9th CD)

Just Fine

Despite the loss, I am just fine knowing that about this time next year (2014), I will likely be basking in the victory of the 9th District congressional general election.  The Newcastle 17% that voted for me this year, along with my supporters in SE Seattle, Mercer Island, Bellevue, Renton, Tukwila, Kent, SeaTac, Des Moines, Federal Way and NE Tacoma will catapult me into one of the most famous 3rd party election wins in Washington state, if not the nation.  The Party of Commons is foregoing getting into the labeling of GMO politics as a sponsor, though it was considered, to concentrate 100% on the congressional race.  Congratulations to the citizens of SeaTac for instituting the increased minimum wage measure.

-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Congress (Washington 9th CD)

Austerity Designs

... On the Road of Irony

 

I have no idea how many votes that candor cost me, but politicians are suppose to be smarter than to say that something that just about everybody uses must be cut back severely for financial reasons, which is what I effectively did by saying that the expenditures for streets & roads should be reduced by half.  I am willing to bet that this statement that the media didn't let get by, of course, cost me some crucially needed momentum.  However, little did those who cast a vote against me for that reason know that I was actually the anti-austerity politician in Newcastle for two reasons:

 

1. I was willing to raise taxes a little if there was a community consensus for that in order to keep streets maintained at the current level (that had been publicly known, however).
2. The present Council is thinking about cutting street expenditures a whole lot more drastically than the 50% that I proffered (a plan which would still have left streets about one million dollars annually).  Now, there are plans simmering that could bring expenditures for streets as low as a hundred thousand dollars in 2014.  And you thought I was the austerity politician!

 

However, it is not easy to communicate effectively when statements cannot be brought to bear in short interviews with enough time for reflection, and thus the appropriate context, or even with it, the ability to make sure that it is actually seen through those who control the most widely seen print.  That's why money is important in elections, and your contributions for my congressional campaign would be greatly welcome and appreciated (see the boxes to the right for address information).  Thank you!

-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Newcastle City Council, Position 6

[revised on 11/7/13]



Petition

Hi, Washingtonians,

Why does the  media ask me for a comment about the election results and then not publish it?  I only wish I had a million dollars for my congressional campaign so I could bypass all news media altogether, but it's a fact of life that politicians have to entertain reporters to some degree if they want to have any chance of success in elections. 

I am using a petition for the U.S. Representative 2014 election and I am asking my supporters to write to me and get a petition sheet.  If all who did that could just get me 10 signatures, that would go a long ways towards making this process easier and allowing me to concentrate on other aspects of the campaign, like fundraising.

The inclusion of the City of Federal Way will be a big bonus for me in the congressional election.  Federal Way played a big part in helping me win the contested '04 primary for 9th District congressperson.  An election that was stolen from me and in which the mainline media never wrote about, commented on, or investigated much.  They knew something was wrong, but they kept it under wraps because no Establishment person would benefit if the truth was uncovered and it became widespread.  The official results showed me with 47% of the vote, but I really had anywhere from over 50% to 53% of the vote.  To find out more about this strange primary election, read the Commoner post, "Major Election Irregularities (Graph & Essay)."

-- Mark Greene, chairman of the Party of Commons

Note:  I just caught this after re-reading the News article about the election results, but how am I a "challenger" when John Drescher is no more of an incumbent than me?  I guess, technically, you could use that term for any candidate regardless of who they were running against, but in the usual political parlance, "challenger" is only used when a candidate is running against an incumbent, which Drescher is not until he swears in.  -- Mark

[revised on 11/7/13]

Branching Out

As we implied in the previous post, N.P.R. will not concentrate as much on the Newcastle City Council in future posts, but will be branching out to other city and town councils in the 9th Congressional District.  N.P.R. plans to visit at least once, before the 2014 Primary Election, all city or town councils (their meetings) in the 9th Congressional District, including Newcastle and Seattle.

It looks like I-522 is not doing as well as expected, but it's still too close to call as we write.  If it fails, "Commons" is almost tempted to push our own labeling initiative as an Initiative to the People, but that's unlikely seeing that running a congressional campaign and an initiative at the same time may be a little too much on the plate.  We think the primary backers of 522 made a mistake by not focusing on the potential health hazards of genetically engineered food as much as they could have.

As for the Congressional election in District 9, "Commons" will make a big deal about Adam Smith endorsing a Republican (John Drescher, a former backer of George W. Bush and John McCain) in a city council campaign, one who is opposing a diametrically opposite third party candidate that is to the left of Smith on economic issues, N.S.A. surveillance of law-abiding American citizens (it's out of control), and foreign affairs.  Smith is a de facto "Blue Dog" Democrat.

[revised on 12/3/13]

The Wider Community

Newcastle's 17% that voted for me will play an important role in 2014.

 

A good portion of the vote is in and it looks like Newcastle decided to stay with the status quo (Drescher will fit like a glove with the present Council).  The only exception to staying with the status quo is that there will be less hurdles to clear for those who want to merge with Bellevue, and believe me there are people in high places in Newcastle and Bellevue trying to accomplish that goal (their goal, not "Commons'").  N.P.R. will now start covering the wider community more, the 9th Congressional District of which Newcastle is in, and taking a very close look at Rep. Adam Smith's poor record.  Much of this work is already on Eye on Congress. 

 

To the 17% that voted for me, thank you very much and I'm pretty sure I'll need your support again in the summer of '14.

[revised on 11/7/13]

 

-- Mark Greene, Candidate for Newcastle City Council, Position 6