Message from the Chair

By now, I’m sure you are aware that there are a couple of issues that have been raised with regards to our 23^rd LD State Representative Tarra Simmons. As chair and on behalf of the 23^rd LD, I filed two complaints. One was with the Public Disclosure Commission and the other with the Legislative Ethics Board. These are public documents and can be found online. The PDC complaint is at pdc@pdc.wa.gov. The ethics complaint is here: https://www.ethics.wa.gov. Please read them and decide for yourself the merits of the documents.

The E-Board discussed these complaints and was in agreement with filing them. Only one E-Board member was not able to attend the meeting and did not agree with this action. The state party was made aware of these actions, They did not take a position other than to recognize that this was an LD matter and not for the state to decide. They have been kept abreast of the situation.

At our recent LD meeting, a vote was taken to rescind the PDC complaint. The vote was 14 in favor of the motion, 11 were opposed to it and there were 9 abstentions. A call was made to the PDC on Monday to ask about the recission. There has not been a response to this yet. A follow-up call will be made by the end of the week. This topic will be on the agenda for the LD meeting in February since a number of people were unable to attend the January meeting due to technical difficulties.

There have been a couple of newspaper articles about this. Those are solely the purview of the respective papers and what they chose to print or not. 

This action was not taken lightly and not with malice in mind. We hold ourselves and our candidates to high standards and see this as a strength to offer our constituents unlike the opposition party that is mired in lies and deceptions starting at the highest levels of our government.

It is naïve to think that the Republicans would not do the same level of research and use what they find to undermine our candidates. By dealing with this now, there will be plenty of time for this to be addressed and put behind us. This will allow us to run positive, winning campaigns without worrying about negative issues.

On a completely different note, please remember to bring donations of food and money to our next LD meeting on February 26. Our neighbors and food banks need our help to provide for themselves and others.

We meet at the Poulsbo Library in the downstairs meeting room. Doors open at 6:30 pm for schmoozing and pizza with the business portion starting at 7 pm. Specifics about the agenda will be in a future email blurb. I hope to see you there!

And with a big smile, it is so great to say GO HAWKS!! NFC Champions!!

Val

Chair, 23^rd LD Democrats

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