Considering Republican Objections to House Bill 1240 Banning Selected Assault-Style Firearms

 I was attending a function in Vienna, Austria, in the early 1990s and during a casual conversation with some functionary or other, the gentleman asked if I was from America. I said yes. He paused, then said he had considered visiting America with his family, but decided against it, because America was “so violent.” At the time, I thought his perception of my country was an overreaction. Not anymore.

It seems that every morning I am assailed by the news of yet another shooting; a mass shooting at a parade or school, or hospital, or a person shooting someone who came to the wrong door, or drove into the wrong drive, or whose basketball rolled into a neighbor’s yard, or someone angered by the noise of a neighbor’s leaf blower, shooting  him — a danger not included on the leaf blower’s warning label.

The gun death rate in the U.S. is much higher than in most other nations, particularly developed nations. Tragically, the rate of children killed in gun violence in America far exceeds that of peer countries. No wonder people decide to spend their vacations elsewhere. Governments of other countries have taken to warning their citizens about travel to the U.S., “There’s a risk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” No kidding!

There are more guns in America (~400m) than there are people, and too many people with guns who shouldn’t have them. There are a lot of reasons given by those opposing restrictions on the ownership of firearms. In my opinion, none of them warrant risking our children being eviscerated by a .223 cartridge traveling at 3000 ft/sec, especially not concern about angering the NRA.

I’m sorry if the word “eviscerated” disturbs you. I’m quoting what trauma surgeons who’ve treated victims of such shootings, have said. Let’s not go into detail.

Instead, let’s examine the reasons my Republican state senator gave me for opposing the recently-passed bill (HB-1240) banning certain assault-style firearms. He said: (1) banning a particular firearm won’t make a “meaningful difference” until we address the “root cause” of violence; and (2) the law will be overturned in any case, because "it’s unconstitutional."

On the senator’s first point, perhaps you’ll remember that Republicans blocked research and funding into gun violence in 1996 and it stood for more than 2 decades. It was only in 2018 that the FY2020 federal budget included $25 million for the CDC and NIH to research gun-related deaths and injuries. Republicans blocked that, too. In 2021, gun violence in the U.S. was estimated to cost $280 billion annually. That should tell you the relative worth to Republicans of learning why our friends, and neighbors, and kids are being shot with such dreadful frequency.

While we’re waiting for our Republican leaders to do a “deep dive” into the root causes of gun violence, let’s take an educated guess at the primary cause of gun deaths — guns.

Yes, despite the banal claim by the NRA that, “Guns don’t kill people…,” in fact they do, or more accurately, people with guns kill people. The more people that have guns, and the more lethal the guns are, and the more permissive gun laws are, the more people are going to be killed by guns.

Studies have demonstrated that states with weak gun laws experience significantly more gun deaths. Children and teenagers are the most at risk, although according to a study by the Violence Policy Center, 25% of police killed in the line of duty were killed by an assault weapon. This is why the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) — the world’s largest professional association for police leaders — has been a strong supporter of the assault weapons ban since 1992.

My state senator’s claim that, “banning assault-style weapons won’t make a meaningful difference,” is baloney. He can’t know that unless he could transport to a parallel universe where the U.S. kept the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban in place (after its sunset clause expired in 2004), and never banned gun violence research.

On his Second Point, I fear my state senator might be right. The Supreme Court’s recent Bruen Decision, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, was said to be based on an historical analysis of regulations in the 18th and 19th centuries. Thomas wrote  that judges should no longer consider whether the law serves public interests, like enhancing public safety (my emphasis), but only if it is consistent with the country’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

As you ponder the Thomas Ruling ruling, please do a thought experiment and imagine what sort man-portable firearm might be available to individual Americans in say 2100, and then consider how the “right to bear arms” might be “infringed” at that time.

 

The M41A Pulse Rifle is an air cooled, fully automatic, short- to mid-range combat rifle. Made of light alloy plates, it fires 10x24mm Armor Piercing Caseless Rounds from a 100 round U-bend magazine in either semi automatic, four round burst, or fully automatic rates of fire. The magazines could only practically hold 99 rounds and were usually underloaded to 95% capacity to avoid jamming. The Pulse rifle has a small battery powered digital readout screen that displays number of rounds left in the magazine; the battery is located in the handgrip. With a retractable stock and an underslung 30 mm PN grenade launcher, this weapon can be used as a carbine and an assault rifle. 

 

You're being played

 By Richard Reuther

 Tri-City Herald, April 10, 2023
“After weeks of increasing tension over family friendly drag shows in the Tri-Cities, the Emerald of Siam was vandalized on Easter morning, hours ahead of a planned all-ages event.”

I am clearly an introvert. I am uncomfortable in crowds and avoid being with strangers. But I am also something of an actor. A few paid gigs, but mostly unpaid community theatre work over the past 60 years. Some major parts. Cyrano de Bergerac, The Proprietor (Assassins), Man in Chair (Drowsy Chaperone), Cervantes (Man of La Mancha). Shaved my head to do Daddy Warbucks in Annie.

You could say I started acting when I was 11. A bunch of male friends and I volunteered to do a short play for the 6th-grade school talent show. Old style Meller Drammer. Snidely Whiplash, Young Maiden in Distress.

"Who's going to be the girl?”

"I'll do it!”

We rehearsed, we learned our lines, we performed. I wore the dress. Didn't try to imitate the voice or mannerisms of a female. I saw more possibilities to the plot and ad-libbed some of the lines.

Laughter, lots of laughter from the audience. APPROVAL OF MY PEERS. Wow!

How can you be an introvert AND an actor? You're standing in front of hundreds of people. Acting gives me an opportunity to be someone else for a couple of hours. It's not me up there; it's someone else.

In developing a character, actors look inward to bits and pieces of themselves and observe others so that they can accentuate or diminish behaviors to communicate with the audience. And we PERFORM for the audience. We make them laugh; we make them cry. Sometimes we give them something to think about. They applaud; we bow.

Whether it's a comedy, a farce, or a drama we are there to entertain. The same is true of drag. If you don't want to go to a tragedy, don't go. If you aren't entertained by drag, don't go. This is the same system that movies use: G, PG-13, PG, R, and X. If there is a drag story hour, you are going to hear age-appropriate stories. If it is advertised as "all ages," it will likely be held during the day, not at night in a bar somewhere.

This is where the "willing suspension of disbelief" comes in. You don't go to a movie thriller to yell out to the heroine that the bad guy is around the corner. You KNOW they can't hear you. You willingly suspend your disbelief for the duration of the movie. Same with theater. You don't jump onstage to prevent Caesar from being stabbed. You watch. You may jump in your seat; you may take a sudden breath when the boogieman jumps out unexpectedly (and likely will laugh a little because you were surprised).

The kids are doing the same thing during a drag story hour. They are suspending their disbelief. They aren't paying attention to the man in women's clothes. They are listening and reacting to the story that is being told, the voices of the different characters, the physical attitude of the reader's body. Nothing sexual is going on in this setting.

You are worried about "groomers" and "grooming"? Good. So am I. You're likely looking in all the wrong places. Statistically, "groomers" and "pedophiles" turn out to be relatives, or neighbors, or the church youth pastor, or the minister, or the after-school sports coach, or the scout troop master. "Grooming" is done in private, not on stage in front of dozens of people. "Grooming" is a process of gaining the trust of a child, and creating opportunities to be alone with the child. That's not what is going on here. Children will not become LGBTQ+ by seeing a drag show.

Your fears are unfounded. Your fears ARE, however, being played for political purposes. Right-wing Republicans are SCREAMING about drag shows, Critical Race Theory, vaccine and mask mandates, migrant “caravans,” abortion, and even birth control,  because they have no plan for governing. They don't want you to see that they have no plans to improve healthcare, reduce homelessness, raise America’s children out of poverty, or to stop America’s epidemic of mass shootings — at least 145 in just the first 4 months of this year.

Mass shootings play into the gun lobby’s hands; they hope to make you feel unsafe so everyone is armed, including teachers! They would allow anyone to conceal carry without a permit, and they promote concealed carry reciprocity from state to state. They rail against Emergency Risk Protection Orders, ”red flag" laws, that keep guns away from emotionally unstable people (Washington has such a law, Tennessee doesn’t).

Please, if you are concerned about our children (and we all should be), pay attention to the thing that is the leading cause of their death. Guns. Drag shows are not killing our kids. Guns are killing our kids.

Some Impacts of Top-Two Primary on 2022 Midterm Election

by Jon Phillips

I guess that unlike Dan Newhouse, Jaime Herrera Beutler's constituency had moved sufficiently to, or past, the center such that a Democrat could win under our Top-Two System. It’s a system that statistically favors stability in the center (as a game theory problem) of any particular District or the State as a whole since the two main Parties cannot effectively control access to the ballot box in the primary. Statistically, Top Two should put the outcome of the general election closer to the average of the “public mind” over a series of election seasons.

 

Our 4th District’s constituency hasn’t drifted far enough left to replace Dan, but it is not far enough to the right for a Trumpian election denier to win either. Dan took advantage of that fact. If we still had a partisan primary system, the Trumper might have won and Dan (who also voted to remove Trump) would likely have been sent home

 

Although Doug White made it into the general election, having the 2nd largest tally in the primary, Dan bested him by a landslide margin in the general. That was an expected outcome.

 

I wish more States would go to Top Two or Ranked Choice (Alaska has demonstrated that the right wing may not be able to win there for federal positions, and neither can the left wing). Since AK has only one Congressional District (it’s a tiny population), gerrymandering is impossible, and also greatly simplifies the process under Ranked Choice.

 

I have my doubts about Ranked choice, except possibly for small population States (e.g., the 5 single District States). I think it’s too easy to attack with disinformation since there’s a culture in the US that expects rapid simple answers on election outcomes and people confuse the need for additional time or complexity with potential for fraud. Ranked Choice, is a multi-step counting algorithm to come to a conclusion.

 

Getting people to accept a single step counting process is difficult enough. At least that’s my opinion. Since I can understand how Ranked Choice works, in principle, it has some advantages over Top Two in terms of favoring the statistical center (it probably reduces variance over Top Two from election to election in a sequence).

 

But I think the extra time and complexity gives too much room to the election denier mob to whip up trouble — especially in larger more complex States. We’ll see whether it lasts in Alaska, etc. It’s already under attack. If not, I hope they don’t back up all the way to a partisan primary system like they had before their 2020 Initiative cycle. Palin might come back in that case and that could move State’s politics noticeably rightward. AK has a serious independent and libertarian streak. That can be used to counter that a partisan primary limits individual’s freedom to choose.

 

It was delicious to watch Palin lose and the moderates sweep AK in 2022. That election was the first Ranked Choice implementation year and probably the only thing that saved the center right Murkowski (though she would likely win Top Two as well — she won on a write-in previous to this election cycle, that’s the definition of small d “democratic popularity”). Also the Democrats got the single House seat. It will also be interesting to see if the recent shift to Ranked Choice moves Sullivan’s (Sen. R -AK) rhetoric more toward the center before his term ends in 2026. I wonder what he might say in 2024 as early positioning.

 

In 2016, Sullivan took a clear position against Trump, but dropped it in 2020 when he had to run under a partisan primary system and Trump’s nutty cult following was maximal. Sullivan’s resume is fairly impressive. Based on his education and experience, I would expect him to be a center right pragmatist, not a Trumper. Former A/S of State in DOS, worked for the Bush WH, full Col (reserves) Marine Corps, former AG of AK, DJ from Harvard Law. Definitely well to the right of me, but doesn’t smell like some flaky Freedom Caucus Trump lover.

 

People should think harder about the value of election reforms that could tremendously help on federal office at the State level. I think that US public opinion writ large is to the left of the US House. Gerrymandering is a significant part of that. But partisan primary systems also play a role. To fix either of those is tough since both Parties engage in those abusive behaviors. They also limit small d “democracy” too much in my opinion

 

I also think that if we had more ideological stability in election outcomes every two years at State and National level, it could help calm populism and work in the interest of more reforms. Perhaps broader interest in reforms blunting gerrymandering and campaign finance might occur in a more pragmatic environment? We really need to dial down the Nation’s political temperature. It’s dangerously high.

 

It would be nice to be able to put an election bumper sticker on my car without worrying about vandalism. I always had one until the last 2 elections. I had an Obama sign in my yard and no one bothered it and I didn’t give a thought to the prospect that someone might — even though I lived in a GOP majority neighborhood. We should try to dial back to that level of comity in political discourse.

 

The Democratic Party: Internecine warfare is the deadliest

By Jon Phillips

Jon reacts to the November 4, 2022, opinion piece by Colbert I. King in the Washington Post regarding the Democratic Party under the Biden Presidency; "Internecine warfare is the deadliest."

Liz Cheney

Look at what a decade of party fratricide has done to the GOP. Half are supporting nutters and the nutty margin is growing as the MAGA fascists try to retire the remaining establishment Republicans, now clearly labeled as “RINOs” and traitors by today’s version of fanatical jackboot lickers who serve Trump’s agenda from one chaotic moment to the next. They used to be John Birchers, etc. Trump MAGAngsters are the new incarnation of right wing whack job in America.

 

What do we end up with if the Democrats also self destruct under pressure to move to their lunatic left wing fringe? Radical authoritarian right at war with radical peace loving progressive liberals? No — that’s not what happens. Progressive liberals will not survive a political wartime climate. Typically, only dictatorial types survive that environment.

Joe Manchin

It’s a race that gets meaner and more vicious in each cycle. The “nice” people just don’t make it. The progressive liberals would eventually be replaced by a radical authoritarian left either because they get forcibly retired as “LINOs” or because they learn to be vicious and unload their moral qualms to stay in position. That’s how it goes. It’s an ideological arms race that increasingly rewards brutality and punishes those who try to be ethical and fair.

 

Eventually those “snow flakes” are all melted away and horrible people are in power. By horrible, I don’t mean feisty politicians, I don’t mean typical politicians who’re painted by right wing fantasies like Q and Pizzagate to dehumanize them (look at the nonsense spread in Brazil’s recent election aimed at each side — it went all the way to cannibalism). I mean Hitler vs Stalin (and somewhat less vicious examples) as a psychopathic reality. Hitler and Stalin are sort of the most distilled examples in history of brutal right and left. People who murder many millions to serve the interest of their power.

 

Look at Central and South America. They’ve been stuck in that quagmire for many decades. Right wing authoritarians or left wing authoritarians. Periodic pseudo or full up brutal dictatorships. Occasional periods of decent government. Political violence and civil insurrection

 

That’s the logic of those who suppose that having a singular “correct” ideology is the way forward. A march toward extremes until, in terms of civil rights, both sides are brutal and indistinguishable when it comes to persecution of their political adversaries. As practical matter, both sides are the devil and use similar methods of coercion and brutality.

 

Democracy thrives best under centrist left and right parties. Why this is true is rather obvious. Centrists can work together and pass legislation that lasts and creates stability since the center is, by definition, where most of the people live on average. They’re capable of tolerating differences

 

But when you increasingly flip flop between far right and far left wing ideology, you tear stuff down. Institutional things that were very difficult to build. You try to build up and then dismantle over and over again and government loses public credibility against the tsunami of hateful lies “flooding the zone” — eventually from both sides. Eventually the center cannot hold and democracy recedes.

Donald Trump, September 6, 2016

 The only way to stably have radical government is under brutal authoritarians. People who physically crush and persecute their political opposition. They literally purge their opponents. Many Americans seem to suppose that is what they want these days — a strong man. Either a right winger or a left winger who will restore a singular order. The purpose being the elimination of significant ideological difference. That is not a nice place to be. It’s purely a fantasy that it might be better. The large majority will eventually suffer under it.

 

We’ve been stable for a long time and I suppose that Americans have no real idea how horrid things can get and how ruined a country can become and how quickly. Most of them have no relevant experience unless they grew up in a ghetto somewhere or fled some authoritarian country and migrated here. American voters don’t often know what very deep poverty is about in a personal sense. They’re not well “traveled”. When they leave the US, they go on vacation. Sometimes I hear them say how awful it was to see real poverty — but frankly at a distance.

 

They don’t go on vacation to see how the impoverished of the world live under chaotic and often authoritarian governments. Why would they go somewhere and risk getting dysentery or risk succumbing to violence or crime? Or just finding it too uncomfortable either physically or emotionally. Out of sight, out of mind. If they visit the developing world, they often go to some fancy resort with security guards. I’ve done that a few times. Relaxing on vacation is important, but often not very educational about the world.

 

But I’ve also spent much more time working overseas and been there for considerable time when not on holiday. I’ve been chewed on by vermin in a flea bag hotel and had dysentery. I’ve even had my life threatened a couple times. That’s where a large part of the world lives everyday. The main difference between the developed and developing world is the quality and history of governance institutions and their stability.

 

Sound and effective government institutions are very difficult to build. If you tear them down, everything else good eventually follows them in that collapse. Then we all live in the ruins and the ruins are most often governed by “King Rats,” not by “fair and just people.” Let’s not fool ourselves, and ruin ourselves.

Draconian Franchise Agreements, and Jerrod Sessler

Jerrod Sessler, Candidate R-WA4 (see end note)

As the late Richard Solomon, a renowned franchise lawyer once wrote, “Year in and year out, people who understand almost nothing about small business investment risk … sign long term draconian franchise agreements, putting everything they have or will have on the line in impossible propositions.” Unfortunately, many of the people who do this are veterans.

One of the candidates running for Congress in Washington’s 4th Congressional District, Jerrod Sessler, is the franchisor for Yellow Van Handyman, a kind of “odd job” home repair service. Like many Franchisors, Sessler targets veterans. He promotes himself as a “decorated Navy veteran” (he served 36 months and won an “Achievement Medal”), advertises on sites like “hirepatriots.com,” and offers a discount to qualifying vets.

Sessler is the CEO of HomeTask, Inc., Headquartered in Burien, WA. Sessler’s 2019 HomeTask Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) is written to cover both Yellow Van Handyman, and Lawn Army, a yard service franchise. HomeTask’s FDD states in bold type, “…no government agency has verified the information contained in this document.” That’s important, because by no means can you believe everything you read in an FDD.

Sessler’s FDD states that besides Yellow Van Handyman and Lawn Army, “HomeTask does not operate in any other lines of business.” However, Sessler worked at starting up more than a dozen franchises, ranging from poop scooping to tacos, including: Pet Butler, Haco Taco, Freggies, Todoblue, DD Licensing, Blue Crew, Plumbing Doctor, Data Doctor, Hot Feet Fitness, and Jakes Juice Bar. According to the Washington State Secretary of State Corporations website, these entities are either no longer active, or never started. Lawn Army has no active franchisees.

You wouldn’t know that from reading the 2014 article on PRWeb, which says that, “Lawn Army has grown from a simple vision to conducting operations in three territories with thousands of pounds of yard waste being cut, trimmed, and hauled away each month.” Or this piece in “MrFran,” which claims, “Lawn Army opened only a year ago and has recently signed its 100th customer.” These are advertisements written to read like news items. The FTC is warning industry about deceptive advertising. “Fake reviews and other forms of deceptive endorsements cheat consumers and undercut honest businesses,” according to FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Yellow Van Handyman is the lone active franchise in HomeTask’s arsenal. Yet, according to a 2013 article in PRWeb, the HomeTask parent company, “now oversees six franchise concepts and over 171 locations across the nation.” Yet Sessler’s 2018 FDD indicates that there are only 14 Yellow Van HandyMan franchises. It’s not clear from the Washington Labor & Industries website, how many of them have active licenses.

Some franchisors have been found to lowball startup costs as a way to entice prospective franchisees. For example, Sessler’s HomeTask FDD lists costs as:

$0 to $2,500 for a van
$0 to $1,000 for a computer, printer, and other office supplies
$500 to $1,000 for insurance
$400 for legal and accounting fees
$0 to $2,000 for supplies, utilities, vehicle maintenance, etc.

Whatever it ends up costing the franchisee to get up and running, they shouldn’t expect any help from HomeTask. Sessler’s FDD clearly states that, “The Franchisor does not finance any part of a prospective franchisee’s initial investment.”

The term of contract agreement for a Yellow Van HandyMan business is 10 years. A franchisee must pay costs and HomeTask fees throughout the term of that period. This includes the provision, as clearly stated in the FDD that, “You must pay us Back Office fees each week even if the franchise business has no revenue.”

A franchisee is forced to continue paying these fees even if the franchise agreement is terminated early. A franchise that borrows heavily to finance startup costs, can’t keep up with payments, and must terminate their contract with HomeTask early, can end up having made a “financially devastating decision”— a decision that will continue to haunt them long past bankruptcy.

According to the HomeTask FDD, franchisees and their immediate family members, “must sign nondisclosure and non-competition agreements acceptable to us [HomeTask].” This would include veterans. NDA’s tend to stifle complaints against misrepresentation.

Veterans are attractive prey for  unscrupulous “franchisors,” selling franchise opportunities that are, literally, too good to be true. Franchising involves significant risk, both business and personal. As a veteran myself, I caution any vet; do your due diligence, and get legal help before signing that franchise agreement.

___________________________________

End Note

Jerrod Sessler attended the January 6th insurrection. Originally, he denied being "at the insurrection," claiming he only watched it from his hotel room. The photo of Sessler and recent tweet by Sessler contradicts this, however.

6:21 PM · Jun 12, 2022·Twitter Web App

Let's Keep Our First Latina Judge in Office

Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Norma Rodriguez to the Benton & Franklin Counties Superior Court in February 2022. She assumed office on April 1, 2022. Her current term ends in 2023

"I want the community to know that no matter what race you are, what language you speak, what your economic standing is, or what your background is, I will treat you impartially and with equality." said Rodriguez, "It is important for everyone to have equal rights and access to court law proceedings."

According to a March 9, 2022, KNDU piece by Xochitl Hernandez, Rodriguez is the daughter of migrant farmworkers originally from Texas, has lived in Tri-Cities since the 1970s as a child. Her parents moved here, settling down in Pasco, where they chose to raise Norma and her five other siblings.

"They farmed asparagus, and we were very poor growing up. I think they wanted better for me and my siblings and always encouraged us to go to college," said Rodriguez. 

"At the time, we were one of the first Latino families in Pasco. My graduating class probably had 5 other Latinos," continued Rodriguez, who is a proud graduate of Pasco High School.

Rodriguez graduated from Gonzaga, the first in her family to graduate college, and opened her own law firm in 1994.

Rodriguez has practiced criminal litigation, industry and labor cases, family law, and immigration law.

Judge Rodriguez is running to keep her seat on the bench (Position 4) in the 2022 General Election. She'll be facing George Cicotte -- there's no Primary, since only two candidates are running.

Cicotte practices in the pension and employee benefits field. Cicotte told the Tri-Cities Journal of Business that he was, "deeply concerned about the federal constitutional implications of shutdowns.

"I believe the shutdowns may be infringing on several cherished constitutional rights. Moreover, I am extremely cautious whenever an allegiance to alleged “science” is demanded by a government official, especially when the alleged science conflicts with common sense and logic."

Cicotte told the Tri-Cities Herald, “I feel like I have the skills to do the job well ... my outlook on the issues is more in line with the majority of the Tri-Cities than the judge that Gov. Inslee appointed.”

Cicotte ran against Dan Newhouse in 2014. He finished fifth in the 12-person District 4 primary with 6.4 percent of the vote. He went on to endorse Clint Didier in the General Election. In doing so he said, “the fact that any American would ever consider free contraception to be even on the same scale as the First Freedom in the Bill of Rights –the right to the free exercise of religion – is astounding.”

My "outlook on the issues" is not in line with Cicotte, nor does he have the background, legal training, or experience commensurate with the position he seeks. Judge Rodriguez does. Judge Rodriguez will be a judge for the people, all the people. Now isn't that actually in line with the Constitution?

I'm voting for Norma Rodriguez for Benton-Franklin Superior Court Judge, Position 4.

Who will represent the 4th Congressional District in 2023?

Dan Newhouse currently represents Washington's 4th Congressional District. He is running for re-election in 2022. There are, at last count 5 Republican, and one Democratic candidate, who have filed to run against him. 

The 2022 Election will be upon us before the U.S. Supreme Court has a chance to rule that the recently imposed voter suppression measures enacted by 27 state Republican legislatures, are just fine and dandy.

Fortunately, those measures will not be applicable in Washington State, because our legislature is not afraid to let its citizens vote, i.e., it's not ruled by Republicans. Well, not as a whole, but certainly Eastern Washington is by and large a Republican stronghold.

The 4th Congressional District runs up and down the center of Eastern Washington from Kennewick at the Oregon border to Oroville at the Canadian border. It encompasses the counties of Douglas, Okanogan, Grant, Yakima, Franklin, Benton, and Adams, and part of Walla Walla County (CD4 will lose its small part of Walla Walla, and part of Franklin, not including Pasco, and pick up Klickitat in the redistricting). The population is centered in Benton and Franklin counties in south eastern Washington. The largest urban areas are Yakima, and the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco). The 4th CD is considered "predominantly rural," and is the most Republican district in the Pacific States. A Democrat hasn't been elected to this seat for over a quarter of a century.

What makes the 2022 Election more interesting than the previous 14 in which Republicans were elected by wide margins, is former President Donald Trump's "revenge rallies." Trump has targeted incumbent Republicans that considered seditious insurrection unacceptable, and voted to impeach him. Rep. Dan Newhouse, in a fit of rare moral rectitude, joined with those "disloyal" legislators. 

Newhouse votes to impeach President Donald Trump

Bowing to their Commander-in-Cheat, whose anger knew no bounds (as did much of his behavior), the chairmen of six GOP Republican Committees (Adams, Benton, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, and Yakima) wrote Newhouse a letter (and shared it publicly) calling for him to resign. He declined, saying basically, I followed my conscience; I hope you'll forgive me.

Newhouse Declines to Resign

The Benton County Republican Party censured Dan (having narrowly defeated a vote to boot him from the Party entirely). In his place they endorsed state Representative Brad Klippert, of whom the Tri-Cities Herald (not known as a liberal clarion) has written disparagingly, including that he co-sponsored a "harebrained scheme" to divide Washington into two states, with the Eastern half named "Liberty." I wrote about Klippert's "Guns, God, and Country" (emphasis on guns) platform on a previous post.

There are four other Republican candidates running for Newhouse's seat in addition to Klippert: Loren Culp, Benancio Garcia III, Cory Gibson, and Jerrod Sessler. The lone Democrat running is Doug White.

Perhaps in order to punish Washington State, which went for Biden in the 2020 Election, Trump endorsed Loren Culp for Congress to replace Newhouse. This was very disappointing to Jerrod Sessler, who did everything but adopt Eric to get Daddy's endorsement. Let's take a look at the top Republican contenders; Culp, Klippert, and Sessler.

LOREN CULP

Culp was the police chief, and as it happens, the sole member of the "force" of Republic, a city of about 1,062, that lies about 30 miles from the border with Canada. Culp lost that job when Republic agreed to get its law enforcement services from the Ferry County Sheriff's office.

Loren Culp, Republic Police Chief

Culp gained a measure of fame throughout the state when he announced he would refuse to enforce laws stemming from the passage of Initiative 1639, which increased the age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21, and expanded background check requirements. Culp said he would designate Republic a "2nd Amendment Sanctuary City." Culp's outspoken opposition to I-1639 was very popular with Washington's rural counties, especially those in the 4th CD, which voted overwhelmingly against the Initiative.

Culp translated his new-found fame into a run for governor, beating out a crowded Republican primary field in 2020 to challenge Governor Jay Inslee. Culp lost that bid by well over a half million votes and, channeling Donald Trump, promptly sued claiming fraud. His lawyer withdrew the suit “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. Now Culp, who still lives in Republic, has filed to run against Newhouse. Federal laws do not require congressional candidates to live in the district they are running for; they only need to live in the same state.

Although Culp lost the 2020 governor's race to Inslee by a lot, he won 27 of the state's 39 counties, pulling in close to 1.75 million votes. In the 4th Congressional District, Culp beat Inslee handily, 62% to 38%; about the same margin as most races in the district go.

If Culp and Newhouse make it through the top-two primary, data suggest Culp would give Newhouse a run for his money (pun intended). Newhouse drew 200,033 votes in his 2020 Election victory for representative. Culp drew 196,371 in his race against Inslee in the same election. But if money buys elections (and it almost always, it does), then Newhouse should be a shoe-in. As FEC records show, Dan Newhouse has received more money than all other candidates combined, and has close to three time as much cash on hand (see Table 1).

In addition to Culp's money disadvantage, questions about his campaign spending dogged him after the election. Culp had the campaign, i.e., his contributors, pay him for lost wages, pay his wife as a consultant, and "field representative," pay him for mileage, and pay a high-priced political consultant, and an even higher-priced "digital consultant" that had no prior campaign history in the PDC database. Culp's campaign consultant continued to grift the campaign after the fact by engaging with contributors over the aforementioned  frivolous law suit against the Washington Secretary of State over allegations of fraud.

Table 1. FEC Totals as of: 03/08/2022

 

Loren Culp's issues trumpet most of the talking points the GOP has mucked out of the barn since Joe Biden's election:

• Election integrity (aka, the election was stolen)
• Critical Race Theory (aka, they're indoctrinating our kids)
• No "jab mandate" (aka, anti-vax, plus anti Medicare4All)
• Border security (aka, "build the wall")
• Fiscal responsibility (aka, reinstate the Trump tax cut)
• Energy independence (aka, "drill baby drill," plus withdraw from Paris Climate Accord)
• Constitutional Government (aka, "America First")

In addition, Culp weaves an anti-globalist message through his talking points, including a call to "level the playing field" by rolling back government subsidies for farmers. Culp claims this will free the farmers from government "bondage." Culp may have some explaining to do on this, since the record subsidies farmers received ($51.2 billion according to Reuters) up to the 2020 Election were what carried farmers through Trump's failed trade war with China.

BRAD KLIPPERT

Bradley Allen Klippert's letter announcing his intention to run for the 4th Congressional District's seat in the House of Representatives is a reflection of his personality and his intellect. Brad Klippert is a licensed Pentecostal minister and his announcement is full of patriotic one-liners, platitudes, and nationalistic evangelism worthy of a sermon on the mount. Saying that Klippert is conservative when it comes to sexual orientation and gender identity is like saying that Donald Trump struggled with the truth. But it's hard to argue with success. Klippert was elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 2008 and has been re-elected each year since. As an anti-tax, anti-government conservative, he is a reliable 'No' vote on most bills.

Brad Klippert, State Representative, LD8

Klippert's ultra-conservative playbook resonates well in what is an ultra-conservative district; his vote total only fell below 60% once (at 59%), and that was running against another Republican (Rick Jansons in 2016). But his pulpit may not translate well from the state level to the federal level. He is:

• Anti-Abortion
• Anti-Gay Rights
  
• Anti-Tax
• Anti-Minimun Wage Increase
• Anti-Mail-In Voting
  
• Anti-Increased Education Funding (supports government funding of charter schools)
  
• Anti-Climate Change Regulation
• Anti-Gun Control
• Anti-Affordable Care Act
• Anti-Equal Pay Amendment
• Anti-Dam Breaching
• Anti-Mask & Vaccination Mandates
• Anti-Critical Race Theory

Klippert Used Tax Payer Money to Attend Lindell's Evidence-Free Symposium

What may bite Klippert this time around is his charging tax payers for his expenses to attend a three-day “Cyber Symposium” in South Dakota, sponsored by "MyPillow" CEO, Mike Lindell, promising to provide “irrefutable” evidence the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump by hackers. According to the Tri-Citiy Herald, "The three-day, livestreamed event, rife with debunked conspiracy theories, produced no such proof and ended in embarrassing fashion when even some of Lindell’s own invited experts said hacking data he’d touted was nonsensical."

In addition, as I posted previously, the Tri-City Herald is no fan of Klippert, and is very unlikely to support him over Newhouse in the August 2nd Primary, or should they both get through the top-two, the General Election in November.

Of the six Republicans who've filed to run, only Ben Garcia has less money than Brad Klippert -- Garcia has no money. Brad, who filed way back in March of last year, has received $18,104, disbursed $14,509, has $3,595 on hand, and owes $12,225. It will be interesting to see what pops up on the FEC radar at the end of March this year, when quarterly reports are due.

 

JERROD SESSLER

Jerrod Sessler at the January 6, 2020, Insurrection

 

Jerrod Sessler filed to run in the 2022 Primary on March 17, 2021. He lived in Burien, WA, at the time, from where he ran his franchising company, HomeTask, Inc. Over the next five months he loaned his campaign $351,000. He boasted about being second only to Dan Newhouse in campaign money, but after it was publized that he'd put a substantial amount of his own money into his campaign," he admitted he'd done this, saying, "If I have to put my last penny in to help protect this great country that I have served and will continue to serve, I will not count it as too great a cost."

Sessler has crafted his platform to cover all the hot-button issues of the constituency he believes will elect him in November. He claims to be;

• fiercely anti-abortion
• for securing the Southern Border
  
• opposed to mask and vaccine mandates
• for unrestricted gun rights
• opposed to critical race theory
• in favor of supporting "J6 victims"
  

Sessler has been endorsed by:

• Lt Gen Michael Flynn (Ret.)
• Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers, who is a member of the Oath Keepers
• Virginia State Sen Amanda Chase (censured for conduct unbecoming a senator) 
• Arizona State Representative Mark Finchem (who tried to reverse the AZ Presidential election result)
• State Trooper Robert LaMay (now deceased as a result of contracting COVID)

Jerrod Sessler is single-minded in his ceaseless self-promotion. He advertises himself as a former NASCAR driver, a "decorated Navy veteran," a successful businessman/entrepreneur, a miraculous cancer survivor, an America-First Patriot, and an "ultra-popular Republican challenger to impeachment-voting Rep. Dan Newhouse."

 

Sessler's campaign website says he was "forged by the sea." He enlisted in the Navy right out of high school and left it 36-months later, in 1989. He achieved the grade of Petty Officer 3rd Class (a grade just above Seaman), and earned an 'Achievement Medal’ (having achieved an honorable discharge).

 

Sessler claims on the HomeTask website that HomeTask, "grew to over 150 locations and five brands nationwide." This is untrue, as the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) shows.*

 

Sessler gets his own section (p.68-71) in “Hallelujah Diet,” a book by Rev. Dr. George Malkmus, describing how he adopted the biblically-based raw fruits and vegetables diet and “beat his [stage IV] cancer.” 

Sessler started HomeTask Handyman Service, Inc. (602 343 174)** after first running a construction company, Siblings, incorporated on 2000-4-27 (601 872 987), which was dissolved 2004-08-02, reinstated with Nicole Sessler in charge (602 033 222), and ultimately dissolved 2008-08-01. Sessler "sponsored" his NASCAR driving adventure with earnings from his Siblings business venture.

HomeTask Handyman Service, Inc. was incorporated 2003-11-05, and was dissolved 2010-03-01. Jerrod Sessler started his franchise business HomeTask, Inc. (603 177 270), 2012-02-01.

On the opengovwa.com website, Sessler is listed as the registered agent for: Todoblue LLC, DD Licensing LLC, and Freggies LLC. All of these franchise brands have been dissolved. Sessler has also promoted; Pet Butler LLC (603 040 904), dissolved 2012-09-26, Lawn Army (zero franchises), Plumbing Doctor, and Data Doctors, neither of which seems to exist.

A post on Sessler promoting his “pet business,” says he was "named SBA Veteran Champion of the Year in 2010 for his work in offering significant discounts to veterans so that they can start their own business.” This isn’t true. The SBA website lists a Lloyd Calderon as National Veteran Champion. Sessler isn’t listed in 2009 or 2011 for this award. The claim is repeated on Sessler’s HomeTask website.

“Lawn Army” has been routed -- there are no, nada, zero Lawn Army franchises (see FDD Item 20, p.28). The failure of the Lawn Army brand didn't stop Sessler from "celebrating" its launch in PRWeb, "Lawn Army has grown from a simple vision to conducting operations in three territories with thousands of pounds of yard waste being cut, trimmed, and hauled away each month."

And despite the various promotions that say, "The company [HomeTask] grew to over 150 locations and five brands nationwide,” the FDD refers only to Yellow Van Handyman, and Lawn Army. Labor & Industries shows 15 Yellow Van Handyman franchisees, of which 9 are shown as having their license expired, including Sessler's.

Sessler is also selling a bearing seal and bearings repair kit for front load washing machines. It goes for $79.99 on line. He claims to have sold 5000 of them. There's no way to verify this, unless one gets Sessler to release his tax returns (fat chance). The on-line order form is hinky. Whatever one enters in the part no. window works, even if it isn't a part no. Sessler even recorded a YouTube DIY for the repair in which clumsy edits make getting the drum off a snap. If you want to void your manufacturer's warranty, there are easier ways, e.g., wash your panini machine in it. 

At last check on the FEC website (3/20/2022), Sessler had receipts of $434,774, disbursements of $232,855, and cash on hand of $201,919, less than a quarter of Newhouse's total.

_____________________________________________

* I got HomeTask’s Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) through a Public Records Request with Washington State’s department of Financial Institutions (DFI). Not every state requires the franchisors file their FDD with the state, making it difficult to regulate the franchise business.

**Number in parenthesis are uniform business identifier (UBI)