Election positions

The RantWomen plan to sit down with some pizza and probably some tea and salad with our ballots tomorrow. Here is the preliminary not exhaustive RantWoman election control digest, in no particular order:

 

WA US Senate:

Maria Cantwell is fighting the good fight on lots of things RantWoman cares about. Keep it Simple. Reelect Cantwell.

 

Susan Hutchison never had much chance of winning RantWoman’s vote anyway, but her chances dipped to “No Way in Hell, heaven, god’s green earth or any other alternate universe.” During the first debate, Ms. Hutchison claimed that George Soros pays people to protest. RantWoman has heard this claim from numerous directions. To be honest, RantWoman would be happy to help put Mr. Soros money to work, but RantWoman has never encountered either a way to apply for such roles or a place to send invoices.

 

 

US House WA 09:

Stick with Adam Smith. Smith is on the Armed Services committee but says he would consider cutting bases in his district if appropriate. He has also spoken incisively about North Korea, Yemen and arms control efforts. We need someone with their feet on the ground to take on the Administration in this area.

 

RantWoman wants to see Sarah Smith get more experience and stick to her passions; RantWoman does not know what to suggest but will be voting for her opponent.

 

 

 

Initiatives:

Both Initiative 1631 and 1634 are drawing way too much money to convince RantWoman to vote in the direction the money is flowing.

 

YES on 1631. Anything the oil companies think is a bad idea gets serious consideration. RantWoman thinks the measure is imperfect but also thinks it will be very helpful to transportation and maybe even housing planning. Designing compact urban areas with easy to use use transit can both cut greenhouse gas emissions and ease the time tax arising from long commutes. What is not to like about all that?

 

NO on 1634, RantWoman is not wild about the soda tax. However RantWoman is even less charmed to be getting at least one pro 1634 color glossy mailer every day. Enough already. Shut up. The mailers are misleading. Drinking a lot of soda is associated with increased risk of diabetes and the soda companies SHOULD be paying into a risk pool to address the costs of that. Live with the soda tax. Tell the soda companies to stick their initiative in their ear.

 

Yes on Safe Gun Storage

 

 

Next, races where neither RantWoman can vote but RantWoman wants to spout off:

 

Montana Congressional Delegation

US Senate from MT: keep Jon Tester. It would be nice if US foreign policy stopped cranking out veterans. It would be nice if the Trump administration respected people’s service enough to stop dissing Gold Star families and Senators who lost limbs in combat. It would be nice if the president took the role of Secretary of Veterans Affairs seriously enough to nominate someone competent for the role. The President has done none of these things and the Senate needs Jon Tester to hold steady.

 

US House of Representatives from MT. Dump Gianforte. RantWoman apologizes for not knowing the name of his opponent but she would get RantWoman’s vote automatically just because President Orange One was cheering Gianforte on for his 2016 assault on a reporter.

 

 

State Senators accused of rape:

RantWoman, if she lived in the right district likely would vote for WA State Sen. Joe Fain’s opponent with or without the rape allegations. RantWoman’s mind wanders to Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton. RantWoman is clear that Bill Cosby’s crimes are serious and he deserves punishment, but would he have been able to wrack up so many victims if more women had spoken out earlier? RantWoman also finds Clinton accusers credible. However Clinton’s past did not keep him from signing the Violence Against Women Act. In other words, believing survivors unfortunately is not always the same as being able to take meaningful action against those they accuse.