State Sen. Craig Pridemore formally launched his campaign for Congress in Vancouver on Saturday with an unapologetic appeal to liberal values.
“I stand for the rights of working people to fair compensation for their labor; for a working environment that keeps them safe from injury first and cares for them when the inevitable accident occurs; and I stand for their right to collectively organize in a workplace safe from harassment and coercion,” Pridemore said at the Clark County Democratic Convention before heading to Olympia for the conclusion of a 30-day special legislative session.
He called for the legalization of gay marriage, the right of gays to serve openly in the military, the protection of a woman’s right to abortion, a single-payer health care system and a societal safety net that protects the most vulnerable citizens from abuse.
Pridemore drew his most enthusiastic applause when he said he favors a constitutional amendment “that makes it indisputably clear to this United States Supreme Court that multinational organizations are not human beings,” a reference to a recent controversial Supreme Court ruling interpreting campaign finance laws.
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Pridemore, a second-term state senator, acknowledged feeling “disappointment that so many of our hopes and dreams from two years ago have yet to be realized.” He took a slap at “so-called ‘moderate’ Democrats” who “realized they could gain more politically by sowing fear and distrust among us than they could by serving the American people.”
Pridemore was one of a number of Democratic candidates who spoke at the county’s convention at Hudson’s Bay High School on Saturday.
Other speakers included Denny Heck, the Olympia businessman who is Pridemore’s main Democratic opponent for the 3rd Congressional District seat.
In his speech, Heck stressed his determination to reduce Clark County’s unemployment rate of nearly 15 percent, noting, “That’s 50 percent higher than the national average.”
“These aren’t data points,” he said. “These are our brothers and sisters and they need your help.”
Aiming his barbs at Republicans, Heck declared, “The other party thinks Wall Street is more important than Main Street. The other party thinks it’s OK to filibuster the extension of unemployment benefits. The other party thinks this is their year.”
That won’t happen, he said. Evoking the names of past and present Democrats who have represented the 3rd District, he declared, “This is our seat, and we’re going to keep it in November!”
Congressional candidate Cheryl Crist, an Olympia peace activist, called for bringing American troops home from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan and diverting military funding to support health care, education and infrastructure improvements.
A crowd of about 120 turned out for Saturday’s county convention in the high school’s gymnasium. In addition to congressional candidates, speakers included candidates for the 49th, 17th and 18th legislative districts and some candidates for county elected offices.
Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart, the three-member commission’s lone Democrat, asked for support in his campaign for a second full term. (Stuart was appointed to the commission in December 2004 to fill Pridemore’s unexpired term and elected to his first full term in 2006.)
“We need to keep a progressive voice on the county commission,” Stuart said. “We need a voice that cares. We hear blame from the other side — blame for individuals who are suffering because of the policies of their own party.”
Stuart said later he was referring to the tendency of Republicans to blame people whose homes have fallen into foreclosure due to policies implemented on the GOP’s watch.
Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, asked delegates to remember the hope and exhilaration they felt in 2008, when presidential candidate Barack Obama defied the odds to win the presidency.
Times have changed, he said, but it’s important for Democrats to beat the odds again.
“Never before in our lifetime has an election gotten more personal than this one,” he said. “The most reactionary forces in our society are assembling, and they are not being shy about what they are all about.”
What they’re about, Moeller said, includes dismantling Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and repealing the new health care reform law.
Challenge to Jacks
Democrat Jennifer Conkey of Vancouver announced that she will run a primary race against Democratic Rep. Jim Jacks, who is seeking his second term representing the 49th District. Her main issue, she said, is opposition to the use of tolls to fund a new Columbia River Crossing.
“Quite frankly, I don’t like the tolls,” she said. Citing New Jersey as a place where “nearly every highway has a toll,” she said, “Tolls just place an unfair burden on residents. Once they’re in place, they don’t go away.”
Two Democrats, software developer Martin Hash and middle school teacher Monica Stonier, are running for the open 17th District seat being vacated by Rep. Deb Wallace. Both said it’s urgent that Democrats hold that seat.
Hash urged delegates to “go to your neighbors and tell them what we’ve done for Clark County. They need to be reassured, to be told it’s Democrats who are stimulating the economy, Democrats who passed the school levies, Democrats who are keeping the economy going.”
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Stonier, a Evergreen school district teacher and literacy coach for the past nine years and a mother of two small children, served as a Washington delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Wallace encouraged her to run for the 17th District seat.
Stonier said she is grateful to voters in Clark County “who overwhelmingly passed our school levies” in February despite the county’s high unemployment rate.
“This support does not come without huge responsibilities” to deliver a quality education, she said.
Stonier said her father overcame poverty to provide a good life for his family and taught her that hard work is a value.
“These are American values we all share,” she said. “These values don’t belong to one person or one party.”
