Hard Work Pays Off for Whitman County Commissioner
Whitman County Commissioner Pat O’Neill pulls up to the courthouse in a glossy pickup truck. He burls toward the front door wearing a camouflage shirt and blue jeans.
The 61 year old commissioner is serving his first term. He is the third Democratic commissioner elected in the last fifty years in Whitman County.
“I ain’t got a college degree. What I’ve got is the seat of my pants,” O’Neill said.
During election season O’Neill spent his time riding on his four-wheeler from farm to farm. His campaign strategy consisted of knocking on doors and personally asking for people’s vote.
“If you want to win an election you’ve got to walk, pedal, and hit just about every damn house in the district,” O’Neill said.
Tom Forbes, editor of the conservative blog Red County Whitman County, thinks O’Neill’s opponent Jerry Finch lost the election due to a lack of campaigning and a history of politically incorrect remarks. He had served as county commissioner the previous eight years.
“My suspicion is that a lot of people in Whitman County voted straight Republican until they reached Jerry Finch,” Forbes said.
O’Neill has lived in the Pullman area for about two years. He moved to Pullman to be near his daughter. Prior to the move he had lived in Stanwood, Wash., on the west side of the state.
He worked as a mechanic for American Airlines for 35 years but always had a knack for politics and public affairs.
As a mechanic O’Neill was put on special assignment to organize labor in the state of Wash. and Ore. He was in charge of gaining support to protect American Airline’s route from Seattle to Tokyo. While on special assignment he collected 175,000 signatures. In 1988 O’Neill was awarded the Public Relations Award by American Airlines.
“It was unheard of for a mechanic to get the Public Relations Award. American Airlines sent me to Washington D.C. for the hearing about the route. Seeing Congress was the start of my love for politics,” O’Neill said.
Jane Guido, a member of Whitman County Democrats, said she was skeptical when she first heard O’Neill was running for commissioner.
“His grammar is terrible, but then you start talking to him and you realize he is naturally intelligent and he truly likes everyone,” Guido said.
O’Neill based his campaign on the slogan “Accountability, Transparency, and Cooperation.”
He has been in office approximately 60 days now. O’Neill is currently working on getting commission meetings broadcast. During his campaign O’Neill promised to make county business more accessible to the public.
“O’Neill is a colorful figure and so far the other two Republican commissioners are actually getting along with him,” Forbes said.
O’Neill said he plans on running for another term.
“I love the hell out of this job. I wish I had done it 20 years ago” he said.
Sources:
Pat O’Neill
509-397-5240
Tom Forbes
509-432-3142
Jane Guido
509-432-3565
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Profile Proposal
1. Profile Whitman County Commissioner Pat O'Neill. First Democratic commissioner in a really long time. Look at what led to this change, his positions on issues, what he is accomplishing in office and how his relations are with the community and other commissioners.
2. Profile Mary Verner, Spokane's Mayor.
3. Profile Pullman's Mayor Glen Johnson.
2. Profile Mary Verner, Spokane's Mayor.
3. Profile Pullman's Mayor Glen Johnson.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Secret Bush memos made public by Obama
Document says no warrant needed to search and seize terror suspects
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department on Monday released a long-secret legal document from 2001 in which the Bush administration claimed the military could search and seize terror suspects in the United States without warrants.
The legal memo was written about a month after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It says constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure would not apply to terror suspects in the U.S., as long as the president or another high official authorized the action.
Even after the Bush administration rescinded that legal analysis, the Justice Department refused to release its contents, prompting a standoff with congressional Democrats.
The memo was one of nine released Monday by the Obama administration.
Another memo showed that, within two weeks of Sept. 11, the administration was contemplating ways to use wiretaps without getting warrants.
The author of the search and seizure memo, John Yoo, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
In that memo, Yoo wrote that the president could treat terrorist suspects in the United States like an invading foreign army. For instance, he said, the military would not have to get a warrant to storm a building to prevent terrorists from detonating a bomb.
Yoo also suggested that the government could put new restrictions on the press and speech, without spelling out what those might be.
"First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully," Yoo wrote, adding later: "The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically."
While they were once important legal pillars of the U.S. fight against al-Qaida, some of the memos were withdrawn in the final days of the Bush administration.
In one of his first official acts as president, Barack Obama also signed an order negating the memos' claims until his administration could conduct a thorough review.
In a speech Monday, Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder said that too often in the past decade the fight against terrorism has been put in opposition to "our tradition of civil liberties."
That "has done us more harm than good," he declared. "I've often said that the test of a great nation is whether it will adhere to its core values not only when it is easy but when it is hard."
RNC chief Steele: Limbaugh is more a performer than GOP leader
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele is taking issue with the notion that Rush Limbaugh is the de facto leader of the GOP, calling the conservative radio talk show host an entertainer whose comments can be ugly.
"Rush will say what Rush has to say; we'll do what we have to do," RNC Chairman Michael Steele has said.
1 of 2 Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview with CNN that he, rather than Limbaugh, is "the de facto leader of the Republican Party."
And Steele described Limbaugh as a performer.
"Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment," Steele said. "Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly."
Limbaugh fired back on his radio show Monday that the GOP leader appears to be supporting President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"Why do you claim to lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it President Obama succeeds?" Limbaugh said to Steele.
"I frankly am stunned that the chairman of the Republican National Committee endorses such an agenda. I have to conclude that he does because he attacks me for wanting it to fail," said Limbaugh.
Last month, Steele, a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, was elected chairman of the RNC. He is the first African-American to lead the Republican Party. At the time of his election, Steele said that "Rush will say what Rush has to say; we'll do what we have to do."
Steele made his latest comments regarding Limbaugh on CNN's "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News," which aired this weekend. The Steele interview was taped before Limbaugh's appearance before the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual meeting of conservatives from across the nation.
He used his self-described "first national address," which ran more than an hour longer than his allotted 20 minutes, to accuse President Obama of inspiring fear in Americans in order to push a liberal agenda of "big government."
Limbaugh also backed up comments he made earlier this year in which he said he hoped Obama failed.
"What is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and re-form this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?" he said.
But a top Republican in Congress disagreed.
"I don't think anyone wants anything to fail right now," House Republican Whip Eric Cantor said on ABC's "This Week." "We have such challenges. What we need to do is we need to put forth solutions to the problems that real families are facing today."
RNC spokesman Alex Conant on Monday did not directly address Steele's comments about Limbaugh but pointed out the back-and-forth between the White House and the conservative radio host.
"Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats know they lose an argument with the Republican Party on substance, so they are building straw men to attack and distract," he said. "The feud between radio host Rush and Rahm makes great political theater, but it is a sideshow to the important work going on in Washington.
"RNC Chairman Michael Steele and elected Republicans are focused on fighting for reform and winning elections. The Democrats' problem is that the American people are growing skeptical of the massive government spending being pushed by congressional leaders like [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi," Conant said.
A spokesman for Limbaugh said the radio host did not have an immediate response, but added he would probably address Steele's comments Monday on his nationally syndicated radio program.
Document says no warrant needed to search and seize terror suspects
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department on Monday released a long-secret legal document from 2001 in which the Bush administration claimed the military could search and seize terror suspects in the United States without warrants.
The legal memo was written about a month after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It says constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure would not apply to terror suspects in the U.S., as long as the president or another high official authorized the action.
Even after the Bush administration rescinded that legal analysis, the Justice Department refused to release its contents, prompting a standoff with congressional Democrats.
The memo was one of nine released Monday by the Obama administration.
Another memo showed that, within two weeks of Sept. 11, the administration was contemplating ways to use wiretaps without getting warrants.
The author of the search and seizure memo, John Yoo, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
In that memo, Yoo wrote that the president could treat terrorist suspects in the United States like an invading foreign army. For instance, he said, the military would not have to get a warrant to storm a building to prevent terrorists from detonating a bomb.
Yoo also suggested that the government could put new restrictions on the press and speech, without spelling out what those might be.
"First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully," Yoo wrote, adding later: "The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically."
While they were once important legal pillars of the U.S. fight against al-Qaida, some of the memos were withdrawn in the final days of the Bush administration.
In one of his first official acts as president, Barack Obama also signed an order negating the memos' claims until his administration could conduct a thorough review.
In a speech Monday, Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder said that too often in the past decade the fight against terrorism has been put in opposition to "our tradition of civil liberties."
That "has done us more harm than good," he declared. "I've often said that the test of a great nation is whether it will adhere to its core values not only when it is easy but when it is hard."
RNC chief Steele: Limbaugh is more a performer than GOP leader
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele is taking issue with the notion that Rush Limbaugh is the de facto leader of the GOP, calling the conservative radio talk show host an entertainer whose comments can be ugly.
"Rush will say what Rush has to say; we'll do what we have to do," RNC Chairman Michael Steele has said.
1 of 2 Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview with CNN that he, rather than Limbaugh, is "the de facto leader of the Republican Party."
And Steele described Limbaugh as a performer.
"Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh's whole thing is entertainment," Steele said. "Yes, it is incendiary. Yes, it is ugly."
Limbaugh fired back on his radio show Monday that the GOP leader appears to be supporting President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"Why do you claim to lead the Republican Party when you seem obsessed with seeing to it President Obama succeeds?" Limbaugh said to Steele.
"I frankly am stunned that the chairman of the Republican National Committee endorses such an agenda. I have to conclude that he does because he attacks me for wanting it to fail," said Limbaugh.
Last month, Steele, a former lieutenant governor of Maryland, was elected chairman of the RNC. He is the first African-American to lead the Republican Party. At the time of his election, Steele said that "Rush will say what Rush has to say; we'll do what we have to do."
Steele made his latest comments regarding Limbaugh on CNN's "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News," which aired this weekend. The Steele interview was taped before Limbaugh's appearance before the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual meeting of conservatives from across the nation.
He used his self-described "first national address," which ran more than an hour longer than his allotted 20 minutes, to accuse President Obama of inspiring fear in Americans in order to push a liberal agenda of "big government."
Limbaugh also backed up comments he made earlier this year in which he said he hoped Obama failed.
"What is so strange about being honest and saying I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and re-form this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?" he said.
But a top Republican in Congress disagreed.
"I don't think anyone wants anything to fail right now," House Republican Whip Eric Cantor said on ABC's "This Week." "We have such challenges. What we need to do is we need to put forth solutions to the problems that real families are facing today."
RNC spokesman Alex Conant on Monday did not directly address Steele's comments about Limbaugh but pointed out the back-and-forth between the White House and the conservative radio host.
"Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats know they lose an argument with the Republican Party on substance, so they are building straw men to attack and distract," he said. "The feud between radio host Rush and Rahm makes great political theater, but it is a sideshow to the important work going on in Washington.
"RNC Chairman Michael Steele and elected Republicans are focused on fighting for reform and winning elections. The Democrats' problem is that the American people are growing skeptical of the massive government spending being pushed by congressional leaders like [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi," Conant said.
A spokesman for Limbaugh said the radio host did not have an immediate response, but added he would probably address Steele's comments Monday on his nationally syndicated radio program.
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