Mixed Feelings

Have they gone too far?

At this time anywhere you look you are able to witness some sort of advertisement in support of the politicians who are running to be elected for the Washington State Senate. The numerous signs, TV commercials, and radio commercials are almost overwhelming. The worst part of all is that they all seem to contradict eachother. I hear Patty Murray's campaign criticize Dino Rossi by saying that he is accepting money from lobbyists and making bad investments at the same time that im seeing Dino Rossi's campaign criticize Patty Murray by saying she is giving social security to illegal immigrants and that she is the biggest spender in Washington. The list of these negatives goes on  and on as I hear them everyday nearly all day long. As far as who seems to be the best candidate, it almost comes down to who has the least amount of negative information on them.

An example of an ad. 

The way I look at it is that there will never be a perfect senator that makes everyone in one state happy and satisfied. There is always going to be a faction for the party and a faction against the party. It is very hard to make a decision with all the negative advertisements against each candidate floating around.

It is coming down to the end of the Washington Senate Election...

The race is so close, with Patty Murray in the lead by only a small percentage. Who will win is a toss up, and no one will know till all the votes are in.

Not only the President, but his wife too...

Patty Murray is striving for support and has gained it from multiple important political figures, including President Barrack Obama, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, and First Lady Michelle Obama. In the fundraiser thrown by Michelle Obama, who was accompanied by the vice president's wife Jill Biden, this morning she stressed about the importance of everyone voting for Patty Murray in this election, especially with such a close race. At the banquet hall in Bellevue, where 1,400 people, mostly women, attended to hear Michelle Obama cheer on Patty Murray, Michelle said that the President "needs leaders like Patty to have his back. And Patty needs folks like all of you to make that happen." Also, Governor Chris Gregoire repeated the same critiques that have been floating around about Dino Rossi. Murray covered the financial and health-care overhaul and the anti-gender discrimination Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in hopes to help her gain more votes. During this fundraiser Patty Murray used a metaphor about relating our state to her family and how she strives to make things "right again." This pricey fundraiser was followed by another fundraiser that was much more expensive and a lot smaller, hosting only 100 press people. Even with all this support, Murray has a very small lead over Republican Candidate Dino Rossi who has had a lot less fundraisers and support. So is all the campaigning and support helping Murray? I think so, without it the race would not be as intriguing and I am sure that Dino Rossi would have a lead over Patty Murray by now, who is lucky to have all the support she is getting. Patty Murray has been criticized for her excessive use of earmarks by Republican Senator John McCain, it is said that she recently requested $2o million dollars in earmarks to give to "firms who had hired her formers staffers as lobbyists" (Seattle Times.) Dino Rossi is trying to ban earmarks, so this brings up a lot of questions about Candidate Murray. In a conference call, Dino Rossi stated that all the support that Patty Murray is receiving is only showing how she is in trouble and in need of more support to win, he feels like this will only increase his chances of winning. 

A rally by Former President Bill Clinton in Everett, another rally by President Barrack Obama at the UW in Seattle, and now a fundraiser by the First Lady Michelle Obama in Bellevue...

What will it take to win this election?

Above is a picture of Michelle Obama campaigning for Senate Candidate Patty Murray.


-Sara Lien.

2010 Immigration Reform

More than a few Americans would argue that illegal immigration has become a problem over the years. While the US does have the nickname, “the melting pot of the world”, immigrating to the US requires a lot of legal documentation and application.


Immigration.

What is it?

Many people immigrate from less fortunate countries to the United States on the premise that they will be able to make more money and start a life living the American dream, or just send the money back to their homeland.

How Many?

It is said that there is approximately 12 million undocumented workers in the US.

Why?

Hiring an undocumented worker is a practice used by some employers because it saves them money. They do not have to pay to L&I, or any taxes or anything else that they would pay for a documented employee. Because there is a demand for this cheap form of labor it is hard to stop people immigrating illegally into the US.

2010 Immigration Reform:

In a summary the 2010 Immigration reform seems simple. With a six part plan the US hopes to crack down on incoming immigrants, document or deport all undocumented illegal immigrants, and Integrate Immigrants into US society. Here is a quick summary of the six parts.

1. Improve Border Security: By doing this it will be harder for Illegal Immigrants to cross the US border. On the contrary, it will be more difficult and time consuming to ship things into the US and when it comes to items that are perishable, this could see difficulties.

2. Interior Enforcement: This would drastically increase penalties for offenders who illegally enter the US. Although the penalties would be greater, they would be administered in a humane and lawful way with special regards to children.

3. Worksite Enforcement: This part of the reform will encourage employers to hire lawfully because there are consequences for hiring an illegal immigrant.

4. Reforming America’s Legal Immigration System: By doing this the only people who would be likely to immigrate successfully would be people of value to the US.

5. Legalization of Undocumented Individuals: This will allow undocumented workers the chance to gain a visa for a set amount of time or also permanent citizenship. In addition to the processing fees, a person over 21 will pay a $1,000 fine. This will help to greatly reduce the estimated 12 million undocumented workers.

6. Immigrant Integration: This part is for the immigrants that are granted citizenship. There will be expanded sources of education to improve literacy of immigrants trying to integrate into American society. This will help communication among new immigrants and current citizens and hopefully reduce frustrations caused by the language barrier.


Rossi v. Murray
Dino Rossi’s Position: Dino Rossi feels that the first thing we need to do is fix our border security. His thought is that once we stop the flow of illegal immigrants we can then deal with the rest of the problem. He does not feel that we should grant illegal Immigrants citizen ship as he thinks they should immigrate legally juts like he and his family did from Italy.

Patty Murrays Position: Patty Murray more openly accepts the Comprehensive Immigration Reform.


This reform is still undergoing consideration by congress. In my opinion I think this reform is very well done and should be implemented but we will just have to wait and see what happens.

--Ryan Fromm & Sara Lien

The Senate Debates:

The Race is Close...

It is crunch time! The ballots were sent out last week to all the legal voters of Washington and the senate election race is close between Democrat Patty Murray and Republican Dino Rossi. 

The First Debate:

On Thursday evening the first debate between the two senate candidates began with them disputing over tax cuts and the role of the government. This debate was nothing new, since mostly everything talked over has already been featured on the numerous television ads produced by each party. Patty Murray struck Dino Rossi, during this debate, for supporting extension of the tax cuts that will benefit the rich. Her argument was that these "tax breaks take away revenue that could be used for Social Security, Medicare and health programs." Murray claims that if Dino Rossi follows through with these tax cuts, there will be no way to maintain these important programs, but she is determined to make sure that they are sustained. Dino Rossi made a come back by criticizing Murray's consistent votes for "bigger government programs and more government control of business." Rossi labeled Murray as a "big spending liberal" during the debate, while Murray made Rossi out to be "a friend to Wall Street and big banks." The argument of tax cuts was brought up multiple times during the debate. Uncontrolled spending is causing our country to head in the wrong direction is another argument Rossi made, an example he referred to was the health care reform bill. He stated that more jobs would be created if there was lower taxes and more affordable costs for things like health care. Patty Murray said that due to the greedy people of Wall Street many families are struggling and that our country needs to make investments in things like education to open up for more jobs. Even though the two candidates disagreed on many topics during this hour long debate, they did agree that cleanup of nuclear waste at Hanford should be continued. Rossi made a point that the health care reform bill could eventually "bankrupt America" by increasing the costs for large employers. When each candidate stated one thing they like about the other, Murray said she admired Rossi for making sacrifices to join the election and Rossi said he believes Murray has done good work for the veterans.

Here is a link to a video giving an overview of the first debate:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/105005354.html?tab=video

The Second Debate:

On Sunday the second and final debate between the two candidates took place. Candidate Murray is hoping to win the election and enter into her fourth term and candidate Rossi is trying his third run after previous failing campaigns for governor. The polls that have been coming in have shown that this is going to be a competitive election between the two. During the debate, Murray and Rossi, argued about the "federal stimulus plan's effect on the economy." Dino Rossi's idea for decreasing Washington's high unemployment rate was to "spur the private sector to create jobs." Murray rebuttals this saying that private contractors are carrying out plenty of stimulus work and that "Mr. Rossi's going to give them a pink slip." Patty Murray questioned Dino Rossi on how he would pay for renewing federal tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, which have not yet been extended. In his response, Rossi didn't answer this question directly but went on to say that "Murray should have ensured the Senate extended the tax cuts before Congress' recent adjournment" and that "Senator Murray is going to continue to raise" our taxes. The Republican's stance is that these cuts should be extended for all taxpayers, while the Democrats want to give relief to the lower tax brackets only. When Rossi was able to ask Murray a question, he blamed her for helping to spark a "trade war with Mexico, which has raised tariffs on U.S. goods after the cancellation of a pilot program allowing some Mexican trucks to transport good into the U.S." She came back saying that she had "fought the tariffs" but the "trucking policy was primarily about safety and shouldn't have brought any negative consequences for Washington farmers."

This summarizes the two debates that took place between the two Senate candidates, whose beliefs vary extremely, during this neck and neck race.

-Sara Lien.

Meet the 2010 Washington Senate Candidates:

2010 Senate Election:
Who are the candidates? Let’s get to know them shall we…

Patty Murray:

The Democrat Candidate!
She was born in Seattle on October 11, 1950. Murray is a Washington State University Alumni, she graduated from there in the year of 1972. From the years of 1977 until 1984 she was an educational volunteer. Patty Murray taught at Shoreline Community College from 1984 to 1987. She was a citizen lobbyist for educational and environmental issues from 1983 to 1988. She was part of the Shoreline School District Board of Directors from the years 1985 to 1989. Patty Murray was on the Washington State Senate from 1988 to 1992. She was the Democratic Whip from 1990 to 1992. She was elected as a member of the United States Senate in 1992, 1998, 2004. She is currently running for a fourth term.

-Ryan Fromm.

 

Dino Rossi:

The Republican Candidate!

Dino Rossi was born into a large family of seven children total on October 15, 1959 in the city of Seattle, WA. He attended college and graduated with a business degree in the year 1982 from Seattle University. While in college Rossi constantly worked, his jobs varied from construction jobs to janitor jobs. Dino Rossi co-founded the Eastside Commercial Bank and built himself a career in commercial real estate. He ran for the 1992 election of state legislature and lost, but tried his luck again in 1996 and won. In the year 2000 he was re-elected and in 2003 he served on the state senate's budget committee as chairman where he was in charge of producing the state's budget. During this year, he dealt with a massive budget deficit without raising taxes and was still able to protect the most vulnerable citizens of Washington. In 2004, he ran for governor and won the first two vote counts and narrowly lost the third by only 129 votes. After this Dino Rossi wrote a book on leadership and founded the Forward Washington Foundation, whose purpose is to improve Washington's business climate. He ran for governor again in 2008, but lost a second time even though he was ahead of the Republican nominee. Rossi went back to where he began and joined Coast Equity Partners in Everett, WA but after seeing the trouble our country was in he decided to run for U.S. Senate.

Dino Rossi currently lives in Sammamish, WA with his family, which consists of his wife, Terry, and their four children. He is serving on the Board of the Special Olympics for the State of Washington as Secretary and is a member of the Dean's Advisory Board for the School of Business at Seattle University.

He wants to start by getting government spending under control so that other things will straighten back into the order they need to be in. Dino Rossi is running for senate so he can help bring sensibility to the Congress, restore fiscal discipline and transparency, and keep the American Dream in reach for our future generations.

-Sara Lien.