Candidates for Governor on preemption & OC: Inslee supports, McKenna no comment
Since ballots are out today, I decided to finally post this. I've delayed it as long as possible.
Before anyone jumps in, yeah, let me say I was not expecting this outcome. Read this whole story and you will have an idea of what I have gone through.
I have had a hell of a time getting in touch with both of these campaigns over the last few months. I am no stranger to politics, I used to work for politicians, both in campaigns and in their government offices. I studied politics in college, that's what my degree is in. I got sick of politics after the 2008 election and went into a different career but I still remember everything I learned. I know the right things to say to get past hapless underlings and interns, and I know enough people to get through when I need to on both sides.
Let me tell you this story.
I began at the end of August trying to reach both campaigns and get their position on state preemption and open carry. I was a new member of the forum (although I've been reading here for a lot longer than that) and I figured after getting the info. I could post it here so you guys could see it and be informed before ballots got sent out.
Why is this important? Because, as you all know, Seattle's gun ban and other cities' gun bans failed. In the case of Seattle it was thrown out by the WA Supreme Court. What did McGinn and his Ceasefire henchmen vow to do? They vowed to lobby Olympia to change preemption and probably OC too during the next legislative session. In short, the next Governor could very well hold the fate of state preemption and OC in their hands. We need to know where the candidates stand.
I began with contacting a few friends of mine still in politics as to who are the right people to contact. They put me in touch with the following people:
McKenna Campaign:
Adam Faber - Policy Director at Friends of Rob McKenna
Hannah Stearns - Policy Assistant at Friends of Rob McKenna
Inslee Campaign:
Richard Lazaro - Campaign Policy Associate
August 30th:
I got their email addresses and phone numbers. I immediately emailed all of them, got no response.
September 7th:
I started phoning.
The McKenna campaign put me through to voicemail claiming both persons were busy.
The Inslee campaign put me through to voicemail claiming the person was busy.
I kept calling about every other day until September 14th, when I finally got through to Richard at the Inslee campaign.
He apologized for not getting back to me and he and I spoke in great detail.
I told him about why preemption is important to this organization and to the foundation of OC, and I asked him the candidate's position on those two issues.
Summary:
Richard told me that Jay Inslee supports current state law, that he believes in keeping firearms regulations at the state level since it makes sense "not to have lots of municipalities all trying to make their own rules" as well as supporting open carry in current law and would keep current law.
Now, I took this with a grain of salt. After all, we all know what the NRA's rating of Inslee is, and I felt sure that we could get a similar pledge from McKenna who would be infinitely more trustworthy on this kind of issue.
HOWEVER, follow me over the next month to now.
For the next 30 days I began to get more and more worried.
I was emailing the campaign about once every 3 days, trying the main email address as well as both of the staff, no luck.
I was phoning at first about once every 4-5 days and after 2 weeks, I began calling every day. In the last week until now, I was calling 3 times a day. For over a month solid, every time I called both Adam and Hannah were "busy" or "out of the office" or "in a meeting." I pleaded with them to take 30 seconds and give a statement at least matching what Inslee had. I tried explaining about how close the election would be and would they really want to see another Rossi-type situation. I called often enough that I got to know the regular intern phone rotation at the McKenna HQ. These are some of the phone interns: Moe, Ryan, Natalie, Frankie.
I even toyed with the idea of pretending to be someone else, since I was usually told they were unavailable after I identified myself and what I was calling about, but I figured I knew what was going on...
...the sad and painful truth is all my political experience came back to me. It's very obvious. McKenna's big thing this campaign and how he's trying to win is that he's branding himself as a "moderate" and even boasts there is an organization called "Democrats for Rob McKenna." He is trying to distance himself from the Republicans nationally as well as in the state. When Ryan and Romney have visited he ignored their rallies and would not meet with them.
I finally got it: McKenna was purposefully avoiding any association with a gun-rights group in his quest to appear more liberal to win here.
I even sent them this photograph in an email to show them how absurd it was for him to pretend he didn't know who we are (NOTE: I am not claiming to be any of the people in the photo or claiming to speak on behalf of all of OCDO, I just told them I was a member. The photo is just an example of McKenna appearing publicly with people who were OCing to show he knows what OC is and that OCDO exists):
http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9353&d=1329030020
Then I started thinking about this thread:
http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/showthread.php?107328-Even-the-AG-office-has-it-wrong
And despite the fact that as AG McKenna initially wrote some pro-OC opinions several years ago, that it's been a while and his refusing to take a position on preemption and OC now all starts to make sense with what his office is saying.
Yes, I know there is a youtube video he made back in the beginning of 2012 where he vaguely says he supports the "right to bear arms" but I'm sure you'll agree it's woefully inadequate. Also inadequate are his statements about firearms in the debates. He is also famous for when in July he literally ran away from a reporter asking him a gun rights question, all the while shouting "I'm not ready for this."
As crazy as it is, I think I will be voting for Inslee because his campaign has stated they will support preemption and OC, while the McKenna campaign will NOT make any kind of a statement that they support it. Now, before anyone goes off about the budget, taxes, etc., I'll tell you this, on the rest of the issues the candidates seem virtually identical, and with 1185 looking to pass yet again for the 4th or 5th time, neither candidate will be able to raise taxes.
Also, for those who think McKenna secretly supports OC and preemption and just doesn't want to "say it publicly," I have two responses for you:
-you shouldn't support politicians like that
-you can't trust that since McKenna would probably want a second term so he'd overcompensate and be more liberal than even most democrats to increase his chances for 2016 if he wins in 2012.
If anyone here wants to check on this I urge you, try to get a hold of the McKenna campaign. Call them up, ask to speak to Adam or Hannah and see what happens.
I even tried complaining to the McKenna campaign manager Randy Pepple, but he would not respond either, which makes me think he's on-board with it too.
(edit for clarification re: the picture)
Update: It seems the McKenna campaign is purposefully avoiding a public statement on this to attract "moderate democrat" voters...
Since ballots are out today, I decided to finally post this. I've delayed it as long as possible.
Before anyone jumps in, yeah, let me say I was not expecting this outcome. Read this whole story and you will have an idea of what I have gone through.
I have had a hell of a time getting in touch with both of these campaigns over the last few months. I am no stranger to politics, I used to work for politicians, both in campaigns and in their government offices. I studied politics in college, that's what my degree is in. I got sick of politics after the 2008 election and went into a different career but I still remember everything I learned. I know the right things to say to get past hapless underlings and interns, and I know enough people to get through when I need to on both sides.
Let me tell you this story.
I began at the end of August trying to reach both campaigns and get their position on state preemption and open carry. I was a new member of the forum (although I've been reading here for a lot longer than that) and I figured after getting the info. I could post it here so you guys could see it and be informed before ballots got sent out.
Why is this important? Because, as you all know, Seattle's gun ban and other cities' gun bans failed. In the case of Seattle it was thrown out by the WA Supreme Court. What did McGinn and his Ceasefire henchmen vow to do? They vowed to lobby Olympia to change preemption and probably OC too during the next legislative session. In short, the next Governor could very well hold the fate of state preemption and OC in their hands. We need to know where the candidates stand.
I began with contacting a few friends of mine still in politics as to who are the right people to contact. They put me in touch with the following people:
McKenna Campaign:
Adam Faber - Policy Director at Friends of Rob McKenna
Hannah Stearns - Policy Assistant at Friends of Rob McKenna
Inslee Campaign:
Richard Lazaro - Campaign Policy Associate
August 30th:
I got their email addresses and phone numbers. I immediately emailed all of them, got no response.
September 7th:
I started phoning.
The McKenna campaign put me through to voicemail claiming both persons were busy.
The Inslee campaign put me through to voicemail claiming the person was busy.
I kept calling about every other day until September 14th, when I finally got through to Richard at the Inslee campaign.
He apologized for not getting back to me and he and I spoke in great detail.
I told him about why preemption is important to this organization and to the foundation of OC, and I asked him the candidate's position on those two issues.
Summary:
Richard told me that Jay Inslee supports current state law, that he believes in keeping firearms regulations at the state level since it makes sense "not to have lots of municipalities all trying to make their own rules" as well as supporting open carry in current law and would keep current law.
Now, I took this with a grain of salt. After all, we all know what the NRA's rating of Inslee is, and I felt sure that we could get a similar pledge from McKenna who would be infinitely more trustworthy on this kind of issue.
HOWEVER, follow me over the next month to now.
For the next 30 days I began to get more and more worried.
I was emailing the campaign about once every 3 days, trying the main email address as well as both of the staff, no luck.
I was phoning at first about once every 4-5 days and after 2 weeks, I began calling every day. In the last week until now, I was calling 3 times a day. For over a month solid, every time I called both Adam and Hannah were "busy" or "out of the office" or "in a meeting." I pleaded with them to take 30 seconds and give a statement at least matching what Inslee had. I tried explaining about how close the election would be and would they really want to see another Rossi-type situation. I called often enough that I got to know the regular intern phone rotation at the McKenna HQ. These are some of the phone interns: Moe, Ryan, Natalie, Frankie.
I even toyed with the idea of pretending to be someone else, since I was usually told they were unavailable after I identified myself and what I was calling about, but I figured I knew what was going on...
...the sad and painful truth is all my political experience came back to me. It's very obvious. McKenna's big thing this campaign and how he's trying to win is that he's branding himself as a "moderate" and even boasts there is an organization called "Democrats for Rob McKenna." He is trying to distance himself from the Republicans nationally as well as in the state. When Ryan and Romney have visited he ignored their rallies and would not meet with them.
I finally got it: McKenna was purposefully avoiding any association with a gun-rights group in his quest to appear more liberal to win here.
I even sent them this photograph in an email to show them how absurd it was for him to pretend he didn't know who we are (NOTE: I am not claiming to be any of the people in the photo or claiming to speak on behalf of all of OCDO, I just told them I was a member. The photo is just an example of McKenna appearing publicly with people who were OCing to show he knows what OC is and that OCDO exists):
http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9353&d=1329030020
Then I started thinking about this thread:
http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/showthread.php?107328-Even-the-AG-office-has-it-wrong
And despite the fact that as AG McKenna initially wrote some pro-OC opinions several years ago, that it's been a while and his refusing to take a position on preemption and OC now all starts to make sense with what his office is saying.
Yes, I know there is a youtube video he made back in the beginning of 2012 where he vaguely says he supports the "right to bear arms" but I'm sure you'll agree it's woefully inadequate. Also inadequate are his statements about firearms in the debates. He is also famous for when in July he literally ran away from a reporter asking him a gun rights question, all the while shouting "I'm not ready for this."
As crazy as it is, I think I will be voting for Inslee because his campaign has stated they will support preemption and OC, while the McKenna campaign will NOT make any kind of a statement that they support it. Now, before anyone goes off about the budget, taxes, etc., I'll tell you this, on the rest of the issues the candidates seem virtually identical, and with 1185 looking to pass yet again for the 4th or 5th time, neither candidate will be able to raise taxes.
Also, for those who think McKenna secretly supports OC and preemption and just doesn't want to "say it publicly," I have two responses for you:
-you shouldn't support politicians like that
-you can't trust that since McKenna would probably want a second term so he'd overcompensate and be more liberal than even most democrats to increase his chances for 2016 if he wins in 2012.
If anyone here wants to check on this I urge you, try to get a hold of the McKenna campaign. Call them up, ask to speak to Adam or Hannah and see what happens.
I even tried complaining to the McKenna campaign manager Randy Pepple, but he would not respond either, which makes me think he's on-board with it too.
(edit for clarification re: the picture)
Update: It seems the McKenna campaign is purposefully avoiding a public statement on this to attract "moderate democrat" voters...
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