Dear King County Council,
I am writing as the Chair of the 46th District Democrats. I am hearing about a lobbying campaign being waged to overturn the rankings determined by the votes of the PCOs on Thursday, December 1st, and I wish to speak strongly in favor of having the Council appoint Gerry Pollet to fill the vacancy in the Washington State House of Representatives on Monday, December 5th. There are three primary reasons that I am asking you to do that. First, the PCOs have spoken, and a majority have chosen Gerry Pollet. Second, all of the candidates that were eligible to be selected by our PCOs voiced their agreement that the final choice of the PCOs should be the person to fill the vacancy and that they would support that individual. And third, the 2012 election is coming and having a divided district organization would be detrimental to our ability to do the work we are supposed to do.
It has always been tradition for the King County Council to respect the will of the majority of duly Elected and Appointed Precinct Committee Officers in situations like this. Per the Constitution, it is of course up to County Council to make the appointment itself. But the requirement for the County Central Committee to pass on the list of three names comes from a long tradition of asking the Grassroots of our party structure to determine the best candidates. This has been done, and among all of the candidates who stepped forward one received the majority vote. Gerry Pollet has been working on behalf of our district in many ways for many years, and he has earned the respect of our grassroots. This applies to both major political parties. I want to specifically highlight and thank Councilman Peter Von Reichbauer who called in to be included as a Yea vote on November 14th so that we could fill the Senate vacancy.
The weekend before the vote, I asked an important question related to this very question of all of our candidates, and received an answer from each one. The question I asked was "Will you support the winner of the majority vote of PCOs on December 1st to receive the vacancy appointment from the King County Council?" Every candidate said that they would support the winner. I have compiled their answers into a single document, and I have attached that document to this email.
And finally, it is my responsibility to build my organization as strong as possible so that the goals set forward in our platform have a much higher probability of becoming law. That's the purpose of any political organization. I see the possibility of the majority vote of PCOs being overturned by a lobbying effort from outside the district organization to be a severe threat to the 46th District Democrats, and I ask that you see this in the same light. Any democratic organization where decisions are made by majority vote depends on the respect of everyone else to make that process of democracy worth the substantial effort it takes.
I have been working since the death of Scott White to ensure that the overall process moves quickly, is fair to everyone, and results in a final decision that everyone can be satisfied with. I do not know where the rumors of dissent are coming from. I do know that by all the procedures and traditions that I hold dear, the decision is made. Gerry Pollet competed in a fair contest and the result was satisfactory to everyone, including ALL of the candidates involved. Gerry Pollet deserves to be appointed to fill the State House vacancy opened by the appointment of David Frockt to the State Senate. Any other decision on the part of the Council will call into question too many core beliefs and will also call into question the trust that we have for the process we worked so long and hard on.
If you have any questions on the process, my arguments or anything else, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Chad Lupkes
Chair, 46th District Democrats
PCO SEA 46-2324
206-792-5440
