Judy and Bob Guenther

It took three ballots at the State Convention in Spokane, but Bob Guenther finally beat out Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon for a trip to Denver as an At-large Delegate pledged to Hillary Clinton.  This is the first time in history that the Lewis County Democrats have sent two Delegates to the National Convention.

"I'm still pinching myself," Guenther said in a phone interview Sunday evening.  "I was up against some pretty tough competition."

Guenther will be in familiar company as he travels to Denver--his wife, Judy, was selected as a National Delegate at the 3rd Legislative District Caucus last month.  In doing so, she became the first Lewis County Democrat to go to a National Convention in over twenty years. 

Judy is currently the State Committeewoman for the Lewis County Democrats, as well as the 3rd Legislative District's representative to the Washington State Democrats Executive Board.  Bob serves as State Committeeman, and has been the past Chair of the Lewis County Democrats, the 20th Legislative Democrats, and the 18th Legislative Democrats.

"I am so proud to belong to the party that made it possible for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to run as candidates for President of the United States," Guenther said.  "We're making history!"

Both Guenthers plan to honor their pledge to Clinton until she releases her delegates. 

Holy Toledo!
Dems flock to County Convention

A letter from Jim Lowery
(Jim served as our last Democratic County Commissioner

It is amazing to me that the Republicans and the Chronicle don't believe in citizen government and advocate a hired professional. A County Manager is not directly responsible to the electorate, doesn't have to be elected, and realistically doesn't have any obligation to the voters.  Their obligation is to the council. The Chronicle gives the impression they would like to see an autocratic form of government, not one represented by citizens that have been elected to represent their neighbors.

Centralia and Chehalis have just as much responsibility with the flooding issue and both have a city council/city manager form of government.  They have professional leadership and still got hit hard by the flood.  The Chronicles argument makes no sense.  The reason the flood issue can't be resolved is because both Chehalis and Centralia don't believe they should stop building in the flood plain and don't want to spend the money to take the steps necessary to prevent the flood devastation. And yet the Chronicle blames the County. 

The fact that local governments can't come to agreement on how to address the flood issue is more critical to what the problem is not professional management at the county level in the form of a County Manager or Chief of Staff. 

Under the County form of government you have four professionals that advise the commission on issues of importance like flooding, transportation, health, technology, emergency response, etc.  To limit that to one person would be very restrictive and not allow for the best exchange of information of ideas and solutions.

The Chronicle blames lack of action on the flood control issue when asking for Commissioner Graham to resign, when in reality they are still angry with him for joining with me to eliminate the Chief of Staff position at the County. In 2001 they wrote an article praising Commissioner Graham for his leadership on the flood control issue.  They have endorsed his election for Commissioner four times.   It is hypocritical to now ask for his resignation because of one issue last year. They targeted me during last years election for this issue, with innuendo and misinformation fed to them by another County elected official and now they are going after Graham.

I don’t care for the personal attacks and negativity that the Chronicle uses to promote their idea of a new county government.  I think the issue has enough merit on its own to be put before the voters of Lewis County. 

The Commissioners could initiate the action by asking for an election of 15 to 25 freeholders to draw up a charter for the new county government and that would be accepted or rejected by the voters.  The interesting thing about a Charter County is the Treasurer, Assessor, Clerk, Auditor and Sheriff could be appointed rather than elected.  This would be in line with the Chronicles argument that professionals should do these jobs rather than elected citizens.  The Prosecutor and the Judges would still have to face election. 

Even with a council of 5 to 7 persons, I will still be concerned about a manager form of government and would be more agreeable to the department heads still being the professionals to advise the council.  I’ve seen too many city councils where the City Manager makes the decisions and the council rubber stamps them.  It is very dangerous to give this kind of power to one person.  The Democrats might consider a forum on this issue with both sides represented.