— from David Dehlendorf (San Juan Island), Judy Scott (Orcas Island), Learner Limbach (Orcas Island), and Mac Langford (Lopez Island) —
We cringe every time someone states that he/she supports Nick Power for Prosecuting Attorney because he is a progressive, a Democrat, and/or a supporter of Bernie Sanders. Those who believe that he is a progressive have been duped. Be aware that Power’s words don’t match his actions. Vote for Randy Gaylord.
In the five years he has been an attorney in Friday Harbor, Power joined the unsuccessful efforts of local property rights and anti-environmental protection individuals and organizations. He challenged the Critical Areas Ordinance, opposed the charter reform, and brought a frivolous lawsuit to unseat Jamie Stephens — Power still owes the county $10,000!
More telling is Power’s current representation of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) and Glen Morgan, both ardent opponents of labor unions and Democratic and progressive candidates, organizations, and elected officials. Power represents Morgan (a former employee of the EFF, now the executive director of Citizens Alliance for Property Rights) in four lawsuits filed in Thurston County against the Island County Democrats and the 11th, 43rd, and 46th Legislative District Democrats. Power also represents the EFF in protracted legal proceedings in King County against Service Employees International Union775.
As they say, you can learn a lot about a person by the company he keeps. The EFF is so radically anti-labor that its website says it doesn’t even recognize Labor Day as a national holiday. And Morgan has been engaged in a campaign of partisan harassment and disruption of anything and anybody Democratic over the last few years, including filing hundreds of complaints with the State Public Disclosure Commission against Democratic candidates, organizations, and elected officials.
Needless to say, the San Juan County Democrats have endorsed Randy Gaylord, who has the experience that matters. Readers are encouraged to vote for Randy, whose family and career show true Democratic values.
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Thank you for presenting the facts to bring these truths to light; that the talk doesn’t even come close to matching the walk! I was wondering when someone would finally expose the hypocrisy! I hope your letter wakes some people up to what we would be getting with Nick Power.
I hold allegiance to no political party in this rigged two-party system, btw, which leaves me with voting on merit. I choose Randy Gaylord.
This is nothing but a negative attack on the opposing candidate …not one word about anything good the incumbent has done ..I’m disappointed in the democrats who authored this. It is below them #lowroad
Shame on Orcas Issues for printing such a bizarre attack on a candidate. I’ve expressed my feelings to Lerner, of whom I expect far better. Nick Power has not only been my attorney, but also a friend in past years. Is there a purpose in printing this garbage? Law is not about party affiliation or party politics. I believe Nick Power actually is smart enough to understand that. Apparently, some Orcasians don’t.
This is childish and a waste of people’s reading time. When we vote, we vote on merit, on the expected ability of someone to do a job,and as today’s news is trying to show, on their character. Dig deeper, people, there are two candidates. And…my opinion..a lot more attention should be paid to the soon to be empty District Court seat. That is a much much needed change, and will impact people’s lives in an immediate way….for the better
“Law is not about party affiliation or party politics.” True enough. But when a candidate for a position as an officer of the court seeks the endorsement of a political party, as Nick Power has done, he opens the door to an examination of the appropriateness of the requested endorsement. When he sought an endorsement from the Democrats, Nick Power made the matter political. His history of litigation against the Democratic party and against labor unions is therefore relevant, and was made relevant by Power himself. David Dehlendorf et al. were quite right to point out the discrepancy between Power’s claims and his legal history. They have given progressives good reasons not to vote for Nick Power in this two-candidate race.
Marc, as I pointed out to you elsewhere, opinions are valid, facts may be what they are, the issue is the style and tone of that ugly letter. I never cease to be disappointed by human behavior – especially those I have known for a while. Small town, small minded.
Has Nick Power personally sued or individually hired legal counsel to represent him in these lawsuits? Or is he an attorney representing a client in a legal matter?
Just curious, because I have known many attorneys over the years who do admirable work in the public defenders office representing murderers, rapists and other often unsavory clients. They do their jobs with diligence despite the questionable character of the “company they keep.”
It’s unfortunate that the San Juan County Democrats have decided to author this letter as it smacks of the divisive, unnecessary garbage that seems to have become the norm in today’s political discussions. I would have considered myself a Democrat in this county up until tonight. I guess I can officially put an “I” next to my name now.
Sincerely, the only side I’m comfortable being on is the “human” side.
Sometimes it’s even hard to be on that side but that’s the only bottom line worth fighting for in my view…not the made-up divisions within our common lot.
We all know what fairness looks and smells like….I would venture to say that it’s an innate skill and primordial tool that helped us to get to where we are today as a species.
On that note, this Letter to the Editor doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s allegations are cursory and mere assertions without context and detail sufficient to judge their accuracy.
I would also say that many allegations lodged against Gaylord have been political hit jobs, too.
Bob, Susan and Justin would appear to have valid points. I would only ask that the same concern for levity apply to the attacks on Gaylord as well.
Let’s show ourselves, at least, how it’s done. The country needs examples of fair play and intellectual honesty in how we run for office and treat each other as friends and neighbors.
Let’s remember in these emotional times– we CAN disagree respectfully; and we can even go to dinner with that same person that same evening remembering how short life is and how much we need and rely on each other to make this experiment work.
Let the default be “human,” not democrat, republican, independent, libertarian or what not. The base default is what has always allowed us a successful framework to work together despite our differences. If we forego this base framework and forget who and what we are fundamentally, nothing but entropy remains.
That’s not how we’ve made it to this point as a species; that’s not how we survive and prosper.
I think the atomic rate of decay is roughly “>10 to 25 years”….Let’s not decay at a faster rate than that, please.
Wow. Just wow. Proud to be an independent.
I am surprised and saddened. I just don’t believe we can trust Randy Gaylord to “be an adult in the room”!
I’ve been an independent since I was 18. I guess I see this article as more of an exposé of an ethics problem, rather than a party problem – since i’m not a democrat nor do I want to be. I don’t see this as ugly; I see it as factual and disturbing. But then I am not a Power supporter. And knowing this, could never be because it’s all about ethics.
Let’s be truthful; this election has been fraught with hit jobs on both sides. To his credit, Randy did not take hard hits on Nick Power as Power did on him.
But look to the actions of both candidates. If you are an ethics person, IMO, you would not vote for the person whose ethics are different from your own values. I can’t vote for Nick Power ever, in good conscience. Others say they can’t for Randy Gaylord in their good conscience.
In the case of this letter, I agree with Marc Cohen that it’s important that this be exposed since it absolutely DOES apply in this case of asking to be endorsed by a party that you have repeatedly sued in order to attempt to win elections for the other party; that’s dirty politics.
And really? Against labor unions? I can’t condone it, looking back at our history of how it was before them!
I like seeing all the honest emotion back and forth and seeing people declare their life-strategy leanings (some would say political leanings)– it’s heartwarming.
I appreciate ALL equally, for the record–as you know my standard is Reason.
I don’t think boxes work and many, especially independents, are “issue by issue” people (a trait we could all benefit from); they seem to do a good job of mixing realism and idealism. It’s been hard for me to be sure about such things in the comments in the OI for the last year or so though I’ve guessed right (if you must know) ….so now we know that Justin, Peg and Sadie are Independents. There are probably many more. Good for all of you.
I’ve always said that Washington had an “independent & libertarian” feel to it– having come from the East coast as I did. I admire it to be honest. It’s part of the attraction of the Mid and Pacific Northwest for me. Where some may see stubbornness in Independents and Libertarians, I see pause for good cause and an ability to think for themselves…and it’s not just a given as others may see it, but a very defining quality of what makes them choose the broad umbrella of Independent or Libertarian.
This is progress. I’m liking Orcas Island more and more.
Justin keeps mentioning the necessity of public defenders. I agree, they do an honorable and a necessary job.
But Nick Power is no public defender! On the contrary, he is involved in three lawsuits against the County. And all three of them are frivolous ones!
Dan,
Which lawsuits are frivolous?
One of them was indeed determined to be improper based on the standing of the defendant to bring the case – although it is under appeal as I understand it. My further understanding is that the other cases settled and pending against the County are on fairly firm legal ground… one of which Coild cost San Juan County taxpayers several million dollars. (TBD)
I keep bringing up Public Defenders because the authors of this letter make a blanket statement that people should be defined in their personal character by those that they represent in the course of their business. Perhaps I am sympathetic to the PD argument because I worked for some very fine ones WAY back in the day as an intern in college. Many times during that period I heard the question “How can you represent all these awful people?”. The response: “it’s my job to represent my client to the best of my abilities as an officer of the court”.
We all make choices in our business activities that are necessitated for all kinds of reasons. I have never asked my attorney, my insurance representative, my subcontractors, my accountant, my mechanic or any number of people that I have hired to adopt my beliefs, morals or stances on fundamental topics of concern. Yet, they still work with me even if their personal ideals are divergent from mine.
All BS aside , my critique of this letter is not rooted in support or opposition to any candidate. This letter, to me, is just another example of the negative, worthless, partisan political world that (especially after today’s national discussion) needs to be blown up. I think I speak for at least 2-3 people when I say that I’d rather be persuaded with inspiration than fed negative partisan garbage as a means of determining my vote. The SJC Democrats appear to have taken the low road on this one.
Didn’t realize that Dan went to law school.
And a correction to my statement: please insert plaintif in place of defendant in my above comment.
Which lawsuits are frivolous?
(1) “Lopez resident Edward Kilduff and attorney Nick Power were ordered to pay San Juan County $10,000 for ‘bringing an improper lawsuit’ to remove a public official and ‘recovery of attorney fees for defending against a frivolous lawsuit.'”
(2) “Judge Stewart Andrew has rejected a petition brought by Gerald Grellet-Tinner (through his lawyer, Nick Power), to file a citizen complaint for a misdemeanor charge against former county detective Stephen Parker.”
(3) The case about political signs and the right of elected officials to express their opinion is being removed to federal court because those courts have traditionally been the forum for resolving questions regarding the right to speak out by any citizen including elected officials. Wow, really? Federal Court? This isn’t “frivolous”?! Who wants to see the visual pollution of campaign signs for longer than a few weeks?
Dan,
Hopefully we can agree to disagree. I differ on the definition of frivolity as it relates to these cases, but hope that we can all agree that the best way to promote the candidate that we support for the job is to accentuate the positive traits that they bring to the job rather than issuing blanket indictments of their competition.