Up in Smoke

Bummer, man.  There’s no hope for dope.  Jerry (Garcia)’s kids will have to wait until at least 2012 to celebrate 420 legally:

Initiative 1068 organizers say they won’t have enough signatures to qualify their measure for the ballot.

The proposal would have removed state civil and criminal penalties for persons 18 years or older who cultivate, possess, transport, sell, or use marijuana.

Ballot measures need at least 241,153 valid signatures of registered Washington voters to make the ballot and the Secretary of State recommends at least 300,000 as a buffer.

Philip Dawdy, campaign director for the initiative, blamed the cold and rainy spring. “We ran into a lot of problems with the mechanics just because of the weather,” he said.

The weather??  Anyways, Dwight Pelz and the leadership of the Washington State Democratic Party must be breathing a sigh of relief.  I-1068 was endorsed from the floor by Democrats at last weekend’s state convention in Vancouver.  Pelz had previously stated that maijuana legalization was not a “high priority issue” (no pun intended I’m sure) for Democrats.  No doubt.  Regardless of research concerning increased voter turnout for progressive candidates with both an income tax and pot legalization initiatives on the ballot this November, I wouldn’t want to be an incumbent Democrat running in this year with that kind of baggage.

Dwight Pelz Jumps the Shark

Chris Grygiel dutifully reports on State Democratic Chairman Dwight Pelz’s latest attempts to advise former Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi at the SeattlePI.com today:

Pelz said politicians shouldn’t go to controversial conferences because, by doing so, they set themselves up for the type of criticism Rossi is now getting from Democrats.

“You don’t do that. Politicians don’t go to averse meetings,” Pelz said.

Right. So if Rossi or any other Republican just took Dwight’s advice, he wouldn’t criticize them.

Now, about the larger issue here, which is Patty Murray and the State Democrat’s attempt to tap into anti-Wall Street populism (the DSCC has been shopping this as a “Rossi teaches you how to profit from other people’s misery” event).

Number one, that anti-Wall-Street populism stuff is Maria Cantwell’s territory these days. Back off.

Number two, doesn’t Dwight have more pressing concerns, than what charity fundraisers private-citizen Dino Rossi decides to throw his star power behind?

Like, you know, finding some way to paper over the fact that Patty Murray has taken nearly half a million dollars from Wall Street bankers (but still only half of what Barack Obama raked in from the same sector).

Who Benefits Most from Gregoire Speculation?

In the speculation about whether Gov. Chris Gregoire may be headed to Washington, D.C. at some point in the near future (to replace Elena Kagan as Solicitor General, so the rumor goes), it’s useful to analyze who benefits from such speculation.

As the GOP’s former party chairman Chris Vance alludes, the woman who most benefits from all this is not Gregoire, it’s Patty Murray.

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Leaked Email Reveals Dem Astro-Turf Operation

UPDATE: Welcome MichelleMalkin.com readers!

A leaked email originating from Congressman Jay Inslee’s office may reveal a widespread astroturfing effort on behalf of Washington Democrats and liberal interest groups to pack town halls with “grassroots supporters” of government-run health care.

In stark contrast to a spontaneous grassroots groundswell against President Obama and Congressional Democrats’s government-run health plan, it appears both overt and covert efforts are underway to orchestrate support for the President’s agenda from the highest-levels of the political Left.

In the email which follows below the jump, Inslee’s official Congressional scheduler forwarded to State Democratic Chairman Dwight Pelz a list of upcoming town halls the Congressman has scheduled.

Pelz then forwarded the email with a note saying “Let’s keep turning people out for these!” to high-ranking Democrat and union organizers including: “progressive” political group FUSE Executive Director Aaron Ostrom, Organizing for America State Director Dustin Lambro (the President’s on-going campaign arm housed at the DNC), and Washington State Labor Council Political Director Benjamin Lawver (one of the state’s most powerful union committees).

A Longview event focusing on Mt. St. Helens with Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, along with embattled Congressman Brian Baird, was cancelled in recent weeks after Lambro, the OFA organizer, mis-construed the purpose of the event in an email to supporters.

NWD Contributor Nansen blew the lid off that story in an earlier post titled, “Going Stealth in Longview.”

The email trail seems to suggest an on-going and coordinated campaign among Democratic Congressmen, Democratic Party leaders, as well as official campaign arms of liberal interest groups and unions, to issue marching orders for members and activists.  Similar efforts to disguise ObamaCare astroturfing as spontaneous grassroots efforts have occurred in other parts of the country as well.

The email follows…

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