Who is the President of the United States to tell my children and grandchildren to study hard and stay in school? That is MY job! I am the one who has encouraged them to set goals, to live healthy and successful lives, to be scientists, musicians and teachers, even be President. [...]
Random Thoughts I had while watching the Cougs put up less than a good fight against Stanford…
- I cannot believe Joe McCarthy Glenn Beck managed to get Van Jones to resign his job by continually calling him a communist. Does that really still work?
- Is it just me, or does [...]
Just wondering what the local dittoheads would do if they did not have Bonlender to rail against as a diversionary tactic to shift the focus from the substantive issues???? They appear really frantic bordering on lunacy gasping and grasping onto whatever it takes to denigrate, degrade, ridicule and and flights [...]
How about we all take a break and go have some fun. Saturday night, Sept 4th, from 6 PM - 10 PM is the last Cruise the Ave event of the summer. The Yakima City Council lifted the restrictions on cruising for 2 events this summer as they have for [...]
Welcome to a new feature here on TOSO; “Calling Shenanigans.” Here, we will explore and expose those things that don’t seem to pass the smell test, both here in the valley and on the national scene. We call shenanigans on the left, the right, the middle, and everywhere in between. [...]
From the Yakima Herald Sept 3rd:
The state’s statute on recalls expressly gives an elected official like Ensey the option of asking the City Council for financial assistance. One of the purposes of that provision is to protect public officials from the financial burden of recall campaigns based on [...]
The Yakima City Council 4-2 vote (Ensey abstaining) to pay Rick Ensey’s legal fees is an absurd decision. We’ve already paid $2500 for his, Coffey’s, Lover and Cawley’s behind the scenes antics. Is this a conservative value? When one of their anointed ones is held accountable they pass the financial [...]
As an adult and not a child, Ensey needs to pay his own way and take responsibility for his actions. The intent of penalties under the open meetings law is to enforce personal responsibility for wrong doing. The taxpayers of Yakima did nothing wrong here so why should they pay [...]
A head count of 90 progressives at Millennium Plaza today heard local advocates for health care. Speaking at the event were Fr. Ron Patnode, Don Hinman and Anita Monoian. The group then walked over to the Tower building to deliver 84 “support for health care reform” signatures to Senator Murray’s [...]
As reported in the Yakima Herald, paperwork was presented to the Yakima County Auditor to begin the process of a recall petition of Yakima City Council member, Rick Ensey. Kudos to the two citizens - Charlotte Jones and Gene Rupel for taking this step. Ensey has made preposterous statements [...]
The Yakima Herald posts that there are still some elected offices with no one filed. Here’s the list:
Open positions are:
* Naches City Council, Position 3
* Toppenish City Council, Positions 4 and 7
* Wapato City Council, Position 6
* Granger School District, District 5
* Mt. Adams School District, District 5
* Fire [...]
A blog or two ago I printed the firefighters endorsement of city council candidates. They acknowledge an error was made in their initial statement. They had said: Bill Lover, Rick Ensey and Micah Cawley were instrumental in collaborating and organizing with Bruce Smith, a local Business magazine publisher, to defeat [...]
The Party of NO put up impressive numbers in Tuesday’s primary. Their candidate, Bill Lover says he can hardly wait to start in on budget cuts for 2010. He’s never recommended any budget cuts to the city council in four years and he recently voted to accept 100% of staff [...]
The following is a statement from the Yakima Firefighters Union:
ENDORSEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT
Yakima Firefighters endorse Sonia Rodriquez, Paul George and Ben Soria for Yakima City Council. In the July and August union meetings the firefighter’s union body unanimously voted to endorse and financially support these candidates for the 2009 Yakima City Councils [...]
Sunday’s August 16, 2009 Yakima Herald reports that Yakima County Commissioners plan to terminate the partnership they have had the past 35 years with the City of Yakima regarding urban planning. You can read the article to get the generic specifics but here you’ll get what this is really [...]
Bruce Smith speaks profoundly in his latest philosophical rant and his paranoid delusions of big government taking us over. The great distortionist states “ Sometimes it’s tough believing in limited government when it seems that everyone around you wants to expand programs.” I wonder if he’s referring to his endorsed [...]
The Tea baggers have lost their momentum on protesting raising taxes as they are having a tough time finding tax increases to protest against. With the majority of them being from the party of NO (spelled GOP), they have turned their negativity to health care reform. They claim to be [...]
The Republican Party is taking a huge risk of alienating the mainstreamers in their party by working to defeat health care reform. While the disruptions at town hall meetings that thwart honest debate may not be orchestrated by the GOP; they sure don’t condemn the tactics being used. They are [...]
Former CBS News Anchor Dan Rather called on President Barack Obama today to create a commission to save journalism in America. OK, that’s pretty serious.
The internet and blog software has made it pretty easy for people like me to self-publish our thoughts on local or national politics. However, it’s [...]
The Yakima Herald ran a lengthy story about none other than B.S. (Bruce Smith). The great puppeteer earned a feature story because of his meddling influence in city government. He has a good old boys cadre of Republican office holders and poker playing businessmen acting as apologists for him and [...]
If you live in Cle Elum or Ellensburg, you have the chance to ask Rep. Hinkle and Rep. Warnick some tough questions about their lack of results in Olympia.
The Yakima Herald has the details:
State Reps. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, and Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, will hold their monthly district [...]
Both political parties have a history of not endorsing candidates for non-partisan offices. The Democrats still hold to that tradition while the Republican Party broke that in the 2007 election with their endorsement of Rick Ensey. (They later ‘unendorsed’ him in a lame op-ed piece). They got what they wanted [...]
Yakima mayor, Dave Edler spoke out against partisan politics in the non-partisan city council races. The mayor is disgusted with the leadership of the Republican Party and the Bruce Smith followers for their misguided and distorted power brand of politics. They stand for nothing and are clearly the party of [...]
Moses Lake is trying to figure out how to deal with all the yardsigns. Every year about this time, we see political yardsigns on medians, on barns, and up on top of fenceposts.
Well, the Moses Lake City Council is trying to clarify the rules while not limiting free speech. [...]
The Yakima Herald reports that the Yakima City Council will be adopting a new ethics code.
It’s interesting to see who doesn’t see a need for it.
[...]David Lester has a must-read piece in the Yakima Herald today about the balance between wind and hydro power to meet our region’s power needs.
The Bonneville Power Administration is under the gun to keep water flowing through the dams for salmon. The wild fluctuations in wind speeds make it [...]
Today the Yakima City Council adopted a so called “Priorities of Government” style of budgeting complete with staff recommendations on using 1.5 million dollars of reserves to help the budget shortfall. It took the skill of a real genius to pull this dysfunctional council together. That genius is none other [...]
It’s “D-Day For Freedom”.
Or how about “Obama’s Waterloo moment”.
The rhetoric is getting thick from obstructionist Republicans who can’t stand the idea of insurance companies getting rich while millions of people have no access to affordable health care.
From the Politico:
“I can almost guarantee you this thing won’t pass [...]
Our 29th show features an in depth interview with Washington State Insurance Commissioner, Mike Kreidler. It will air Sunday, July 19 at 4 PM on Charter Cable Channel 21 (The community access channel). It will then be replayed at 7 PM on Mon, Tue, Wed and 11 AM on Thursday, [...]
Yakima Mayor Dave Edler wholeheartedly endorsed Sonia Rodriguez suggestion of a code of ethics for the Yakima City council in a speech to the Chamber of Commerce the other day. Later, Edler pointed out that he was flat lied to by fellow council members resulting in 4 of them violating [...]
The other day I was driving by Bruce Smith’s place on South 3rd St. His building has no signage and his windows are bare. In one of the windows a large campaign sign or signs (probably 4′x8′) were leaning against a wall and a large window facing the street. I [...]
Bruce Smith’s building at 416 S. 3rd St. has it’s signage stripped away and windows bare. Seems odd that an ongoing business wouldn’t at least put up temporary signage to identify their building. I wonder how long it will remain like that? Maybe he’ll re-identify his business after Maureen Adkisson [...]
In this episode we see Bruce Smith and Kathy Coffey setting up one of their coffee shop rendezvous. Bruce also invites Kathy to “the poker game”.
From: Bruce Smith (bsmith@yvpub.com)
Sent: Wednesday, January 7, 2009 11:36 AM
To: Coffey, Kathy
Subject: Re: PATF
Kathy:
Sounds good, just let me know when and [...]
On Tuesday, July 7th the Yakima City Council Meeting featured a somewhat controversial 6-1 decision in favor of placing an Arts Givers donated sculpture at the “bump out” on Front St and “A” St. At first glance this appears to be the appropriate decision. However, after reading the Yakima [...]
Bruce Smith, editor of the Yakima Valley Business Times, has been the subject of many blogs on this site. He has been accurately portrayed here as a puppet master. He can also be described as a coordinator, or a choir leader. But I like the puppet master moniker. I will [...]
While most of us were getting ready for fireworks and barbecues, Sarah Palin decided it was time to pack it in.
It’s one of those announcements that the pundits have trouble explaining. I’ll throw my own guess in that being the Governor of Alaska was not enough of [...]
Bob McBride, a regular at Kittitas County Democrat meetings, passed away on Tuesday.
Here’s the story from the Yakima Herald:
ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Former Kittitas County Sheriff Bob McBride died Tuesday at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle following a stroke he suffered last week, county officials said.
McBride retired from [...]
I will try to listen to it later this evening and give my thoughts but it should be interesting to hear what he thinks of the Obama Administration…
Here’s the link: [www.yakimaherald.com]
[...]Just a reminder: the hit TV show on Charter Cable Channel 21 (YCTV) : The Other Side on TV scheduled air times are as follows:
Today, Wednesday, July 1st at 10:45 AM
Thursday-July 2, Friday-July 3, Saturday- July 4 at 6:45 PM
Sunday-July 5 at 4:00 PM then the following Monday thru Wednesday [...]
Hell no! Bill Lover, Rick Ensey, Micah Cawley and Kathy Coffey should all pay $625 each for their roles in their behind the scenes caper. And if Bruce Smith had a smidgen of honesty, he’d offer to chip in and make it $500 each for the funky five.
In one of [...]
Ethics seem to be a topical conversation piece nowadays. Here’s an example of how agenda driven people get off track and then pretend to ‘serve the public’.
Saturday, April 4, 2009 at the Yakima City Council retreat at the Harmon Center …10 days before the Smithites banded together to line up the [...]
Today’s Yakima Herald reports that Sonia Rodriguez will introduce a binding code of ethics at the next council meeting July 7th. Bravo!! This is timely and sorely needed. Besides the recent Open meetings Act fiasco that Rick Ensey, Kathy Coffey, Bill Lover and Micah Cawley recently orchestrated, the newspaper points [...]
While Mark Sanford (REPUBLICAN!) did his press conference talking about his extramarital affair, FOX News (had a “D” next to his name on the screen!)
[...]Talk about timeliness.
According to the Yakima Herald:
This evening, Yakima residents and others in Central Washington can attend a free public forum at Yakima’s downtown library on the importance of open government and the citizen vigilance needed to maintain it.
Public forum
• WHAT: Free public forum on [...]
The other day my wife and I embarked on an effort to organize our office. This involved cleaning out file cabinets and installing new and bigger lateral file cabinets. While transferring stuff and piling other stuff into a recycle box we came across an old newspaper of Bruce Smith’s. Just [...]
The Governor put this out yesterday…
June 18, 2009
TO: Statewide Elected Officials
Agency Directors
Presidents of Higher Education Institutions
State Boards and Commissions
FROM: Christine O. Gregoire, Governor
SUBJECT: Additional Budget Savings
On June 18th, the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council announced an additional reduction to the General Fund [...]
It’s very simple. KIT radio is in danger of violating federal law. That’s pretty serious.
The answer. Dave Ettl should stay off the air while he’s running.
The Yakima Herald has the story.
[...]Saturday, June 20th is the first 2009 ‘Cruise the Ave” event to usher in the summer season. This has turned into an annual event and was approved on the consent agenda back in April by the Yakima City Council. The second Cruise will be September 5th. Unfortunately, virtually nothing has [...]
Let the sham begin! Both of these organizations are strong allys of Yakima Business Times publisher, Bruce Smith (B.S.) and both have Republican Party officials and Precinct Committee Officers “helping” decide whom to endorse and donate money too. After their “endorsement” B.S. will kick in with a barrage of articles [...]
It’s still early but a comparison of their “announcement” statements offer a distinct difference. Ms Adkison made a “safe” statement for her candidacy. This from the Yakima Herald on May 19th:
She is intent on seeing downtown Yakima flourish by working with state legislators to retain funding. She wants to [...]
The Yakima Herald reports that the labor strike at KDNA is over after 26 days.
[...]Bill Lover was quoted in the Yakima Herald (June 8th) as saying he looks forward to a debate with Ben Soria on the issues. So do we! Lover goes on to characterize the differences between himself and Soria as “vision vs. critical thinking.”
In saying that, he explained that he sees [...]
The hit cable TV show “The Other Side on TV” has aired on Charter Cable channel 21 for one year now. Co-Host Jim Winkenwerder and I tape a new show every 2 weeks and on June 2nd completed our 26th show. Many of the subjects we discuss in our new [...]
The ads are starting. The “Conservatives For Patients’ Rights” are already running this ad…
The New York Times says: “Obama to Forge a Greater Role on Health Care”
According to the NY Times,
After months of insisting he would leave the details to Congress, President Obama has concluded that he [...]
You can get the final filings in Yakima County here: Yakima County Filings
[...]All 4 city council races will have to be earned through the election process. The biggest surprise was that of Ben Soria filing for the at large seat held by Bill Lover. The soon to be retired school superintendent offers us a clear choice on the direction of the city. [...]
The Yakima Herald has a nice update of Yakima County races today…
Yakima County prosecutor: Republican Jim Hagarty (i)*
Grandview City Council: Position 3, Pam Horner (i)
Granger City Council: Position 3, Natalie Ybarra (i)
Selah City Council: Position 1, Allen Schmid
Sunnyside City Council: Position 1, Jason Raines, Theresa Hancock (i); Position 3, [...]
If you want to talk to Bill Hinkle, you can’t go to his district office in Ellensburg. He closed it.
He says he is trying to save money. I don’t buy it. I think he got tired of driving the 25 minutes to Ellensburg from his home in Cle Elum. [...]
We got a glimpse of the future city council direction with Maureen Adkison’s selfish vote AGAINST allowing the Fire Chief to provide equipment for 2 already certified paramedics/firefighters. She along with the expected distortions from the 3 Amigos, (Lover, Cawley & Ensey) killed what should have been a non-issue no [...]
According to the Yakima Herald:
YAKIMA, Wash. — By noon on the first day of this year’s election filing period, Yakima County had itself a contested race — for a seat on the Port of Sunnyside board.
Incumbent St. Clair Woodworth and challenger Jim Grubenhoff will vie for Woodworth’s District 3 [...]
Bill Lover, the epitomy of a C.A.V.E. man (Councilmember Against Virtually Everything), calls himself a “common sense conservative” and says “Public Safety is his main concern.” This was from his announcement for re-election Friday, May 29th. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I will show in a series of blogs how [...]
Imagine you were on the board of a company.
There were some people in charge but clearly some other members of the board thought they should be in charge. They had their own projects that they felt could use more company resources.
But, they kept screaming “THE COMPANY IS SPENDING TOO MUCH [...]
And now the plot thickens. Bruce Smith, and his 4 Yakima City Council puppets, have failed the people of Yakima miserably with their behind the scenes effort for control. It would be one thing if they were actually working on behalf of the citizens, but that is clearly NOT the [...]
The recent power play by Mom, (Kathy Coffey) and the three amigos, (Rick Ensey, Bill Lover, Micah Cawley) and orchestrated by the ‘worst person in the Yakima Valley’ (Bruce Smith) has run aground and now the effort has turned to saving face.
Enter the philosophical phase of this time wasting [...]
Seems like it’s been a month that our progressive blog, The Other Side Online has been down. After several days of withdrawal pains it feels great to be up and running again, even in skeletal mode. So where do we start to get caught up? How about some general observations [...]
OK, sorry for the site going down.
Our database crashed and no one could post anything. We couldn’t get the blog working without starting the thing from scratch. We will get everything back in order over the next week or so.
[...]I will never get it. Never.
Each year, Republicans from Central Washington say they are going to watch our pocketbooks. The legislature (according to them) is fleecing us.
Then, they start fleecing us.
It’s not that I think the projects they are supporting are unworthy. It’s simply that the rhetoric coming out of [...]
Four Yakima City Council members were in court today for a hearing concerning their violation of the open meetings act (OMA). And before we get into the minutia of this case it’s important to realize that the “three Amigos and Mom” truly DID violate the OMA. Was that proven in [...]
Leah Ward at the Yakima Herald points out that Latinos are increasing their numbers in Yakima County.
From the article:
New U.S. Census Bureau estimates put Yakima County’s Latino population last year at 41.4 percent, up from 35.9 percent in 2000.
Between July 2007 and July 2008, the Latino population grew 3 [...]
Many of us sit and ponder the leadership, or most accurately, the very lack therein, of today’s Republican Party. I mean, where in the hell are they going? Steele apologizes to Limbaugh, while Limbaugh sucks up to Palin, as McCain’s daughter is criticized by Mann Coulter, etc., and their [...]
Former Senator Bob Packwood makes a straightforward but ultimately erroneous argument against our current taxation in this New York Times Article. Here’s the key point:
There is a global trend in government spending as a percentage of gross domestic product, and that is up, up, up. Fifty years ago all [...]
Sen. Max Baucus (d-MT) is the new marshal in town when it comes to healthcare reform, and one of his first priorities was to take some of that ever-abundant campaign cash from the health industry lobbyists. Afterall, D.C. is a big town, and ya can’t be strollin’ the mean streets [...]
Here is an example of Ensey setting up a meeting with Kathy Coffey and Micah Cawley to discuss their plot about the budget issue. Ensey says they need to meet that day (Thurs. Mar 26), Micah suggests North Town Coffee Shop, Kathy and Rick agree. Here’s an email from Kathy [...]
In response to the shenanigans of B.S. and his puppets (Kathy C and the other three):
“The idea that it was orchestrated in advance? (I’m) disappointed, not surprised,” McClure said Friday
“I’ve been concerned for a long time about Bruce Smith’s influence in the whole thing,” Edler said. “To me, the curtain [...]
President Obama landed some great one-liners last night at the White House Correspondents Dinner. You can watch the full speech at Daily Kos TV.
I was particularly inspired by the end of the speech where he talks about journalists. He quotes Thomas Jefferson pointing out that if he was given [...]
Mary Skinner’s celebration of life Saturday, May 9th was a well attended event. Speakers, including Governor Gregoire, Rep Sam Hunt and Secretary of State , Sam Reed, spoke eloquently about her passion for children and service to the community. Speaker after speaker spoke of her willingness to work across the [...]
My wife and I were out enjoying a great Saturday morning at Sarg Hubbard Park with our grandson. We were there to participate in the Fishing Kids program. A truly great event for kids aged 5 – 12. It was well organized and as they process groups of 12 to [...]
In a string of emails on April 8th Kathy Coffey and Bruce Smith and Rick Ensey communicate back and forth to set a meeting time amongst themselves to discuss their budget plot. They finally agree on meeting at Bruce’s office at 9:45 AM because Kathy had an ONDS meeting at [...]
Here’s an interesting segment of an email from Rick Ensey to Kathy Coffey and Bruce Smith on Wed April 15th at 11:51 AM: I would summarize this email as one in which he “assumes” control of the new budget process. This was the day after his prearranged motion. He even [...]
The Spokesman Review has a copy of the joint statement from Senator Lisa Brown and House Speaker Frank Chopp.
May 7, 2009
Statement from House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown regarding special session:
“After a conversation today between Gov. Gregoire, Speaker Chopp and Majority Leader Brown, the three [...]
In an exchange of emails on Monday, March 30th Bruce Smith and Rick Ensey “brainstorm” the wording of the motion to change the City budget methodology. Remember that on April 14th when the budget “discussion” session opened, Rick Ensey immediately proposed his motion by reading from the script B.S. had [...]
Let’s start with loading the gun with a Rick Ensey quote from YHR May 1st:
“I know what the Open Public Meeting Act is. We all do,” he said, adding, “We went the extra mile to make sure we didn’t break any laws.”
Now let’s fire a shot:
This is from an email [...]
I’ve received part of my original public disclosure request from the city. One telling email from Bruce Smith illustrates his ‘puppeteering”. Here is a portion of one, word for word:
From Bruce Smith to Rick Ensey Wednesday, April 1, 2009 8:04AM:
B.S. writes,
“If I were you, I would send the following [...]
I just got an email from the City of Yakima Public Records Officer that says they need another 10 days to gather the records! May 14th is the new release date. This is the second such email declaring that they need more time. Records being sought are emails to and [...]
David Goldstein at HorsesAss, the pottymouthed westside blog, puts up some good polling numbers for our senior Senator….
Patty Murray Jan. ‘09 Feb. ‘09 Mar. ‘09 Apr. ‘09 Approve 55 54 54 54 Disapprove 36 37 34 32 [...]In their desire to micro manage the city’s budget and somehow inflate their fat egos the 3 Amigos (Bill Lover, Micah Cawley, & Rick Ensey) are treading on the City Charter. Here are excerpts from the Charter as it relates to the city manager’s responsibilities:
From Article 2, Section [...]
In their desire to micro manage the city’s budget and somehow inflate their fat egos the 3 Amigos (Bill Lover, Micah Cawley, & Rick Ensey) are treading on the City Charter. Here are excerpts from the Charter as it relates to the city manager’s responsibilities:
http://www.ci.yakima.wa.us/council/charter/default.asp#art2“>
From Article 2, Section 9 [...]
Washington Votes has put up their yearly list of legislators who missed the most votes…Senator Linda Evans Parlette (R-12) and Rep. Mike Armstrong (R-12) lead the list of Central Washington legislators.
[...]You would expect this kind of talk from us “socialists” here at The Other Side…but here’s the take on our tax system from the Associate Editor at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane…
To get an idea how much the “spending burden” has declined, it was 5.9 percent of total income for [...]
It’s the kind of news that takes your breath away. But, here it is:
Specter To Switch Parties [...]Last week, I got called out for using the word “teabaggers” in one of my posts. My definition of “teabagger” is someone who brings a bag of tea to a tax protest. I know there are others but my midwest upbringing forbids me from knowing about them.
I may get in [...]
The Sunday, April 26th Yakima Herald editorial nailed it in their opinion headlined ” Fast-track pick subverts public process”. For some reason it’s not on their website and I can’t link to it. Their editorial refers to the selection of Maureen Adkison as the unanimous choice to fill Neil McClure’s [...]
I’m about to sit down to watch some baseball and eat a can of soup.
I can’t think of a better way to spend part of a Saturday and as a bonus I’m not wasting any tax dollars. But, maybe one day, I’ll have a different life. Maybe one day I [...]
Charles Ross is happy that the Yakima Valley School is staying open.
Where’s the teabaggers when you need them? Where’s Fox News?
Where are the people screaming about socialist politicians who support large government programs? I guess that’s only when Democrats do it. OK, right wing commenters….I dare any of you [...]
Last Saturday, April 18, 2009 the Yakima County Democrats filled the banquet room of the Howard Johnson Plaza in downtown Yakima. Attendance of 208 broke all records in a non-presidential election year for the annual FDR Dinner. Speaker Pat Williams, a former 9 term Congressman from Montana, pointed out the [...]
The waiting list for the taxpayer-subsidized Basic Health Plan has shot up by 3,000 people in two weeks, an unprecedented increase that state officials attribute to the economy. Unfortunately for insurance seekers, the plan is scheduled to be cut by 40 percent in the next two years.
[...]From The Walla-Walla Union Bulletin:
The risk to the public and the elimination of needed jobs far outweigh whatever short-term benefits the Legislature might derive by balancing its budget in this fashion. If it can’t keep people safe and working, it doesn’t do much good to have a Legislature.
Now [...]
