When the 38th LD Democrats sent questionnaires out to prospective candidates who might be seeking our endorsement one of the first to respond was Tom Greene, candidate for Snohomish County Sheriff. At that time Greene was in a two person race with Rob Beidler. Both gentlemen are currently serving in different areas of the Sheriff's department and, with the departure of Rick Bart due to term limits; they are seeking the top spot there. On paper, Greene's credentials are tremendous with many years of service in law enforcement in California and in Snohomish County. His list of endorsements reads like a who's who of law enforcement. Beidler offers himself as the "trooper's trooper" and wears his endorsement from the rank and file as a badge as shiny as the one on his uniform. Unfortunately for both of these gentlemen, their endorsement prospects from the 38th (as well as any Democratic organization in the county) were doomed from the start by "the elephant in the room" which was the expected (and now realized) announcement of candidacy from 44th LD Democrat, John Lovick. In the end, the 38th confirmed the endorsement committee's recommendation of "No Endorsement at this Time" for the Sheriff's position at our Tuesday night meeting. While I am not very comfortable with withholding an endorsement because we are waiting for someone else to decide what they are going to do, last night I received an email that made me feel much better about our decision not to endorse Tom Greene.
It seems Greene will be having a "Breakfast Kick-off" on Tuesday morning, May 15th at the Holiday Inn in Everett. Because that is a workday for me and the start time is listed as 7:00am, I was simply going to respectfully decline due to the time conflict. However there was a flyer attached to the email and, as the flyer was created in jpg form, part of it became obvious to me while I was reading the email. A photo of someone whom I recognized was coming onto my viewing screen. There under the heading "Tom Greene for Sheriff Breakfast May 15th" was the next line:
"Featuring former Seattle Seahawk, Ken Hutcherson, Pastor of Antioch Bible Church in Kirkland, WA"
My reply to Tom Greene's email took a somewhat different slant. I explained to him that, while I do not believe anyone should be judged on their own personal beliefs, I felt that bringing someone with Hutcherson's notoriety into the political arena was simply unacceptable - especially when he, Greene, is seeking election to a position where he will be responsible for protecting the rights - legal and civil - of all the citizens. It is inconceivable to me that he would be unaware of Hutcherson's opposition to the recognition of equal rights and protections for all of our citizens. In my email I told him that, even though our meeting was brief, my impression was that he is a personable and sincere man and that it would be difficult to believe him guilty of such political naiveté.
I almost wish that I did not have a workday conflict now. The Holiday Inn in Everett is where we held our "Un-welcome Wagon" for Dead-Eye Dick Cheney last year. I wouldn't be surprised if someone wanted to host a similar event for Pastor Hutcherson on Tuesday, May 15th.
Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue
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