Island Dwellers Are Quite Liberal With Criticism
Ah, Vashon Island. Home to every band of the political spectrum, from Unabomber wannabes to Tom Stewart, Republican bigwig.
Stewart, CEO of one of the state’s largest privately held companies, held a party for thousands of his closest friends a week ago at his 100-plus-acre estate. The state GOP sponsored the picnic, and an appearance by vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp drew throngs.
State ferry workers say they carried about 12,000 people to Vashon last Saturday, more than doubling the island’s population for the day.
The GOP even chartered a state ferry just for Kemp and his entourage at a cost of more than $4,000.
Liberal townsfolk were quick to make their sentiments known as charter buses full of Republicans rolled off the ferry dock.
Homemade signs dotted the route to Stewart’s. “Ward Cleaver, enjoy the picnic but be sure to catch the ferry home,” said one. “Eat the rich,” suggested another propped in the yard of a ramshackle farmhouse. A peace sign outlined in Christmas lights adorned its scabrous siding.
The best bakery in town announced it would charge Republicans extra. GOP gubernatorial candidate Ellen Craswell’s signs, put up right before the picnic, didn’t survive the weekend. They were sliced out of their frames.
GOP revelers worked a little mischief of their own. Jan Morosoff, owner of an island bed and breakfast, was livid to find a T-shirt emblazoned with Republican slogans slipped onto the life-size wooden figure decorating the entrance to her inn.
No wonder tempers ran a little short. The island, usually a haven of tranquility, also played host to a vintage motorcycle rally that drew hundreds of bikers in black leather the same weekend.
Three weddings, one with 400 guests, contributed to the crush.
The island is in no way equipped for such a pile-on. It can be reached only by boat or plane, has no traffic lights, about six public telephones, and all of about 200 beds for overnight guests scattered throughout various bed and breakfasts.
The closest thing to lodging for crowds is a youth hostel with tepees.
Cracking down on citizens
Dale Foreman, embattled GOP candidate for governor, appears to have hit on a strategy of running against the very government he says he wants to lead.
Foreman, R-Wenatchee, the House majority leader, is in hot water with the state Public Disclosure Commission, which accuses him of breaking state election laws by fund-raising during the legislative session.
The state Department of Ecology is also after him for allegedly watering fruit trees on land the department says he has no water rights to irrigate.
At the GOP picnic, Foreman took the stage and told thousands of listeners that as governor he’d crack down on overzealous bureaucrats and burdensome regulation.
Foreman didn’t mention that both the Public Disclosure Commission and Initiative 134, the state’s campaign finance law, were created by citizen initiative.
Not only that, but Foreman’s own party wrote I-134.
Will lounge for beer
More than a year ago, the city of Seattle shed its warm and fuzzy liberal image and adopted an ordinance that forbids lying or sitting on downtown sidewalks.
It doesn’t appear to have made a big difference. Take two cheery urchins lounging on a city sidewalk recently.
Such folks usually hold up signs for passers-by with hard-luck stories they hope will induce pedestrians to put hand to pocket.
Not these kids. Their sign took the direct approach, stating, “Face it. We just want a beer.”
, DataTimes MEMO: West Side Stories appears every other Saturday.