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October 15, 2010 in City
Youth forum evokes best in politicians
Seen the new attack ad on Chris Marr? I won’t repeat any of it, other than to note that it formally marked the moment when the local election season went from discouraging to scumbaggy. As it always does.
This is the wearying season for people who follow politics. Things get stupider and meaner as they become more important. But on Thursday night – while Patty Murray and Dino Rossi slugged it out at KSPS – there was another event on the Spokane political calendar that offered a reminder of the other, sometimes invisible political world.
The one where people talk about their own ideas, not their opponents’ skeletons. The one where candidates don’t act like stage-managed dolls, robotically repeating slogans. The one where the discussion is a little nice, a little honest, a little boring and a lot responsible.
It was like a civics lesson or something. Good thing there were a bunch of kids there to see it.
Thursday night was the annual youth issues forum sponsored by the Chase Youth Commission. Five legislative candidates and two County Commission candidates showed up at Spokane City Hall to field questions from young people, in advance of a mock election. It wasn’t a huge turnout, but Democrats swept it. Andy Billig, Timm Ormsby and Bonnie Mager each won their races, respectively, and a version of the proposal to create a Children’s Investment Fund to pay for dropout prevention programs passed in a landslide.
More notable, though, was the positively … positive air that hung about the whole affair. Mager and her GOP opponent, Al French, chatted as they waited for their debate to begin. Ormsby nodded in agreement with his opponent, Morgan Oyler, a time or two. Oyler once said, “Mr. Ormsby actually makes an excellent point there.”
John Driscoll, the incumbent in the 6th District legislative race, probably had the clearest shot at his opponent, John Ahern – who skipped the debate to participate in a conference call with the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. I don’t know if Ahern was the preacher or the choir in that particular meeting, but Driscoll took the high road.
“I happen to be the only person here tonight from the 6th District,” he said mildly.
The event was a chance for teens to practice politics in a concrete way and to meet their local leaders. MacKenzie Christensen, a 16-year-old junior at North Central High School who’s also been involved in past forums, said it’s important for young people to understand politics and government, and for candidates to hear from them.
“A lot of the questions the youth ask are more advanced than the candidates expect,” she said. “They come here thinking, ‘Oh, these are youth questions, and they’re going to be easy,’ and I think they’re actually surprised.”
Like several students at the forum, 17-year-old Mead High School senior Erin Baldini said she wanted to hear what the candidates had to say about education and the budget deficit. Sana Amin, a 17-year-old Mead senior, said that as a Muslim she’s become interested in issues about faith, culture and politics. Spencer White, a 17-year-old senior from University High School, said he wanted to hear what candidates had to say about the dropout rate.
One of the younger kids there was Chris Fortner, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Glover Middle School. Fortner asked a question about alternative transportation, which was prompted by his frustrations about the effects of traffic congestion on his bus ride.
“It takes way more time than it should,” he said after the forum.
He said he’s been tuning in to political ads on TV this year.
“I like watching all of them,” he said. “It’s funny. One says one thing. Another says another thing.”
The students asked the candidates about bullying, school funding and the fiscal crisis, and standardized testing. The candidates mostly answered in ways you might expect, though there were some unexpected moments.
Dave White, the Republican running against Billig in the 3rd District, answered a question about bullying by noting that he was a fat, red-headed kid who wore thick glasses and moved a lot.
“I know all about this problem, believe me,” he said.
Ormsby talked about the fact that he never understood the Pythagorean theorem when it was taught in a classroom – he picked it up on a construction site.
What if all our politics took place in front of a room full of kids? Debates, stump speeches, advertising? What if the lowlifes who make the TV ads – and the candidates who benefit while minimizing their responsibility for them – had to explain their strategy to Chris Fortner?
At one point during the forum, Billig said he had considered whether to tailor his message specifically to the students, but decided not to.
“There’s no kids’ table when it comes to politics,” he said.
The draw of the unknowable 
ChefGus/ John Olsen on October 15 at 4:25 a.m.
Odyssey Youth Center has in the past organized forums for the local candidates for Mayor, which were quite successful and enlightening. The youth that volunteer with us at our kitchen are remarkable…in that the just “showed up” ie… were not mandated to come and do any service work at all…. and one group of three from Lewis and Clark have now graduated after three years of steady service with a smile… yet they still come and help when it is possible.
Too often we read about and hear about the “problem teens”…. and my experience with youth over 40 years in various volunteer settings has been uniformly positive.
Kudo’s to the Chase Youth Commission…. it is too bad it got no pre event press in your newspaper that I saw. Gus
ChefGus/ John Olsen on October 15 at 4:30 a.m.
Addendum….. ? will it be on Cable Channel 5 soon? Or Perhaps “linked” on your web site for those of us without Television? The ballots are in the mail.
soccermomsusie on October 15 at 11:59 a.m.
I am disappointed that John ‘Dreamy Eyes’ Ahern was not there last night. Do you remember how he always showed the youth some tough love when they visited him in Olympia? He made them cry when he called them baby killers, but they needed to hear that.
My nephew who is very mean, said that when Mr. Ahern heard that the event was sponsored by the “Chase Youth” Commission, Mr. Ahern put on his velour jogging suit and sprinted out the door waving his cane. Later, search and rescue teams found Mr. Ahern berating a fire hydrant for listening to the hip hop and being short in stature. By then, the debate was over.
That was uncalled for. Did I mention my nephew is a socialistic demoncrat libertard?
Talk to John Ahern. Look into his eyes. You will truly see what is going on behind those magnificent peepers.
W AGAIN IN 2010!!!!
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!!
ZagChuck on October 16 at 8:03 p.m.
Soccersue is short on facts and long on rhetoric.
The incident in question with teenagers in Olympia occurred when the folks who run the Planned Parenthood abortion mills brought some kids over for Legislative Day to shill for more money. (It’s really sad, if when you think about it, manipulating those who’ve survived Roe v Wade into shilling for money so others will not, but I digress. )
When the poor kids are finally pushed through the hallways and into Representative Ahern’s Office, their handlers were expecting and hoping the event would be more confrontational. Representative Ahern simply asked any of them if they knew how many babies Planned Parenthood had killed. This offended the Planned Parenthood handlers, who didn’t want their kids to be allowed to think beyond what they’d been taught in a very one sided manner.
BTW last year taxpayers paid for over 12,000 abortions in Washington State alone.
Later that year, Ahern met at least one of those kids while he was doorbelling. One kid remembered him, thanked him for his candor, answered the question, and indicate support. Thank God for people like John Ahern, informing future voters and shaping the minds of our youth. Thank God some of them can still be saved, despite the indoctrination they continue to receive from the pro-abortion movement as it flows through our public education system.
It should also be noted that Soccersue makes fun of Ahern’s age, but also fully supported Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd…. Go figure….
On the other hand, John Ahern was endorsed by College Republicans and Young Republicans even when there was a much younger Republican candidate in the race, because he understands and acts on youth issues as well as veteran issues.
TheRain on October 16 at 10:42 p.m.
It probably didn’t hurt either that the College Republicans and Young Republicans are part of the County Republican apparatchik that didn’t seem able to endorse some really qualified people like Larry Crouse, Shelly Short, Joel Kretz, and I’ll be darned Shelly O’Quinn.
ZagChuck on October 17 at 12:47 a.m.
@ Rain,
It is clear you don’t know what you’re talking about. Both groups are independent from the Spokane County Republican Party.
The Gonzaga College Republicans vetted the candidates quite well, provided them with questionnaires, and meet with them on campus. They issued their endorsements before the Spokane County Party did.
The Spokane County Young Republicans used a combination of experiences and information to make their decision.
Both groups have endorsed Senator Bob Morton, Representatives Larry Crouse, Matt Shea, Joel Kretz, Shelly Short, Susan Fagan and Joe Schmick.
Neither of the groups endorsed Shelly O’Quinn, for reasons that were quite clear to conservatives; her ambiguity on a number of issues ranging from the environment, taxes, job creation, growth of government, and social issues, not to mention her carpet bagger status, having moved from the 4th to 6th just a few weeks before filing for office.
Turns out, they were right too, and she didn’t make it through the primary. Now Shelly can’t even find a way to endorse fellow Republican Ahern. She’s just not a team player.
Perhaps you should stick to what you know.
Think about it this way; If you’re a leftists (which you clearly are), and a Republican candidate appeals to you, do you really think that candidate will appeal to conservatives as well?
ZagChuck on October 17 at 4:11 a.m.
For the record, John Ahern has attended at least 13 events with John Driscoll. These complaints from Driscoll supporters are to distract from the real issues; they don’t want to talk about the records…
In the last two years we’ve experienced record unemployment, record tax increases, a record budget deficit, yet still managed record growth in the size of government and record pay increases for government employees. The Democrat Party, who have held majorities in both houses of congress at both the state and federal level for at least the last 6 years are responsible for these records. Budgets always begin in the House. It’s just that simple.
It’s time to replace John Driscoll with a true representative of the people. Let’s replace him with a veteran, one who is an owner/operator of his own small business and understands and supports the principles of a limited government with a reduced budget.
That Man would be John Ahern.
Let’s return Ahern, and return some fiscal sanity to Olympia