by Rachelle R.
In what is left of local radio, political coverage is mostly a rehashing of what can be found on other major news outlets. Lost in the sea of big city and national politics are the soap-opera-like stories of the local variety in the small towns and hamlets throughout Washington. Often, there are melodramatic and highly personal shennanigans that would fit right into an episode of "Reno-911."
This past November a couple of small towns saw their mayors lose close contests to people who otherwise would not list politics as something in which to get involved. Both winners were moved to run based on their intense dislike of the sitting mayor or other city officials.
In the 2.5 sq. mile town of Pacific, Mayor Rich Hildreth lost his 3rd race for relection. Hildreth came under scrutiny when he refused to follow up on the arrest of his police chief who had been stopped on suspected drunk driving. But the issue that really upset the tiny electorate was the number of times Mayor Rich attended Emergency Management conventions around the country. Some felt he was building a resume and getting free training for a career after he left office, a charge Hildreth denies. He was defeated by a write-in candidate, 80-something Cy Sun, who was probably as surprised at his win as Mayor Rich was. Hildreth continues to voice his opinion on his blog.
Maybe the most entertaining story of all is in the town of Tenino, south-east of Olympia. Eric Strawn, 35, is heavily tatooed and his usual uniform is jeans and a Bob Marley t-shirt. He occasionally smokes pot from a prescription and wears his hair in a ponytail. He has a police record of misdemenors that include his pot smoking and taking a car radio from his uncle's car detailing shop.
The AP reports, "Strawn, a Tenino native who never finished high school and works at a beef-slaughtering plant ('People ask me, "Oh, you kill cows?" I say, 'I just cut their heads off.' It's a job that has to be done.') readily admitted to having no political experience."
On the first day of work, Strawn arrived at City Hall to find that one part of the building had been gated and locked by the City Clerk to prevent his entry. Behind those locks were court records, some with his name on them. The reason for preventing access to these records? The former mayor, Ken Jones said, "You figure it out for yourself." Strawn fired the clerk, took down the gates, and then ordered some simple padlocks for the file cabinets, to ease fears he might remove records involving him or his friends. Later, a city council member criticized his written tribute to a Tenino military veteran as being full of grammatical errors. Rumors raced through city goverment that he would fire all of them when he took office, so the council immediately passed an ordinance that would take that power away from him. Council members later acknowledged the ordinance was unenforceable because state law gives the mayor such powers.
The people of Tenino appear to be willing to give their new mayor a chance. The previous administration saddled the town with millions in debt to pay for a sewer system. It had "lost touch with the townspeople" according to many residents.
The AP says, "The new mayor has plans for change in the city, such as getting a grant for putting in a bike, skateboarding and basketball area in the city's park and asking the local bank to sponsor the maintenance on the city's historic quarry pool."
Smoke 'em if you've got 'em, and stay tuned!
Tenino and Pacific . . . so are these liberal bastions? Just curious. Personally, I like having a working sewer system. But, that's just me.
Posted by: Mary | February 26, 2012 at 01:33 PM
I would classify them more as libertarian.
Posted by: Rachelle | February 26, 2012 at 01:54 PM
Tenino (and surrounding area) is rural conservative country. It's just a few miles north of that crazy rightwing billboard along I-5.
Posted by: Mike D | February 27, 2012 at 12:03 AM
With small towns like this, a lot of people personally know the people involved. There's better opportunities to judge character than in a large city like Seattle, where all most people know about a candidate is their mailing pieces and voters' guide statements.
The other thing is that the issues in local politics often don't have clear ideological lines. It really doesn't matter whether you're an R or D if you can make the sewers work.
Oh, and Tenino is south of Olympia, not east. It's about halfway between Centralia & Oly, just E of I-5, just inside Thurston County.
Posted by: Pete | February 27, 2012 at 10:45 AM
It's south and east, close to Loser County and east towards the foothills of banjos and incest.
Posted by: MW | February 27, 2012 at 11:00 AM
On a RADIO note, Thom Hartmann announced this morning he is moving his show to 12-3 Pacific time. This might be good because Thom can be live from 12-3 and Ed Shultz who is currently not live on KPTK can flip to Thom's old spot and be live from 9-12.
Progressive radio's top superstars, Thom and Ed, never should have been on a the same time. You don't see Rush and Sean competing directly against each other.
Posted by: Erictheeditor | February 27, 2012 at 12:53 PM
Cool...dont care if I miss Ed, and I can catch at least an hour of Thom during planning time...
Posted by: sparky | February 27, 2012 at 02:20 PM
Thanks, Eric. I'm loving the switch as I love both of them. Tom was saying he narrated a documentary (?) coming out called "Heist." He says it is a good one. Ed is the reliable workhorse for everything hands on. I have a lot of admiration for his on-the-scene energy. Also, he actually gets more guests than anybody else these days. Very interesting people. I'll hear more of him in the morning as my planning time is then.
Pete, Tenino (relatively close to where my parents retired) is east of I-5. Lots of little podunk towns (ex-logging) around that area! I was banished to their farm near Oakville (which is west of I-5) for a year after high school. My brother married a girl from PeEll. Isn't that funny? Not telling when that was.
Posted by: Mary | February 27, 2012 at 06:53 PM
Ugh, can't mention that end of the county without Rochester. "Lewis County North"
Posted by: Coiler | February 27, 2012 at 07:35 PM
"He occasionally smokes pot from a prescription..."
Wow! In Seattle, we use bongs. Only in Tenino....
Posted by: Fremont | February 27, 2012 at 08:53 PM
Bongs? I always rolled my own. I finally gave that little device away reluctantly. Hadn't used it in twenty-five years. I did have an awfully pretty psychadelic water pipe but never used it. Preferred paper.
Uh-oh, are we changing the subject?
Coiler, don't three counties meet in that little bitty space?
Posted by: Mary | February 27, 2012 at 09:12 PM
uh huh Independence Valley
Posted by: Coiler | February 27, 2012 at 09:16 PM
Rochester's close to where the three counties meet - technically in Thurston County (like Tenino), though as someone noted it's culturally very much Lewis County, or far northern Alabama, all through there.
Posted by: Pete | February 28, 2012 at 08:42 AM
I think my folks were in Grays Harbor. Thanks for the info.
Posted by: Mary | February 28, 2012 at 09:22 PM
Leaving the geography expertise to Pete...yes, Mary, I'm changing the subject to mine. The device you used to roll your joints was called a Rizla roller, an innovative little item still in use today.
Posted by: Fremont | February 28, 2012 at 10:00 PM
Tenino is a great little town. Just like other towns we have our share of off beat individuals. The problem now is that this guy has no experience or knowledge and refuses to learn from those that do. That's how mayors end up screwing a city over.
Posted by: Tenino Tom | February 29, 2012 at 06:03 PM
You are right, TT!
Posted by: sparky | February 29, 2012 at 07:00 PM