I can't comment on the message because I am still horrified at the grammar.

It is for reasons like these, on top of other huge mistakes made by Krieger against his own district that the Democratic Party ought to honestly consider taking over District 1. If the Caucus could almost take out Donna Nelson, Sal E. of Medford, and John Dallum, Krieger's seat is winnable as well.

The Democratic Mayor of Brookings (largest city in the district) Pat Sherman would be a very feasible candidate for the district. Voters see her as pro-business, pro-education, pro-senior, and moderate.

If the Democrats wish to hold on to their majority they need to put up serious and well funded candidates in districts such as Krieger's to not only maintain it, but expand it.

Right on Harry Stark!

Whatever anyone thinks of Republican legislators, Democrats have a choice to make. They can say they know best which district is winable because the geniuses working with the caucus know everything about every district. OR they can admit the common sense of what Harry Stark has said here.

I really get tired of how often people like Colleen envoke "the will of the voters." Wouldn't the will of the voters be taken into account by who they have elected. Much of this message against the D's agenda was part of their platform on the campaign trail. So, wouldn't the voters have spoken by electing a D majority.

Also, what is up with her rant against the people electing gasp "gays and lesbians." Seriously, has she lost it!?

If this was a young staffer instead of someone's wife, she would probably get fired. Also, wasn't Krieger part of the group who wanted to gut the minimum wage? Didn't the voters approve that too?

Finally, no one tried to make it illegal to pray in meetings. That's a talking point, not a fact. The bill (HB 2893) would make it illegal to fire someone who chose not to participate. There is a big difference there.

(Said in a voice dripping with sarcastic disdain) First women, then minorities, and now the gays and lesbians...who will the voters elect next. We'd better stop letting people vote and just let Colleen hand pick some of "her kinds of people" to rule the Kingdom of Oregon!

Just the same ol', same ol' right-wing bullshit the Republicraps have been spouting for lo, these 30 years and more. Pretty much everybody except the 25%-30% hard core of looney toons -- the people who think Bush is doing a swell job -- have tuned it out. We shouldn't amplify it by repeating it.

The "will of the voters" can be found directly in the initiative process. We can debate all day about the ethics involved in acquiring ballot signatures, but that meaningless debate obfuscates the fact that citizens do have the ability to get a petition, get signatures and get a ballot measure for the next election cycle.

What Colleen was alluding to in regards to gays and lesbians was Ballot Measure 36 passed with 57% of the vote in 2004. (Wikipedia can get you the stats which are gleamed from the Oregon Blue Book). Measure 36 concerned gay marriage not "civil unions."

If we want to know the "will of the voters", then lets put the gay and lesbian civil unions issue on the ballot in 2008.

I have to disagree that the "will of the voters" was present in 2006. First, 2006 was an off-year election and studies have shown that voters don't turn out in large numbers for off year elections than they do in Presidential elections. Second, the Iraq War which worked for Bush in '04 backfired on him in 2006 and resulted in massive protest voting by Republicans and conservatives at the state and local election levels. Third, the Oregon Republican party post-2006 election is in complete disarray. It is safe to say that the Oregon Republican Party has sold out to lobbyists and special interest groups.

Kari--

Do you really think it is right to print a letter written by a rep's wife or an aid?

I mean it is funny but this woman was not elected to any office. She does not speak for the people. She clearly stated at the end that it was a rant and not the position of the office.

By printing this, at best, you have done something mean and spiteful, at worst, you have opened a very large can of worms that will negatively reflect on your ethics and open up attacks against all political aids and family members of politicians.

YougOregonVoter:

"I have to disagree that the "will of the voters" was present in 2006."

Hello!

Can you please define "will of the voters"?

Is it something we get from a Soviet-style system (when only properly vetted candidates and measures are placed before the "voters")?

Are you suggesting that numbers of people were prevented from voting by being kept in their homes on election day (or improperly purged from voting rolls)?

Just how are we to know when an election truly reflects the "will of the voters"?

Can we count on you, Colleen or Lars to tell us?

What offensive arrogance.

Randy

So that's how it's done in 1935. Thank God for Portland, seriously. Rural Oregon fucking scares me. Also if you are going to give yourself a title, LEARN GRAMMAR.

To Question: You need to reread the thing again. She signs it:

Colleen Krieger Legislative Assistant for Representative Wayne Krieger District 1

So yeah.

Right wing bullshit sounds about right. Since the initiative process does such a good job of turning the will of the people into law, why not just dispense with all those lazy state legislators and use it to run the state instead?

Measure 36 showed how right wing people could use the initiative process to con the voters into the kind of societal regression they prefer by simply using the push-button phrase "gay marriage". They did this to strike fear into the mortal souls of voters that certainly may know what's fair, but generally lack specific knowledge and experience to make constitutionally solid law.

What's this guy, Krieger, doing anyway, letting his wife be a legislative assistant? Seems as if the pressure is kind of getting to her. Right about this time, I'll bet ol' Krieger is thinking...."...barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen".

There are so many things I could say about this, but I will stick to just one.

Question: As a former legislative aide, I applaud Kari for publishing this letter from a legislative aide. Anything that goes into or out of legislative offices is part of the public record, and legislative aides know this. I assume, since Ms. Krieger signed the letter with her official title that she wrote it on behalf of the the representative. It is clearly an official piece of correspondence from his office. Kari's publishing it is beyond a non-issue -- it is a public service.

Question, when a staffer signs their letter with their title and position and it comes from the taxpayer-funded computer, there is no secrecy.

Incidentally, "Derald" sounds like the same guy who e-mailed every legislative office complaining that, some years ago, the state had unfairly taken away his savings account because it had been unused for so long.

Well, someone apparently found out that the account (sans mailing address) has been sitting in Oregon's Unclaimed Property Account the entire time, waiting for Derald to claim it.

Chris,

It is people like you who polarize our state and any sort of populist or progressive movement in rural Oregon with that cheap, and utterly b.s. rhetoric which pushes people who may vote for a progressive or populist republican or democratic in rural Oregon into the welcoming arms of corporate lobbyist back GOP candidate who vote against their own rural district's interests. That kind of anti-rural b.s. is what is halting common sense reforms in this state simply because some folks want to constantly condemn rural Oregonians.

Maybe populists and progressives, rural and metro alike, ought to focus on what unites us rather than what divides us. Then positive change may finally happen for all Oregonians.

YOV, are you of the political persuasion some of the GOP (former majority) members spoke: that "the will of the people" is only ballot measure results and not candidate results. Why did they run for office if ballot measure results are more important than anything done by elected officials?

If one believes only measure results are important, then look at some of the results from 2006 ballot measures (my slow dial up connection made me impatient so I stopped at these). If you want to see actual numbers, go to the official results website of the Sec. of State office

http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/nov72006/g06results.html

Measure 39 --Yes Prohibits Public Body From Condemning Private Real Property If Intends To Convey To Private Party

Measure 40—No Amends Constitution: Requires Oregon Supreme Court Judges And Court Of Appeals Judges To Be Elected By District

Measure 41—No, not even close Allows Income Tax Deduction Equal To Federal Exemptions Deduction To Substitute For State Exemption Credit

Measure 42---No, not even close Prohibits Insurance Companies From Using Credit Score Or "Credit Worthiness" In Calculating Rates Or Premiums

If someone believed, for instance, in the measure to elect Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges from districts, are they to now say "never mind, the people have spoken in a ballot measure" and never even discuss the issue for the rest of their lives?

Or (as cynics suggest) is their view really "the voters have spoken on measures we agree with"? Min. wage, paying petitioners by the signature, and other measures which some Republicans didn't like ---are they "the will of the people"? Or is "the will of the people" only measure results one agrees with?

A related question being discussed these days: Some legislators say things like "well, the voters spoke on that measure so I have to agree with the results". There are those of us who believe that the definition of "core values" is that a person believes the same thing about a ballot measure (or a bill in the legislature) a week before it passes and a week after it passes.

YOV said "the fact that citizens do have the ability to get a petition, get signatures and get a ballot measure for the next election cycle." So, how many of those measures were put up by ordinary citizens (as the adult adoptee measure was years ago), and how many by initiativemeisters who seem to do ballot measures for a living as they have measures circulating over and over and over ? How many times do ordinary voters have to defeat measures by those like Sizemore (who ought to go out in the real world and do honest work)? Or do some people have a divine right to put measures on the ballot and claim they are speaking for ordinary citizens?

I am very choosy about how many measures I vote for, and believe we have a representative government where candidate elections are at least as important as ballot measures. If that makes me a subversive, so be it, but it doesn't make me someone with YOV's politics.

Krieger's comments smack of the "we are victims" that right wing politicians (particularly coming from a religious bent) continue to espouse. It's been some time since he said it, but I believe Jon Stewart responded most appropriately to that kind of mentality: "you've been in power since Constantinople!"

In the end, it's hypocrisy -- voters vote for Republican ideas or candidates, and that's the will of the voters, but voters vote for Democratic ideas or candidates, and there's some insidious flaw.

Hi Harry,

That's beautiful, but I prefer to stick with reality. The progressive movement too often ignores truths in favor of playing nice and I don't play by those rules. I've spent a lot of time in this state, more than most, in both rural and urban areas, and I'll go ahead and point out truths that a lot of you want to ignore and not feel the least bit guilty about it. I'm not against educating the rural fucking morons who want to turn the clock on this state back decades. Far from it, but I don't ignore the truth simply because I'm afraid of offending people. Here's another truth: the majority of these idiots who push this stuff are over the age of 40. In a generation or two people will look back on a letter like this and die of laughter. Even rural kids who finally learned what the world is really like through the internet. No, saying the majority of people who would destroy this state live in the rural areas is very accurate.

Chris,

Just like in your first post, you continue to show your ignorance. Rural Oregon is ripe for new leadership that is populist in origin, but the problem is that the Metro Democrats continue to ruin their party's potential outside of the I-5 corridor with the same hateful, ignorant, un-civil, bullshit you spewed in your last two posts.

You are nothing more than a bigot, not of skin or religion, but of geography and background. You sir, disgrace the progressive movement with your presence. Your intolerance, bigotry, and your baseless rhetoric only lower the quality of discussion on this blog, and simply reinforce the age old image of the Democratic party of metropolitan elitists.

Simply disgraceful.

Joe,

I have called for unity on issues where we, rural and metro, agree. That said, sometimes we have to respectfully disagree, and fight out the issues in the legislature and at the ballot box. However, it is counterproductive to let a few issues divide populist and progressive, rural and metro, when there are so many good ones we can work together on that will benefit all Oregonians.

I'm not the one attacking people simply because they live in different parts of the state. Where did I attack the people of Portland? However, as per usual, the standard image of the Democratic Party of a metropolitan elitist organization is reinforced when people like Chris get up and preach venom and hate toward the people of rural Oregon.

I'm curious what kind of salary Ms. Krieger is pulling down as a legislative assistant, since she does not appear to have completed high school.

Ms. Krieger (interestingly "warrior" in German) and her husband have no doubt recited "I pledge allegiance ... to the republic ..." countless times. I wonder if on any occasion they might have considered "the republic" implies, at least to some degree, that "government knows best"?

As for "rant," it commonly suggests an ill-considered screed or diatribe - kind of like Ms. Krieger's epistle to Derald.

While I happen to agree with much of what Colleen wrote, I appreciate the comments of others who don't agree. But come on, to be 'scared' of f------- rural Oregon? Several of the posts used language that I find inappropriate for publid discourse. Rural Oregonians are not idiots or people to be feared. Many of us choose to live in rural settings- apparently that makes us idiots, or weirdo's. I guess freedom means we all need to agree at every point. I learned that a republic was about divergent views working together, but after reading many of these comments, apparently I was wrong. That saddens me.

If this is what she says in public, imagine how they must talk amongst themselves in private. Imagine the nature of those discussions. Imagine what they teach their children about certain people and the language they use.

To all those in support of publishing this letter:

I'm sad to see everyone so ready to throw staff, family, etc... under the bus to make political gains.

I guess that the George Bush/ Karl Rove school of politics is now in control of both the left and the right.

I have never met Mrs. Krieger but I have been frustrated typed things I didn't truly think out. Clearly this woman is frustrated and is getting used to minority politics. She was ranting (so she says at the end) getting things off her chest to someone that she thought would understand.

I agree from a legislative e-mail account was not the correct venue to do so but we are all human.

So I guess if you want to laugh at a clearly frustrated, over-worked, underpaid staffer and a woman that has to manage her husband while he is going through the time consuming and soul crushing job that is being a legislator be my guest.

If this had come from the representative I would be laughing with you, but going after a wife/staffer who clearly states at the end that she is ranting is too close to crossing that ethical line of attacking innocents to win political points.

It sure looks likes (and sounds like) the Kriegers have sipped from the propaganda fountain wayyyy to many times. It is amazing how a human can parrot such ubiquitous drivel and maintain it on such a high level.

Two comments: 1) To provide yet another staff perspective, I just want to reiterate that all staffers know that everything they write is public record and represents their elected offical. Everything. And in most offices, everything that gets sent out is approved by the elected official first.

2) To ws: Your comment about Krieger wishing his wife was "barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen" was entirely inappropriate. Many legislators, of both parties, have family members or spouses working for them, and while it doesn't always work out (just like in other employment situations), most of those people do fine and honorable work. In many cases, it helps the office to flow more smoothly because the legislative assistant knows the elected official so well. You are certainly entitled to whatever feelings you may have about the letter Colleen Krieger sent out, but confine your criticisms to her professional activities. Leave her marital relationship out of it.

I love her opinion of me: "The people of Oregon allowed this to happen because of apathy,"

How dare she, how utterly dare she. I hope in 2008 she has to file for unemployment insurance, which she probably will, and which she will probably exhaust, refusing to do what she expects of others.

Democrats --- Truth hurts!!!

Metro (I-5 Corridor) Democrats are ruling your party and Oregon. They, Not the Republicans,are IGNORING the voters wishes. Rural Conservative Democrats are just sitting back and letting it happen. They may not have the same views as the Metro D's, but their silence says otherwise. Just look at the Legislative Democrats voting records. The Governor and his Party have gone against the Oregon Constitution and the peoples wishes time and time again. Democrats are so hung up on Gays, Taxing us anyway they can, Gun Control, Silencing the Christians, Legalizing abortion and the like that they are not concentrating on making Oregon a BETTER place to live... ie. 24/7 State Police, Rural Oregon funding crisis (timber dollars), Family Wage Jobs, Etc...

Too many times the media and others relate anything that goes on in Salem as "The Legislature did this" and "The Legislature did that" There is no distinction between Democrat and Republican. Hundreds of calls and e-mails are sent to each Representative or Senator every day. MOST are really concerned for Oregon and it's future. Oregon citizens need to know that no ALL of the Legislature is falling for the Metro agenda.

WAY TO GO COLLEEN.... RANT OR NOT YOU'RE RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

BECKY:

"...Democrats are ...

not concentrating on

...Rural Oregon funding crisis (timber dollars)..."

I haven't lived in rural Oregon for decades, but the plight of communities that are losing their "timber dollars" has been covered so thoroughly, that a person trying to ignore it would have to work pretty hard.

It has been your Republican President's budgets over the past 6 years that have been relentlessly hacking away at that federal commitment, not the Dems.

When your Republican President looks around for ways to finance HIS war and HIS friends' tax cuts, lightly populated timber counties (regardless of how red they may be) are just such an easy target.

I just scratch my head about how you can make such a specious charge.

Randy

Two points:

1. Jenni Simonis nailed the issue regarding e-mail and the position. Any public servant is aware of this - from the folks behind the DMV counters to medical examiners (see today's LEDS story) - and they're also aware of the consequences.

2. The rural/urban debate has been going for as long as I can remember. As a native Oregonian who was raised in a rural area relatively close to an urban area, I'd like to think I have a decent amount of experience and perspective in this matter. My $0.02: Idiots are everywhere - rural and urban, liberal and conservative, "educated" and "commonfolk"... but the only thing that may be worse than ignorance is arrogance, and this unfortunate debate tends to bring out both of those abhorrent characteristics in people.

3. Jeff Alworth's suggestion rings true in a rather frightening way: "Either the GOP thinks the public is stupid or were hoodwinked, or they think the public still supports them." I do agree with this; the unfortunate problem I have is that I think it is true for many Dems too. We're just surfing a political wave that happens to favor Ds right now.

Bitter Becky screeched: Democrats are so hung up on Gays, Taxing us anyway they can, Gun Control, Silencing the Christians, Legalizing abortion and the like

Wow. Just wow.

Excuse my ignorance, but how is the vote count on House Bill 666 - Silencing the Christians? Frankly I've been so busy confiscating my gay christian neighbors guns I haven't had time to keep up on the local politics.

I'm always taken aback by the incredibly poor grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation exhibited by the right-wingers who post on blogs. I almost never see such issues in posts by people with a liberal bent. Kind of telling, don't you think?

I'm sad to see everyone so ready to throw staff, family, etc... under the bus to make political gains.

Wrong ... Krieger, a paid staff member for a paid public servant, threw herself under the bus by sending this out.

She would also be a more sympathetic character if her e-mail wasn't filled with ridiculous delusions and thinly veiled bigotry. A previous comnment nailed it best: If this is what conservatives say in public, just imagine what their private conversations are like.

Dearest Becky, You can find the state mental hospital in Salem at 2600 Center St. NE.

I meant the other BECKY with all caps. An example of why Kari's two-name rule makes sense.

(I can count. Really.)

Geographically stereotyping is just as bad as any other kind. That said, does anyone posting here really believe that all rural Oregonians voted For Bush and For Measure 36? That's as stupid as stereotyping all people in a certain occupation, a certain demographic group, etc.

I know 2 couples who live in a rural county. Their politics is not what you might imagine. In both cases, one spouse is active in a political party (not the same party in each case)and one spouse has worked in the legislature. They are intelligent people who are a pleasure to talk with and have great common sense.

One of them said something about looking for a candidate who has a vision for the future and a plan to carry it out. Exactly what in the above addresses that, or are labels and ideology really more important?

I have never met Mrs. Krieger but I have been frustrated typed things I didn't truly think out. Clearly this woman is frustrated and is getting used to minority politics. She was ranting (so she says at the end) getting things off her chest to someone that she thought would understand.

There is nothing wrong with sitting at a keyboard and ranting about anything that upsets you. To the contrary, it can be a very good exercise, but good judgment requires that you not publish what you have written in that frame of mind. Cool down and read again what you wrote. If you have any sense, chances are you will make lots of corrections - maybe even decide to delete the entire essay completely.

The estimable Dr. Samuel Johnson once said something about throwing out something that you have written that you find appealing or delightful. This is particularly true when the author is being malicious and commonly true when being vulgar.

This is particularly true when the author is being malicious and commonly true when being vulgar.

Well if that were true, we would never get to read any of BECKY's insightful commentary.

With all due respect, fuck that bitch. She's outnumbered, she's in favor of underfunding critical programs, and a bigot to boot.

It's time to throw out the damn baby with the bathwater.

Take a couple days off to go to some classes, and Blue Oregon falls off the deep end over the urban/rural divide again.

Chris is extremely ignorant. The hills are alive with progressive and liberal activists who are a growing voice in the Democratic Party. There are significant differences between urban and rural people in terms of our economies, life styles, values, pollution levels, average lot sizes, etc. etc. But none of that translates into being "rural morons".

In fact, a point being made that Wayne Krieger's district is a potential place where Democrats can gain a seat next election cycle is not only valid, but entirely doable. It is this sort of rant (Mrs. Krieger) that makes average voters - even in District 1 - turn their collective heads and say, "What!?" Voters still count.

Frankly, the biggest problem those of us have who organize and work in rural areas, is that people like Chris have formed a circle of belief, much like the far-right religious people that they frequently take issue with. In Chris's closed circle of belief -

Rural people are morons Rural people are a lost cause Therefore it is a waste of time, money, and energy to deal with rural people. Therefore we should concentrate all resources on electing our progressive/liberal folks from proven areas. Therefore, rural candidates are starved for resources, the other side continues to beat our people in rural areas. Therefore, having not elected progressive/liberal candidates, rural people are morons.

-- Which has the effect of abandoning rural areas, all based upon a closed belief that is, of course, not true.

So, Chris shows us part of the circular belief system that drive those of us from the rural areas just a little crazy, and who's the moron?

Rural people are a lost cause

Chris is not the only one to believe this. It seems like the DPO has a similar view. They appear to have abandoned the 2nd Congressional District to Greg Walden. Admittedly, the odds against unseating him are enormous, but when an election campaign is being run the party should at least put in a few bucks to help let voters know there is an alternative and that Walden has his share of negatives. It may take a few elections to have some effect, but the opposition has to start some time.

Let's talk about Betsy!!

I have a couple of thoughts on what is being discussed.

First, it is appropriate to share the email written by Colleen Krieger in her professional role. As others have stated it is a public document. I am currently a foster parent and at times I write many emails to case workers, attorneys, etc. While those are not open for public viewing to protect the privacy of all parties, they are part of the case file. I know they could be brought up in court for example if it was appropriate. Any email sent from any work computer also can be considered property of the employer. It is definately something to keep in mind.

I am also a liberal lesbian living in inner NE Portland. About as urban as you can get. This whole urban vs. rural fight really ticks me off. I personally take a lot of comfort in the fact that even though Measure 36 passed, there was at least one person in each county that voted against it. To me that means that there is at least one person that accepts me and my family. To some that might seem small but to me it is huge. I get really tired of people throwing the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.

My partner has cousins that live in rural Oregon - one even married a man who proudly drives a car with a George Bush bumper sticker. All of them attended our wedding and voted against M36. Guess who contacted us about getting the kids together to go camping this summer - the Bush fan. The way some of you talk we should just write him off. In the end he may never vote D but he will be more respectful of other people than Colleen Krieger.

When it comes to Walden, don't think people are not working on the plan to unseat him. Movements can take time my friends.

Perhaps this is the difference between those who think downstate counties (anything not in the 3 Metro counties) are important to the Democratic Party of OREGON, and those who still believe targets in areas with "good R to D ratios" are the way to future success------

Many of us downstate have friends who are not active Democrats and may fit this description: "he may never vote D but he will be more respectful of other people than Colleen Krieger."

Believe it or not, there are those of us who know swing voters who have voted for Kitzhaber and Gordon Smith (both men impressed them as being serious people with intelligent things to say)for both Bush and Hooley in 2004 (as incumbents they thought deserved re-election/ were better than the challenger).

Instead of making this urban/rural, what about making this about the vast swath of the population which isn't strongly partisan but might vote for Democrats? The people who have friends who are NAV or even Republican?

Isn't it possible that some 2006 victories and the near victories of Peralta and Gilbertson in "impossible" districts had something to do with folks who decided to vote for a particular Democrat, whatever their party (or non-party) registration?

Growing up in Eastern oregon, I found one thing very evident - the people of Eastern Oregon tend to (for no really good thinking reason)parrot all the propaganda garbage the R's dish out and then believe the garbage without really understanding what they have heard. It's like lemmingsm who go off the cliff suddenly for no reason.

LT:

My comment about never voted D is based in knowing a lot of Rs that will not vote D no mater what. My father is one of them. He will not vote in a race before he will vote for a D. It is just the way it is.

There are most certainly people in each party registration category that will voted against their party. I just know some people will never cross the party line even if they do not entirely agree with the party or the candidate. Of course not casting a vote for a candidate can also be damaaging to that candidate.

As someone who works in politics, I have long believed that the NAVs hold the fate of Oregon in their hands more than either the Ds or the Rs. I agree with you that there are certainly a group of people who do not vote a party ticket.

Pssst, Betsy Johnson.

Medic!

We have a Severe Grammar Emergency in Salem.

Patient: Colleen Something or other.

Condition: Borderline illiterate.

Prescription: Back to high school, hon, for remedial English, the language of our beloved country.

Yours in good grammar, Dr. L.

First of all, I don't think that it is fair to say that Colleen made this rant because she is from rural Oregon. She made this rant because she listens to movement conservaitves. And, guess what? They are being fed messages around the nation about gays, taxes, etc from...urban people!

The truth is, this is just a silly, unfortunate rant and I wish that she was able to promote a more civil tone. but, this is politics, so sometimes if you give them enough rope, they will just hang themselves.

And, LT - for the love of God - we have won back 2 seats in the marion county area! Sal came close (though he is apparently now considering moving to NAV), and there is always a chance to win more. I would say that the DPO has more to do with that than folks who ran the marion county d's into the ground (i was born and raised in Salem, I know of what I speak). So, get over it.

Hey Chris, thanks from southern Oregon. I am one of your morons. I didn't vote for M36 AND I am a NAV. Accoring to you I probably need to be protected from myself. I am ever so grateful that you and your kind feel so passionately that you will over ride my mis-guided votes and actions if they don't fit into you neat little world.

Chris, I'll be better than you in that I won't stoop to stereotypes and spectres of a boogeyman. My best to you and I hope that someday you will emerge from your smug, self involved world without too much harm. You thoughts and words do more to harm your cause than you think.

"the state party NEVER donates money to candidates"

I think Bill meant orgs like the SDLF, DCCC... that kind of stuff.