OR-GOV: Sizemore: Fool me...you can't get fooled again.
Carla Axtman
"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002
The Oregon political world's radar blipped yesterday upon the entrance of Bill Sizemore into the Oregon GOP gubernatorial primary. I'll admit to being a bit surprised upon hearing the news. After all, this guy is about as washed up in Oregon as it gets right now.
But grifters being what they are, Sizemore's decision is starting to make some sense to me.
He's been locked in legal battles with the teacher's unions for the better part of a decade. Sizemore has even been hauled off to jail in the process for contempt of court. But really, that's the least of his troubles. The court system has penalized Sizemore heavily for his illegal activities, including a "pattern of racketeering". The way I understand it works, Sizemore can no longer legally raise funds for ballot measures in Oregon.
This has seriously put a crimp in his ability to use campaign money to buy new cars, orthodonture, condos in Mexico and gold pieces. In other words, he can't milk ballot measure campaign funds for his personal piggy bank anymore. The way I hear it however, Sizemore's still got some true believers out there who say that these things were just good investments and necessities and the teachers unions are out to misconstrue everything Sizemore does.
All this said, he may be able to raise money for candidate campaigns.
And so the grift begins.
Bill Sizemore has no money to speak of. Not the kind of money that it takes to fight a lawsuit and file and prosecute a countersuit. He told Ted Piccolo that he "may have to run my campaign from inside a jail cell..." Indeed he may. In fact, I imagine that's what Sizemore wants.
Next month, Sizemore is expected to appear in court. The buzz is that he'll once again be hauled off to jail. I predict that this sets him up to lead his ardent supporters into the belief that he's Oregon's version of Nelson Mandela. He'll claim himself a political prisoner, locked away in an effort to keep him from thwarting the evil unions as they lay waste in their socialist takeover of our state.
All that's left are the fundraising appeals. Broad, expansively worded asks for money to help poor Bill to defeat the monolithic forces out to destroy all that he and his supporters hold dear. A tidy little reminder that he's filed to run for Governor, and the money comes in--and goes right to his lawyer to fight the lawsuits.
I wonder how many of these true believers will give up their hard-earned cash to this charlatan, duped into this bilking once more.
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Nov 24, '09
Best thing to do about Sizemore is quit talking about him, quit posting about him and simply ignore him. He's a zero in the political equation.
Nov 24, '09
Apparently he has a home in Bend. I saw in at Costco earlier this fall. He looks like a used car salesman.
He doesn't have much support from conservatives over here.
Nov 24, '09
I think Robert and Jason are right.
Sizemore makes Denny Smith look good.
I recall being in Costco several years after Denny Smith was defeated for re-election to Congress and a few years after he lost his campaign for Gov. He and his wife looked like just 2 Costco shoppers. I turned to someone I knew was not political and asked "do you recognize those people?". The answer was something like "no, should I?".
There comes a time when "ignore it and it will go away" or "ignoring someone is a good way of insulting them" come into play.
Nov 24, '09
I say he's using the process rights accorded a gubernatorial candidate to get around his ban on fund raising.
Nov 24, '09
Sizemore probably got a whiff of some of that conservative money wafting through the air from large corporations being laundered through the tea-party movement. So, I see him trying to reinvent himself as the 'Original Pre-Tea-Party Minuteman Patriot' vs 'The Government and the Public Employees Unions in a bid to get his hands on some of that cold, hard cash.
Nov 24, '09
And if Sizemore doesn't work, maybe they'll bring wes Cooley out of retirement.
How about Tonya Harding? How about the Baghwan? Are they Republicans?
Nov 24, '09
As I recall Baghwan died.
But the spat between old ballot measure partners is the gift that keeps on giving--and even mentions Carla
http://blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/2009/11/tiernan_brushes_off_sizemore_c.html
And lest anyone forget, the court decision saying that voters can't undo contracts negotiated by public employees was the result of that ballot measure they did together.
Nov 24, '09
What I want to know is what is he goin to do for the fish.
Nov 25, '09
God, I love that quote by W - the loose, arrogant, dumbass way he delivered it. My favorite ones have a group of officials standing behind him with a seriously concerned look as W blows another comment right out the ass. Remember, it was here in Portland at Memorial Coliseum that George dropped "resignate" on the Peeps. Good times. Well, okay maybe not, but comedy gold.
Nov 25, '09
According to the Register Guard, Sizemore lives in Eagle Crest outside Redmond. Eagle Crest is a resort community owned by Jeld-Wen. It seems Dick Wendt is still Sizemore's sugar daddy, rumors to the contrary notwithstanding.
Nov 25, '09
I've repeated the Jeld-Wen connection as well as the evangelical support network that he benefits from on numerous occasions. No one wants to address that this poison's #1 route into the body politic is through the orifice of tax exempt religion.
Nov 27, '09
http://www.ridenbaugh.com/ has a story about the possibility of House Minority Leader Bruce Hanna running for Gov. To win a general election, a candidate must talk about a vision for the future and a plan to carry it out, or at least be as specific and solution-oriented as the nominee of the other party.
<h2>"All Oregonians believe in the all funds notion and the Back to Basics budget" (which seemed to be Hanna's mantra during the 2009 regular session) doesn't strike me as enough to win over people not registered with a major party.</h2>