Letter to the Editor: Chris Eggen's disingenuous campaign
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
To the Editor:
Chris Eggen’s disingenuous campaign for State Senate consists largely of unsupported allegations against Senator Maralyn Chase and bragging about his imaginary legislative skills.
Eggen’s real incentive for running: personal pique. Shoreline wants to acquire the Ronald Wastewater District, which could become a source of new revenue and increase taxes. Chase favors a public vote, which angered Eggen.
Eggen’s mailer is not accounted for in his latest PDC reports. It likely cost about $10,000, but he lacks funds reported to pay for it.
Eggen failed to get enough support on the 7-member Council to be elected Mayor, despite his self-proclaimed negotiating talent.
Eggen’s numerous abstentions on important Council votes show his inability to be decisive. Chase studies impending problems and proposes solutions for the toughest challenges
Eggen features a photo of himself standing in front of the Shoreline Solar Project logo, implying their support. But a 501C3 non-profit is prohibited from making endorsements.
Eggen promises leadership in “protecting the rights of women” yet he runs against a women’s rights champion, endorsed by pro-choice organizations, while he is not.
Eggen claims leadership on education but he has zero experience in educational policy work. Chase garnered funding for local school districts and cities and has been endorsed by the WEA and AFT.
Eggen states he’s worked to “improve the business climate in Shoreline”, but business leaders here say he has done nothing but raise taxes and increase regulation.
Eggen did not stand up for the Richmond Beach community against the Point Wells project, but Chase did!
Eggen has authored virtually no legislation locally and mainly supports whatever City staff wants. When push comes to shove, Eggen folds.
Chase is a recognized leader whose opinions are regularly sought on major issues not only statewide but nationally and internationally. Chase serves us well!
Janet Way
Shoreline
Posts
19 comments:
I think you are a nasty bitter woman who couldn't keep her seat in the Shoreline City Council and is jealous of anyone one the Council.
Oh dear! Someone can't stand the truth! Tsk, tsk!
Exactly. Well said, anonymous.
Janet, please crawl back into your troll hole.
Chase does not support a woman's right to choose. She proposed a state law to tell women not to have more than two children. She seems to think she is smarter than everyone else and that she can tell other women how many children to have. I can't believe any women's rights group would support her.
I notice that all the comments here are anonymous. That's the coward's way. When I say something, I put my name on it.
BINGO! Janet Way has it precisely right.
If the above ANONYMOUS brainless comments are representative of the constituency that Eggen appeals to, they fit right in with the kind of campaign he has been running - speeches and literature loaded with self-righteous self aggrandizement with no factual basis and totally distorted contrary-to-fact ignorance-based generalized negative statements about the legislative accomplishments of Sen. Maralyn Chase.
As someone who used to respect Eggen as an individual, I find it hard to believe that this is the same person i knew when I served on committees and discussed issues with him and knew that he was trying his best not to be on one side or the other. That is one of his failures as a leader (or a member of a caucus!) - almost any kind of compromise is preferable to him in every context even when what is often needed is a willingness to pursue a desired end with vigor . No progress is ever made without persistence.
Although Chris does not like conflict, he has undertaken this campaign as a kind of revenge for Chase's condemnation of his and the Shoreline Council's decision to proceed with the acquisition of Ronald Wastewater District without a vote of the people. Other cities have used such acquisitions as a source of new taxes for their cities, and whatever the intentions of the current council members may be, Chase knows that they cannot prevent future council members from doing the same.
One bit of integrity remains to Eggen: he has not signed the 32nd LDDO candidate Civility Pledge - he obviously had no intention of complying with it.
Oh yeah...having that mental giant Janet Way on your side is a real campaign benefit.
Nyuk!
ANONYMOUS SAID: "Chase does not support a woman's right to choose."
No one to my knowledge has tried to pass a law requiring that women in this country limit their families to two children. It may be a recommendation, based on many factors, but a suggestion is not a command.
As someone who has been active with NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and other pro-choice organizations, I can assure this Anonymous writer and all others that Sen. Maralyn Chase is indeed, as Janet Way put it, "a women’s rights champion".
Allow me to help Anonymous understand what "pro-choice" means: whatever one's personal beliefs may be regarding reproductive rights, you agree that the government has no right to interfere with the reproductive choices a woman makes".
This doesn't mean that the government must refrain from providing science-based facts that will help women make their own informed decisions. Quite the opposite. "Knowledge is power."
Bitter, that is how Doris McConnell likes to refer to citizens she disagrees with (as well as call them haters, she doesn't seem to realize that when you point the finger three are pointing back at you) and Chris Eggen's best friend forever yet he claims Maggie Fimia as his inspiration, what a hypocrite.
Janet Way served as a city councilmember with Chris Eggen and knows exactly how incapable he is whether you agree with her policies or not.
I am Anonymous and I am voting for Marilyn Chase, but I don't need Janet Way to tell me how to vote!!!!
As someone who has voted for both Chris Eggen and Maralyn Chase in past elections, I continue to support Maralyn Chase for state senate. She continually stands up for Democratic values and with citizens. She demonstrates both clear leadership and strong representation – in my opinion lacking in too many elected officials who often “go along to get along.”
I usually don't believe a single word coming out of Janet Way's mouth, but if must admit she's right on the money this time re Eggen.
Mr. Eggen could make the same claim about Janet re: their last election as for reasons for running. My theory is that he's positioning himself for whenever Senator Chase calls it quits. If it is about the water district issue, Chris got 69.5% of the vote last time, while the water district board shifted to "pro assumption" since.
Maralyn is not one who welcomes or listens to viewpoints different than her own, but that is common in today's society. Senator Chase is a strong-minded, aggressive personality, and in Olympia, that’s what’s needed, not a seat-warmer, not a milquetoast, not an abstention. I’ve never had any doubt where Senator Chase stands, nor have I had any belief that she wouldn’t express her opinion. She’s also very skilled at gathering people of like minds who attack any disagreement and squelch any “threat,” however small.
Eggen’s challenge is a blip. It's permitted by law in what’s supposed to be a democracy. However, he of all people should know that it’s a futile effort, as he’s shared the 32nd legislative district and has traded endorsements with Ms. Chase and her allies for years. I appreciated 32nd LD Elaine's indication of Eggen's change.
A lot of statements in Ms. Way’s letter that are opinions where some specifics would have been very helpful! For instance: “numerous abstentions” = how many? An example of one you deemed foolish? What’s a specific solution that Chase has proposed? One, though, that I’d like to dismiss as a specious point: Senator Chase wouldn’t be able to muster four votes to be elected Shoreline’s Mayor, either, if she were in his place. It would be like his campaign claiming that Maralyn couldn’t be elected Senate majority leader (which she can’t, under the present political alignment), thus lacks persuasive skills.
The choice is clear cut: Senator Chase is best equipped to take the rough-and-tumble, factionalism of Olympia, while Eggen is a nice, easy-going guy who isn't the right fit.
@9:20 pm, it is not the water district, it is WASTEwater district.
Anonymous, July 23, 2014 at 9:20 PM is in my opinion logically mistaken in her/his argument regarding Eggen's failure to gain the votes needed to be elected mayor by his council colleagues, but it would take much too long to detail why, and no one but me would be interested.
Eggen wasn't elected mayor because he is not competent to preside. Just look at his attempts as Deputy Mayor when he has been given the gavel. It is embarrassing. That said, it is not a required skill to serve respectably as a freshman in the Senate.
I know Senator Chase to be highly honorable, forthright, fiscally astute, very quick to grasp the implications of a bill, and a fighter for those least able to fight for themselves, such as those who live in and need Fircrest School.
She sets a high standard for legislators. If she were its measure, politics would have a good name.
I have only heard one of Chris Eggen's campaign speeches. In it, he attacked Maralyn Chase so egregiously that a republican contender was moved to condemn his assault. Afterward, when I asked Chris why he was opposing Maralyn, his answer did strike me as "personal pique" (Janet Way's phrase). It was a little hard for me to follow, but my take-away was that it was because he thought Senator Chase had written a bill to undermine the City's assumption of the Ronald Wastewater. Later, when I asked Maralyn about that, she said she had NOT written the bill, but she had endorsed one that had been around the Senate for a number of years. I was left wondering if I had misunderstood Chris or if he had been confused. If the latter, to have predicated a campaign for a Senate seat on such an error would have been quite sad, indeed.
Maralyn emphasized to me that she opposed the City's assumption of Ronald Wastewater "WITHOUT A VOTE BY THE PEOPLE WHO WOULD BE AFFECTED."
Chris's explanation of his Ronald Wastewater concerns seemed to wander into discussion of who should be responsible for picking up the tab for infrastructure improvements made necessary by development: the City or the developers. He seemed to favor the City's picking up the tab. (He didn't mention taxes, but presumably, taxes would be the medium of payment by the City.) This led me to ask about his supporters in his campaign. He said he hadn't sought any endorsements.
Until I heard his attack on Maralyn, I had always thought of Chris as a nice man and a good person. I'm sorry that he has placed himself in the position that he has.
Maralyn Chase should be re-elected. She has amply proven her mettle in the Legislature.
Make this primary a referendum on the City's takeover of Ronald Wastewater. Eggen said, if we don't like our council members' actions, we can always vote them out. Now's the time to show him the 'tea leaves.' You forget yes, forget you.
Let the Dem get their house in order. I'm Ready for Reedy.
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