Most pathetic letter from a Republican official. Ever. Must be seen to be believed.

[depakid]

Rogue of the week:



At the end of 2008, we named the Republican Party of the Oregon our Rogue of the Year for general incompetence.

Some Republicans did not appreciate the honor. One of them is Jay Kushner, chairman of the Mulnomah County Republicans. He's an affable guy who ran for state representative in 2006 but his letter reinforces the point made in our Rogue of The Year.

Why? Well, Kushner hammers WW for endorsing former state Sen. Ben Westlund (D-Tumalo) for Treasurer instead of Republican Allen Alley.

To the Editor of Willamette Week:

Thanks for wishing us luck along with your Rogue of the Year Award. But it is not so much luck that the Republican Party needs as a fair and independent administration of elections in Oregon. Your Rogue essay is a classic case of blaming the victim for the political brutality of Oregon’s Ruling Party.

Willamette Week has done more than its share to create a one-party monopoly of power in Oregon. WW has never turned its attention to the use of campaign finance laws by the One Party State as a weapon to silence those who would work against its authority. Harry Truman said that “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures”.

Where is your editorial board as the Secretary of State methodically butchers the constitutional rights of Oregonians to raise ballot initiatives while the Democratic Legislature cynically writes distorted ballot titles and legally forbids challenge?

WW’s devotion to diversity includes gender, race, income and an anthology of other causes but draws the line at a diversity of political opinion. WW has rarely endorsed a Republican candidate in Portland. Even statewide in the last election, with our economy clearly on the precipice of disaster, WW chose to endorse for State Treasurer a Democratic political opportunist instead of the best qualified candidate in decades - Republican Allan Alley - a skilled businessman with a veteran understanding of macro-economics. WW endorsed a Democratic Party crony to audit the State’s books.

Willamette Week dwells in that pantheon of journals that reverentially parrot the policies of Oregon’s power elite. Yes, your editor won a deserved Pulitzer Prize for exposing the founder of Democratic crony rule, Neil Goldschmidt; and WW has fun chastising sundry embezzlers. But when has Willamette Week ever challenged the fundamental policies of the one-party State? The mediocrity of Oregon public schools from K-to-college, the holy grail of land planning which has promoted rural poverty, the pathological hatred of cars – are all supported by WW in lock-step with the Democratic party.

Willamette Week has written off the Oregon Republican Party for dead. But we are rising again from the crypt. WW might take note that Republicans are the only organized opposition to one-party rule. Our party is resurrecting itself with sensible policies and a motivated base of younger voters who worry about the very survival of democracy in Oregon. We intend to challenge the one-party state. We invite Independents, lapsed Republicans and thoughtful Democrats to join our insurgence. A vibrant two-party system is the embodiment of the American checks-and-balances form of government. Our success will be to the benefit of all citizens who seek a restoration of the blessings of liberty in Oregon.

Jay Kushner

Chairman, Multnomah Republican Party

In fact we have regularly written about the need for reform of campaign finance laws and have covered Democratic ballot measure shenanigans .

But the most basic problem with Kushner's letter, as anyone who Googled "Allen Alley" and "Willamette Week" could determine, is that we did endorse Alley, not Westlund.

:rofl:

http://wweek.com/wwire/?p=20724

[mwb970]

1. I like the part where they reject "one-party rule".

"WW might take note that Republicans are the only organized opposition to one-party rule."

I guess it depends on which party is ruling. I don't remember hearing about this danger during the days of Republican control of the entire government.

Hypocrisy combined with arrogance. Absolute, smug certitude, while being absolutely dead wrong. That's our wacky Republican Party! You've gotta love 'em.