Washblog

Jackie Minchew for Everett City Council

For those of you who may not know, I am spending much time this year in the effort to help our friend Jackie Minchew earn a seat on the Everett City Council. I want to take a few lines to introduce him to you and to update you on the progress thus far.


Jackie was born and raised in Arkansas; not far from a place called Hope (Actually, Arkansas is so small, every place is not far from "a place called Hope"). In his youth Jackie worked at a variety of blue-collar jobs, digging footings for a concrete contractor, cold-tar roofing in the Arkansas summer sun, and 4 ½ years in a Dow Chemical manufacturing plant, including one year as inventory clerk for the Cell Assembly Unit. Working his way through college in this way, Jackie learned the value of hard work and established the working-class values that continue to guide him today. He attended Arkansas Tech University before transferring to Colorado State University, where he graduated with distinction in 1980 with a degree in music. Since 1990, Jackie has taught in the Puget Sound region, first at Langley Middle School on Whidbey Island and most recently at Silver Firs Elementary School. In his career, he has taught band and choir, grades 5-12, and general music, grades K-12, in the public schools of three states. Five times in his career, Jackie has been recognized as an outstanding educator, most recently in his current position.


Like many of us, Jackie was a "casual observer" of national and world events for much of his youth and early adulthood; participating in the political system as a "media fed" voter. He always considered himself to be an "independent voter". (It wasn't until recently that he realized that he had "independently voted" almost exclusively for Democrats). By the time of the 2000 election, Jackie was beginning to realize that things were seriously wrong in the country, by 2003 and with the entry of Howard Dean onto the national political scene; Jackie was firmly in the starting blocks of his political activism. After working tirelessly on the Dean campaign in Everett and Snohomish County, Jackie ran for and was elected as PCO of Everett-38, was elected Vice-Chair of the 44th LD Democrats, and was elected Chair of Democracy for Snohomish County. Today Jackie is Chair of the 44th LD, a respected activist on the issue of Peak Oil and Global Climate Change, an advocate for community empowerment, and a thorn in the side of the current power structure on the Everett City Council. In 2005 Jackie ran an unsuccessful challenge to the incumbent Chamber of Commerce Poster Boy, Arlen Hatloe (whose carpet and flooring store has been a mainstay in Everett for decades). Speaking to the issues of a more distributed representation plan for the council, better public access to the council (more evening meetings), and the issue of energy vulnerability, Jackie earned just over 40o% of the vote.


The experience of 2005 was a good one for Jackie. He learned some important lessons about Everett politics that we are building on this year. Unlike 2005, Jackie is challenging for an open seat on the council created by the retirement of one of the longer serving members. This is not to say that Jackie will not face a primary opponent. In fact, there are two other candidates who have filed with the PDC for this position. One, a former one-term city council member and half-term state legislator from the 38th LD; and the other a pharmaceutical rep who appears to be the "chosen one" of the business and developers community if PDC records are any indicator.


Also unlike 2005 Jackie will not be "running cold" on the issues that he is most passionate about. Because he was able to make people aware of the imbalance in representation on the city council, the issue already has resonance with a significant segment of the voters; information we are able to discern from the voting patterns by precinct from the 2005 race. Perhaps more importantly, the issues of energy and climate change have become much more visible to the general public in a variety of ways; most significantly at the gas pumps and in the theaters ("An Inconvenient Truth"). In August of 2006 Jackie pulled together a first of its kind "Renewable Energy Symposium and Expo" in Everett. The Symposium brought together a variety of speakers including local, state, and federal electeds as well as a keynote address by Julian Darley, Founder and Director of The Post Carbon Institute.Even though Jackie was not elected in 2005 there was a minor shift in the thinking on the Everett City Council with the addition of Councilman Paul Roberts. Roberts ran for and was elected to an open seat on the council that year. Roberts also talked about the climate change issue at the time but, because he did not have to openly challenge anyone in his race, he was a bit more low-key. Since his election to the council, Roberts has made some inroads in working to make the City of Everett more "energy aware" (Everett Mayor, Ray Stephanson has signed the Greg Nickels inspired "US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.") While Roberts will not endorse any candidate in this race, he did speak at Jackie's kick-off event in April and said that he supported Jackie's efforts to advance this critical issue and would be happy to have him as an ally if he were elected.


There is one other major issue that separates Jackie from the rest of the pack; Publicly Owned Campaigns. Jackie worked hard as a volunteer with the folks at Washington Public Campaigns to educate the public and our elected officials in Olympia to try to pass the legislation that was introduced there last session. Deciding to "walk the talk", Jackie has made the commitment this year to refuse any money from the general funds of political, business, or union organizations. He has also set a cap on personal contribution from any individual at $100 per election cycle (excluding certain "in kind" donations such as postage, home printed flyers, etc.) This is obviously where Washblog readers can be of the greatest assistance to "one of our own."  We are already doing well on achieving our fundraising target but, because the primary will fall so early this year (August), we need to accelerate our pace. In order for Jackie to reach the maximum number of voters in Everett, we will be relying on a "targeted mail campaign" and direct candidate action (much doorbelling). We are doing everything we can to minimize cost in printing and mailing but we will need help. In addition, we are asking everyone we know to talk to everyone they know in the city of Everett to help on the campaign by offering to host a house party, help with flyering/doorbelling, or phone banking.


Jackie can become a Progressive force on the Everett City Council this year. With the hopes of electing another Progressive voice in Charlene Rawson (also challenging for a seat on the council) and some hoped-for changes on the Snohomish County Council, Everett and Snohomish County could become the next seat of Progressive politics in the state. We can use your help. Jackie4Everett.com


Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue

< Why the "Public" in PFD should really matter | Reckless Plan to Buy Diebold's New Ballot Counters [Updated] >
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