Local News

Reaching Jewish voters outside of the cities

By Manny Frishberg, JTNews Correspondent

      Three Democratic

      hopefuls with already-assured spots on the November ballot had

      an informal get together with a group of Jewish residents on

      Bainbridge Island the weekend before the primary vote.

     

     

      The Sunday

      afternoon session, set for a few days before the start of Rosh

      Hashanah, was a chance for Phil

      Rockefeller, Sherry Appleton and Laura Ruderman to mingle with

      a few dozen committed party loyalists and to drum up donations

      and support for the final run. Rockefeller, who represents the

      23rd District in the state House of Representatives, is giving

      up that seat to make a run for the upper house from the same

      district. Appleton, a former Poulsbo City Council member and

      an Olympia lobbyist for progressive causes, including the

      Coalition for a Jewish Voice, is seeking the seat that

      Rockefeller is vacating. Laura Ruderman, the first Democrat

      ever to win re-election to the legislature from the

      traditionally Republican 43rd District, is making her first

      run at statewide elective office, challenging one-term

      Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed.

     

      "This was

      originally intended to be an event for the Jewish community,

      but the invitation were expanded somewhat," said Appleton’s

      campaign manager, Laurice Riekki.

     

      Riekki said

      Appleton, who is making her second run for the state House

      this year, is doing very well, having raised more than $57,000

      for her campaign coffers and visited some 4,000 homes. Riekki

      said they had set a goal of ringing between 8,000 and 10,000

      doorbells in the district before Nov. 2. She said neither of

      the two Republicans who squared off in the September primary

      vote "has much experience."

     

      Riekki said the

      main point they are trying to get across when talking to

      people about Appleton’s professional credentials is that she

      has always represented the nonprofit sector and fought for

      causes and organizations that she genuinely believes in

      herself.

     

      "The issues here in

      Kitsap County are jobs, health care and education … and the

      environment, because we are a very big environmental

      community. So those things really resonate [with the voters],"

      Appleton said. "And that includes traffic and everything else

      that goes with it."

     

      As for budget and

      tax issues, she said the state will be starting out with a $1

      billion deficit for the coming biennium, so Appleton said she

      believes the legislature will have to take a fresh look at

      Washington’s tax structure.

     

      "People want to say

      the ‘IT word,’" she said, referring to the income tax, one of

      the traditional third rails of Washington State politics. "But

      I don’t see any other way out of the future. My personal

      belief is that until we have steady revenue flows where it’s

      not up-and-down, up-and-down, we will never get a hold of this

      problem. Eventually we’re going to be so far in the hole that

      we’ll never get out."

     

      Appleton said she

      favors re-establishing the Gates Commission to take another

      close look at how the tax system could be reformed.

     

      "We don’t have to

      take every one of their suggestions, but we have to get a

      handle on what we are doing," she said.

     

      Laura Ruderman took

      the first turn addressing the group who gathered around a

      large flagstone fireplace to hear what the candidates had to

      say.

     

      "After people hear

      me talk about the role of Secretary of State, they think this

      is a really, really important election," she said, thanking

      Rockefeller for allowing her "to piggyback" on his event. "But

      before they hear me talk, they don’t think it’s important

      enough to come hear me talk."

     

      She said whenever

      she tells people at political meetings and events that she is

      running for Secretary of State, their reactions are always the

      same:

     

      "People look at me.

      They smile ever so politely and they say, ‘Secretary of State,

      how nice.’ You can watching their eyes glaze over and they’re

      reaching way into the back of their heads, thinking,

      ‘Secretary of State – right. I’m pretty sure Colin Powell

      wasn’t elected.’"

     

      Others ask her why

      she’s running against Ralph Munro.

     

      "I’m happy to say,"

      Ruderman continued, "that Ralph Munro isn’t our Secretary of

      State. He hasn’t been for the last four years – and if you

      don’t know the name of the guy who is, that’s a vote for me."

     

      What makes this an

      important race, she said, is that the Secretary of State is

      the senior elections officer of the state. "If you don’t think

      that is important," Ruderman said, think about what happened

      in Florida in 2000. She said during Reed’s tenure both voter

      registrations and average voter turn-outs had declined, and

      called him the wrong man for the job at this time.

     

      One of Ruderman’s

      principal issues is the need for a "paper trail," or receipt

      for voters using electronic voting machines. Reed has

      certified machines for use by Washington counties that do not

      print a paper receipt. Those demanding the printed copy say it

      is the only way to prevent hackers or other tricksters from

      altering the software codes to change the ballot count without

      being noticeable.

     

      Phil Rockefeller

      said he is driven to do what he is doing by "a passion for

      advocacy," adding that "there are a lot of issues that need

      that advocacy.

     

      "The reward that I

      get is in seeing that I’ve made a difference," he said. "I’ve

      done that in education, I’ve done that in the area of natural

      resources." He said he is working to "recover this Puget Sound

      of ours, which is, in some areas, a dying body of water."

     

     

      He said the oxygen

      depletion in the waters of Hood Canal "is not just a chemical

      problem. It’s a result of the build-up of nitrogen, and

      nitrogen is coming from failed septics, from non-point-source

      pollution that has led to the leaching of nitrates into the

      water and poor forestry practices" like aerial spraying of

      fertilizers.

     

      After finishing

      their prepared talks, the candidate took questions from the

      assembly, concentrating much of the time on local issues. The

      areas of discussion ranged from transportation options for

      Bainbridge and the Kitsap Peninsula, the Bremerton Airport and

      the laying of fiber optic lines and a wireless network in

      Kitsap County.

     

      Finally, when

      enough meatballs, tiramisu and fudge cake had been consumed to

      judge the event a success, the party drifted apart.