GOP makes oopsie in nominatation for State Auditor

[Double_E]

this shit is too funny.

 

 

 

From Associated Press (via NWCN.com):

 

TACOMA, Wash. - Republican leaders were happy to have a contender for state auditor when they accepted Will Baker as an eleventh-hour candidate. They didn't worry too much about who he was or how he spent his time - until they realized a considerable amount of his time was spent in jail. Baker, a 41-year-old roadside flower salesman and self-styled political activist, has been booked into the Pierce County Jail at least 19 times since 1992, mostly for disrupting city and county council meetings.

 

Party leaders scrambled Friday to remove Baker as a candidate, days after naming him as the Republican choice to challenge popular state Auditor Brian Sonntag, a Democrat seeking a fourth term. State election officials denied the request. Such a move would require court action.

 

"We didn't check him out," GOP chairman Chris Vance conceded Friday. "If I could, I would withdraw the letter putting him on the ballot as the Republican candidate - but it's too late." Baker has been arrested numerous times for refusing to stop speaking at Tacoma City Council and Pierce County Council meetings. In June, he was sentenced to six months in jail for behavior at three City Council meetings in September 2003, the Tacoma News Tribune reported Saturday. He was released June 24.

 

He's got an October court hearing scheduled for a disorderly-conduct charge stemming from actions at another Pierce County Council meeting, Deputy Pierce County Prosecutor Kevin Benton told The Seattle Times. Baker declined to be interviewed by the Tribune, but when asked about his candidacy said, "No one's asked me to withdraw."

 

When no Republican candidate emerged for the state office by the July 30 deadline, Vance said Baker called GOP leaders and volunteered. In haste, Vance and his staff accepted Baker on Tuesday as a committed volunteer without thoroughly examining his background. "He told us that he was a conservative activist and he was willing to run against Brian Sonntag," Vance said. "We did just a minimal amount of checking and saw that he had run as a Republican for secretary of state."

 

The party wanted a Republican on the ballot, Vance said. With no other prospects and Friday's extended-filing deadline looming, he signed the letter naming Baker to the candidate list, and mailed it to the secretary of the state's elections division. It arrived in Olympia Thursday. Then Vance's staff took a closer look at Baker's proposed statement for the state voter's pamphlet, which says in part that "the number one issue in the 2004 State Auditor election ought to be the attempts by FBI agents to cover up the events surrounding Crystal Brame's murder."

 

The statement makes several references to Tacoma Police Chief David Brame's fatal shooting of his wife and himself on April 26, 2003, and closes with a request that readers call the CBS news program "60 Minutes."

 

"It was very unusual," said Vance. He said he wasn't sure the GOP would go to court to have Baker's name excluded from the ballot. "Obviously, we're not going to provide him any support," Vance said. Sonntag, a Pierce County resident familiar with Baker, said the situation illustrates flaws in the election filing process. "It really makes you wonder about the overtime week that the parties get," he said. "They can't recruit somebody in four years - four years and seven days gets you Will Baker."

[DPS]

I remember Will Baker from when I lived in Tacoma. He was frequently standing outside the Top Foods soliciting signatures for his candidacy for one position or another. I spoke with him a few times and rather liked him. Very unpolititian like.

[ian]

i'll vote for him!