Judging by campaign contributions and political connections, Republicans Norma Smith and Herb Meyer are the frontrunners in the effort to defeat incumbent Congressman Rick Larsen, a Democrat.
But there are other political parties, and while their candidates for Congress don’t have a real chance of winning the election, their comments always spice up a forum, such as the one held Wednesday night in Oak Harbor.
Bern Haggerty, the Green Party candidate in the race, lives in Bellingham, where he is a domestic violence attorney for the Lummi Nation. He rejects the war on terrorism.
“War won’t end terrorism,” he said, calling for “waging peace.”
While agreeing that Saddam Hussein and other Mideast despots have been “genocidal killers,” he maintains, “We put them into power.” He warned against the United States taking unilateral military action.
“We can’t afford to be the rogue state around the world,” he said.
While Haggerty’s point of view was unusual in a Navy town, the crowd listened quietly and even applauded lightly at the conclusion of his remarks.
On other issues, Haggerty is for “democratic trade,” in contrast to the World Trade Organization’s way of doing things. On campaign finance reform, he wants publicly financed elections and free air time for all candidates. He continually plugged his Web site, www.votehaggerty.org.
Libertarian Party candidate Bruce Guthrie, a teacher at Western Washington University in Bellingham, prompted the biggest laugh of the night when he commented on the body he hopes to join.
“Congress is a roomful of spendthrift drunks and I’ll be the designated driver,” he said.
He called for ending “corporate welfare,” greatly restricting campaign contributions, which he likened to bribes; and decriminalizing marijuana because, he said, “prohibition just does not work. It’s creating the gangsters of our time.”
On foreign policy, Guthrie said the U.S. government should quit giving money to Israel and pull its troops out of Saudi Arabia. Both countries can defend themselves, he said, even if the Saudis have to hire Swiss mercenaries.
“The things we do in foreign countries make people hate America,” he said. “We need to bring al-Qaeda to justice and bring our troops home.”
Guthrie, too, has a Web site, www.lpws.org/guthrie.
Being unopposed in their own parties in the primary, both Haggerty and Guthrie will have their names on the general election ballot in November.
Also appearing at Wednesday’s forum was a third Republican candidate for Congress. Warren Hanson of Bellingham described himself as a “maverick Republican” who can’t afford campaign signs. He voiced concern about immigration and Canadians dumping raw sewage into waterways they share with the United States.
