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There’s an ongoing feud between state senator Pam Roach and the WSRP leadership. I don’t know the senator and I don’t have the inside information on this issue, but I don’t trust the GOP leadership in this state.

Here’s what I don’t get. If Sen. Roach did something wrong, why is it the GOP reprimanding her, not the senate or the ethics committee. They said it was official conduct not a personal issue, but they won’t say what it is.

Sen. Roach has a reputation for speaking up about problems in the party. She’s also been the target of some interesting politics with the WSRP in the past. The back and forth makes it difficult to sort it out. I don’t know her and I don’t trust them.

Where are the statesmen? Where are the politicians who will speak up for what is right rather than discuss things under the cone of silence? It’s a continual disappointment.

I’m relatively certain that this will never be resolved to my satisfaction. In the end it will be just another reason to keep referring to myself as ‘Republican (by default)’.

News Tribune article (Sen. Roach, GOP leaders trade criticisms)
News Tribune blog entry (Senate Republicans respond to Pam Roach’s criticism)

Update: It looks like Sen. Roach’s accusation is true, regardless of how it’s interpreted:

Senator Mark Schoesler was there for the argument, he says Hewitt was being playful and trying to diffuse the situation, “It’s unfortunate that Senator Roach has chosen to attack Senator Hewitt for events that really aren’t an issue.”

A senior senator sticking out his backside to another colleague is reprehensible. Again I ask, “where are the statesmen”.

Update: More in the TNT. What a bunch of children. Turns out she flipped the other senator off and he responded by sticking his butt out like a child. Is it any wonder the GOP loses in this state? Who would bother voting for these people?

There’s more on the senators fighting over staff. Sen. Roach doesn’t sound like the nicest person to work for, but cutting her off from all staff is the equivalent of cutting her off from doing her job. It’s hard to know if they were justified in doing so, because it’s also possible that what they did is a backhanded maneuver to hamstring her. I’m guessing that the truth is somewhere in the middle, but it’s really hard to tell.

It’s funny how this all breaks just about the time that the key players will be unavailable. And for the others to hide behind “it’s a personnel issue” isn’t sitting well with me either. How long did it take to fill the records request? I’ve seen records requests take 9 months or more, and this seems to have happened in less than a week, possibly in only one day based on accounts in the TNT. Is that the usual length of time or did someone want this information out there? They clearly didn’t stall the request like politicians often try to do.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 11:55 pm and is filed under Campaign 2008, WSRP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.