Slick, Willie

Willie Smith is an aide to Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) working out of the congressman's Portland office. He took issue with the following comment i posted on Mandate's BlueOregon.com

The entire exchange follows...

Posted by: East Bank Thom | Oct 1, 2007 2:53:18 PM

Although a previous supporter (and fair to say "fan") of Blumenauer, he lost me when he stopped telling the truth. This "forum" was promised a month ago and confirmed to many. Blumenauer thought he could renege and nobody would care. (I mean who else are you going to vote for in May, and then the General?) It wasn't until Blumenauer's aides were confronted at his closed door conference with Pelosi that a September date was set.

Blumenauer isn't telling us the truth on impeachment. His recent statements that impeachment should now be on the table (coordinated after the August break with other chastised congressmen) along with his hollow call for "investigations" is just a stalling tactic. He has promised Pelosi he won't support impeachment. In exchange he's already gotten a new office with a splendid view of the Capitol dome. He's not running for the Senate because he's holding out for that long awaited Committee chairmanship.

Color me red, for irate. [photos...]

Posted by: Willie Smith | Oct 1, 2007 9:18:34 PM

East Bank Thom:

As a staff member for Earl, let me help shed some light on your ���claims��� of truth.

1.) We never ���reneged��� on our plan to have a Town Hall Meeting. When you are trying to schedule a Member of Congress who lives in Oregon and work in DC, things can be hectic. We were also working with leaders of Portland Peace Group to help publicize Earl���s signing of the Oregon Declaration of Peace. I thought it would make sense to do these at the same time and so our timeline was bumped back. It was also posted on various websites before we hosted the Speaker Pelosi event.

2.) You may not like Earl���s position, but he has been quite clear in telling people where he stands. He always posts his comments on his website and we try and respond to all constituents who write or call in (we might occasionally miss one or two, but we try hard not too).

3.) Office locations in Washington, DC are decided by seniority and lottery. It has nothing to do with who the Speaker is. We did get a new office this Congress, because many Members with more seniority than Earl either retired or lost their re-elections in 2006.

4.) Most Committee Chairs are also decided by seniority.

5.) He has never promised the Speaker or anyone else that he wouldn���t support impeachment, nor has he ever said it was ���off the table���. He just doesn���t believe that it is the best way to achieve the goal that we all want, rolling back the disastrous policies of George Bush and his apologists in the US Congress.

Disagree with that decision, tell him why you think he is wrong, but please don���t just make wild assumptions and post them. If you have questions about something call me. I���d be more than happy to tell you the truth.

Posted by: East Bank Thom | Oct 2, 2007 7:51:17 AM

As a staff member for Earl, let me help shed some light on your ���claims��� of truth.

Willie, when you guys speak from the congressman's office, you speak for the office. So i will stand by my "wild assumption" that Earl Blumenauer lied to me when he didn't follow through with his promise (repeated through his staffers) to hold a forum in August. [LT, the difference between this and your anecdote of "come back in an hour" is one month and 66 more dead troops

When you are trying to schedule a Member of Congress who lives in Oregon and work in DC, things can be hectic.

Incompetence is no excuse, Willie.

We were also working with leaders of Portland Peace Group to help publicize Earl���s signing of the Oregon Declaration of Peace. I thought it would make sense to do these at the same time

Indeed, Wyden also tried to take the pressure of his misguided stance on impeachment by waving the flag of his anti-war cred. It didn't work for him either.

It was also posted on various websites before we hosted the Speaker Pelosi event.

Don't know/care what "various" sites you're talking about. Joe [Bolenbaugh] in your office said "Keep looking to the Congressman's website" ... "Homepage?" i asked. "Yeah," he said (on more than one occasion).

he has been quite clear in telling people where he stands.

I disagree. Watch the end of the "accountability" forum [video here...] and see Earl try to get up and go without saying ANYTHING about impeachment.

we try and respond to all constituents who write or call in

Even as you ignore the constituents who have been protesting outside your office (729 NE Oregon St.) for 10 weeks (Thursdays, noon to 2pm)... Yep, we see you going out the back door, Willie...

Office locations in Washington, DC are decided by seniority and lottery. It has nothing to do with who the Speaker is.

Then congratulations. But don't try and tell me that Blumenauer's reluctance to pursue impeachment is unrelated to Speaker Pelosi. It comes off as phony as Earl saying on the radio he didn't know who first took impeachment "off the table."

I'd be more than happy to tell you the truth.

Somebody in Blumenauer's office needs to. Because the Congressman isn't when he claims:

"Nobody in Oregon has been more opposed to this administration and that will continue. Nobody in any of these meetings has worked harder or longer to get the Bush administration out of office"

This claim quite frankly pisses me off. Personally, i have only recently left the cheap seats of the peanut gallery which is this blogosphere and taken to the streets to hold Bush, Cheney & Co accountable. Blumenauer comes off like Giuliani who idiotically claimed to have spent as much or more time at ground zero as the first responders. (Turn's out [Giuliani] actually spent more time at baseball games...) Tell it to John Bradach, Earl, whose nephew, Marine Cpl. Travis Bradach-Nall was killed in Iraq. Travis volunteered to stay on an extra three months to clear land mines. He was killed in a mine explosion the very day Bush said "Bring 'em on.." Tell John, who was at the forum, that you're working harder than him to get Bush out of office... Tell John, who spends hours every week trying to get you to do your sworn duty and uphold the Constitution... Tell, John... tell us all that Bush hasn't committed any impeachable offense.

And then have your spokesman tell us that you're telling the truth.

Posted by: Willie Smith | Oct 2, 2007 8:25:03 AM

Thom-

You lose a lot of credibility with me when you continue to call people "liars" when there was no intent to deceive. Changing the date of a town hall meeting, doesn't seem to constitute a "lie" to me....but to each their own.

The only thing that upsets me is when you say we "ignore" you. I have come outside and talked with the people in your group (including you!) most weeks. You come into the office almost every week. You have someone who films these interactions almost every week.

We clearly are not ignoring you, I think we just don't agree with you.

I appreciate John Bradach's passion (and have spoken with him many times) and all of those who are doing what they think is right and we'll always meet and listen to people, even if we don't agree.

In 2000 and 2004 (when I didn't even work for Earl), I saw Earl and his team working every night and weekend along with thousands of Oregonians to help elect Al Gore and John Kerry.

I hope that you personally will spend as much time helping the Democratic nominee for president in 2008

Posted by: East Bank Thom | Oct 3, 2007 12:15:57 AM

Lies, damn lies and exaggeration...

You lose a lot of credibility with me when you continue to call people "liars" when there was no intent to deceive.

That's pretty slick, Willie... We want your boss to hold Bush accountable and you want to argue the definition of "liar." Save me your unrighteous indignation. Let's just say you're exaggerating now.

I have come outside and talked with the people in your group (including you!) most weeks.

Most? Surely you jest... and by jest i mean exaggerate. (Check the videos)

You come into the office almost every week.

Since the present action began, i've called three times and dropped in the office 4 of the 11 weeks. You do the math.

Changing the date of a town hall meeting, doesn't seem to constitute a "lie" to me...

Let me refresh your memory, Willie. In early August (after the third week of regular Thursday protests at 729 NE Oregon St.), your office began telling various interested parties that the congressman would hold a forum on impeachment at the end of the month before returning back to DC. This event was confirmed to me as late as August 23. I was told to just check your website for details (and that's what i passed along to others.) When another week went by with no word, i called the office and was told by Sage that no forum was planned... not that it had been postponed. The following day, i spoke in person with Joe. He too confirmed there wouldn't be any forum before the end of the August break (and again, there was no mention of postponement). I told him the congressman ought to at least post something on his website and Joe agreed that was a good idea and promised to pass it on (which i assume he did). The deadline for an August forum passed with no explanation or clarification on blumenauer.house.gov. You made me look like a liar... When you speak from the congressman's office, you speak for the congressman.

So we go from exaggeration to miscommunication to outright deception. After returning to the new DC office that he won in a lottery, the congressman posted a statement indicating that impeachment should no longer be considered by Congress to be "off the table." The following week he clarified this statement on KPOJ and made the following outrageous statement.

And one of the things that concerned me was the notion that it wasn't quote "on the table" at this moment. Somebody at some point said the phrase quote "off the table"

I say "outrageous" because we are led to believe that Blumenauer has no idea who started this rumor in the first place that impeachment had be taken off the table. That "somebody" who took impeachment off the table was the soon to be Madame Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. She said this in 2003 to her Democratic caucus members during their weekly closed meeting. The key figure in the House continuing to keep impeachment off the table is Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Willie, you claimed up-thread: "Most Committee Chairs are also decided by seniority." That's not the whole truth, is it now. Nancy Pelosi has a great deal to say what role Earl Blumenauer will play in the next Congress (assuming her reluctance to hold Bush accountable doesn't result in the House reverting back to Republican control).