Great New Book with an Anti-chaining Theme

Ghost Dog Secrets is written by one of our own members of LOHV, Peg Kehert. Peg is an award winning author, who has written many children’s books. This book is also intended for young readers, but I have to say I couldn’t put it down. This story takes on some very tough issues that children face such as bullying and the loss of a parent, but at its core it is the story of the rescue of a dog that is chained to a tree, abused and neglected. Peg does a great job of showing the cruelty of chaining. This is a very timely subject, since we will be working hard to pass an anti-tethering bill here in Washington in 2011. Ghost Dog Secrets is very well written and I would recommend it to everyone. It would also make a great gift for kids.

Another one pulls into the lead

Roger Goodman, District 45 is now leading for the House of Representatives, Position 1! Dawn Morrell and Rodney Tom have maintained their leads as well.

Some changes in the win/loss list

The two following candidates who were listed as losses, have now pulled ahead of their opponent.

Dawn Morrell in District 25, House of Representatives position 2
Rodney Tom in District 48, Senate
Yeah!

How did our candidates do?

Well overall, not too bad. We had a total of 73 candidates on our endorsement list. Of those endorsements 58 candidates won election. Below is a list of our candidates that won and lost. Some races are very close and since Washington State is mostly mail in ballots not all results have been tallied. Some election results may change. I will make a notation where the race is extremely close and the final winner could change.

District 1
House of Representatives, Position 1
Derek Stanford Won!

District 2
House of Representatives, Position 2
Tom Campbell Lost

District 3
House of Representatives, Position 2
Timm Ormsby Won!

District 5
House of Representatives, Position 2
Glen Anderson Won!
David Spring Lost

District 6
Senate
Chris Marr Lost

District 7
Senate
Barbara Mowrey Lost

District 8
Senate
Jerome Delvin Won!

District 11
House of Representatives, Position 1
Zack Hudgins Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Bob Hasegawa Won!

District 18
House of Representatives, Position 1
Dennis Kampe Lost

District 21
House of Representatives, Position 1
Mary Helen Roberts Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Marko Liias Won!

Senate
Paull Shin Won!

District 22
House of Representatives, Position 1
Chris Reykdal Won!
Jason Hearn Lost

House of Representatives, Position 2
Sam Hunt Won!

District 23
House of Representatives, Position 1
Sherry Appleton Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Christine Rolfes Won!

District 24
House of Representatives, Position 1
Kevin Van De Wege Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Steve Tharinger Won!

District 25
House of Representatives, Position 2
Dawn Morrel Lost Close Race

District 26
House of Representatives, Position 1
Sumner Schoenike Lost

House of Representatives, Position 2
Larry Seaquist Won!

Senate
Derek Kilmer Won!

District 27
House of Representatives, Position 1
Laurie Jinkins Won!
Jake Fey Lost

District 28
House of Representatives, Position 1
Troy Kelley Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Tami Green Won! Close Race

District 29
House of Representatives, Position 1
Connie Ladenburg Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Steve Kirby Won!

Senate
Steve Conway Won!

District 30
House of Representatives, Position 1
Mark Miloscia Won!

Senate
Tracey Eide Won! Close race

District 31
House of Representatives, Position 2
Christopher Hurst Won!

District 32
House of Representatives, Position 1
Cindy Ryu Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Ruth Kagi Won!

Senate
Maralyn chase Won!

District 33
House of Representatives, Position 2
Dave Upthegrove Won!

Senate
Karen Keiser Won!

District 34
House of Representatives, Position 1
Eileen Cody Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Joe Fitzgibbon Won!

Senate
Sharon Nelson Won!

District 35
House of Representatives, Position 1
Kathy Haigh Won! Close race

Senate
Tim Sheldon Won!

District 36
House of Representatives, Position 2
Mary Lou Dickerson Won!

Senate
Jeanne Kohl-Welles Won!

District 37
House of Representatives, Position 1
Sharon Tomiko Santos Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Eric Pettigrew Won!
John Stafford Lost

Senate
Adam Kline Won!

District 38
House of Representatives, Position 1
John McCoy Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Mike Sells Won!

District 39
House of Representatives, Position 1
Eleanor Walters Lost

District 40
House of Representatives, Position 1
Kristine Lytton Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Jeff Morris Won!

District 41
House of Representatives, Position 1
Marcie Maxwell Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Judy Clibborn Won!

Senate
Randy Gordon Lost

District 42
House of Representatives, Position 2
Kelli Linville Lost

Senate
Pat Jerns Lost

District 43
House of Representatives, Position 1
Jamie Pedersen Won!

House of Representatives, Position 2
Frank Chopp Won!

Senate
Ed Murray Won!

District 44
House of Representatives, Position 1
Hans Dunshee Won! Close Race

Senate
Steve Hobbs Won! Close Race

District 45
House of Representatives, Position 1
Roger Goodman Lost

House of Representatives, Position 2
Larry Springer Won!

Senate
Eric Oemig Lost

District 46
House of Representatives, Position 2
Phyllis Kenney Won!

District 47
House of Representatives, Position 1
Geoff Simpson Lost

House of Representatives, Position 2
Pat Sullivan Won!

Senate
Claudia Kauffman Lost

District 48
House of Representatives, Position 1
Ross Hunter Won! Close Race

House of Representatives, Position 2
Deb Eddy Won!

Senate
Rodney Tom Lost Close Race

District 49
House of Representatives
Jim Moeller Won!

Candidates that need our help

By now most of you have hopefully, reviewed our endorsement list for the upcoming election. I would like to mention some specific races that are very close, where our endorsed candidate will need all the votes he or she can get. The candidates we endorsed are those with the best voting record for animal welfare bills and/or a very positive response to our Humane Legislation Questionnaire. So if you are in any of the following districts, please consider casting your vote for these candidates. These are the animal welfare advocates we need in office.

District 1
House of Representatives, Position 1--Derek Stanford

District 2
House of Representatives, Position 2--Tom Campbell

District 6
Senate--Chris Marr

District 7
Senate--Barbara Mowrey

District 18
House of Representatives, Position 1--Dennis Kampe

District 23
House of Representatives, Position 1--Sherry Appleton

District 24
House of Representatives, Position 2--Steve Tharinger

District 25
House of Representatives, Position 2 --Dawn Morrell

District 26
House of Representatives, Position 1--Sumner Schoenike
House of Representative, Position 2 --Larry Seaquist

District 28
House of Representatives, Position 1--Troy Kelley

District 30
Senate--Tracey Eide

District32
House of Representatives, Position1--Cindy Ryu

District 34
House of Representatives, Position 2--Joe Fitzgibbon

District 35
House of Representatives, Position 1--Kathy Haigh

District 38
House of Representatives, Position 1--John McCoy

District 39
House of Representatives, Position 1--Eleanor Walters


District 40
House of Representatives, Position 1--Kristine Lytton

District 41
Senate--Randy Gordon
House of Representatives, Position 1--Marcie Maxwell

District 42
Senate--Pat Jerns
House of Representatives, Position 2--Kelli Linville

District 44
House of Representatives, Position 1--Hans Dunshee

District 45
Senate--Eric Oemig
House of Representatives, Position 1--Roger Goodman

District 47
Senate-Claudia Kauffman
House of Representatives, Position 1--Geoff Simpson

District 48
Senate--Rodney Tom

District 49
House of Representatives, Position 2--Jim Moeller

Supreme Court decision

I guess most people are aware by now of the Supreme Courts decision to make animal cruelty videos protected speech. It is quite unbelievable to me that this could have happened. There is a good discussion of this http://www.animallawcoalition.com/animal-cruelty/article/558#comment-3800. It explains why the Justices made this decision and gives Justice Alito's dissent. The big interests won out. The NRA wanted this law struck down. I would like to hear from others, their thoughts on this decision.

We are a cause on facebook

We are now a cause on facebook. Please check it out and join the cause. The bigger our numbers, the stronger our voice will be, so please spread the word to your friends about LOHV Washington State. If you haven't seen it yet we have a new look to our website home page. We will also be adding a page for local issues in legislative districts. If anyone is doing something locally that you would like to have posted please let me know. We should have this page up and running soon.

Yeah! Lewis County Commissioners

The Lewis County Commissioners adopted a county ordinance that tightened up on the language in the Washington State puppy mill bill. They changed the wording used in the state bill, which says that a person can own no more that 50 intact dogs age 6 months or more to there can be no more than 50 intact dogs on one property. This ensures that several people living on a property can't each own 50 dogs. This will hopefully start to limit the number of puppy mills we see here in Lewis County.

I would also like to thank everyone who wrote letters, called and attended the public hearing on this matter. You made a difference! A lot of dogs lives will be better because of you.

The next step will be to institute some type of annual certification for all breeders with an annual inspection. Right now there has to be legitimate reports and complaints of abuse and neglect occuring before the animal control officer can investigate and they still can't enter anyones property without being invited. This means they have to get a warrant to enter the property. An annual inspection would allow for regular access to their property to make sure they are complying with the law, which also requires kennel sizes to be certain size and that the dogs have exercise at least one hour a day. The commissioners will be looking into kennel licensing in the coming months. I will keep you posted.

Anti-tethering bill

The anti-tethering bill did not get very far along the process at the legislative session. It was introduced, but did not get assigned to a committee. This bill will come back next year. So we have the year to get the word out to everyone and gain support. After puppy mills this is the next abusive type of treatment of dogs that needs to be addressed.

The wild life feeding bill made it the farthest through the process, but due to the short session, did not get passed this session. Again these bills will be back next session.

The only way to help as many animals as possible is to pass humane legislation.

Update

Of the three bills posted on the website, the spay and neuter bill has already been stopped in the Senate Agriculture and Rural Economic Development Committee and in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. The Chairman of those respective committees Senator Brian Hatfield and Representative Brian Blake have both stopped the bills from being passed out of their committee. The reasoning given by Brian Blake was that he didn't like the provision of for providing spay and neuter to feral and free-roaming cats due to their impact on birds. He would like them euthanized. However, by doing nothing, the feral population will keep growing and their will be an ever larger impact on birds. Senator Hatfield, on the other hand sited the poor economy. But of course there is already a significant cost to running shelters and euthanizing animals and the worse the economy the less people will have to spay and neuter their pets, hence the cost of the current system goes up. Makes no sense to me.

On a brighter note the other two bills are still in play. The anti-tethering bill is close to my heart and I would dearly like to see this pass. Tethering your dog for life is such an abusive practice. Its like solitary confinement for your entire life. These dogs are usually abused and neglected. Please take the time to call or e-mail your legislators about this bill. Just go to the www.lohvwastate.org for a link to Washington State Legislators.

Just getting started

The League of Humane Voters of Washington State is just getting started. We are very excited to be a part of promoting and protecting the animals of Washington State.

The Mission of the League of Humane Voters® (LOHV) is to create, unite, and strengthen local political action committees, which work to enact animal-friendly legislation and elect candidates for public office who will use their votes and influence for animal protection.

Our goal for Washington State is to have an active political group in every legislative district that can reach the voters in their district and affect animal friendly laws and policies at the local level. We are seeking volunteers who would like to take the leadership in their districts. If you are interested please go to our website www.lohvwastate.org.

The purpose of this blog is to give up to date information on current bills from the 2010 legislative session that effect animals positively or negatively. The bills are posted on our website listed above and the blog will give information on the current status of the bill. We will also be following state and local elections of candidates who will promote animal protection.

Stayed tune for updated information on the bills. I would also like to hear from anybody who would like to talk about the current state bills or whats going with animal protection in their local communities.

Welcome!

Welcome to the League of Humane Voters of Washington State blog.

We'll be posting news, election information, legislative insights, and notice about our LOHV chapter's activities here. We welcome subscribers, comments, and encourage you to visit our website, at www.lohvwastate.org.

Thank you!