When is Republican Plan for McCleary? "None of your business"

From a news conference the GOP held this week in Olympia in answer to a reporter's question, straight from the lips of Senator Mark Schoesler, "It's none of your business and you will be the last to know."

Another reporter pointed out that the first reporter was just doing his job and yes, it is relevant.  

Do contact the Senator if you believe that it is everyone's right to know the plan for fully funding public education in Washington State.  He's from the 9th Legislative District, part of six counties including Adams, Asotin, Franklin, Garfield, Spokane, and Whitman.

Senator Mark Schoesler:
Office: 360.786.7620
Email: mark.schoesler@leg.wa.gov
http://markschoesler.src.wastateleg.org/contact-me/
https://www.facebook.com/brandikruseq13fox/videos/386027771749165/

Comments

Anonymous said…
Republican legislators at all levels are going to use the Trump presidency as a license to say whatever they want and ignore the rights of all citizens both on the right and the left. Prepare for more of this garbage mouth in the future.

-ItBegins
1/19/17, 3:12 PM
Po3 said…
What has been unleashed in this country boggles my mind.
1/19/17, 3:43 PM
Watching said…
It will be interesting to see if a levy "swap" is on the table- or not. A couple years ago a proposed levy "swap" which meant a loss of $97M to Seattle Public Schools.
1/19/17, 11:59 PM
Anonymous said…
Use the law and the Constitution to keep beating them in the courts. Attempting to sway unethical or at least hostile legislators is pointless.

Mr. Theo Moriarty
1/20/17, 7:24 AM
Patrick said…
I take that answer as "we can't make it pencil out either."
1/20/17, 7:54 AM
Charlie Mas said…
What makes this so darn funny are these statements on Senator Schoesler's web page:
"I am committed to providing Ninth District residents with accessible, responsible representation,"
"A representative government only works when those represented take an active part in the process. I'm here to serve you, and your direct input helps me do my job better."

What a tool. I can only hope that the voters in his district make him regret this response.
1/20/17, 8:25 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Theo, I am going to put your statement to the test. I have one particular senator I am going to try to sway. Can't say who (obviously) but we'll see what happens.
1/20/17, 10:09 AM
Outsider said…
If it's all Trump's fault, then you should at least consider what exactly provincial politicians might have learned from Trump. Perhaps it's this: the journalism business has been so discredited that a public official actually wins points with Republican voters for brushing off reporters, rather than losing. This guy may just be having a personal breakdown, but he also could easily say that letting biased reporters stand between him and his voters has nothing to do with serving them. He could easily say that he will serve his voters much better by communicating information directly (follow him on twitter !!) rather than letting the information be lost and distorted through the channel of some biased reporter. (N.B. "biased reporter" is increasingly seen as an oxymoron.)

It's silly to blame this sort of behavior on Trump, and at the same time fail to recognize what Trump's innovation was -- using social media to dis-intermediate journalists altogether. Sure, you harumph at that, but maybe this guy's voters don't. Po3 is right that it might become common.
1/20/17, 10:32 AM
Anonymous said…
Many Republican voters weighed in on the Facebook site that posted Schoesler's meltdown video to state that they do indeed consider it to be their business what the McCleary plan is since it potentially impacts their taxes. I don't think the journalism business in the US has been discredited. Any individual who would place a personal tweet from Trump or Inslee or any politician over a legitimate news source has left the path of wisdom.

-ItBegins
1/20/17, 11:10 AM
Outsider said…
If you don't think the journalism business has been discredited, you drink a lot of happy juice. Certainly among Trumpsters, journalists rank somewhere below used toilet paper in terms of esteem or perceived value.

The question in this case was sarcastic an accustory, making no effort to hide the reporter's bias. (It sounded a lot like a parent asking a teenager when he was going to clean his room.) I doubt the senator will suffer politically for brushing it off.

"Objective journalism" might be called another American illusion, crumbling in a time of disillusion. In Europe or elsewhere, it's simply known that media outlets have party affiliations, and that journalists are effectively party staffers. You wouldn't object to hear that Fox News is essentially a Republican Party spin machine. The other side perceives your preferred outlets to be Democratic Party organs, perhaps not without reason. It might even be healthier to admit the truth. The pretext of objective journalism, when it obviously isn't, creates a vacuum in which Macedonian college students can make a fortune on fake news.
1/20/17, 1:57 PM
Anonymous said…
The odd thing about so many Trumpsters, and perhaps you, is that you seem to think that objective journalism perhaps once existed and and has NOW been discredited. Judging complexities is something that it is well documented that Republicans can never do. They have the wrong sized amygdala. There has never been objective journalism. Ever. And certainly not in the way Reps would like to see it in their black and white world. This reality always sets Reps crying and shaking their teething rings. But there are vast numbers of journalists who strive toward professionalism. That is as good as it will get.

-ItBegins
1/20/17, 11:20 PM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Outsider, that is not true about how the reporter asked the question. Listen to the tape. Listen to the other reporters stand up for the first one.

And I agree; objective journalism is long gone (and how objective was it ever?) But I agree; most journalists I interact with are professionals.
1/21/17, 7:41 AM
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
1/21/17, 10:03 AM
Anonymous said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
1/21/17, 10:05 AM
Charlie Mas said…
I watched the tape and heard the question and I didn't hear any of the "attack" in the question that the Senator heard. He is clearly much more sensitive to it than I am.

Even if the question were a sort of attack, the Senator's response was thoughtless, foolish, and false.
1/22/17, 2:55 AM
Outsider said…
To me, the question sounded essentially like this:

(parent to teenage son) "When are you going to clean your room? Today, or tomorrow, or when you're 30?"

But anyhow the more interesting thing is the ongoing press vs. Republican brawl. Trump in usual form said yesterday at CIA headquarters, "I have a running war with the media, they are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth ..." Meanwhile, on KUOW their news editor said local reporters have a verbal agreement to tag-team Republican politicians (which explains the immediate backup from other reporters when Shoesler slapped down the first guy.) The journalists are fighting for their livelihood, because Trump clearly thinks he doesn't need them, and if he succeeds in bypassing them, politicians up and down the line will adopt the same tactics (or maybe have already). Journalists are fighting to defend their position as information mediators and gatekeepers at a time when their esteem is low and a big segment of the population doesn't read or watch them to begin with, and the internet offers alternative communication channels.

Change is the only constant. Pull up a seat and watch.
1/22/17, 2:49 PM
Charlie Mas said…
I can definitely understand why a politician would want to bypass the media, preferring Facebook and Twitter. The media asks follow up questions, the media can challenge their "alternative facts". While that can happen on Facebook and Twitter also, they can delete those comments or, as many do, simply not allow them.
1/23/17, 3:56 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, gr...
Read more

Education News Roundup

From the ever-amusing Washington Policy Center : Vouchers are Pell Grants for students under 18.  Vouchers are no different than Pell Grants or GI benefits, except the money goes to the families of students younger than age 18.  Except they are. Pell Grants were created to help needy students and that's not really the goal of the voucher program.  The Pell grant website does have a couple of great studies on why low-income students drop out before finishing their higher ed and what makes a difference.
Read more