Why I'm Backing Schalk Leonard for U.S. Senate

Krist Novoselic moved his musings on politics, music and everything in between over to our sister blog Reverb a couple months ago. But his decision to back the relatively unknown Schalk Leonard for Senate seemed an especially newsworthy one, so we thought we'd migrate his column back to the Daily Weekly, if only for this week.

Time is flying by so fast, and I can hardly believe it's election time. Washington election officials will be mailing ballots this Friday, so I thought I'd start to look at the field of candidates. All kinds of offices are up for election, and I started at the top of the ticket--the U.S. senator for Washington state. I've concluded that my first-round vote is going to Schalk Leonard, a candidate for Patty Murray's senate seat who lists no political party association.

I need to be clear that my vote for Leonard is not out of protest. I support President Obama, and even though I'm disenchanted with the Democratic Party, I'm not bailing on him. I've looked at Leonard's information, and I like his values and policy proposals. I have the impression that if elected he can handle the job. Leonard was an attorney in his military career, so he understands law. He's a professional Chinese translator. China is an important trading partner with our state's export economy. His policy proposals are called About WASHINGTON; they're arranged by every letter in our state's name. For example, T is about trade, I is for inquiry, etc. Check this out: "When our government demonstrates the ability to inquire in a responsible way, our citizens learn that a good life is a process of responsible inquiry, rather than avoidance, easy prejudices, and feel-good explanation." Wow! What a nice way to frame reactionary politics.

If there's anything that motivates me to vote for Leonard, it's our state's majority-voting system. With it, the top-two vote-getters advance to a second stage--the general election--where all the voters can coalesce around the two remaining candidates. This means if Leonard is eliminated in the first round, I still have a second choice in November (this would be Democratic incumbent Patty Murray). It's basically having two votes in one election. If this were a plurality-voting election and it was a close race between the Republican and Democrat, I might be tempted to vote for my second choice. This is because I wouldn't want to leave Murray short of votes in a tight count and get the candidate I didn't want elected.

Even though Leonard is a solid centrist, his candidacy is still a mere blip in the overall election. I'm sure Murray's not losing sleep over the possibility of his candidacy making her look weak in the August primary vote totals.

Leonard is refusing any financial contributions, so he's got nowhere near enough money to pay the professional consultants who know how to craft an image for voters. Leonard is not a career politician, and he's anything but slick. If you watch his videos, you'll see what I mean. But I've been online for years and have watched a lot of public access, so I can see past the low-tech delivery to get a view of a quality candidate. I appreciate his slow and contemplative YouTube videos. They're kind of surreal, if not funny, with the random things that can pop up--check out the dude spraying herbicide outside the coffee kiosk (below). The videos are the antithesis of the slick 30-second political ads on conventional television. It's he and his tripod sharing his thoughts and reason with voters. For example, he'll be on a foggy mountaintop talking about clarity--slowly waving his hand through the damp air which serves as a metaphorical prop. He'll be on his bike or next to his grandfather's grave musing about life, liberty, and the American ideal. At first glance, these videos can seem odd, but listen to what he's saying and it makes a lot of sense.

I'm not looking forward to this November's election. Get ready for the national Republican and Democratic parties to dump millions of dollars into the Senate race. Washington, D.C. is a pay-to-play system. Lobbyists give a lot of money to the parties and individual campaigns to get heard on issues like health-care reform and new financial regulations. It's even more annoying that these funds will go toward nasty television and radio advertising cooked up by political consultants. Voters, along with most television watchers, moan and groan about negative advertising, but they always cling to the two major parties on the ballot. It's like the beat-up spouse going back home to the abuser. I say vote your conscience and cast a ballot for Leonard--an independent candidate who is refusing any campaign cash--while he's still on the ballot.

I've learned to tune out the white noise and nasty rhetoric of campaign season. Majority voting allows me to vote for a positive candidate in August--someone who's not about the Washington, D.C., money machine. I urge Washington state readers of this column to join me and vote for Schalk Leonard for U.S. Senate in the primary. I like his values and policy proposals, and I'm confident he'll be a fine public official.