Will legislate for food

That is certainly one of the very real future possibilites for the guy in this picture.

Please meet Rep. Jim Moeller (D-49) of Vancouver, who sent the following e-mail to Bob Williams of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation upon receipt of Williams' essay on election reform in the July 2005 issue of Imprimis.

Sour grapes Mr. Williams! You are a Republican (or perhaps Libertarian). Your candidate lost. End of story. People aren't being prosecuted because there was no fraud. You and the Republican party went venue shopping hoping you could find a sympathic ear in Eastern Washington for your pleas and what you got was an ear full. Why or why did I not hear you (sic) howls of protest of fraud, enhanced ballots, and illegal voting after the presidential election of 2000? Because you (sic) candidate won! Jesus, you are so transparent as to be comical. Move on Mr. Williams or better yet, just move. Sincerely,

Representative Jim Moeller
49th Legislative District
P. O. Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504-0600
360-786-7872

Now then, is it just me, or is the tone of that e-mail something you wouldn't expect from an elected official? In fact, regardless of your political leanings, it seems to me that this kind of thing is downright unacceptable. Between the snarling tone, the poor spelling and the improper reference to the name "Jesus," it seems to me that poor Mr. Moeller just put himself on the hot seat, and rightfully so.

It's a given that the level of intelligence of the elected officials in this state is not exactly, uh... very impressive, but this particular display of bad judgment and arrogance should be cause for some serious soul-searching by Moeller's constituents come the next election. Any public official who would communicate this way deserves a pink slip or a well-deserved kick in the pants. Guys like this are the problem, not the solution. As Thomas Paine so simply yet eloquently opined; "Here, gentlemen, is the enemy."

(Tip o' the hat to Sound Politics)