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Well goodness I am just now finding out there is a group out here on the Peninsula! I would like to introduce myself. I am Peggy Hutt and one of the 3 State Coordinators in WA. I am right here on SR 302! I hope to meet you soon! My husband and I are also Local Coordinators for Tacoma Narrows Tea Party and we meet the last Tues.of the month at the Gig Harbor Library 7pm. Our other Coordinators you already know, Jack & Thelma Keel! We have one other from Spanaway and he has been with us since 09 and is a member of the Sons of Liberty Riders, Tom Tidwell.

Just wanted to stop by and say hi! Lets get together soon. We are planning on attending the next 2A gun rally in Oly on Feb 8, 10 am.

Let's all get together soon for coffee.

Peggy Hutt
tntp@blarg.net

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By Larry Killion TPP Citizen Journalist

Norm Dicks (Wa. D) and Patty Murray (Wa. D) toured a Shelton Shell Fish Facility with several County officials last month promoting their latest draft of Wild Olympics Wilderness & Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 2012. It would designate more than 126,500 acres of new wilderness in Olympic National Forest including nineteen Olympic Peninsula rivers and their major tributaries as “wild and scenic.” The proposed legislation is now in committee. HR 5995 is sponsored by Dicks and Congressman Jim McDermott and SB 3329 is sponsored by Murray.

The Aberdeen and Cosmopolis city councils and Grays Harbor County commissioners have passed resolutions opposing the Wild Olympics campaign. Dicks and Murray say they have made compromises to overcome objections that it would be too restrictive on logging and recreation. Carol Johnson, executive director of the North Olympic Timber Action Committee, said her group is opposed to the Wild Olympics act because of its potential impact on jobs. “One of the issues with us about the Wild Olympics proposal is that we met with the Norm Dicks and Sen. Murray staffs and they pretty much ignored all of our suggestions,” Johnson said.

“We’ve tried to make this benefit the area and not do any harm. I think we’ve made this much more acceptable to people on the Olympic Peninsula,” Dicks said. Whether they turned around public opinion after nearly three years of talks is questionable. The Peninsula is filled with signs charging a “land grab.”

If the bill does not pass this year, Dicks won’t be here to make it happen again. He is retiring his seat after 36 years in office. It is unlikely the bill will make it through either the House or Senate this year but Patty Murray said she would continue pushing forward with the legislation after Dicks retires. Derek Kilmer, is the man Norm endorsed to fill his slot in the Washington State 6th Congressional District. Kilmer’s campaign had $714,674.54 cash on hand at the end of the 2012 2nd quarter to carry on the agenda of the Democrats.

The Republican candidate for the 6th District seat, Bill Driscoll, said, “It makes no sense to push forward a proposal to lock up broad tracts of land without the support of the people who live and work in the affected areas. This is an important decision that will define our region for generations to come. It would be a shameful failure to have a politically divisive plan imposed on us by special interests in Seattle or politicians in Washington D.C.”

Tea Party Patriot Washington State Coordinator Peggy Hutt says, “The only issue here is whether the GOP takes control of the Senate. If they do, none of the Wild Olympics Bills will make it out of committee in either the House or Senate. If the Democrats hold the Senate, it still will get nowhere in the House.”

Ben Kuhner, President of the Board of the Kitsap Patriots Tea Party said, “"Kitsap Patriots Tea Party supports the opposition to the Wilderness Act by those who have studied the proposed legislation and will be most closely impacted by it. While we in Kitsap County are not as directly affected as counties to the west of us, we have an abiding interest in protecting the continued access and enjoyment of our lands for all Washingtonians, not just the elite few who will be deemed "acceptable" under ever increasingly restrictive designations."

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I'm a TPP citizen journalist working on an article about the Wild Olympics Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 2012 sponsored
by Norm Dicks, Jim McDermott and pushed also by Patty Murray.

This legislation is in committee now and has been opposed by the timber industry and many local citizens
and elected officials. I am asking for a brief quote from you on this subject for my article. I have a quote from
Bill Driscoll already. (Republican candidate for Norm's old slot)

Info: http://www.wildolympicsscam.com/
http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=55&ArticleID=31966

Larry Killion
http://www.tacwash.blogspot.com

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Larry Killion, TPP Citizen Journalist. 12-19-11.

An article by Rob Woutat takes issue with “Congressional Careerism.” Norm Dicks, 70, (D-WA.) was first elected in 1976. Fourteen others have been in Congress anywhere from 36 to 56 years. Men, that did not see Congress as a career, wrote the Constitution with the idea that once a man did his civic duty in an elected office for a term or two at the most, he would then return home to his real job and career.

According to records from the first hundred years of Congress, those that stayed a second term in the Senate were veterans and half of the Senators did not stay for their entire first term. Seeing the need to cap the number of terms a Senator or Congressman should serve was not in the mindset of our first century patriots. The need was not there. Things have changed. Some say we are making progress with the professional politicians we have in office. Others say we should remember the intent of those that drafted our nation’s Constitution and stay within their founding principles.

The conservative Heritage Foundation reported that the idea of term limits has a diverse demographic support from men, women, blacks, whites, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, all favoring term limits, typically by 60 percent.

Regarding the question about term limits, Tea Party leaders were swift to respond. Greg Woodworth, President of the Tacoma 912 Project said, “Since this has already been tried back in the '90's, and determined by the courts to require a constitutional amendment to limit the terms of federal offices, it is now the responsibility of "we the people" to limit their terms. Term Limits would have helped with the turnover, but the bureaucrats that actually run the show don't have such limits, and would just corrupt the "rookies" as fast as they arrive in D.C. It is encouraging that the Tea Party caucus members, those Republican freshmen who went to D.C. to stand by their principles have actually done what they promised, and are changing the way government is run. We need about 300 more of them in that town. The danger here is that the oligarchy that runs D.C. will spend a lot of money to make sure that only patsies get elected that they can control. Our job is to keep the pressure on the ones we send there, to continually remind them of who they really work for. Since it is highly unlikely that congress will vote themselves out of office with a constitutional amendment, it falls to the Tea Party to get the corrupt politicians out of office through elections.”

Woody Hertzog, Washington State Tea Party Coordinator said, "Personally, I strongly support term limits. The careerism is responsible for many of the problems we face in government. It has led to politicians voting for career instead of country, and for personal gain instead of the will of the people. Term limits would reduce arrogance in out of touch and out of date politicians.
The staff and support team of each elected official will bring the necessary experience to Washington and Olympia.”

Representative Dicks declined to discuss the question about term limits. Candidates running against him fielded the same question. The first to respond was Bob Sauerwein , GOP, running for WA. 6th Dist. Rep. He said, “It was, I believe, the intent of our founding fathers to trust in the dignity of man and be a SERVANT leader. That means they serve the people for a time and then return to our own place of work. Jefferson and the fathers had a long battle about this issue. Jefferson understood where not having term limits would take us, and indeed, he was correct. As a candidate, I have been asked this very question many times, and my answer has always been, yes. We need term limits. I would note that it should be long enough to allow new congressmen or senators to learn their jobs well, so I would propose something like three 2 year term limits on congress, and two 6 year term limits on senators and of course the presidency already has one. I would also note that a congressman or senator could run for the other office as long as he/she has not held it before. I think this would create a system of SERVANT leaders. I know that servant leadership is very hard to find, yet it is what our constitution requires of every representative of the people.”

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Where on the Peninsula are you located? My husband and I are in Gig Harbor but not in the city. We are about 5 miles across the Purdy Spit. We are where Pierce, Kitsap and Mason all come together!

We, Tacoma Narrows Tea Party, are haveing our next meeting Dec.20 at the University Place Library. 6 -6:30pm coffee and social with meeting beginning at 6:30. we have Rep. Jan Angel our 26th Leg. District planning to attend and a newly elected City councilman from UP. We have Scott Roberts from the Freedom Foundation as a speaker.
would love to have you attend! Call or email anytime. tntp@avvanta.com (2v's NOT a W in avvanta) 253-548-9702

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It never existed and was written in letter to a church who had written to Thomas Jefferson because they were concerned that the government may try to regulate Christianity by denomination such as England had done. Jefferson had answered them back assuring them that the government would not ever get involved in deciding what denomination or religion a citizen should be.
The supreme court never used this quote of Jefferson's for over "150 years" to declare that the role of government was to have a divider between it and religion. It was not until 1954 that the phrase "separation of church and state" was used by the supreme court in order to affect change with in the public school system. This was unique in two ways
1. the supreme court was using a phrase took out of context to affect change with in the law.
2. Was the first time any decision had been made by the court that sited and had absolutely no proceeding president either with in the constitution or through legal history.

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