My name is Paul Richmond and I’m running as a Democratic Candidate in the 6^th District of Washington.

I’m running because I’m very concerned about some of the things that are happening in this country.  It troubles me when the government makes laws like the PATRIOT Act that allow it to take away our basic rights, or gets us locked into an unnecessary war, running up the debt while our infrastructure crumbles.

I spoke with Norm Dicks at a picnic held by our local Democratic club in 2007.  At the time I had no thoughts of running for this office.  I was, like many Democrats, Republicans and Independents, concerned about the activities of those in the White House, and pushing for Impeachment.  I’d looked at the numbers and knew we had about as many citizens and representatives supporting Impeachment as when they began the proceedings against Richard Nixon.  So at the picnic, I asked Norm Dicks if he would take a leadership role in this.  “It’s not what Nancy Pelosi wants,” he told me.   So I asked the question, “but are you representing us to Nancy Pelosi, or do you represent her to us?”   The question I asked seems to me a basic one in a free society.  The representatives are elected to represent the people in their District.  My tone was respectful.  I was hoping for an honest answer.   Norm Dicks never answered this question.  He seemed angered that I would even bring it up.  He moved quickly to another part of the picnic area.   While that didn’t seem right, I put it aside and went on with my life.  As I followed current events, I heard about something called the Homegrown Terrorism Act.  Many of its critics, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, were calling it the next step after the PATRIOT Act in denying us our rights.   I looked at it and found that among other things, it set up a study group, and that group would look at ideologies that could be made illegal.  Having recently re-read George Orwell’s 1984, which talked about making certain types of thought illegal, that troubled me deeply.  It troubled me more when I learned that my representative, Norm Dicks had signed on as a Co-Sponsor of this law.   I hadn’t thought about running for this office before, but it seemed like something to look at.   I began to look at Dicks’ record.  There is no doubt that he’s done a lot for his district.  He’s helped create jobs.  He’s done some things to help the local environment.    But he’s also done a lot that undercuts these good things.  For example, he’s a big proponent of “free trade.”  Under many of the agreements he’s helped make law, businesses located in other countries can sue our local businesses if they try to enforce the guarantees they’ve made for livable wages or basic environmental standards as “barriers to free trade.”  It’s seems to me, if we’re serious about these good things, like our protections on our jobs and environment, we can do them in a better way so they’ll last.   I’ve also looked at Dicks’ contributors.  The majority of his funding comes from PACS.  Those who’ve made contributions seem to wind up his beneficiaries.  If you follow the news you may know he’s been singled out by the Seattle Times and the group Citizens Against Government Waste for his earmarks.  And at a time when our infrastructure's being starved he's funded projects that seem to have no purpose.    As most of us know, there are a lot of us in a lot of trouble.  Tens of millions are without health insurance.  Millions of Peoples’ homes are being repossessed.  Schools are in decay.  Bridges are collapsing.  A major city, New Orleans was lost to neglect.  Our country isn’t building very much anymore.  Our flags, our military hardware, and even our children’s food are made in places like China.  We’re facing what some economists are calling a Depression.  This is why 81% of people in this country now think we're on the wrong track.   To get out of this we need long range planning.  It’s not going to happen if we base it around special interests.   It seems to me there’s a better way our money can be spent.   And then there’s the war in Iraq.  We’ve had more than 4.000 U.S. service people killed.  The number of U.S. wounded is said to be over 60,000, many of them so seriously they’ll never fully recover – compare this to the 58,000 U.S. Service people killed in Viet Nam.  The cost is now estimated at three trillion dollars.  That’s about fifty times the wealth of Bill Gates, and that doesn’t include long term care for those already wounded.  Norm Dicks now says his vote in favor of this war was a mistake.  I felt it was wrong to go into Iraq in 2003, and 1991.  It seems to me we can be doing this better.   I know it’s not going to be easy to challenge Norm Dicks for this position.  He’s starting with a $600,000 war chest, and huge name recognition.  But I also know, a lot of people share my opinions.  I’ve heard a lot of people saying these same things before I ran for office.  Like when I hear people tell me, we should never have gone into this war.  I’ve heard it from a lot of people when I tell them I’m running.  Like why can we afford a war on terror, but we can’t build a bridge or a ferry?  I’ve even seen it when I go to local political clubs, such as the local branches of the Democratic Party and see the same things I care about, like Impeachment and openess in government, stated openly in their own platforms.   Despite the fact that the incumbent is deeply entrenched there are strong indications of his vulnerability.  The Grays Harbor Democrats have refused to endorse him for the second consecutive month.  The Jefferson County Democrats are actually looking at censoring him based on his most recent votes.  The website Act Blue spontaneously took in more than 500 contributions for this campaign in the space of a few days following the incumbents votes on FISA and continued funding for Iraq. This is the first time Washington has seen a top two primary, which means it’s a great opportunity to go into the general election.  If we can make that hurdle, things can really get interesting.  We can do it with your support and the support of people like you. Help people know about this campaign. If you can write a letter or call into a local radio show, do it.  If there's a community group you can talk to, do it.  If there's a friend or neighbor you can talk to, do it.    Help this Campaign Grow If there's an event we should know about, let us know.  If you'd like to have an event in your community, let us know.    Consider giving of your time and or money to this campaign.  Your valuable contribution helps make this challenge a reality.  Contributions to the Paul Richmond for Congress Campaign may be made through the website www.actblue.com/page/paulrichmond.     With your help, we can turn this around.  I know we can do better.   Thank you.