Defeated candidates line up behind Reichert

Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Auburn): campaign photoRep. Dave Reichert's re-election campaign is plugging two recent endorsements from atypical sources. In the days since the "top two" primary of August 19, two of the four fallen candidates in the 8th Congressional District have endorsed the Auburn Republican over Democratic challenger Darcy Burner of Carnation.

Both Jim Vaughan and Boleslaw (John) Orlinski have announced their support for Reichert in the last week, citing what they believe is an overly partisan trend in politics these days. Vaughn ran as a Democrat in the primary, and Orlinski stated no party preference.

"I'm concerned about the direction of our country," Vaughn said in a release. "The problems I see in Congress right now are due to partisanship."

He has since become the head of "Democrats for Reichert", a group dedicated to gathering support among 8th District Democrats for the Republican incumbent.

"I believe that Americans are tired of partisanship," Orlinski echoed. "We believe that [Reichert] can bring people together to deal with the challenges we are going to face."

Reichert said in a release that he was humbled and pleased, respectively, by the endorsements of Vaugh and Orlinski. Vaugh received three percent in the primary, and Orlinski had the support of just under one percent of voters.

State Democrats hit back at the news by using Vaughn's own words against him. On his campaign website he had stated the following:

"Dave Reichert has not passed one piece of legislation.  Congress.org provides the following information. Currently he is ranked 419 out of 439 congressmen, which is below representatives from Guam, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico that are non-voting members.  Dave Reichert has sponsored 32 bills since Jan 4, 2005, of which 28 haven't made it out of committee and zero were successfully enacted.

"Typically, new employees have a 90 day probationary period to prove themselves. Dave Reichert has had a two year probationary period. The job is not a good fit for him or for us.  The Republican Party wants to keep Dave in office and not because he is a strong congressman.  Dave will do whatever the party tells him to do in order to survive.  We have seen that he is a yes man for George Bush.  I ask you, "If Dave Reichert were in the board room with Donald Trump on the apprentice, what would Donald say?"

"Jim Vaughn was absolutely right when he described Republican Dave Reichert as an ineffective ‘yes man for George Bush,'" said Washington State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz, who noted that Vaughn had no support from Democrats at the 8th District nominating convention. "The truth is, Vaughn was a marginal candidate who raised no money, won no endorsements, and took a meaningless sliver of the primary vote - and the idea his endorsement will get Democrats to vote for Reichert is a joke.

 "As a veteran, Vaughn must certainly be familiar with the recruiting slogan, ‘An Army of One' - and that's exactly the amount of support Reichert gained with this endorsement charade."