On Tuesday, July 8, the Pierce County Council split on what appears to be partisan Democrat/Republican lines on whether or not to issue a proclamation supporting "Out in the Park", a celebration of the South Sound’s GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) community Saturday, July 12 in Tacoma. The Republicans on the County Council, Chairman Terry Lee and Shawn Bunney, Dick Muri and Roger Bush all voted“no” on the proclamation.  The Democrats on the council, Calvin Goings,Tim Farrell, and Barbara Gelman all voted "yes."

The fact that this is an election year, and both Shawn Bunney and Calvin Goings are running for the Pierce County Executive position, obviously plays a role in this vote, despite protestations from the Republicans that their "no" vote was on a procedural matter, and not related to the content of the proclamation.  Democrats on the council expressed shock at the vote, with some citing election year politics.

Calvin Goings, though, in a quote from the Tacoma News Tribune said, "This should be a wake-up call to all progressive Pierce County residents. There is still a bastion of intolerance in Pierce County.”  In other words, he is not saying that Shawn Bunney and company voted against this gay rights proclamation out of some strategy to gain conservative votes in November, but because they are bigoted against gays.

This is a serious charge, and if Goings is going to play the bigot card in his race against Shawn Bunney, then he should be prepared to show more evidence than this one vote. Politically, Bunney and his supporters cannot let this charge just sit out there.  If he does not respond, he risks being labeled.

The race for Pierce County Executive just got more interesting.  Stay tuned…

 

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Councilman Calvin Goings (D)

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Councilman Shawn Bunney (R)

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/408995.html