Jon Russell: The Richard Blumenthal of the 18th District.

I just had the dubious pleasure of watching 3 of the 4 declared candidates for the 18th go at it at GOP HQ's as what was originally billed as part of the weaning process. It was to be used only in the event of too many candidates if the dems announced someone else to run with Kampe to take advantage of the "top-two primary" system we have in place.

By now, we've likely all heard of democrat Richard Blumenthall, the multi-term democrat Attorney General of Connecticut who deserves a great deal of credit for the Carceiri decision that has jammed a stick in the spokes of the Cowlitz Mafia's efforts to jam their economic black whole down our throats.

Seems that Blumenthal has a serious positional awareness problem. He appears to have been confused about whether or not he's ever actually set foot in Vietnam and under what circumstances the trip took place.

Seems that Jon Russell has something of a similar problem; specifically, Russell's claim that his wife is a "physician."

When I sat through the 18th District meeting today, I was struck by a couple of things. First, he felt compelled to lie about his wife, referring to her as a "physician." That's where the Blumenthal thing came in.

She is not a "physician." She is, if anything, a physician's ASSISTANT. It's much the same as calling the guy putting the air in the plane's tires a "pilot." That only works if, in fact, that guy IS a pilot.

I have been hearing for months now that Russell has been lying about that, but this is the first time I've ever heard it from his mouth.

Bulletin: Sarah Russell is a "FNP," or "Family Nurse Practitioner." That does not a physician make, since physicians are, in fact, doctors.

Now, why does Russell have to exaggerate that way? I have no idea, but knowing the character of the man, I'm not surprised.

Because I was sitting in the crowd, Russell mentioned that he's had the "Port" as a client. In lying by omission, however, he neglected to mention that what he had done with the Port of Vancouver was make several thousand dollars off the Port's effort to jack us with the highest local tax increase in our history.

Oddly, he neglected to mention that aspect of his "Port" work.

In short, this "Chameleon conservative" made a LOT of money off of HIS efforts to jack up OUR taxes.

Not very conservative of you, Jon.

And then, it came to the issue of money. The candidates were asked how much money they had raised.

I was startled that Jon, who's PDC's report showed a paltry $5421 in both cash and in kind contributions just 12 days ago, has somehow managed to almost double in 12 short days since he reported. Yes, he indicated that he'd put together around $10,000.

But the oddest thing about his campaign figures wasn't the small amount of money he's collected; after all, given who he is, that was sort of expected.

The oddest thing is that according to his records, he hasn't given his campaign a dime.

REALLY odd considering the "quarter of a million dollar per year" clinic he claims to have.

You don't suppose that he "Blumenthaled" the amount he's actually collected, do you? I mean, as someone of proven, selective exaggeration, is that even possible?

But then, Russell was an abysmal failure as a money raiser during his congressional campaign; why would we expect anything different now?

The problem with a serial exaggerator and fake conservative who made money off a serious effort to jack up our taxes is that you cannot trust them to be anything other than what they need to be to get elected.

And that's what makes Russell the "Chameleon conservative," in other ways that I'll make clear over the upcoming weeks before the primary... ways that make him unfit for any elective office of any kind.

Russell has flat out lied about ME as part of his campaign, I would imagine that lying about himself is, well, easy.

These issues, of course, go beyond the basic competency issues engulfing Russell; his mishandling of the Washougal check book; the hiring of Washougal's unbondable City Finance Director and the like.

Jon never passes on the opportunity to talk about those aspects of his career as a part of the Washougal city council that HE wants you to hear about. He seems strangely reticent about the rest.

But then, I guess that's what people have me around for, isn't it?

Cross posted at Clark County Politics.