in which I meet Jed Whittaker

My wife and I are lounging in Sylvester Park, this time free of stentorian louts, when we're approached by a man with a clipboard.

"Would you like to end the war in Iraq?" he asks.

We laugh. What my wife is thinking, I don't know, but I'm thinking, If it's going to take an Amway purchase, so be it.

"I'll take that as a yes," replies clipboard toter, who introduces himself as Jed Whittaker, running for Congress against Brian Baird, but first collecting 1,000 mandatory signatures so he can put his name on the ballot.

After a brief discussion on the merits of pointless campaigns, protest votes, and the dubious status of the Washington state Libertarian Party (notice the website, suspiciously lacking upcoming events), I tell Mr. Whittaker that I don't give my personal information to strangers with clipboards, and he politely packs up and heads to the next park lounger.

My initial impression: nice guy, seems friendly, honest, principled, respectful, listens carefully, invites dialogue, doesn't have a chance of winning anywhere outside of downtown Olympia.

An examination of his past confirms my suspicions. Whittaker lost Alaskan bids for a U.S. senate seat in 1996 and a state senate seat in 2000, both as a Green Party candidate. (This year, despite his support for the Green party, the Greens refused to nominate him, hence his independent candidacy.)

Look at Whittaker's announcement on Olyblog.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jed Whittaker and I am an independent candidate for Congress in the third congressional district. My main platform is to end the war in Iraq, impeach George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, balance the budget (because I am a fiscal conservative), and Univeral Health care [sic]. We are spending $120 billion a year on the war in Iraq, and that is money we could be using to provide free health care to all Americans. I am a graduate of Evergreen State College, and a member of the Laborer's Union Local 252. I have never crossed a picket line and I never will. I lived in Alaska for 40 years, and helped found the Green Party in Alaska. I have lived in Olympia for 4 years. I filed a lawsuit against the discriminatory election law in Washington state, which I lost last Friday (you won't read about it in the Olympian). I have challenged the incumbent congressman, Brian Baird, to donate $800,000 of the over $900,000 in his campaign fund to Bread and Roses to build a shelter for homeless veterans of the Iraq war. We already have homeless veterans of the Iraq war living on the streets of Olympia. Thank you for reading. Peace.

Futile but noble gestures aside, Whittaker's insinuation that The Olympian is ignoring him is disingenuous--his lawsuit was reported back in May.

Whittaker is a fighter. Back in 1996,

...Whittaker spent just $4,000 on his challenge of popular GOP incumbent Ted Stevens. Whittaker was so cash-poor he hitchhiked rides with bush pilots to get around the state. Stevens was returned to the Senate in a landslide, but Whittaker outpolled the Democratic candidate.

He was there to yell at Exxon when the Valdez spilled oil on Alaskan shores. He's even been arrested for protesting Bush. Even though he won't get my vote, I respect him for his community involvement and his attempt to bring fairness back to Washington's primaries.

I'm sorry, Jed. If only I had known who you were--if only you had told me about your accomplishments and your rap sheet, instead of assuming I was mostly interested in the Iraq occupation--I might have forgone my usual distrust of clipboards and signed your petition.