The National Football League just announced that they were hiring former FBI Head Robert Mueller to investigate who knew what and when in the Ray Rice domestic violence case.
It is my understanding that the investigation has nothing to do with whether Rice was guilty of anything since the video tape shows him slugging the woman, knocking her out cold on the elevator.
The focus of the Mueller investigation is the NFL itself. According to some news sources, the NFL was delivered the video months ago and it was reported that at least one person thought to be either an NFL executive or an assistant to the executive viewed the tape and commented on the content.
The outcry centers on whether the NFL knew long ago that Rice was a wife beater and willfully chose to ignore it because Ray Rice was a high profile player for the Baltimore Ravens.
Roger Goodell was asked when the NFL learned of the video and he said it was Monday of this week (September 8, 2014). Goodell was asked more than once to make certain he was sure he knew the importance of his answer. He then clarified that “to my knowledge, we did not know” or words to that effect.
Should we care when he knew? I don’t care, do you?
The moral outrage pushed by the press is laughable. Everyone knows businesses protect their image and make every effort to keep their dirty laundry out of the public eye.
For me, this is just another case similar to the NBA’s handling of Donald Sterling. Moral outrage over Sterling’s bigotry. If the press was actually doing their job every day, they would have turned up stories about racism, bigotry and domestic violence as it happened rather than weeks later.
The NBA knew Sterling was a bigot, but the video tape forced them to act out against Sterling because they didn’t want to be viewed as tolerant to bigotry. The truth is, rich guys like Sterling are all a little quirky and as a group NBA owners accept the quirks in each other because they don’t want their own to be exposed.
Once again, in the NFL case, the press is working to make a story. In this case they are focusing on the NFL cover-up rather than the substance of the event; domestic violence.
For me, I’m concerned about whether a crime was committed when Rice slugged the woman. If that was a crime and Rice wasn’t arrested then I’m concerned about the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction in the community where the crime took place. They had the tape, did they do their job?
If the event wasn’t viewed as a crime then what SHOULD be done? Is there a distinction between domestic violence that is criminal behavior and another type that is not criminal behavior? Is it okay to hit your girlfriend a little? At what point does slapping her around become a crime? At what point does it become unacceptable behavior even if it’s not a crime?
The issue of domestic violence in our country is wide spread, not just in the NFL. In this case, we are looking at a high profile football player who punches his girlfriend. A case where the girl friend absolutely refuses to press charges against Rice, a man who she married after the beating.
So is the important issue that should be investigated, the NFL, and whether they knew or didn’t know or whether domestic violence is acceptable behavior in our society regardless of the profession or line of work.
A “women’s” organization pointed out that more than fifty cases of domestic violence against professional football players have been filed with the courts without much more than a peep from the NFL. Seemingly, the NFL condones bad behavior because they choose to do nothing about it when they learn it exists.
It appears that the NFL came late to moral outrage. But without a formal investigation, they kicked Ray Rice out of the league. The Baltimore Ravens canceled Rice’s contract and released him. All of this took place without an investigation further than the one where the Ravens suspended Rice for two games. That would suggest that at least the Ravens knew the real substance of Rice’s behavior from the beginning and felt that two games was appropriate punishment. Then changed their mind when clear evidence showing Rice slugging the woman became public. What was the two game suspension for?
Keep in mind that they don’t kick players out of the league for clearly criminal acts. Drug dealing and homicide gets you jail time, but then you come back. Suspension for a short time, maybe. Ray Rice was kicked out… permanently.
If Americans want to be outraged about domestic violence then let’s do it right. Let’s look at baseball players, basketball players and hockey players. Then we should look at policemen, firemen, lawyers, doctors and beer truck drivers. The issue of domestic violence isn’t an issue unique to any one line of work; it’s everywhere. The question is how important it is in society and how tolerant we are when we find it.
The problem in our country is we have lost our morality. We’ve become a country that accepts bad behavior because it takes too much effort to stand up for the right thing(s). Ultimately, this is one of the flaws that will bring our country down.
How much bad behavior can we tolerate?
When you know the guy you work with beats his wife or girlfriend, you assume some of his guilt if you don’t do something to stop it. The time when you kept your mouth shut and mind your own business has passed. If we expect society to deal harshly with domestic violence or drug use or any other criminal behavior, it has to start with each of us standing up and demanding that we start at the grass roots level and work out way up from there. Or we can start at the top and demand that our leaders perform to a higher moral standard and work down. Either way we have to start.
I don’t view Ray Rice any different than I do a police officer who beats his wife.
Demanding that Roger Goodell be fired is ludicrous. I don’t even care if Goodell was flat out lying. Absent a conduct policy in the NFL that is enforced like the drug use policy, it’s up to the individual teams to deal with cases. It certainly suggests that a discussion is warranted at the highest levels in every sports organization to determine their tolerance or willingness to act regarding bad behavior.
Sadly, I’m not holding my breath. Just look at professional organizations for lawyers and doctors. When they know there are members of their profession who are of questionable moral standing, they just keep their heads down and their mouths shut because they don’t want to speak up and strip a fellow of his or her ability to make a living. Bad behavior is accepted practice.
School teachers, fire fighters, policemen, accountants, stockbrokers… you name it; bad behavior is acceptable behavior.
Unless we stand up and demand better at a local level.
No Loss for Words 
OK I admit it, I’m a Republican
by Steve DanaMost people know that I have been politically active for a long time, but not everyone. For those of you who don’t know, I am a registered Republican if we have an official labeling process in the state of Washington. I ran for County Council in 2009 and explored my options regarding a run for the legislature in 2010. I was elected to my first term as a PCO in 2008 from the Snohomish 7 precinct. I was elected to the city council in 1989 as a non-partisan.
Yesterday, December 13, 2014 was the day we swore in the new Precinct Committee Officers (PCOs) that were elected earlier this year and then the new group elected the leadership team for the next two years. There was competition for every position available and the outcomes were not at all predictable.
Before any of the action got started, we got to hear a few words from newly elected House member from the 44th LD, Mark Harmsworth a current city council member from Mill Creek. He’s a very capable leader so I’m sure he will represent well in Olympia.
We also heard from County Councilmember Ken Klein from Arlington regarding the happenings in County Government followed by a very upbeat message from Susan Hutchison, Chairwoman of the Washington State Republicans. Both of them were encouraged by the outcomes of the fall elections and suggested that we had momentum if we were smart enough to get behind it. I think our party is well served by both of them.
Somewhere in the middle of the day, we let Tim Eyeman talk about the Initiative Process and how the Democrats in the legislature are trying to strangle the citizen based method of legislation out of existence through regulations. I, for one, admire Eyeman for his efforts on behalf of the people in our state. He has become a bit of a celebrity for his cause, but without his string of initiatives, we would all be paying higher taxes. We endorsed a Resolution to limit regulations on Initiatives.
So, back to the action…
Billy Brooks-Sebastiani was re-elected to serve as Republican Party Chairwoman for another term which was no surprise. Olga Farnum was re-elected to her third term as State Committee Woman. That is where the predictability went out the window.
Our rules require that if we elect a woman to chair the party, the vice-chair must be a man. The candidates for vice-chair were two relative unknowns to many in the group. Robert Sutherland, a Granite Falls resident who ran for Congress in the First Congressional District ended up running against Jeff Scherrer, an Edmonds guy who ran for a Legislative seat in the 21st District. Neither of these guys had been players in the party previously so it was a bit unusual. The outcome of the election was Scherrer winning in a close vote. I don’t know Jeff Scherrer personally so I can’t say how well he will do.
I do know Robert Sutherland and I am very impressed with him. I’ve met him for coffee on numerous occasions to talk about how we make our party more effective in supporting financially and electing candidates. He’s got some great ideas. If I told you he was a delegate for Rick Santorum in the last Presidential cycle at the County Convention you should have an idea where he stands. In addition to his politics, Robert is willing to actively work to achieve success. When he lived in the Cathcart area, he actively worked his precinct and several others surrounding it to (GOTV) Get Out The Vote during several election cycles and produced phenomenal results. I would have been very happy if Robert had been elected Vice-Chair. We’ll have to see what Mr. Scherrer is willing to do.
The other position that was up for grabs was the position of State Committee Man from Snohomish County. Jim Donner has held that position for the past couple years and by all measures I’m aware of, he did a great job. In my view, the expectation for both the State Committee people is to communicate up and down from the local County Party to the State Republican Party and back again. In addition, I’m looking for people who can network effectively to promote local candidates and bring campaign money back to their campaigns. Jim Donner has done a great job.
Jim was a candidate for re-election yesterday along with three other guys who aspired to the position. Dan Matthews from the 21st legislative district, Bob Williams from the 39th district and Randy Hayden from the fighting 32nd district were the other candidates. The good news was that all of them were very capable; regardless of which one was elected we would have a good man in the job.
As it turned out, the winner was Randy Hayden. All I can say is Randy has some big shoes to fill following Jim. I wish him well. I also wish Jim well and thank him for his continued contributions.
As a former candidate and current PCO, I challenge our County Republican Party to embrace the candidates who did not win and find ways for them to be contributors. All up and down the ballot, there were great people who have so much to offer. Keeping everyone working toward a common goal is vital.
A Final Note.
If we have any hope as a party to become a winning organization, we have to get over our petty differences that threaten to tear us apart or keep us apart. Whether you are a GOP person or a Libertarian or a Tea Party Republican, you should have a seat at our table and an opportunity to be heard. We didn’t experience a coming together yesterday. I hope our newly elected leaders can get our act together so we can spend the next two years whipping the hell out of Democrats rather than each other. If we can’t work out our differences within our own party, how can we ever hope to win important elections?
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