Daily Archives: December 26, 2020

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In November, Donald Trump became the first president in American history to try to hold on to power that voters had given to someone else in the course of a national election.

The plot did not unfold in one dramatic scene. Instead, Trump lured Republicans to commit a series of coercive acts on his behalf under a false banner of non-existent election fraud the attempted steal masquerading as a security measure.

It might have worked. Many Republicans went along actively or silently. These included well-known national figures such as Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, Lindsey Graham and most other Republican senators.

But to succeed, Trumps plot depended not only on the top Republicans he dominates but also on the cooperation of hundreds of state and local officials. Over three crucial weeks in November, some of those officials made individual decisions that could have seen the plot through, while others thwarted it.

Here is an incomplete list of some of the lesser-known Republican friends and foes of US democracy who emerged in the historic November 2020 battle over its fate.

To stay in power, Trump needed to prevent states from certifying the results of their 3 November votes, or to convince Republican legislators to try to throw out state results. Trumps key targets included officials in Michigan and Pennsylvania. He found some ready accomplices.

Norman Shinkle

A former state senator in Michigan who refused to certify the states result despite independent certifications by all 83 Michigan counties and no evidence of fraud to cast doubt on Bidens 154,000-vote win in the state. Shinkle said he thought the result in majority-Black Detroit needs to be looked at. One county clerk called Shinkles abstention shocking and disgusting.

Monica Palmer and William Hartmann

Republican canvassers in Wayne county, Michigan, who sought to reverse their certification of the election result after Trump made a phone call to Palmer. She demanded an audit of the Detroit vote before the certification of its result, in defiance of law. She later said she was unaware of the law.

Mike Shirkey and Lee Chatfield

Republican leaders of the Michigan state senate and house who accepted an invitation to visit Trump at the White House as the president tried to prevent the state from certifying Bidens 82,000-vote win. In the Oval Office, Shirkey and Chatfield received a telephone briefing by Rudy Giuliani about fake election fraud. They later lied and said the meeting with Trump was about Covid-19 economic relief. They were photographed drinking Dom Prignon at Trumps hotel in Washington DC after their meeting.

Joe Gale

A Republican board of elections member in the Philadelphia suburbs who refused to certify a 27-point Biden win in his county. I believe the US supreme court should review the travesty that has happened in Pennsylvania, Gale said. Trumps campaign never presented any evidence of voter fraud to Pennsylvania courts, which threw out almost every Trump case.

Keith Gould and Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt

Republican members of the board of elections in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, were so committed to Trumps election fraud fairytale that they refused to certify the vote in a county Trump won by 14 points. Three Democrats on the board outvoted them to certify Trumps win in the county.

Kayleigh McEnany

After an almost two-month absence from the White House briefing room, the press secretary appeared 17 days after the election to spread Trumps lie about election fraud. There are very real claims out there that the campaign is pursuing, she said. Separately she lied about Trumps meeting with Michigan legislators saying it was not an advocacy meeting, there will be no one from the campaign there he routinely meets with lawmakers from all across the country.

Ronna McDaniel

The chair of the Republican national committee and Michigan native appeared at a news conference two days after the election and spread lies about discrepancies and irregularities, demanding an audit of the Michigan vote before certification in defiance of state election law. Under her leadership, the Republican national party spread wild and conspiratorial claims that Trump had actually won in a landslide. A majority of Republican voters now tell pollsters they believe the election was fraudulent.

Opposite those state and local officials who refused to certify election results were Republican officials who certified Bidens win.

Never in American history has such an action been interpreted as the stuff of heroism with election results always routinely certified no matter who won, as the constitution would have it.

But in 2020 these officials had to withstand a pressure campaign by Trump, who named many of them in tweets, leading to death threats against them and their families.

Al Schmidt

A Republican election commissioner in Philadelphia who stood up to Trump. The weekend after the election, Schmidt went on 60 Minutes and said Trumps claims about fraud in Philadelphia were bogus.

At the end of the day, we are counting eligible votes cast by voters. The controversy surrounding it is something I dont understand, Schmidt said. Counting votes cast on or before election day by eligible voters is not corruption. It is not cheating. It is democracy.

From the inside looking out, it all feels very deranged.

Aaron Van Langevelde

Republican vice-chair of a state canvassing board who voted to certify Bidens win in Michigan. Langevelde broke what would have been a deadlock caused by Shinkles perfidy. We have a duty to certify this election based on these returns, that is very clear, he said.

We must not attempt to exercise power we simply dont have, Langevelde continued. As John Adams once said, we are a government of laws, not men. This board needs to adhere to that principle here today. This board must do its part to uphold the rule of law and comply with our legal duty to certify this election.

Christopher Krebs

The former director of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, fired by Trump for defying the presidents vote fraud lies. Nine days after the election, Krebss agency issued a statement beginning, The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Krebs was fired a week later, but he continued speaking out about election integrity. After a Trump campaign lawyer said Krebs should be taken out at dawn and shot, Krebs said he would sue.

Gabriel Sterling

A Republican official who oversaw the implementation of the state of Georgias new voting system, Sterling delivered an impassioned speech warning about death threats against election workers and saying Trump is inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.

Addressing Trump, Sterling said:

Were investigating, theres always a possibility, I get it. You have the rights to go to the courts. What you dont have the ability to do and you need to step up and say this is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed, and its not right. Its not right.

Brad Raffensperger

The Republican secretary of state in Georgia who stood up to Trump and insisted that Bidens upset victory in the state was legit. Im a conservative Republican. Yes, I wanted President Trump to win. But as secretary of state we have to do our job, Raffensperger said in an interview with the Guardian. Im gonna walk that fine, straight, line with integrity. I think that integrity still matters.

In reply, Trump said of Raffensperger: Hes an enemy of the people.

Read more from the original source:

The Republican heroes and villains of Trump's attempt to steal the election - The Guardian

Santa will not be pleased. Not to mention Jesus. That guy is gonna be pissed. When they find out whats happened here, America is going to be in for a very dark Christmas indeed.

I am not one of the unfortunates so poisoned by capitalisms warped inhalation of the holiday season that they have grown cynical about the entire enterprise. My family takes Christmas very seriously. From a very young age I learned that this time of year was not about orgies of shopping or stewing in your contempt for your far-flung relatives, but rather about putting our dormant innate generosity into practice. The Christmas spirit is love. Our bitter cynicism should properly be oriented not at the Christmas spirit itself, but rather at those who corrupt it.

Three hundred thousand Americans have died from Covid this year. Well over 200,000 of them died unnecessarily. Had our government managed this public health crisis in a mature and rational way, the deaths would be a fraction of what they are. Our government chose not to do so. Our leering and stupid leader chose to make the wearing of masks into a defining political issue not out of necessity, or for any financial gain, or out of adherence to any philosophy, but out of aggressive stupidity, laziness and self-rationalization. Usually, the Republican party screws regular people because someone stands to get rich on it. In this case, it was only because they formed a cowards puppet line behind an awful leader with a loud voice. In every community in America, there are people lying dead because their elected officials were scared of being tweeted at by a former reality show host.

Merry Christmas, America.

Tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs this year through no fault of their own. Tens of thousands of small businesses, each one representing the dreams and ambitions of a human being and the employment of many others, have failed this year through no fault of their own. The money that our government appropriated to carry all of these people and businesses through this natural disaster ran out months ago, and nothing more has been forthcoming, even as we watch our friends and neighbors sink into bankruptcy and food insecurity and desperation.

Many other nations have paid workers to stay home, relieving financial pressures on employers and employees alike. Republicans in Congress have refused to do this, because the stock market has stayed high, and also because they dont care. Our incompetent and callous Republican leaders have ordered shutdowns without providing an adequate safety net, thus causing predictable public backlash against the shutdowns, which Republicans have been happy to encourage, because it directs public ire away from them and on to public health professionals. Idiocy in the White House has combined with the wealth-worshiping Republican Senate to produce the worst of both worlds: a raging preventable public health disaster and an economic catastrophe from which the very rich have been insulated.

Your loved ones can die, your business can collapse, your job can evaporate, your unemployment benefits can dry up, your stimulus checks can disappear, and in return your elected leaders will offer you sneering jokes about masks and lies about who won the election. The rest, they will mostly ignore.

Merry Christmas, America.

Donald Trump is a vapid and pathetic man controlled in every case by his own worst impulses, but he is not the biggest villain of 2020. Without the entire superstructure of the Republican party behind him voting for him, campaigning for him, debasing themselves before him, praising his stupid ideas and supporting him politically he would not be in a position to cause hundreds of thousands of deaths. There is a long, straight line that runs from the wink-and-nod racist Southern Strategy of Richard Nixon through the deregulation and union-busting of Reagan and up to the deadly narcissism of Trump. When a political party is willing to tell any lie and demonize anyone in order to protect the right of the rich to have everything, it will eventually find that it has become the home of cranks and fascists. The Republican party has spent decades stoking malignant ignorance in service of greed, and it has now been devoured by it. What afflicts us now is not just a virus, but a national philosophy lovingly tended by many generations of conquerors that prizes avarice and calls it individualism.

We are all in this pandemic together. Sickness passes from person to person with no regard for identity. Economic decline seizes every city and state at once. Overwhelming crises like these can be catalysts for unity. Shared pain is also an opportunity for shared love. Suffering so widespread can open everyones eyes to the common fate of humanity, and our responsibility to support one another in good times and bad.

But that is not what America is getting out of this crisis. We are getting the suffering without the sharing, and the pain without the promise of mutual support. Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, a man who told people to love their neighbors and give their wealth to the poor; it is embodied by Santa, a man who rewards generosity with more generosity, and vows to carry gifts to the homes of everyone no matter who they are. And yet the people who are loudest about Christmas those showing off the biggest tree, carrying the most ostentatious Bible are the same people who have chosen to allow hundreds of thousands of us to die, rather than do what needs to be done for public health, and have chosen to allow millions of us to sink into poverty, rather than do what needs to be done for public welfare. They have chosen this because they believe that this is the path that will maximize their own power. That is their present to you, and they really dont care if you like it.

Yes, Virginia, there is a War on Christmas. But the Republicans are the ones waging it. And the Christmas spirit, Im sorry to say, is losing.

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The Republican party has ushered in a dark Christmas, indeed. We deserve better - The Guardian

Catherine A. Sanderson, Opinion contributor Published 5:00 a.m. ET Dec. 23, 2020

Early intervention against low-level aggression applies in all sorts of situations. Sweating the small stuff works. Republicans should try it sometime.

Only 27 congressional Republicans were willing to acknowledge the results of the November election in a Washington Postsurvey this month.A majority of Republicans in Congress backed a lawsuit filed by the attorney general of Texas to overturn President-elect Joe Bidens victory. Multiple news outlets reported that on Friday, President Donald Trump discussed invoking martial law and appointing a conspiracy theorist to investigate voter fraud.On Sunday, he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse three Pennsylvania Supreme Court rulings on ballots cast there.

Many have been shocked by the silence and even support of so many elected members of the GOP in response to Trumps increasingly outlandish claims. But their behavior isnt at all surprising to social psychologists: Its a perfect demonstration of how toxic environments grow gradually, as problematic behavior starts with something small that then continues and expands.

Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman at the Harvard Business School designed a series of studies to test whether people would be less likely to report bad behavior if it built up gradually. They asked participants to serve as auditors and to accept or reject estimates of the number of pennies in a jar. In some cases the estimators gradually inflated their numbers over time increasing by just 40cents a round. In others they made more abrupt changes,jumping by $4.Over half (52%) of the gradual change auditors approved the estimates, compared with only 24%of those in the abrupt change group.The authors attribute this difference to the boiling frog effect.

And this slippery slope isnt unique to the political world.It happens in all types of environments, from fraternity houses to corporate boards.

In the fall of 2018,the psychological community was stunned when they heard that current and former students of Dartmouth Colleges Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences had filed a lawsuit accusing three well-known faculty members of engaging in inappropriate behavior including sexual harassment and assault over more than 16years.(In August 2019, Dartmouth settled the lawsuit for $14million, although the college did not admit liability.)

As Leah Somerville, director of the Affective Neuroscience and Development Laboratory at Harvard University, wrote abouther own experience as a graduate student at Dartmouth: If you are steeped in an environment with toxic norms, it is likely that you cant even see it for yourself. For example, while I was there it was common for certain faculty members to joke about details of trainees sex lives in the lab and public settings. At first, this made me very uncomfortable. But as those types of exchanges happened regularly and became more egregious, they seemed less and less scandalous.

U.S. Capitol building on Dec. 20, 2020, in Washington, D.C.(Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Real-world cases of corporate fraud provide similar evidence of the slippery slope of problematic behavior. Interviews with financial executives indicted for accounting fraud reveal that their conductin virtually all cases escalated gradually. Heres how one former chief financial officer described it: Crime starts small, it progresses very slowly. First you work off the books. Some people say its not a crime, OK, well rationalize it and say its not a crime. And once you start down this path, its really hard to pull yourself out.

What can we do to avoid following in the footsteps of so many in the Republican Party in our own personal and professional lives?

Strangers to me: I used to cover Republicans who are cowering to Trump. I don't recognize them now.

First, increase self-awareness.We all like to think of ourselves as good peoplewho do the right thing.Subtle reminders of our own behavior can therefore push us toward more ethical behavior.A study by researchers at Harvard Business School found that 37%of students who sign an honor code before completing a financial form ultimately cheat but that number climbs to 79%when students sign their name only after completing the form.

And it's not just college students who show greater honesty when first asked to affirm a commitment to ethical behavior.Car insurance customers who are asked to sign a statement verifying the information they provide is true before completing the form report higher car mileage (and thus greater premiums) than those who sign only at the end of the form. These small cues that increase self-awareness like signing your name can push people toward more ethical behavior. Its precisely why I make all students in my classes sign a pledge at the start of each exam I give.

Another subtle strategy for pushing people toward ethical behavior is to ask people to reflect on a time when they did not behave honorably and which they now regret. Research by Ayelet Fishbach at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Oliver Sheldon at Rutgers Business School demonstrates that asking people to reflect on their own bad behavior in the past reduces their willingness to do so again. Why? This step at least pushes us to think about the choice we are making, before we head down that slippery slope.

Former NH GOP chair: Texas lawsuit was the last straw. I'm leavingRepublicans.

Finally, when we find ourselves in a tricky situation, its really important to take a single step in the right direction.For example, the anti-bullying program Steps to Respect trains teachers and students to call out subtle forms of aggression like name-calling and ostracism, instead of waiting for behavior to escalate to physical violence. Responding to low-level types of bullying helps people gain skills that make it easier to respond more effectively to more overt acts of bullying. But more important, stopping low-level aggression mightchange the school climate to one where fewer students feel ostracized and there is less bullying later on.

This same process of early intervention applies in all sorts of daily situations, from calling out a friend for making a racist joke, reporting hazing on an athletic teamto confronting a colleague who falsifies expense reports.This is precisely the approach used in the most effective programs shown to prevent bullying in schools, harassment in the workplace, and police misconduct.In other words, do sweat the small stuff. Republicans should think about trying it.

Catherine A. Sanderson,the Poler Family Professor and Chair of Psychology at Amherst College, isthe author of "Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into Moral Rebels."Follow her on Twitter:@SandersonSpeaks

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Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/12/23/surrender-to-donald-trump-republicans-slippery-slope-column/3989411001/

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Slippery slopes and the boiling-frog effect: How the Republican Party succumbed to Trump - USA TODAY

KALAMAZOO, MI U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, today criticized President Donald Trumps pardon of his predecessor, Mark Siljander, who had ties to an Islamic charity alleged to have funded a terrorist group.

Siljander, who was sentenced to one year in 2010, was among 29 on Wednesday, Dec. 23, to receive pardons or commutations by Trump. Siljander was convicted of obstruction of justice and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

I am beyond disappointed the President used his pardon authority on Mark Siljander, who accepted a plea bargain and lesser charges and still served a year in federal prison after having been indicted with a series of federal crimes including obstruction of justice, money ... laundering, and lobbying for an international terrorist group with ties to Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban, Upton said in a series of tweets.

He added: Just stunned. I wish the President would instead focus his energy on helping the millions of families and small businesses ravaged by the pandemic.

Upton beat Siljander in the 1986 Republican primary. Siljander spent six years in the House of Representatives.

The criminal charges are related to Siljanders ties to former charity alleged to have funded terror groups. The former charity, the Islamic-American Relief Agency, used money from the U.S. Agency for International Development to pay Siljander for work to remove it from a list of organizations that supported terrorism.

Upton represents Michigans 6th Congressional District, including Kalamazoo County and five other Southwest Michigan counties. When he unseated Siljander, he represented the 4th District before redistricting in 1990.

Read more:

Ex-Michigan congressman among those pardoned by Trump

Man charged with arson in Kalamazoo hospital fire found dead in county jail

Great Lakes part of Christmas Storm system packing near-blizzard conditions, possible tornadoes.

Read more here:

Michigan Republican stunned by President Trumps pardon of ex-congressman - MLive.com

GOP party leaders and elected officials who've gone all-in for Trump, backed by right-wing media, have relentlessly attacked those who can't bring themselves to go along with the lame-duck President's refusal to concede.

To be sure, similar splits exist across the GOP nationwide. But the infighting in Arizona offers a clear picture of why some Republicans fear that if Trump continues stirring up and directing his followers once he's out of office, the party may cripple itself at the state and local level. The discord within the party could quickly hamstring the GOP as it enters a crucial election cycle: Republicans have lost both of Arizona's Senate seats in the last two elections, and are entering 2022 with both the governor's office and a Senate seat on the ballot. The divides between more moderate Arizona Republicans and Trump allies like state GOP chairwoman Kelli Ward could lead to bitter primaries that could hurt the party's hopes of fielding strong candidates in the fall.

"It has become very toxic," said one Republican state lawmaker, who would only speak on condition of not being named. "Eighty percent with you isn't enough for some people... Trump is so popular in the party and such an influence, that anyone who tries to purge Trump himself or his memory will utterly fail and go nowhere."

"Some Republicans have decided to file for divorce from reality, facts be damned," said Barrett Marson, a publicist who worked for Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's political action committee in the 2020 election.

At the same time as Republicans did well in down-ballot races, Trump's hard-core following in Arizona wasn't enough for him to win the state this year. Nearly as shocking, to Republicans, was Democrat Mark Kelly's win in the US senate race over Sen. Martha McSally. McSally, after two terms in the US House, narrowly lost a Senate race to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in 2018; Ducey later appointed her to the late Sen. John McCain's seat. She lost to Kelly in the race to serve out the last two years of McCain's term by nearly 79,0000 votes.

As one GOP official groused, "The last time Arizona had two Democrats in the US Senate, the nation was on edge waiting for little Ricky to be born on 'I Love Lucy.'" That was in 1953.

Normally, Kelly would be seen as vulnerable in 2022, because in Arizona, as elsewhere, the GOP historically has outpaced the Democratic Party in midterm turnout.

But the GOP infighting could change that calculus.

Former state attorney general Grant Woods, a lifelong Republican who says he left the party because of Trump, thinks the Arizona GOP has put itself in an impossible place.

"Right now, I'm confident the governor could not win a primary. He's entered into Jeff Flake territory; he's getting it from the right and the left...[And] You're not going to beat Kelly with a Trumper candidate in the general election, but could anyone else win the primary?"

Citing two of Trump's biggest supporters in the state's congressional delegation, Woods added that if Rep. Paul Gosar or Biggs "or one of those sorts runs, they're going to get stomped," in the general election.

Mike Noble, chief of research for OH Predictive Insights, an Arizona polling firm, says the data are clear: "A base-only strategy will not get it done for the GOP statewide." He said that the 2020 vote here was effectively a referendum, rejecting Trump even as Republicans held on to their 31-29 margin in the state house, and lost one seat but kept control of the state senate.

Noble said he considers Arizona a "magenta" state -- that is, the very lightest shade of red.

"The X factor out there is Trump," he said. "With a stroke of his thumb, he can raise funds overnight for someone, millions. If he stays involved and helps a Trump state, it could cause a lot of damage for the GOP, exhausting resources. It would be tough; Democrats, especially in Arizona, are very united, compared to Republicans."

Such fears aren't lost on some Trump backers within the party.

"Republicans in this state got a wake-up call; we have to do everything we can to find unity going into the next cycle," said Michael Burke, GOP party chair for Pinal County, southeast of Phoenix. Burke sent a letter to Ducey in November signed by 14 of the GOP's 15 party chairs, calling on the governor to convene a special session to look into allegations of voting irregularities. The fifteenth party chair, Rae Chornenky, of Maricopa County, resigned a week earlier under pressure from the state chair, Ward, after she failed to observe a pre-election test of voting equipment, including ballot tabulators from Dominion Voting Systems, in her county.

Still, Burke says of the party divisions, "there will be remnants of that for a long time, but it will blow over."

Marson, the publicist, agrees, saying, "People can move past things after two full years. There's a lot of time to heal the wounds of 2020."

Others see less prospect of any end to the infighting.

"The rift isn't, 'let's find a way to get along;' the rift is, you need to have the proper role of government restored," said state Senator-elect Kelly Townsend, who is aligned with Ward and signed a resolution asking Congress to recognize a slate of 11 pretend GOP electors.

Townsend said she simply meant the tweet as a criticism of Ducey's actions; but she also said of the governor, "How do you trust someone like that again?" and reiterated her belief that investigations into the election need to continue. "We should not turn our eyes away from this in the name of getting along to win."

Ducey declined requests for an interview with CNN, as did Ward. Reps. Gosar and Biggs didn't respond to interview requests.

On November 30, Ducey was in the midst of a public ceremony signing off on the certification of Arizona's election results, awarding the state's 11 electors to Biden, when his cell phone began playing "Hail to the Chief," a ringtone Ducey told reporters he'd reserved for Trump. Ducey muted his phone and put it on the desk while he finished signing. Trump attacked shortly after, saying "Arizona will not forget what Ducey just did."

Ducey, who is term-limited under state law, has not said what his plans are for 2022. But it isn't just the governor whose future is unclear.

"A lot of people are upset with legislators, with the governor, the attorney general. They think we have far more power to take pro-Trump measures than in fact we have," said one GOP state lawmaker who asked not to be named; similarly, the lawmaker said, "No one wins with Covid if you're a public official. Half the people think you're trying to kill them, and half think you're taking away their freedom."

Woods, for his part, sees one, narrow path forward for Republicans in Arizona: Organizing the moderate wing.

"If you want to get rid of Kelli Ward, you're going to have to organize, get regular people, spend the time and do it. They should do that. I don't know if they will or not; it's very difficult. It takes time and organizational skills... you have to spend the time, talk to people, motivate them. Moderation is a relative term. Being more moderate than Kelli Ward doesn't take a lot. But it's always more difficult to organize around the centrist," he said.

"You never see parades with people holding signs saying, 'moderation now,'' Wood added, "even though that's where most people are."

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Arizona Republicans worry party infighting could harm them in future elections - CNN

John Ahern, a longtime Spokane businessman-turned Republican lawmaker known for tireless door-to-door campaigning, his friendly nature and conservative politics died Saturday. He was 86.

He died from natural causes after enduring multiple cardiovascular issues and a recent case of pneumonia, said his son, Mike Ahern.

Prior to his work in the Legislature, Ahern ran his own business, Janco Products Incorporated, since 1981, selling office supply products. The skills he learned from running the business allowed him to connect to people while running and working in the Legislature.

Watching him in the Legislature, working and talking to people, is one my favorite memories of him, Mike Ahern said. He fought hard for his constituents. He didnt even care what party they were a part of or what cause they were fighting for. Every cause or issue they cared about he would listen to and, boom, he was on the phone.

Ahern had a reputation of being an affable and caring man.

He liked to involve people, said County Commissioner Josh Kerns, who served on Aherns staff in the Legislature. He would ask my thoughts on things, teach me the legislative process and how to find certain things. He was a teacher at heart. He always talked about how his grandmother was a teacher and some of that definitely rubbed off on him.

Ahern loved teaching young leaders and met frequently with Gonzagas College Republicans Club, Kerns said.

From 2001 to 2008, Ahern served as state representative for Washingtons 6th district. He lost his seat to Democratic Rep. John Driscoll in 2008. Ahern won the seat back from Driscoll in 2010 and served until he retired in 2012.

John was a devoted family man and I always admired that about him, Driscoll said. Wherever he went, he had his wife and at least one of his kids with him. He was just a good, solid Spokane citizen and I admire the public servant work he has done.

After leaving the Legislature, Ahern ran unsuccessfully for Spokane City Council in 2013 and for City Council president in 2015.

As a lawmaker, Ahern promoted low taxes and less regulations. He opposed abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

His biggest passion was public safety and veterans issues. He was incredibly proud to have played a roll in bringing a veterans home to Eastern Washington, Kerns said. And the felony DUI bill is always something he loved to talk about.

Ahern was instrumental in the creation of the Veterans Home in Spokane. He also helped to construct and pass a law that allowed felony charges and prison time to be given to chronic drunken or drugged drivers in Washington.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle knew Ahern as a campaigner who never tired of ringing doorbells to make a pitch to a voter.

Back in 2010, John was trying to get his seat back in the house. John was out there doorbelling every day, said Spokane County Treasurer Michael Baumgartner, who served with Ahern in the Legislature. I dont think God ever made a doorbeller like John Ahern. I think people had written him off and stopped talking to him, but he was a people person and dedicated to his job.

Kerns said many had written him off after he lost his race in 2008, assuming he wouldnt win again.

One thing about him is how forgiving he was, even when he lost his race in 2008 and a lot of people wrote him off and had nothing to do with him, Kerns said. When he won his seat back in 2010, he forgave every single person. He never held a grudge, was conniving, or looking for a way to get even. If you did him wrong, he would forgive you.

This level of forgiveness allowed Ahern to focus his energy on getting his policy passed instead of settling a score.

In his last term, Ahern wanted to pass a bill to extend the statute of limitations on cases of sexual assault involving children.

John was relentless on helping get a bill about helping the victims of sexual violence passed, Baumgartner said. He went to the Senate and camped out at Lisa Browns office, who didnt want to give him the bill and said she didnt have time to meet with him. He camped out there until she had time to meet.

Ahern was not ultimately the one who ushered it into becoming a law, but Kerns said he laid the groundwork for his predecessor, Rep. Jeff Holy.

Besides his son, Mike, Ahern is survived by his wife, Nancy Ahern, whom he married in 1963, two other children and four grandchildren.

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Retired Republican state Rep. John Ahern dies at 86 - The Spokesman-Review