Herrera Beutler's dubious achievement

Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler has found herself in the company of not only Michele Bachmann but also Tim Eyman and Anthony Weiner.

The Seattle PI staff handed out awards to politicians with the biggest gaffes, off-the-wall predictions and “baffling ignorance” in 2011.

And our 3rd Congressional District rep made the list.

The PI awarded Herrera Beutler with the “public openness prize.”

From the PI:

“Newly elected Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., performed like a deer in the headlights at initial public meetings, so staff opted for invitation-only “coffees” with the congresswoman.”

“Herrera Beutler staff sent a ‘coffee’ invite to the Chronicle, in Centralia-Chehalis, but asked that the newspaper not print its location. Why not? The wrong type of people will show up, explained an aide.”

“The strongly conservative paper, to its credit, told readers where the congresswoman would appear.”

(Former Columbian reporter Kathie Durbin also wrote about the infamous coffees in August: http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/aug/30/no-town-halls-herrera-beutler)

Now ex-Rep. Weiner won the “Maladroit use of social media award” for sending the photo of himself in tight undies to a college student in Washington.

Eyman won the silver medal for bad prediction when he announced that his anti-tolls, anti-light rail Initiative 1125 was leading in Seattle. Election day, however, told a different story.

President Obama also made the list for his September visit to Seattle for two fundraisers, one of which cost $35,800 per couple. He failed to hold any public events or answer questions from anyone other than those who coughed up the big bucks.

For the dubious achievements of Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Costco and others, check out the Seattle PI story: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/connelly/article/Lies-pratfalls-and-bad-predictions-our-2427471.php#ixzz1hqtVb7TQ

Also, a shout-out to local blogger and Columbian commenter Lew Waters, who posted a link to the PI article in our comments section early this morning.