Rick Bart (R-Arlington) on Rick Larsen's endorsement of Barack Obama  

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"I strongly disagree with his odd perception of reality.  The reality is that the 110th Congress has a lower approval rating than President George Bush. The reality is that Americans no longer trust Congress.  The best hope we have for a better future is to change Congress," said Rick Bart.   

Bart's comments come after hearing that his opponent, Rep. Rick Larsen said today that he is endorsing Barack Obama for President.  Larsen said Obama was "the best candidate to turn our best hopes for a better future into reality."

"Larsen's statement that Obama's performance this week in primaries in North Carolina and Indiana show "he can take a pounding and come back strong to deliver his message
of hope and change just wreaks of grandstanding and partisan politics.  While it's nice to see Rick Larsen make a decision, once again he is one of the last people in his own party, in Congress and in the country to take a stand on this issue," said Bart

"Our country is a nation that consumes too much, saves too little and has to borrow huge amounts of money from abroad to finance our fiscal and trade deficits. Both political parties must begin to work together to solve this crisis now! The finger pointing and political posturing of the past several years has done nothing to resolve this very real threat. Inaction by Congress is threatening our quality of life, exclaimed Bart."

Rick Bart is the retired Sheriff of Snohomish County ([A1] retiring January 1 2008).  Rick was elected in 1995 and served for the past 12 years.  Sheriff Bart was in law enforcement for over 37 years, 34 of which were with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office where he worked in virtually all areas including patrol, civil, corrections and investigations.  From 1978 through 1989, he was assigned to homicide investigations and was eventually assigned supervision of all homicide investigations.  He also commanded a patrol precinct and served as division commander for investigations.  

"This campaign for Congress is going to be about trust; about getting things done and about leadership.  When I became Sheriff, I learned quickly to gain and keep the trust of the people.  Without it, the Sheriff's office has nothing.  All of our authority comes from the people and Congress is no different!  Without our trust, Congress has nothing.  Their authority comes from the people they serve. Right now, most people don't trust Congress. Why? Because nothing is getting done and our problems are going unsolved.  They are not only going unsolved, they are getting worse! They are not working together to solve those problems.  Instead our taxes continue to climb and record numbers of Americans are losing their homes to foreclosure," explained Bart.  

"In 1995, when I became Sheriff of Snohomish County, there were a lot of naysayers that said we couldn't restore trust in our Sheriff's Department.  But we did it, one person at a time.  Likewise, restoring trust in Congress is not an impossible task....it can be done!"

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