Ex-chaplain James Yee, Ted Danson debate in Lacey

• Published May 19, 2008

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Democrats are sending former Army chaplain James Yee of Thurston County to their August national convention as a Barack Obama delegate.

Yee was selected Saturday in Lacey during one of nine congressional district caucuses Democrats held around the state. Yee found himself unexpectedly matched up with actor Ted Danson, a Clinton backer from California who was brought in at the last minute to speech on behalf of the former first lady.

“I came out and basically reiterated that Sen. Obama is really the only candidate that consistently campaigns on rejecting torture without exception, on closing Guantanamo Bay, restoring habeas (corpus) and adhering to the Geneva Conventions,” Yee said today in an interview. He said he was added to the line-up of speakers to balance out Danson's appearance.

Yee, a Muslim chaplain, was arrested and detained in 2003 but later released and given an honorable discharge. Charges that he possessed classified information were later discounted, and an Army investigation later found the military did not follow proper procedures in the case.

Danson was a last-minute arrvial at the convention at the behest of Hillary Clinton's campaign. He urged the party to find unity but painted Clinton as most experienced to take on the challenges facing the next president, according to witnesses.

The Lacey event also featured a meeting of precinct committee officers who met to nominate candidates for Congress — part of the state Democratic Party’s strategy to preserve legal rights in its ongoing challenge of the new top-two primary. PCOs from the 9th district voted quickly to nominate Smith, D-Tacoma, said Zach Smith, the 9th district’s representative on the state party’s executive board.

PCOs from the 3rd district, which takes in Southwest Washington from Olympia to Vancouver, similarly met in Napavine. The latter PCOs nominated U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, over peace candidate Cheryl Crist of Olympia.

The vote was 59 PCOs for Baird to 24 for Crist, but once a complex weighting formula was applied to reflect the number of Democrats in each district, Baird won by a 422 to 115 margin.

Thurston County delegates will be heavily represented at the Democrats’ national convention in Denver in August. Look in The Olympian tomorrow for a fuller story about who is going and why the county has so many, including Yee.