Gregoire bus tour update: Campaigning means babysitting

Editor's note: Liz Burlingame, a student at University of Washington and member of Seattle Politicore, is an embedded blogger on the Gregoire bus tour. Not many people know more about babysitting than Bill Jemkins. Babysitting campaign signs, that is.
Editor's note: Liz Burlingame, a student at University of Washington and member of Seattle Politicore, is an embedded blogger on the Gregoire bus tour. Not many people know more about babysitting than Bill Jemkins. Babysitting campaign signs, that is.

Editor's note: Liz Burlingame, a student at University of Washington and member of Seattle Politicore, is an embedded blogger on the Gregoire bus tour. Not many people know more about babysitting than Bill Jemkins. Babysitting campaign signs, that is. Jemkins sat next to me on the Gregoire tour bus from Tacoma to Vancouver, and the first things I noticed was his Teamsters International Brotherhood jacket and his Barack Obama pin. He's been working with campaigns for the last 14 years, for politicians such as Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and former governor Gary Locke. "I buried signs over 120 miles of road and babysat them three days a week, otherwise they'd have me buried," Jemkins said jokingly, of his work on Locke's campaign. When workers from the other party would put their candidates' signs in front of his, Jemkins would inch up the road, re-planting his in front. Some nights he'd work four to five hours. When mentioning Cantwell's campaign, Jemkins followed each sentence by, "which I regret." He was infuriated when Cantwell didn't send out thank you letters, as Locke did. Jemkins said he worked on King County Executive Ron Sims' campaign 13 years ago, and to this day, he still gets a hug when they meet. "It's important you take care of the people who take care of you, not snub your nose at them when you get elected," he said. The Gregoires are good at thanking, Jemkins said. He was recently invited to a private lunch they hosted, and in 2004, the family sent him Christmas cards. Driving past Longview, Jemkins pointed out the window to an area where he once did signing for Dixy Lee Ray, Washington's former governor. "You see that hill up there? I climbed over that guardrail, up that hill and buried a sign there four years ago." At eighty-something-years-old, Jemkins is still signing, even with an injured toe that was almost removed twice. He set up signs between Aberdeen and Longview because Republicans captured the area in 2004, and he was scared they'd take it again. Four years later, Jemkin's Dixy sign is still there. He said it's because "the state people were too lazy to climb up there and get it." "Now I'd never be able to climb those hills; I'm almost out of commission. I just can't believe it's still there," he said, beaming.

  

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