Faced with a severe recession, it’s not a bad thing for government to look busy. When public confidence is shaken, creating the impression that problems are getting fixed can be as important as actually fixing problems.

That’s one argument for Gov. Chris Gregoire’s plan to make emergency withdrawals from Washington’s $4 billion unemployment trust fund. The prospect of injecting more money into the pockets of the jobless and businesses may deliver a healthy if modest psychological lift.

Still, it would be optimistic to expect that passing out $200 million in extra unemployment benefits and another $204 million in tax breaks for companies will do much to jump start Washington’s stalling economy. It’s just not enough cash to do the job.

=> Read more!

This editorial will appear in Friday's print edition.

WASL replacement
needs to be up to the test
Cheaper, shorter and faster are OK – as long as Washington’s students are being rigorously assessed.

Some WASL critics should be happy with the news that Randy Dorn, the state’s new superintendent of public instruction, wants to do away with the hated test by 2010. They recognize the need for a graduation requirement that assesses student proficiency but don’t think the WASL is a good way to do it.

Other truly diehard critics likely still aren’t satisfied, because Dorn wants to replace that high-stakes test with a different high-stakes test that students will have to pass in order to graduate. (Although alternatives still will be available to students who cannot pass the test.) These critics – including the Washington Education Association – would just as soon do away with any graduation requirement other than passing the 12th grade.

=> Read more!

Yesterday, I expressed my doubts that Dale Washam would have won the assessor-treasurer's without the benefit of Pierce County's ranked-choice voting system, which has no primary.

I believe Washam's candidacy wouldn't have survived the scrutiny it would have gotten had he been one of only two finalists going into the November election.

I asked RCV champion Kelly Haughton why he thought Washam would have prevailed in a nonpartisan race even if there had been a primary. His response is below. I have to agree with one of his points: Our editorials do not often swing elections.

Here's Kelly's argument:

In a low profile non-partisan race during a presidential year, the most important things for candidates are name recognition and a good voters pamphlet statement.

Washam and Lee had the best name recognition and voters pamphlet statements, so despite a general lack of campaigning by these two candidates, they received the most first choices in the November RCV election.

This indicates to me they would have been the winners of August primary in a Top 2 race. From your email, I understood that you agreed with the above, but feel like things would have been different after a Top 2 primary.

=> Read more!

Washington has enough cash in its unemployment insurance trust fund to extend and increase benefits to the newly jobless and lower payroll costs for employers. Given the economic downturn and need for a stimulus, that’s the right thing to do.

New SPI Randy Dorn wants to do away with the WASL and replace it with shorter, cheaper, computerized tests. We’re open to that – as long as they’re still rigorous assessments of student proficiency.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.

Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.

The final word on whether to dump Pierce County's ranked-choice voting system will belong to the voters.

County spokesman Ron Klein, on his next-to-last day before moving to a new post as Sound Transit's communications chief, confirmed that repealing RCV would require voter approval of a charter amendment.

Klein said he believes a draft amendment is before the Council rules committee. As I mentioned in an earlier post, new County Auditor Jan Shabro is all for getting rid of RCV, and so is County Executive Pat McCarthy, who gave up the auditor's post to run for executive last fall.

The irony, Klein noted, is that voters would face the proposed amendment in November -- which will be another RCV election for the county.

Shabro herself will have to stand for election if she wants to keep the auditor post she won by appointment. And it will be an RCV election -- perhaps the county's last.

I think there will be an open seat this fall in the county prosecutor's office now held by Gerry Horne, who is not seeking re-election. That will not be an RCV election, because elections for judge and prosecutor are governed by state law.

Update: Jim King correctly corrects me. Horne's term ends in 2010. I should have known that.

Couldn't make it to the inauguration? No problem! Just Photoshop yourself into the big event. It's fun, and it's a good way to mess with your descendants' minds when they come across the photo in the distant future.

Just click on this Web site and follow the easy directions for downloading your face into one of several photos. I just did a screen grab to my desktop of the finished photo and e-mailed it to my friends with this message:

I had a great seat at the inauguration. I decided to wear red so I would stand out on the podium.

Did you see me on TV? I did the chomp during the inaugural speech. (Go Gators!)

Thanks to radio station KMTT for the link.

It hasn't exactly been a state secret, but Tacoma architect Jim Merritt today made his bid for mayor official.

Merritt filed his formal public disclosure form this morning, and campaign manager Ronnie Bush issued the press release included below.

I'm trying to recall the last person who was elected Tacoma mayor without first serving as an elected official of some kind. Current mayor Bill Baarsma had been a City Council member two different times.

Mike Crowley was appointed by his council colleagues after former House Speaker Brian Ebersole resigned to become president of Bates Technical College.

Harold Moss was a councilman when he was appointed to fill a vacancy. I think Doug Sutherland had never held office before he was elected mayor and later as Pierce County executive.

I'll run the question past Baarsma, who is a walking encyclopedia of Tacoma political history. Update: Baarsma, just back from D.C. for the inauguration, says Sutherland was a City Councilman before he ran for mayor.

The city has already had one architect serve as mayor; that was Gordon Johnston, who served in the early 1970s. Johnston, I believe, was a "political virgin" when he was elected. We're still checking on the other mayors going back to 1952, when a corruption scandal prompted voters to approve a council-manager form of government, including a directly elected mayor.

Here's Merritt's press release:

=> Read more!

It’s the question that sits before the Senate Finance Committee this week. Critics are saying that Geithner shouldn’t even be considered because he failed to pay his own payroll tax from 2001 to 2004.

To which I say: Aren’t those folks being a little too harsh?

Would we disqualify the White House chef if once, and only once, he accidentally poisoned the food? Would we tell the White House driver who carelessly crashed into a telephone pole to take a walk? Like, he would do that again.

So why is everyone giving Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner a hard time? So what if he didn’t pay his payroll taxes for three years? He was only the employee of the International Monetary Fund. What did he know of taxes?

=> Read more!

Former Pierce County Executive Ladenburg is hoping for a "you're hired" phone call from the Obama administration.

Ladenburg yesterday confirmed what I thought might happen after his eight-year stint as county executive ended last month: He is "under consideration" for a position as Region X director for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Ladenburg would be a plausible choice for the job, given his administrative experience as executive, good relations with state and local environmental groups and his status as one of the state's more high-profile Democrats.

"The current (regional) director used to work for a chemical company, so I think they're going to make a change," Ladenburg laughed.

=> Read more!