|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Posted by Jason Hagey @ 06:19:17 am
If Joel Shomaker isn't the biggest Tacoma booster in history, I don't know who is. I came across his guest editorial, published in The News Tribune May 16, 1925, while researching the paper's coverage of the opening of the Winthrop Hotel. My Winthrop article, part of the paper's 125th anniversary celebration, runs Sunday. Here, for your enjoyment and astonishment, is what Shomaker wrote 83 years ago for a feature called "Editorials by Readers."
Categories: Tacoma, Journalism
Thursday, May 8th, 2008
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 04:23:41 pm
U.S. rep. and superdelegate Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) pledged his support to Barack Obama today, a move that will likely increase the "Clinton's presidential bid is dead" headlines by a measure. I'll post the full statement below. But first, here's where Washington's superdelegates are at, according to The Superdelegate Transparency Project and our own notes: Obama: 5 Clinton: 5 Undeclared: 7* (Total of 17. Plus, there are two unnamed add-ons that will be chosen later.) And now, for the Larsen statement you've been waiting for: “Today I am endorsing Senator Barack Obama for President. I believe Senator Obama is the best candidate to turn our country’s hopes for a better future into reality.
Posted by John Henrikson @ 01:23:56 pm
In case you missed it, today's Hot Button poll is your chance to weigh in on whether Hillary should get out of the primary race or hold out. And we won't even ask you to declare a party affiliation.
Categories: President
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 10:31:20 am
Superdelegates, superdelegates, superdelegates. We ran a story this morning (posted here last night) about Washington state's remaining uncommitted superdelegates and whether their resolve has cracked yet. The answer: No. But one Washington superdelegate has announced support for Obama. (See below.) But we were puzzled by one bit: The Superdelegate Transparency Project said Sharon Mast is uncommitted. The New York Times says she's a Hillary delegate. I just got off the phone with Mast. She says she's uncommitted. "I was surprised when I went to The New York Times site and saw that I was committed," she said. "I have been uncommitted all along in this process." She said she intends to "remain so until this process completes itself." I'm always suspicious of passive statements, so I asked how the process will "complete itself." "We have some states left and one more territory," she said. I asked where she thinks the Times got the idea she was a Clinton supporter: "I have no idea. It doesn't matter. In real life, I know where I'm at, which is uncommitted." Update: Rep. Rick Larsen just announced on a conference call that he's throwing his superdelegate support to Obama. I know that because I read it on other blogs, which I had to do because I wasn't invited to the conference call. I rescind my birthday party invitation to Larsen.
Posted by Hunter George @ 06:00:18 am
I spent much of the past two days filling in for a reporter as the Reader Representative, answering questions, fielding complaints (and a few compliments), etc. A reader named Bernadine wanted to know if something she got in an e-mail is true. The question: Did Barack Obama really say he'd rather salute "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" instead of the National Anthem because he feels the anthem conveys "a war-like message"? Answer: No. This is an urban legend debunked by snopes.com and factcheck.com, both of which determined that it was a satirical column written by an Arizona writer that's now being circulated via chain e-mail as true.
Categories: Campaign news, President
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 06:21:22 pm
Brad Shannon, political reporter for The Olympian, and I spent some time today talking to Washington's uncommitted superdelegates. The question: Do you have any plans to commit to a candidate now that headlines are declaring Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid all but over? The answer: Not for now. What follows is a good portion of a story written by Shannon and I that will run in Thursday's paper. It will accompany a national story by the McClatchy national political reporter. Stay tuned, the superdelegates will have to make a call (or change their phone numbers) sooner or later: “I think over the next 48 hours I’ll be talking to the other uncommitted delegates in the state to see where the mood is. ... It may be time for us to make that choice as a Washington delegation,’’ superdelegate and party vice chairwoman Eileen Macoll of Pullman said Wednesday by telephone. “It’s definitely time to have a serious discussion.’’ But state party chairman Dwight Pelz and David McDonald, a member of the Democratic National Committee, say they’ll stay out of it for now. “I remain uncommitted. Perhaps not all the way to the convention, but I’m the chair of the party and we’re still picking delegates,” Pelz said. He says he hopes the party can have a nominee in June and avoid a divisive national convention.
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 05:50:46 pm
I've been writing about April fundraising totals for Gov. Chris Gregoire and her opponent, Dino Rossi, since the month ended. And, while I now have some memos and guestimations, I don't have all the answers. I do, however, have some questions. And math. Here goes. Gregoire reported $2.843 million cash on hand in March. Subtract $75,803.16 in unpaid debt and you've got $2.767 million. Rossi ended the month with $2.623 million cash on hand, zero unpaid debts. (Spokeswoman Jill Strait says the campaign pays debts as they're incurred, which means none carry over.) So ... Gregoire's campaign memo says they raised $1.3 million this month and indicated they'd end up with about a million more cash on hand. That means they spent the $.3 million (OK, $300,000) and will now have somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.8 million. Got that? Now for Rossi: Strait told me they raised about $625,000 and ended with around $3.1 million cash on hand. Get out your pencils. $2.623 million + $625,000 = $3.248 million. $3.248 million - X = $3.1 million. (X = all expenditures for the month.) X = $148,000. Question = The Rossi campaign spent about twice that during the previous month. And the month before. So how did they save all that dough? Strait told me they were being fiscally conservative. To be clear, I believe and distrust everyone equally. Nobody wants to tell me – and, by extension, you and their competition – the truth about money until they have to. So we'll wait, impatiently, for the final numbers. Unless anyone cares to enlighten me. You know how to reach me.
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 01:37:08 pm
I asked campaign representatives from Gov. Chris Gregoire and challenger Dino Rossi's campaigns today for their April numbers. I've already gotten a ballpark figure for each campaign and an e-mail to Gregoire supporters that gives their haul for the month. The response: We won't have final numbers until Monday, the deadline to file to the PDC. I understand: No campaign wants the other campaign to know exactly how they're doing until they absolutely have to, which is the 10th of every month. But give me some credit! I know you know. And now, courtesy of an e-mail sent to a handful of Gregoire supporters, you know that I know. Without further delay:
So, Rossi's campaign told me earlier that they had about $3.1 million cash-on-hand. In the one of the last lines of the memo I received it says: Gregoire "will end April with around $1 million more in cash-on-hand." That means $4.1 million, give or take. Or does it? Because that might mean that she spent zero dollars, and statewide bus tours cost money. Maybe the seemingly quickly written letter (there's a few grammar problems, but who am I to complain?) should have said a million more than last month, which would mean they'd have spent .3 of the $1.3 million raised. I'm working on it. Stay tuned.
Categories: Governor, Campaign news
Posted by Jason Hagey @ 12:39:49 pm
Bill Pugh joins Diane Supler, Tacoma's former budget director, at Sumner City Hall. Supler is Sumner's deputy city administrator. This from my colleague Mike Archbold:
Posted by Jason Hagey @ 09:29:47 am
"We are coping with a private organization's decision to consolidate its line of business," Councilwoman Julie Anderson said near the end of last night's council meeting. Anderson and other council members felt the need to respond to folks who testified during the Citizen's Forum about the fate of Tacoma's homeless population. Last week, the board of directors of the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association voted to get out of the business of running the men's and women's overnight shelters on Tacoma Avenue. Council members observed that several citizen's who spoke at the council meeting seemed to be testifying under the false impression that the homeless shelter was closing, and that the city had made the decision to shut it down. Councilman Mike Lonergan said the source of confusion may be a piece of paper circulated at the shelter indicating it was closing June 1. "It's absolutely false," Lonergan said. "Whoever is putting out that information, it's very sad," he added. Earlier in the day, John Briehl, Tacoma's director of Human Rights and Human Services, gave council members on update on the city's efforts to find a new operator for the shelter. Briehl also attempted to set the record straight on a couple of issues, one of them being something I reported. From Briehl's e-mail yesterday to council members:
Categories: Tacoma
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 09:14:45 am
...I thought you're just the kind of group that might like to see this:
Categories: President
• 3 comments
Posted by Jason Hagey @ 06:11:05 am
 Tacoma City Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg wants the City Council to consider asking voters voters this fall either to extend the current two-term limit on City Council service to three terms, or eliminate term limits entirely. Ladenburg said the role of a council member is changing, with more emphasis being placed on long-term projects. Under the city's current two four-year term limit, council members often are not able to see something to fruition, she said. She cited former Councilman Tom Stenger's work on the planned Water Ditch Trail -- a project she has since taken an interest in promoting -- as an example. "I've kind of taken a lead, but it still won't be completed when I finish my term," Ladenburg said Tuesday during the council's Committee of the Whole meeting. Ladenburg was elected to her second term in November 2005. It expires at the end of 2009. Ladenburg cited the work of several other council members as well, including Julie Anderson's work as a Sound Transit board member, Marilyn Strickland's interest in education, and Spiro Manthou's work on the old Asarco smelter site. Other council members showed some interest in the idea, but they also expressed some concerns. Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Posted by Jason Hagey @ 12:13:25 pm
 The City Council is expected to vote soon on a request to loan the Tacoma Dome $250,000 to get started in the event promotion business. With the Dome's small theater nearly finished, Deputy Director Rob Henson said it's time for Dome officials to go out and book their own -- primarily smaller -- events, bypassing promoters. They need the money to get started. Any profits from shows would go back into the fund; any losses would come out of the fund. "You're going to win some and lose some," Henson told me. "At the end of the day, we believe we will win more than we lose." In a memo to City Manager Eric Anderson, he wrote:
Henson also told me he expects increased competition from Key Arena "with the Sonics leaving." "If I were Key Arena, I would be putting together a very aggressive plan to attract as much business as possible," he said.
Categories: Tacoma
Monday, May 5th, 2008
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 05:19:35 pm
I just got an e-mail from Team Gregoire. I did it! Or you did, since I don't contribute to anyone: "Together, you and 6,352 energetic supporters helped us raise more than $1.3 million for our campaign in less than 30 days." That's a bit more than the estimate I got last week. I'm still waiting to find out their cash on hand. Now, for Rossi's campaign. I talked to spokeswoman Jill Strait, who tells me:
Posted by David Wickert @ 04:49:48 pm
Pierce County continues to baby the Douglas fir tree at Chambers Bay Golf Course in the wake of last week’s ax attack. Over the weekend an arborist attached metal bracing to the tree. It also got a good soil-scraping to uncover roots in preparation for the application of composting, according to the latest update from Tony Tipton, the county’s project manager for the golf course. The wound itself initially will be allowed to heal the natural way, using its own sap to fend off moisture and disease. In two to three weeks the arborist will apply a high-strength epoxy resin to fill the wound. The county also is considering how much to monitor the tree as it recovers.
Categories: Pierce County
• 3 comments
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 03:28:46 pm
I've received regular e-mails from Dino Rossi's gubernatorial campaign marking each thousandth donor. But for Rhonda Ray Wells, donor No. 30,746, Rossi made a special, Publisher's Clearinghouse-style surprise visit (and corresponding press release and video). For your viewing pleasure: If you didn't watch the video, Rossi was celebrating 30,746 because it marks the total number of donors in his failed 2004 campaign. And there's six months of campaigning left! So far, all the donors we've heard about have been in-state, salt of the earth types. I can't tell you what percentage of donors are out-of-state for either candidate, but they're out there. I kind of wonder what will happen if one of them is the next thousandth donor... Update: A reader pointed out something curious. The car is moving and Rossi is in it. But where's his seat belt?! There's a chance he adjusted it so as not to obstruct the shot but ... isn't that illegal?!?!? Oy.
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 02:53:25 pm
The AFL-CIO has unanimously voted to endorse Gov. Chris Gregoire's re-election bid:
Categories: Governor, Campaign news
Posted by Jason Hagey @ 11:27:18 am
Who can say whether Ruston will ever become the Medina of Tacoma, as Mayor Kim Wheeler predicted nearly four years ago? But as the town struggles with issues of growth and change, Tacoma's former finance director offers a few other examples that Ruston might emulate. From Steve Marcotte's Analysis of Current Financial Condition, submitted in February:
Marcotte's report included three recommendations for Ruston.
Posted by David Wickert @ 08:54:13 am
Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg will formally launch his campaign for attorney general today in Seattle. He’ll hold a similar rally later this month in Tacoma. More details below.
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
Posted by Joe Turner @ 09:04:29 pm
I don't know how one can use the phrase "ship shape" and "perfect storm" in the same news release, but somehow the state Department of Transportation did use those contradictory descriptions of the HOT lane debut. As I recall, in the movie version of "Perfect Storm," the boat sank! Something tells me there's gonna be a whole lotta drivers complaining to their legislators and others about those HOT lanes. Especially carpoolers. We're all used to being able to move in and out of the carpool lanes whenever we want, but that's not allowed anymore on Highway 167. Here's the officials version of today's events.
Categories: State government
• 6 comments
:: Next Page >>
|
Political Buzz
A team of experienced reporters keep you updated on what's happening in political arenas at the city, county, state and federal levels. From presidential campaign visits to who's running for city council, we've got it covered. Contributors
Niki Sullivan covers politics. Before coming to Tacoma, she covered state government in Oregon. She is a regular contributor to the GritCity blog. Email Niki Local politics links
• Chris Mulick's Olympia Dispatch• Brad Shannon's Campaign Trail • Postman on Politics • Sound Politics • Horse's Ass • Richard Roesler's Eye on Olympia • P-I's Strange Bedfellows Category
Calendar
Archives
 XML FeedsWhat is RSS? Misc
Who's Online?
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Contact Us | About Us | Site Map | Jobs@The TNT | RSS 1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742 © Copyright Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company  |
