I don’t believe it’s official yet, but I just noticed that Dale Washam already is listed as Pierce County assessor-treasurer on the office’s web site. Hey, nothing wrong with pleasing the new boss, right?

Washam won a six-way race for assessor-treasurer in November. Incumbent Ken Madsen, whose term expires today, was eligible for another term but did not seek re-election.

This just in from the Washington Department of Social and Health Services.

Gov. Gregoire names Stan Marshburn as DSHS interim secretary

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire today named Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Chief Financial Officer Stan Marshburn to serve as the agency’s interim secretary until a permanent replacement for the departing Robin Arnold-Williams is named. Marshburn’s appointment is effective Monday, Jan. 5, when Arnold-Williams begins her new role as director of the Governor’s Policy Office.

=> Read more!

Pierce County Democrats have formally recommended three candidates to be the next county auditor.

In a letter to the County Council dated Tuesday, Chairman Nathe Lawver nominated Katie Blinn, Julie Anderson and Beckie Summers. Lawver said the candidates are “highly qualified to fulfill the duties and responsibilities for the position.”

The Democratic Party claims the council must select the next auditor from among the candidates it has nominated. A majority of the County Council disagrees.

You can download a copy of Lawver’s letter here. It includes resumes for each of the candidates.

Tacoma wants $12 million for the Puyallup River Bridge, $3 million for Murray Morgan Bridge cables and $5 million for the Old Town Dock.

Fife wants $25 million for the 70th Avenue-Valley corridor project.

Orting wants $6 million for a connector at Highway 162 and Whitehawk Boulevard.

King County Metro wants $35 million to buy 40 bybrid buses.

The list goes on.

The Puget Sound Regional Council has assembled a draft list of economic stimulus projects for the four-county region of Pierce, King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties. The council's transportation committee will meet Jan. 8 to go over the list.

I'm sure if anyone else wants to build something with federal money, there's still a chance to get your bid in.

One question: How many jobs are created by Metro's purchase of 40 buses? I mean, jobs in America, not Canada?

Last month a special meeting of RPEC was scheduled for members to review projects submitted for potential economic recovery funds in order to make a recommendation to the Transportation Policy Board at its January 8th meeting.

=> Read more!

Tomorrow was supposed to be the deadline by which Gov. Chris Gregoire, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and King County Executive Ron Sims were going to decide how to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Ain't gonna happen.

The trio are putting off their decision until January, or so they say. (Their decision is merely a recommendation to the Legislature anyway.)

So far, the state has committed $2.4 billion for that project, or maybe it's $2.8 billion. Quite frankly, I can't tell anymore because the Legislature created these particularly muddy pools of money to disguise exactly how much money will be spent on the mega-projects because there isn't enough money to go around.

Anyway, the costs of the 8 options still on the table (yes, there are 8, even though there are supposed to be only 2 by now) is $3.3 billion to $4.5 billion.

Everybody should care about this because the money is coming from everyone who pays the state gas tax.

Joint statement on Alaskan Way Viaduct

=> Read more!

Sometimes dealing with corporations can make you feel like you've fallen down some Orwellian rabbit hole.

In reporting on a six-month follow up on the state's cell phone ban, my editor asked me to see if Bluetooth headsets were still selling like hotcakes -- the largest manufacturer reported a three-fold increase in sales of car kits after cell phone bans went into effect for motorists in California and Washington in July.

So, I surfed over to the company's Web site at parrotsafedriving.com and found this:

Contact Us: Marketing & Communications Office - (248) 354-5400 or Email: kelly.zachos@parrot.com

I was having a hard time navigating the computerized phone interface, so I sent an e-mail:

Subject: Media request

The washington hands-free law is now 6 months old. I know parrot saw a
surge right after the law went into effect. I'm trying to check in on how things are looking 6-months in.

Here's the full response I got:

Thank you!

Kelly Zachos
Events & New Media Coordinator
Marketing & Communications NA
Mobile: (248) 495-9119
Kelly.Zachos@parrot.com
-----------------------------------------
Parrot
Detroit Address:
28446 Franklin Road
Southfield, MI 48034
DID: (248) 663-1960
Main: (248) 354-5400 x211
Fx: (248) 354-5401
-----------------------------------------
www.parrot.com

Thank you???

I sent a follow up e-mail asking if that was intended to be a "no comment." I haven't received a reply.

Later I found a different number for media relations. The woman I contacted is on vacation....

I'm not giving up. I just wanted to take the opportunity to reveal how sometimes even a tiny detail in a story can take a lot more legwork than one might expect.

UPDATE: When I got in this morning I had an e-mail from Mike Hedge, Parrot's Vice President of Marketing & Corp. Communications, letting me know that the increases they saw was largely undermined by the spike in gas prices and general economic downturn.

(Photo: cameronparkins.)

David Wickert has written recently that 19 people had applied to be Pierce County's next auditor (following the election of Pat McCarthy to County Executive), noting that the county was not going to release their identities.

Susan Long, attorney for the county council, said the applications are exempt from public disclosure under state law. She cited this RCW, which states that “all applications for public employment, including the names of applicants, resumes and other related material submitted with respect to the application” are exempt from public inspection.

Here at the TNT, we wondered whether some of the "usual suspects" might be on the list. Well, today I can confirm that Robert "The Traveller" Hill's name is not among them.

Reached by phone he said he had been thinking of applying but had not thrown his name into the hat.

It's a reasonable question -- Hill, who most recently failed in his bid for county sheriff, is a frequent filer. As I previously reported, in August Hill entered his name for the 2012 state senate race.

Here's a story that will appear in Tuesday's print edition of The News Tribune.

BY Joseph Turner
joe.turner@thenewstribune.com
Tuition at the University of Washington could rise much higher than the 7 percent annual increases proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire earlier this month.

The Legislature has approved double-digit increases several times in the past 25 years, most recently in 2002, when state lawmakers let the UW and Washington State University hike tuition by 16 percent for undergraduates. That year, Washington was facing a $1.6 billion budget shortfall.

Today, the projected shortfall is $5.7 billion and climbing.
And the state’s budget woes could be four times worse than those of 2002 by late April 2009, when the Legislature is expected to finish writing its version of a state budget for 2009-11.

The severity of the budget crisis alone suggests lawmakers might once again turn to huge tuition hikes to offset deep cuts they otherwise would have to make to higher education.

=> Read more!

As I reported last week, the Service Employees International Union 775NW joined the 40,000-member Federation of State Employees in suing Gov. Chris Gregoire for not forwarding the contract with its members' pay raises to the Legislature. They filed the suit today.

The SEIU seems to be on more solid footing than the Federation. The collective bargaining law for them flatly says any contract approved by an arbitrator must be sent to the Legislature.

And Victor Moore, the governor's budget director, said last week he would need several changes in state law to implement the governor's budget.

Her budget proposal would freeze salaries for state workers, quasi-workers like the 23,000 home care workers and public school employees (the state portion of their pay.)

Here's the story I wrote last week.

Home Care Workers File Lawsuit, Charge Governor’s Budget Illegal

Federal Way - SEIU Healthcare 775NW filed a lawsuit today with the Washington State Supreme Court today charging that Governor Gregoire violated state law by failing to include funding for the home care worker union contract in her proposed 2009-11 budget. The contract provides a modest raise – 25-cents in 2009 and 22-cents in 2010 – to 23,000 low-wage workers who earn less than $11/hour to care for vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities.

=> Read more!

A reader asked if there would be a cost to use the public kayak launch that's expected to be installed and ready to use by spring along the Thea Foss Waterway.

The answer: Probably.

The Foss Waterway Development Authority has not made a decision, but I'm told that officials there are trying to determine what they think it will cost to keep the float clear of goose droppings and generally to maintain it.

There may be a "modest" fee to cover the cost of maintenance.

Piggybacking on Joe's post about whether DNA samples taken upon felony arrest or only upon conviction -- I thought I'd throw the question open for voting.

Federal authorities will start collecting DNA samples next month from everyone they arrest on felony charges, a step farther than the Washington Legislature is willing to go - so far.

Washington law requires collection of DNA samples only from criminals who are convicted - not just arrested - of felony crimes. DNA collection also is required for a smattering of lesser offenses, too, generally if they are crimes of a sexual nature. But again, those samples are taken only after conviction.

Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, wants Washington state to take the next step.

"It's going to solve crimes," said Miloscia, who sponsored a state bill in 2005 that was much like the new federal law that will take effect Jan. 9. "If you ever commit a crime, your (DNA) markers are in the computer."

Follow the link to read the full story.

Here's the real interesting thing about this story: The prime sponsor of the bill that would make those apple-and-apricot things the official Washington state candy is Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee.

This is the same Mike Armstrong who holds the current record for weight loss over the 2008 interim. He shrank from 325 pounds to 255 pounds. His 70-pound loss is more than the 63 pounds shed by state Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor.

What is Armstrong doing sponsoring any bill that deals with promoting candy? Huh? I see a relapse in your future, Mike.

I'll have to look up the bill that would have made Almond Roca the official state candy. Are we looking at still another East-vs.-West issue in the 2009 Legislature?

Here's a link to the story that appeared in the Wenatchee newspaper.

This is a follow-up to a story in Sunday's paper. I wasn't able to get in touch with Jayann Sepich over the holidays but she sent me an e-mail today.

Sepich is the New Mexico woman who is trying to get all states -- there are 15 now, she said -- to pass a law to allow collection of DNA samples from people who are arrested on felony charges. (Washington does so for those who are convicted.)

The John Walsh she refers to in her e-mail is the host of America's Most Wanted.

She told me that on Dec. 19, her organization at www.katieslaw.org mailed out some 3,000 DVDs featuring Walsh. They went to every legislator in every state that does not yet have a law that allows DNA collection upon arrest, she said.

She has testified in favor of such laws in Michigan, South Carolina and Nevada, but has no plans to come to Washington for legislative hearings on any such proposal, although it is possible in the future.

Dear Mr. Turner:

I am so sorry that I didn't get your voice mail or read your e-mail until this morning.
I found the article that you wrote, so this is probably way too late.

To answer your questions - John Walsh is very much in favor of taking DNA upon felony arrest.

=> Read more!

This year's legislative session begins Jan. 12 and Tacoma City Club will be hosting a preview of the 105-day session on Jan. 7 at the University of Puget Sound.

News Tribune columnist Peter Callaghan will be joined by National Public Radio and KPLU reporter Austin Jenkins and Associated Press state capital bureau chief Rachel La Corte.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Peter Callaghan and Friends

Tacoma, WA – December 26, 2008 – The popular columnist from The News Tribune and his panel of pundits return for the time-honored City Club tradition of presenting their 2009 political prognostications.

=> Read more!

Steve Hailey, R-Mesa, announced only two weeks ago that he planned to resign Jan. 11, 2009 to focus on his cancer treatment.

The Associated Press reported at the time:

In a letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire, Hailey says he can’t fully represent his constituents while continuing to battle colon cancer. Hailey, 63, was diagnosed in January. He’s a farmer and rancher.
Hailey’s 9th District covers the state’s southeastern corner. Local Republican officials will choose three nominees to replace him, with the finalist selected by county commissioners in the district.
There are 62 Democrats in the House, and 36 Republicans.

House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, issued a brief statement today.

“I am deeply saddened to report that Representative Steve Hailey, R-Mesa, passed away early this morning, Dec. 28, 2008. We will provide details on his memorial service as they become available. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Hailey family.”

From our colleagues at the Bellingham Herald:

By John Stark
Bellingham Herald

Barney Goltz, a former state senator and beloved figure in Whatcom County civic life, died Thursday, Dec. 25.

Goltz suffered sudden cardiac arrest during a Christmas dinner with friends and family in Olympia. He had suffered from Parkinson’s disease in recent years.

Goltz, 84, was elected to the state House as a 42nd District Democrat in 1972. He was elected to the state Senate in 1974 and served three terms, becoming president pro tem of the Senate before his retirement in 1986.

During his years in Olympia, he was known for his gentle wit and a no-hard-feelings political style.

=> Read more!

Democrat Pat McCarthy will be the next Pierce County executive. But the other winner in the executive’s race is a Pennsylvania consulting firm.

According to campaign records, The Campaign Group of Philadelphia was the top beneficiary of the nearly $1 million spent on this year’s county executive race. The firm collected $125,040, all of it from Democratic candidate Calvin Goings.

Finishing a close second in the money race was Media Plus, a Seattle company that received $115,901 from Republican Shawn Bunney.

In all, the four candidates (including independent Mike Lonergan) spent $837,689 trying to get elected county executive. Throw in spending from business and union groups supporting the candidates and total spending on the executive’s race came to $959,747, according to state Public Disclosure Commission records.

Political consultants, media firms and paid staff members are among the top recipients of that spending. Rounding out the top five are direct mail company TEKS Service Inc. of Puyallup ($51,086), Bunney campaign manager Andrea Innes ($41,656) and McCarthy campaign manager Katie Rose ($39,592).

=> Read more!

And just as importantly, "Which projects WON'T get funding?"

The guy who's going to help make those choices in Washington is former state budget director, former governor's chief of staff, former Everett and Puyallup city manager Dick Thompson. Not because Thompson will be the "stimulus czar" for Washington, but because he is heading up the task force that is going to set criteria for which projects get money and which don't.

President Barack Obama and Congress are talking about driving out somewhere between $700 billion and $1 trillion to the states to stimulate the preservation and creation of jobs. Part of that will be money for "infrastructure." That's what Thompson & Co. are working on.

Said Gov. Chris Gregoire: “I've asked Dick to coordinate with the congressional delegation, state legislators, local elected officials and state, local and federal agencies. We need to ensure projects are identified and ready to go this spring that get people back to work when expected federal funding is allocated.”

Problem is, no one knows yet what sort of criteria the feds are going to set on projects. That won't be known until sometime after Obama is sworn in as President on Jan. 20.

Then, Thompson and his yet-to-be-finalized crew will have to set up a way of prioritizing all the state, city, county, fire district, port district and other project lists that are being assembled to compete for those federal funds.

"We need a mechanism to evaluate projects," Thompson told me Christmas Eve day. "So, if we've got 50 fire districts all going to apply for construction projects on their fire stations, we need to be able to make good decisions about where funding should go."

Here is the governor's news release on Thompson's appointment:

Gov. Gregoire asks Dick Thompson to lead job growth effort

Thompson volunteers to help navigate state through difficult economic times

=> Read more!

Almost everyone who responded to the item I posted yesterday said the cell phone ban that went into effect in July wasn't working. But opinions diverged when it came to how and why.

Take this survey and let us know what you think should be done.

It's that time of year again. The time when newspapers get all reflective and look back on the year that was.

One of the notable stories was the cell phone ban that went into effect for drivers in July.

We've got the latest statistics from the Washington State Patrol, but are curious to know what our readers' observations are.

Do you see people talking on the phone less? How have your own habits changed?

Let us know by sending an e-mail to ian.demsky@thenewstribune.com
or call him at 253-597-8872. Please remember to include your name, age, hometown and a daytime phone number.

Please also take our survey:

An alert reader (lobbyist Jim King) pointed out that Auditor Brian Sonntag gets to fill in for Gov. Chris Gregoire this weekend because all the people ahead of him are out of state this weekend.

The Washington constitution lays out the order of succession of who takes over as governor in the event of "disablility" of the real governor (I guess being out of state counts as a disability.)

1. Lt. Gov. Brad Owen (but he's leaving Friday).
2. Secretary of State Sam Reed (he's in Oregon for the weekend).
3. Treasurer Mike Murphy (he's out of state now and isn't back until Jan. 6.
4. Auditor Brian Sonntag (Bingo! He's a homebody for the holidays.)

After that it would have been Attorney General Rob McKenna, Schools Superintendent Terry Bergeson and, finally, Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland.

So, the governor wasn't scraping the bottom of the barrel for her temporary replacement. She scraped the middle.

Here is my earlier post about Sonntag filling in for the guv this weekend.

Calvin Goings is stepping down after eight years on the Pierce County Council.

As longtime chairman of the council’s Community Development Committee, the Puyallup Democrat championed new land-use regulations, “impact” fees to offset the cost of new development and farmland preservation.

Goings came to the council after serving five years in the state senate. Previously, he was an elected fire commissioner. This fall he ran an unsuccessful campaign to become county executive.

Goings recently sat down to talk about his council tenure.

Accomplishments: Goings cited three top accomplishments: new parks, new community zoning plans and farmland preservation measures.

Goings said when he was elected to the council in 2000 there were no parks to serve about 40,000 people in the South Hill area. Today, he said about 300 acres of parks have been built, are under construction or planned. Among them: Meridian Habitat Park and Community Center and South Hill Community Park.

On the Community Development Committee, Goings helped shepherd numerous community zoning plans through the council. He said those plans improved the quality of life in Pierce County neighborhoods, though several – including the Parkland-Spanaway plan – were controversial.

“It was like World War III up here on the council,” Goings said.

He also helped develop new regulations to preserve wildlife habitat and farmland. And he helped create a “farmbudsman” to help farmers stay in business and preserve agricultural land.

=> Read more!

OK. It's only for a few days, but, yes, it's true.

Brian Sonntag, darling of the conservative radio talk-show circuit, will take over as governor while both Gov. Chris Gregoire and Lt. Gov. Brad Owen are out of state. (Who knew the auditor was next in line of succession?)

Gregoire sent Sonntag a note, informing him that she'll be gone Dec. 26-29 and Owen will be gone after the 26th, so Sonntag will have to fill in from 3:45 p.m. Friday until 5:55 p.m. Monday.

How much trouble can he get into over a long weekend? I suppose he can call out the National Guard and invade Canada, but most of the Guardsmen are otherwise disposed.

If nothing else, now we know why John Carlson and his listeners believe in Christmas. They finally got their wish. Yes, Virginia, there really is a . . . oh, nevermind.

(If he has any questions, Sonntag is supposed to call Gregoire's chief of staff, Cindy Zehnder. But I noticed she didn't give out Zehnder's super secret number, just the main number for the governor's receptionist. Some things are on a need to know basis.)

Of course they are! (Or so I'm told). But I don't expect anyone in House or Senate leadership to fess up to it, not just yet.

Just look at Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget proposal. Do you really think House Speaker Frank Chopp D-Seattle, and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown D-Spokane, are going to enact budget cuts that are so devastating to the poor? Get rid of general assistance? Kick all those poor and working-poor people off state-subsidized health care plans? I think not.

Whether by design or not, Gregoire's budget starts to make the case for new money so some of the worst cuts won't have to be made.

The social service groups that work with those people are being quietly assured that a tax package is in the works. And it's quite possible it will be placed on the ballot before the Legislature adjourns April 26. (They begin their 105-day session on Jan. 12)

Legislators might have to choose their own date. The state will allow for special elections on Feb. 3, March 10, April 28 and May 19. That's mostly for school districts and local govenments to get together and share election costs.

None of those dates would seem to work for the Legislature and tax package. The revenue forecast doesn't come out until March, and you'd think lawmakers would like to know just how back things are before they finish sizing their ballot measure.

And the April 28 date is two days after the Legislature is supposed to adjourn. I suppose they could pass a budget that assumes passage of a tax passage and come back into special session if it doesn't pass.

Democrats have hefty majorities in both the House (62-36) and Senate (31-18), but still shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass tax increases all by themselves. I-960 requires that or a public vote. They would need Republican help, so going to the ballot seems more likely.

(However, I-960 is being challenged by Senate Democrats, but who knows whether the Supreme Court will rule in time to pass a budget with taxes.)

Going to the ballot also helps Gregoire keep her no-taxes promise: Referenda bypass the guv, so she would have no official role in the tax package.

Stay tuned.

Pierce County Council Chairman Terry Lee has appointed a five-member committee to review applications for county auditor.

Chairing the committee will be County Councilman Roger Bush, R-Graham, who likely will be named the council’s new chairman next month.

Also serving on the committee:

• County Councilwoman Barbara Gelman, D-Tacoma.

• Lakewood Councilwoman Claudia Thomas.

• Steilacoom Mayor Ron Lucas.

• University Place Councilwoman Lorna Smith.

Thomas, Lucas and Smith serve in nonpartisan offices.

The committee will meet the first week of January to consider applications for county auditor and recommend up to three finalists to the County Council.

“The ad hoc committee is as close to balanced as I can think of,” Lee said today. “I like to think and believe the most qualified (candidates) will prevail, regardless of party affiliation.”

But if Lee was hoping the appointments would stem criticism of the council’s process for appointing a new county auditor, he’ll be disappointed.

Local Democratic Party Chairman Nathe Lawver today commended the council “for choosing what appears to be a balanced review committee.” But he said that doesn’t change his opinion that the council’s process is illegal. He said the party is still considering a lawsuit to compel the council to accept Democratic Party nominations for auditor.

"The lawsuit charges the governor (Chris Gregoire), her budget director, Victor Moore, and the state with breach of contract and committing an unfair labor practice for bad-faith bargaining," the union said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. It was filed today.

UPDATE: Don't be surprised to see the Service Employees International Union join the Federation by filing its own lawsuit on behalf of its 30,000 home-care workers.

Here is the story I filed for publication in Wednesday's paper. Links to other documents and the union's news release and lawsuit are below.

Here is a copy of the lawsuit.

Look at my earlier posting. It has a copy of the letter Moore sent to Gregoire, along with all 33 contracts and the amounts of money that had been agreed upon. And finally, there is a statement from Moore.

Washington’s largest state-worker union sued Gov. Chris Gregoire and her budget director on Tuesday, accusing them of breach of contract, and an unfair labor practice for bad-faith bargaining by not including pay raises and benefits in her budget proposal.

The Federation of State Employees, which represents about 40,000 of an estimated 110,000 state agency and college workers, is asking a Thurston County judge to force the governor to submit a request for at least $216 million to the Legislature. That’s how much it would cost to give most of its members 2 percent pay raises in each of the next two years and to pay higher costs for fringe benefits, largely medical coverage.

=> Read more!

As of yesterday morning, 19 people had applied for the Pierce County auditor’s job. But you may never know who they are.

Susan Long, attorney for the county council, said the applications are exempt from public disclosure under state law. She cited this RCW, which states that “all applications for public employment, including the names of applicants, resumes and other related material submitted with respect to the application” are exempt from public inspection.

It’s an interesting stance, given that this is an elected office. If these folks were filing to run for election, their names would be public record. But because the County Council is appointing someone to fill the unexpired term of Pat McCarthy, the council contends it doesn’t have to release the names of applicants.

I’ve got calls in to two attorneys familiar with state open records laws to get their thoughts.

The council earlier this month approved a process for replacing the auditor. The council has advertised the position and is accepting applications through Jan. 5.

Long said an ad hoc committee will meet the first week of January to winnow the list of applicants to three finalists. Long said that meeting will be open to the public, though the committee may meet in closed session to discussion the applicants’ qualifications.

The council then will interview the three finalists in public session (though it may also meet in closed session to discuss their qualifications).

Local Democrats say the process approved by the council is illegal. They want a say in nominating finalists and may take their case to court.

Update: I spoke with Tim Ford, an attorney who handles open government issues for the Washington Attorney General's Office. He said Long is correct that the council can legally withhold the names of applicants for the auditor's job.

"The exemption is broad enough that that would cover any applicant, whether they're seeking an elected position or an unelected position," he said.

But Ford said the council is not necessarily required to keep the names of applicants secret. "I think they could (disclose the names) if they wanted to. There's some debate as to whether this is discretionary or mandatory. But they could fashion a process that requires disclosure."

One way: Ford said the council could inform applicants in advance their names will be made public. Another: inform them after the fact that someone has requested their names be made public and ask the applicants' permission to disclose it.

For the record, I'm filing a formal request for the list of applicants today.

That's one of the proposals under consideration in the long-range plan for Washington State Ferries.

It's a 22-year plan that has two basic alternatives: (1) state keeps running it; (2) some commuter runs are turned over to local governments (Mostly Kitsap County)

The executive summary notes that the number of ferry commuters, those who ride the boats to work or school, has dropped to only one-third of riders. The vast majority of riders are discretionary.

Fares cover 70 percent of the operating costs, up from 60 percent in 2000.

The plans suggest the system should buy between 5 and 10 vessels over the next 22 years; that downsizing the boat on the Point Defiance-Vashon Island run should be permanent, and that the ferry system could save money is the boats went slower (and burned less fuel.)

Public hearings will be held Jan. 5-21. The closest one for South Puget Sound is on Vashon Island at McMurray Middle School, 9329 S.W. Cemetery Road. It's Jan. 7 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Here is a link to the page that has the full long-range plan and executive summary and list of dates and locations for public hearings on the plan.

Calvin Goings, who is wrapping up eight years on the Pierce County Council, has landed a new job with a previous employer.

Next month Goings will become a senior policy advisor to the president of the Washington Credit Union League. He will focus on “business and community outreach,” according to a press release issued yesterday.

Goings served as executive director of the Washington Credit Union Foundation for three years before his election to the council in 2000.

“Calvin brings much experience in government and the private sector to the league,” said President John Annaloro. He said Goings’ “innovative approach to resolving tough economic problems for businesses will be invaluable” in supporting the association and its members.

The Washington Credit Union League is a trade association representing 127 financial institutions.

Goings placed third in a tough four-way race for county executive last month.

Read the full press release below.

=> Read more!

Here's the rationale for Gov. Chris Gregoire's decision not to include a request for money to give raises and fringe benefits to state agency, college and other quasi-state employees in the budget she sent to the Legislature last week.

She doesn't have to make them part of her budget if her budget director, Victor Moore, says it isn't feasible. And that's exactly what Moore did in a letter to his boss, dated the day before she unveiled her 2009-11 budgets.

"Given the projected deficit of $5.7 billion, funding the increases for compensation and fringe benefits provisions contained in the collective bargaining agreements and arbitration awards at the expense of other vital governmental services is not feasible financially for the state," Moore wrote.

There were a total of 33 contracts negotiated by the governor's people and the universities. They cover a total of about 110,000 employees, plus about 45,000 home-care, child-care and adult-family-home workers.

As for the SEIU 775NW's contention that Gregoire violated the law by not including raises for home-care workers in her budget (see earlier postings), they're probably right. But that may change.

Moore said the governor will need a change in state law. (Their 22-cent and 27-cent hourly wage increases, and other benefits, were going to cost the state $87 million, by the way.)

Likewise, she'll need the Legislature to suspend Initiative 732 again to withhold guaranteed pay raises for teachers and other school workers. That's what the Legislature did in 2003.

Here is the full letter from Moore to Gregoire.

Robin Arnold-Williams is leaving top DSHS job to take over Gov. Chris Gregoire's policy shop.

Gov. Gregoire names Robin Arnold-Williams as new executive policy director

Veteran Cabinet director to take on new role

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced the appointment of Department of Social and Health Services Secretary Robin Arnold-Williams as the new director of the Governor’s Executive Policy Office.

=> Read more!

Such is the case for part of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (aka welfare) program.

Washington will get, according to Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget proposal, $152 million from the feds for TANF stuff and therefore is able to cut back spending with state dollars by an equal amount.

So, the services are still being provided, but the money is coming out of taxpayers' left pocket instead of their right pocket.

This allows budget-writers to tell taxpayers they have "cut" state spending, while telling recipients of those services, "Don't worry. We've got you covered."

On the other hand, the WorkFirst program, the state name for welfare programs, is going to get tougher regarding TANF recipients who don't follow the rules and make little effort to get a job. They will have their benefits cut sooner and deeper.

WorkFirst provides grants (checks) and services (child care, job-hunting and job-training help) to more than 138,000 clients.

"WorkFirst reductions are achieved by more closely aligning state and federal requirements, implementing caseload reduction strategies, and reducing partner agency allocations. Funding for education services will be limited to TANF clients."

That's what the budget says. I think that means in some instances, the state will start being as hard-nosed as the feds.

Gregoire's budget says she can save $68 million in state funds and eliminate 12 workers with the new strategy.

=> Read more!

I'll have to check our library files to see just exactly what the Washington Convention and Trade Center has planned for its 2010 expansion.

The governor's 2009-11 budget authorizes an additional 29 workers at a cost of $3.9 million (not taxpayer money). It also authorizes replacement of 765 tables, 1,400 chairs and carpet in the hallways and meeting rooms for $1.5 million. They're 15-20 years old.

The convention center straddles I-5 in downtown Seattle.

I know the convention center wants to spend almost $1 billion to expand, but I think the 2010 expansion is something much more modest.

More later.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, is an economist in her other life. So, she more than anyone (and, of course, Treasurer-elect Jim McIntire, another economist) will understand what's happening to the country and Washington state during these trying times.

And now that she has a blog, she can share that knowledge with the rest of us, who took only a single 300-level course in economics. The only thing I remember is something about the elasticity (or lack thereof) of salt prices.

Anyway, here is a link to Brown's blog and her short-hand about recessions and depressions.

Oh, and here's a bit more about Dr. Brown from Wikipedia:

When not in Olympia, Senator Brown works as an Associate Professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Senator Brown holds a PhD and MA in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, in addition to a BA from the University of Illinois.

As the Pierce County Council considers replacing Auditor Pat McCarthy, the local Democratic Party has three suggestions. Whether the council must heed those suggestions remains a matter than may be decided in court.

The county Democratic Party met Saturday to select three nominees for county auditor.

The party’s first choice: Katie Blinn, assistant director of elections for the Washington Secretary of State’s Office.

Second choice: Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson.

Third choice: Beckie Summers-Kirby, who served two terms as vice chair of the local party and has served on the Tacoma library board.

A fourth candidate – Beverly Davidson, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for county assessor-treasurer – was not selected.

Blinn helps oversee elections for Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed. She served on a committee that advised McCarthy about implementing Pierce County’s ranked choice voting system. And she monitored last month’s election for the secretary of state’s office.

“She’s done a phenomenal job working with auditors around the state,” local Democratic Party Chairman Nathe Lawver said today. “She brings a lot of knowledge of elections to the (auditor’s) position.”

Lawver also praised Anderson as an experienced nonprofit manager who can bring a strong sense of customer service to the auditor’s job. And he praised Summers-Kirby’s community involvement and organizational skills.

=> Read more!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just sent out a news release, announcing the agency has designated new "non-attainment" areas. Those are neighborhoods that have too much dust-like pollution, or in this case, too smokey.

"Affected states and tribes will be required to take steps to reduce
the pollution that forms these particles," the release says.

I don't know what those steps might be.

One of the reasons that 211 counties or parts of counties no longer are in compliance with EPA fine particle pollution stands is that they got twice as tough in 2006.

I gotta tell ya, this news release must have been written by someone from outside the northwest because I'm a native and I don't recognize some of the geographic areas, not the way they describe them.

Wapato Hills? The only Wapato I know of is the lake off South 72nd Street, near Interstate 5. Tacoma city planners may have a better idea. It might be the neighborhood in the vicinity of Bargreen Ellingson restaurant supplies.

Here's the news release. I chopped off the parts about Alaska and Idaho and rearranged the parts about Tacoma and Pierce County.

EPA designates seven new fine particle pollution “nonattainment”
areas in Pacific Northwest and Alaska

WASHINGTON (Wapato Hills/-Puyallup River Valley/Tacoma)

Wapato Hills/Puyallup River (Pierce County)

EPA is designating the Wapato Hills Puyallup River Valley (Tacoma)
area as nonattainment for the 24-hour PM2.5 standard on December 18th
2008.

=> Read more!

I'm comparing Gov. Chris Gregoire's final overall numbers for the current 2-year budget cycle, if the Legislature were to adopt her supplemental budget for 2007-09, to her proposed budget for 2009-11.

The total budget passed by the Legislature for 2007-09 was $71.5 billion. Gregoire's additions ($200 million) and subtractions ($600 million) would bring that down to $71.1 billion.

Her new budget would spend $72.3 billion. That's where I get the $1.2 billion difference. And most of that increase is made possible by assuming the feds are going to give Washington an additional $1 billion for Medicaid and welfare programs as part of a federal economic stimulus package.

The $3 billion in "cuts" that Gregoire referred to in her budget release remarks are cuts from a "maintenance level." That is, first you inflate your spending to account for all the increases in inflation (salaries) and caseloads (more kids in school), THEN you cut.

So that's how you can cut $3 billion and still end up spending $1.2 billion more. Clear as mud?

I have to correct an earlier posting. I misread the reaction of the Service Employees International Union 775 to Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposed budget for 2009-11 when I wrote an update for this posting late last week.

I thought the union was claiming the governor was violating the law because she wasn't paying for the home-care training called for in Initiative 1029.

I was wrong.

Adam Glickman, SEIU spokesman, said the illegal part was the governor NOT forwarding a budget request to pay for the SEIU contract (a different matter). He says the governor is obliged to because it was the product of an arbitration.

He points out home care workers (about 26,000 to 30,000 of them) are making only about $10.50 an hour, and the contract boosts them to just under $11, over two years.

Here is the pertinent part of the law:

"A request for funds necessary to implement the compensation and fringe benefits provisions of a collective bargaining agreement entered into under RCW 74.39A.270 shall not be submitted by the governor to the legislature unless such request:
(a) Has been submitted to the director of financial management by October 1st prior to the legislative session at which the request is to be considered; and
(b) Has been certified by the director of financial management as being feasible financially for the state or reflects the binding decision of an arbitration panel reached under RCW 74.39A.270(2)(c)."

=> Read more!

Not my words. But Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget says we really do need 10 more liquor stores.

"In order to meet the ongong demands of an increasing population of individuals who are 21 years of age or older, the Liquor Control Board will open five new state liquor store in the 2009-11 biennium."

Those will be state-run. The budget also would authorize five more contract liquor stores, for a total of 10.

I doubt very much that Gregoire made that particular pitch. She's the one who reluctantly signed a bill that allowed sale of hard liquor on Sundays, sarcastically saying something about the law being for people who "can't plan ahead" and buy their booze on Saturday.

Of course, it's all about money. Liquor profits go into the state coffers. Most liquor taxes go to cities and counties. So the more you sell, the more taxes you collect. And it doesn't cost the state General Fund anything. The 12.5 new workers needed to run the 5 new state stores will be paid out of liquor board funds, not regular state taxpayer funds.

Curiously, the guv's budget makes some pretty deep cuts to the numbers of state-paid drug and alcohol counselors, and chemical dependency treatment. Just one of those budget ironies.

OK. That last part was mostly a joke. I think Liquor Control Board members still have a perk of sampling whatever goes on the shelves, if they want, but there are limits.

The first part of that headline was no joke.

Gov. Chris Gregoire's 2009-11 budget proposal calls for turning the board into an "unpaid, part-time voluntary board," which means no more salaries of $70,000 a year or so.

Her budget says she can save $728,000 over two years with this conversion.

Of course, board members still would get per diem, $100 a meeting for about 12 meetings a year.

This budget cut may not survive the legislative process because it falls most heavily on long-time legislators who want to pad their pension benefits. (Work 2 years at a $70,000 job and your retirment is based on that higher amount, instead of on a $43,000 legislative salary.)

Appointments to the liquor board also were seen as rewards for service, as in "how much did you help your governor get elected?" There aren't that many paying boards and commissions left.

Here's a little nugget from Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposed capital budget: $10 million to the Community, Trade and Economic Development department for alternative energy investments.

The appropriation notes prisons use a lot of energy, so the governor wants to have solar panels installed at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla, the newly expanded Coyote Ridge Correction Complex at Connell north of TriCities and at Airway Heights prison outside Spokane.

Inmates grow their own food at some of the prisons. Now they will be producing their own electricity.

Speaking of food, Gregoire put $13.5 million in her budget to build a new kitchen and commissary at Western State Hospital in Lakewood.

Up north in Shoreline, the governor wants to spend $8.2 million on an addition to public health laboratories.

"The Department of Health will construct an addition to the existing Washington State Public Health Laboratories. This will provide additional biosafety level three space and replace and enlarge the existing receiving area. The project will also provide a specialized area within the building for analyzing suspected bioterrorism, chemical, and radiological terrorism samples."

Hey, it's the world we live in.

The state Department of Revenue is one of several agencies that actually gets more money and more personnel in Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget proposal for 2009-11.

The governor would authorize DOR to hire 28 more people at a cost of $6.4 million to "improve data analysis and increase efficiency in audit selections and collections." Budget director Victor Moore says they would go after out-of-state companies that are doing business here.

I guess they're going to get better at targeting the tax scofflaws they want to go after.

Her budget says those moves will result in $32 million more in tax collections for the state and $5 million more for locals. That's net, after they cover the cost of paying their own salaries.

On the other hand, the governor wants to require all businesses to file their taxes electronically (not just allow it) and that will save $2.3 million and cut 14 workers. (There would be hardship exceptions.)

After all the pluses and minuses, DOR ends up with a $210 million budget and 1,092 workers. That's 10 more workers and $5.6 million higher than during the current 2-year budget cycle.

I've always wondered how the state can figure out just how much money is NOT being paid by taxpayers who owe it. And what is the point of diminishing returns when it comes to hiring more tax collectors?

Remember the special session the Legislature held to reenact the 1 percent lid on property tax increases? After the Supreme Court threw out Tim Eyman's Initiative 747, Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature got together for a few hours in late 2007 and put it into law, anyway.

They also enacted another little law, at the urging of Senate Democrats, that let people defer payment of the second half of their property taxes, the one due Oct. 31. The state paid them instead. It was basically a loan from the state, with interest, and the state put a lien on the property.

It was mostly for show. (I thought it was brought up just so the Legislature could act like it was calling a special session to do some real property tax relief, instead of just reacting to Eyman, which is what they were doing.)

Even though the new law sounded like the state was really helping out, county assessors warned the Legislature that seniors hate having someone put a lien on their homes -- especially if they own it free and clear.

They were right. Lawmakers expected 5,500 households would participate in the program. But by the first year filing deadline, only 65 applications were made.

Gregoire's supplemental budget for 2007-09 reflects the savings of $5.2 million the state didn't have to spend fronting the money for those local property taxes and the lost of state property tax revenue.

But the law is still on the books in case property owners change their minds.

Here's a link to the full report from a Seattle based consultant about energy use and other sustainability efforts at Metro Parks Tacoma.

The Park Board is still deciding what suggestions to implement.

Some of the recommendations include: reducing staff air travel, instituting a voluntary employee parking fee, offering sustainability programs for the public, not buying bottled water for meetings and setting printers to automatically print double-sided.

You can also view this Excel spreadsheet, which shows the change in the use of power, water and fuel from 2006 to 2007. Power, water and natural gas usage fell, while fuel usage rose, the data show. Overall CO2 emissions fell by just over 1 percent.

I'm still reading the budgets. Finally got to the capital budget.

University of Washington lobbyist Randy Hodgins mentioned on his blog that Phase 3 of the UW Tacoma campus would be funded if the Legislature adopts Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget.

Hodgins says the money is for the Joy Building, and Gregoire's budget has a brief description of how the money would be spent.

"The project will include renovation of all major building components as well as an expanded footprint and the addition of a fourth story to provide a total of approximately 70,000 gross square feet of program space. The project provides new capacity to accommodate at least 600 additional students."

Gregoire also reappropriates about $5 million to clean contaminated soils and another project.

Her budget also sends $39 million to Washington State University's branch campus in Vancouver for an Applied Technology and Classroom Building.

Enrollment in the BHP, a state-subsidized health care program for the working poor (partly), was at 100,000 not too long ago. Last I read, it was ramping down to fewer than 80,000 by attrition.

Now, Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget tells BHP administrator Steve Hill to cut the program by 42 percent to save $250 million. That will be partly a reduction in numbers of people with coverage and partly a "skinnier" benefit plan.

Needless to say, advocates for the poor and elderly don't like those cuts.

Ingrid McDonald at AARP provides this take on part of the budget.

"It nicely summarizes the Health and Long Term Care impacts of the Governor's proposed budget that we understand SO FAR," says Jerry Reilly, chairman of the Elder Care Alliance.

First, is AARP's statement on the budget, followed by a quick summary by McDonald and the state Labor Council's Robby Stern.

=> Read more!

Seattle Times reporter Andrew Garber today writes about an endangered species: reporters covering the Legislature in Olympia.

According to Garber, there were 34 reporters covering the Legislature in 1993. Last year there were 17. Now, as the Legislature wrestles with a $5.7 billion budget deficit, there may be only 10.

Why should you care?

Garber quotes Alex Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard: "When reporters leave the state Capitol, the mice play."

"It takes no imagination," Jones said, when "the governor of Illinois was arrested (on corruption charges) ... to understand that state government needs watching very carefully."

You can read the full article here.

OK. Gov. Chris Gregoire doesn't actually thank the Service Employees International Union for all its hard (and expensive) work in helping her win reelection, not in her budget, anyway. But I'm sure she did thank them at some point, especially Local 775.

But her budget provides absolutely no money to pay for the extra hours of training that the union wanted for its current (and future) members, the home-care workers who take care of disabled people in their homes. That's what Initiative 1029 was all about, wasn't it? It does, however, have money to pay for criminal background checks to make sure the workers haven't been convicted of elder abuse and other such crimes.

But the $30 million for 75 hours of training isn't in the 2009-11 budget. I guess House Speaker Frank Chopp will have to put some in the budget for SEIU, over the bodies of his caucus' nurse-member contingent, I suspect. (Opponents of I-1029 contended it gave the union a big tool for recruitment, by letting them say the state will pay for their training.)

UPDATE: SEIU says the governor's budget proposal violates the law. (True, it would take a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to change I-1029 this soon, but I don't think that's really going to be a problem next session.)

You'll notice that Gregoire also books $780 million in more Medicaid money from the feds and $150 million increase in welfare money from the feds. That's the assumption that Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, called the huge "flaw" in the guv's budget.

Can you imagine how much worse the cuts to Health Care and Human Services would be (they're cut by 12.2 percent in guv's budget) if the Legislature doesn't get the money and has to cut another $1 billion (or ask voters to raise taxes)?

=> Read more!

I haven't read Gov. Chris Gregoire's transportation budget proposal in detail yet, but the overview below doesn't sound good for Pierce County.

The next phase of carpool lanes on Interstate 5 through Tacoma, (I think that's the part that includes the I-5 bridge over the Puyallup River) would be delayed for 2 more years under the guv's budget.

The danger is, the longer those projects get delayed, the less likely they are to ever get built without another gas tax hike. (Rep. Dan Roach, R-Bonney Lake, has more to say on this, which I'll pass on as soon as I can find his e-mail.)

And just for the record, it's now 2009 (almost) and there still are no carpool lanes on I-5 in Tacoma.

It's now becoming more obvious just how much of the 14.5-cent gas tax increases from 2003 and 2005 are being sucked up by the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle ($2.4 billion? $2.8 billion? $3.5 billion?) and the Highway 520 bridge replacement between Seattle and King County's Eastside ($4 billion? $6 billion?)

At yesterday's news conference, Gregoire said her philosophy for her transportation budget this year is "shovel ready" projects, those that can be started within six months or so. That means more paving projects, for one.

Rising cost estimates are killing projects left and right. The analysis below bluntly states what we've all suspected: if your pet transpo project is delayed beyond 2012, it probably won't be built.

=> Read more!

The original plan by Gov. Chris Gregoire was to expand half-day kindergarten at public schools to full days by 10 percent increments over a decade. The current budget got us to roughly 20 percent of schools, the ones with the poorest students and lowest test scores.

That would stay in place under the governor's budget proposal, but there will be no expansion to 40 percent of schools in 2009-11, as called for in the original plan.

The guv saves $350 million by not giving pay raises to teachers and other school employees. But I'm beginning to wonder how the guv's budget office calculated that. The Consumer Price Index for the past year was 4.1 percent and that's the amount of raise teachers were supposed to get in the 2009-10 school year.

Initiative 732 pegged school workers' cost-of-living raises to inflation.

But inflation is expected to be negative for this year. Does that mean teachers wouldn't have been entitled to any raise in 2010-11 anyway? Or if the CPI is negative, do teachers have to give back money to the state?

Bottom line: The state will give local school districts $129 million more in 2009-11 so they can keep pace with the cost of health benefits for school employees. And even though the state isn't providing any money (under Gregoire's budget proposal) for raises, you know local school unions will be asking their school boards to make up for what the state doesn't give them. That's what happened in 2003-05 under the infamous "Rossi budget."

I believe the Tacoma school district has a contract that gives its workers 1 percent more than what they get from the state. Let me know if I'm wrong.

Bad news for new state schools chief Randy Dorn: You'll have to get by with $1 million less for "conferences." More brown-bag lunches; fewer junkets to Las Vegas, or whereever OSPI goes for seminars.

Here's the general analysis of Gregoire's budget that was done by the House budget committee staff:

Highlights of the Governor Gregoire’s Proposed 2009-11 Biennial K-12 Budget

For K-12 Public Schools:

· Total Proposed Spending: $14.4 billion (NGFS)

· Total Proposed Reductions: $800 million

=> Read more!

OK. This part is mostly for budget wonks. But Gov. Chris Gregoire is proposing to combine a bunch of smaller funds/accounts into the main General Fund.

The upshot is that the debt limit -- the amount of money the state can borrow in any particular year -- is based on how much money the state collects in taxes for its General Fund. I think it's a rolling average over 3 years or so.

Anyway, Gregoire's 2009-11 budget increases the amount of money that goes into the General Fund by $1.5 billion. That lets the state borrow an additional $200 million to spend on building projects in the upcoming biennium.

UPDATE: Double the amount of money going into the General Fund because of the consolidation of those accounts. "The revision does not contribute to solving the projected deficit, but will add $1.5 billion to both the expenditure and revenue amounts for the General Fund State," according to a footnote in the guv's budget.

The upshot is the state can borrow $200 million more than it otherwise would have been able to do, said Victor Moore, the governor's budget director.

The governor's capital budget for 2009-11 calls for $3.43 billion in new spending. The biggest single chunk is $827 million for local public school construction (the state's share). That's actually $1 billion when you add in the extra $130 million the guv put into the remained of the current budget cycle.

And House Speaker Frank Chopp will be happy with the $100 million Gregoire wants to spend on the House Trust Fund, homes for poor people is one of his favorites.

With tax collections in steep decline, Washington would be taking a double hit: less money to spend on programs, AND less money for building projects because of a lower limit on how much can be borrowed.

President Barack Obama and Gregoire both think the nation and state can build their way out of the recession.

Putting money that now goes into the Health Services Account (cigarette taxes and hospital taxes), Water Quality Account, Violence Reduction and Drug Enforcement Account into the General Fund also makes it easier for us reporters to write about the budget.

But I think that was the least of Moore's and his staff's concerns when they came up with that idea for the governor.

I asked Virginia Painter, the public affairs director for the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, for some background on the proposed closure of 13 state parks, including Joemma Beach, Kopachuck and Tolmie.

She said the agency had been told by Gov. Chris Gregoire to cut $10 million from what it had received from the state general fund. While some of the savings were made in ways that might not be as apparent to the public, the closures will make up about half of the savings.

Painter said all 13 of the parks are considered inconsistent with the mission of the parks system as determined by the Centennial 2013 Vision.

That outline determined that state parks should be "premier destinations or places of regional or statewide significance. The criteria used to determine what is significant included "unique features, significant resources, high visitation and extraordinary scenery"

Wrote Painter: "In other words, these 13 are parks that really are more appropriate for a county or city park - and we are hoping that counties and cities eventually can take them over so that they remain public parks."

Here is her entire response...

=> Read more!

There's always too much to write about the day a governor comes out with a budget, but eventually we'll get to them. One of the stories I'll be writing about, probably next week, will deal with how Gov. Chris Gregoire wants to save money in the prison budget.

As you'll see among the highlights below, she wants to supervise only the 13,000 most dangerous ex-cons. That's half the number currently on supervision. And she wants to cut the maximum supervision to 12 months from 24 months.

More on all of this later. Here's the companion story to the budget story that will appear in Friday's paper.

Highlights of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget proposal

--Sets state general fund spending at $33.5 billion in 2009-11. The total would be $66 billion with federal and other funds.
--Does not raise taxes.
--Freezes pay for about 110,000 state agency and college employees. There were supposed to get 2 percent raises each year.

=> Read more!

I said a couple weeks ago we'd all be hearing more about "closing tax loop holes," and here's one such effort.

“The Legislature should close tax loopholes for corporate polluters before they close any state parks,” says Craig Engelking, lobbyist for Sierra Club Cascade Chapter.

(Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget proposal would close 13 state parks.)

We plan on going after some tax breaks polluters are getting right now. We’re specifically targeting the 5 oil refineries in the state. Right now, under the manufacturer’s equipment and machinery sales and use tax exemption, they get about $20 million in tax breaks from the state, maybe more. We’re working on legislation to end that tax preference and to use the money to help fund green jobs training and energy efficiency investments. We also want to use some of it to help prevent closure of state parks.

Craig Engelking
Lobbyist

Pat McCarthy is hosting a celebration at the Pantages Theater tonight for nearly 500 friends, family members and campaign supporters.

The invitation-only event is a chance for McCarthy to thank supporters who helped her win election to county executive last month. The festivities include an unofficial swearing-in ceremony, in which her husband – Superior Court Judge John McCarthy – will administer an oath of office. (McCarthy officially will be sworn in at the beginning of January).

It’s also a chance to celebrate McCarthy’s birthday: she’s 55 today.

Meanwhile, McCarthy is wrapping up her tenure as auditor and preparing to become executive. In an interview Monday, McCarthy said she has an 18-member transition team chaired by political consultant and lobbyist Bill Stauffacher.

Among McCarthy’s first decisions: how to organize the executive’s office. She said she’s decided not to have a chief of staff (a role Lyle Quasim filled for current Executive John Ladenburg). Instead, McCarthy said she’ll likely hire several “executive directors” to oversee various county departments. She said previous executives – including Booth Gardner and Joe Stortini – have used similar models.

Excuse the cross post, but for those who haven't seen it, I have a post over on Lights & Sirens about former Pierce County Sheriff candidate Robert "The Traveller" Hill being arrested again today.

Follow this link to read it.

Joemma Beach on the Key Peninsula, Kopachuck near Gig Harbor and Tolmie north of Lacey are among the 13 state parks proposed for closure under Gov. Chris Gregoire's austerity budget.

A full list should be available shortly.

In her printed budget announcement this morning, Gregoire said the parks "no longer fit the mission of the Parks system."

The state Parks and Recommendation Commission is also considering winter closures of other state parks.

All totaled, the cuts will save the state budget $5.2 million over two years.

Gov. Chris Gregoire today unveiled a two-year state budget to close a $5.7 billion budget gap by freezing pay for some 250,000 state and school workers, assumes an infusion of nearly $1 billion from the federal government and slashes state spending by elminating programs and laying off workers.

But true to her campaign pledge, there are no tax increases in the 2009-11 budget proposal she is sending to the Legislature.

“Our state is facing significant economic turmoil,” Gregoire told reporters in her opening remarks Thursday morning. “I have lived within our means.”

UPDATE: Here is another link to governor's budget office documents.

Teachers and state workers who would go without pay raises for two years criticized the governor’s proposal. So did advocates for the poor who will lose part of all of their state assistance and medical coverage.

But Republican legislative leaders, who are in the minority, embraced the overall size and philosophy of Gregoire’s budget.

“This is 2003,” said Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, referring to the no-new-taxes budget offered that year by then-Gov. Gary Locke. “We like the size of the box. She’s given the Legislature some good direction.

“She showed the political courage she should have showed two years ago,” he added.

UPDATE NO. 2:(Scroll down to read reactions from Sen. Joe Zarelli, top-ranking Republican on Senate budget committee, House Speaker Frank Chopp, House budget chairwoman Kelli Linville and Rep. Gary Alexander, top Republican on House budget committee.)

The projected budget shortfall faced by Gregoire and the Democrat-controlled House and Senate over the next 30 months is more than twice the size of the budget problem of 2003-05. Republicans blamed much of that increase on extravagant spending by Gregoire and her fellow Democrats.

Gregoire blamed “the reckless decisions on Wall Street,” that led to an unprecedented slide in the national and state economies and steep decline in tax collections.

The focus now shifts to the Legislature, which convenes Jan. 12 for a 105-day session. Unlike Gregoire, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have made no election-year promise to hold the line on taxes. Labor unions for 110,000 state and college workers, as well as the 81,000-strong Washington Education Association will try to persuade lawmakers to thaw the wages that Gregoire proposes to freeze. Teachers were in line for a 4.1 percent raise in the 2009-10 school year.

=> Read more!

By CURT WOODWARD
The Associated Press

Sticking to her campaign pledge, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday unveiled a no-new-taxes budget plan that would fix a nearly $6 billion deficit by whacking spending, suspending voter initiatives and borrowing some money.

(For Gov. Chris Gregoire's full budget proposal in on her Web site. And what you can't find there, you can find here at the Office of Financial Management site.)

Spending cuts would be felt across state government, including K-12 and higher education, social services, prisons, health programs and state parks.

The proposal will draw howls of protest from all corners of the state, particularly among interest groups who benefited during the Democratic governor’s first term, when state spending jumped by about a third.

The Legislature, controlled by Democrats, convenes Jan. 12 to begin its work on the two-year budget. Unlike Gregoire, majority lawmakers have not explicitly ruled out some form of tax increases.

In a statement, Gregoire cast the national recession as both the culprit behind Washington’s deficit and the reason not to raise taxes on consumers and businesses.

“Our state is not immune and our revenue — largely reliant on a sales tax — is down dramatically, resulting in the largest budget gap in state history,” she said.

=> Read more!

From the Associated Press. Joe Turner is at the press conference and will have more highlights up soon.

Highlights of some of the cuts suggested in Gov. Chris Gregoire’s budget proposal:

• HIGHER EDUCATION: Gregoire proposes a $300 million reduction in higher education, including a 13 percent reduction for the state’s research and regional institutions. Community and technical colleges would see a 6 percent cut. This could mean higher tuition, fewer courses, larger class sizes, and reduction in faculty. Raises for faculty and staff also are suspended.

• K-12 EDUCATION: Suspends nearly a quarter of the money from the voter-approved initiative to ensure smaller class sizes, and suspends the entirety of another initiative for cost-of-living raises for teachers. Maintained is $12.2 billion for basic education services, like special education and transportation, which is protected.

• PUBLIC SAFETY: Gregoire proposes eliminating the requirement to supervise misdemeanor criminals and low-risk felony offenders once they are released from prison, saving nearly $70 million. Sex offenders and violent criminals would still fall under supervision. She also proposes early release for elderly and ill criminals, and deporting non-citizens who have property or drug offenses.

=> Read more!

Former Pierce County Auditor Cathy Pearsall-Stipek has endorsed a former vice chairwoman of the local Democratic Party to be the next county auditor.

Beckie Summers-Kirby just finished two years as vice chair of the Pierce County Democratic Party. She also has served on the Tacoma library board and the city’s civil service board. She is the wife of state Rep. Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma.

Whether Summers-Kirby or any other Democrat becomes the next nonpartisan auditor remains in doubt. The County Council will appoint an auditor in January to replace Pat McCarthy. The Democrats argue that McCarthy was twice elected as a Democrat, so they should get to pick three nominees from which the council should choose.

But voters last year made the auditor’s office nonpartisan. And the council this month approved a process that doesn’t rely on Democratic Party nominations to pick McCarthy’s successor.

Among those said to be interested in the job: Republican Councilman Shawn Bunney, outgoing Democratic County Councilman Calvin Goings (Goings has expressed interest in the job but told me last week he’d changed his mind), Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson, Tacoma City Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg, state Sen. Jim Kastama and state assistant director of elections Katie Blinn.

Local Democrats may take the issue to court. And they’re meeting Saturday to pick three nominees to submit to the council.

In a letter addressed to fellow precinct committee officers, Pearsall-Stipek endorses Summers-Kirby.

“Beckie would be our auditor for the right reasons, not as a stepping-stone to a higher office,” Pearsall-Stipek wrote.

Update: Here's a list of folks who apparently are seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for auditor: Julie Anderson, Katie Blinn, Becky Summers-Kirby, Metro Parks Tacoma Commissioner Tim Reid and Centro Latino board chairman David Artis. Others may yet step forward.

Update2: Bruce Lachney, a Democrat who ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat County Councilman Roger Bush, said folks at the party have asked him to consider the auditor's job. Lachney said he'd be interested in serving as a "placeholder" for a year. But he's not interested in the job long term and said if appointed he would not seek election to auditor next year. "I think my skill set is more driven to policy than to administration," Lachney told me this afternoon.

You can read all of Pearsall-Stipek’s letter below.

=> Read more!

From Les Blumenthal in our D.C. bureau:

While there is sure to be lots of whispering about why they are actually leaving, there's been a shakeup among senior staff at three Washington state congressional offices:

Out as Sen. Maria Cantwell's chief of staff - Maura O'Neill, a former dot.com executive from Seattle who chaired the Woman's Political Caucus. She lasted a little more than a year.

In as Cantwell's new chief of staff - Katie Lister, the senator's former deputy chief of staff and communications director who helped run her 2006 re-election campaign. Lister has been at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in a hush-hush job for the past year or so.

Out as Republican Rep. Dave Reichert's chief of staff - Mike Shields, who has been with the congressman since the beginning. He is going to the National Republican Congressional Committee as director of Special Projects. His focus will be on convincing GOP incumbents to run again. Good luck.

In as Reichert's new chief of staff - Christopher Miller, who has been the deputy and has been onboard since the beginning.

Out as Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers' chief of staff - Connie Patroyan, a long time Hill hand who came out of Slade Gorton's old press shop.

In as McMorris Rodger' new chief of staff - Jeremy Deutsch.

This is budget day for Gov. Chris Gregoire, who unveils her supplemental budget for 2007-09 and her new budget for 2009-11.

The news conference is at 9:30 a.m. But we reporters are among the last to find out what's going on when it comes to budget. What generally happens is that Democratic leadership in the House and Senate are briefed ahead of time, probably last night. And word spreads to so-called "stakeholders."

My Associated Press colleague, Curt Woodward, got this budget tidbit yesterday and the Seattle Times posted it. The governor won't "Cover All Kids" by expanding subsidized health care coverage to kids whose families earn as much as $62,000 a year (for a family of four.)

If you get state money to take care of a group of people, for instance, General Assistance Unemployable, you usually get a heads-up from the governor's budget office or the legislative budget committee staff that your ox is about to be gored.

Such is the case with some or all of the general assistance programs. I'm told that program is no longer. And there are about 34,000 people on general assistance today. One of those programs is sortof a state-paid waiting area for people who are medically unable to get jobs, buying time for the state to try to get them signed up for federal SSI.

Gregoire reportedly also will propose delaying employer contributions to various state pension plans, saving somewhere between $400 million and $600 million.

And those contracts, the ones that were going to give about 110,000 state workers 2 percent pay raises in each of the next two years? They're gone, I'm told. Although I'm didn't think the governor could abrogate the deals she had just negotiated with state labor unions.

=> Read more!

I'll be curious to see how this works out. My guess is that Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, won't break any news on her blog -- I could be wrong about this -- but she will post a lot of stuff about the philosophy of Senate Democrats and their reasons for taking whatever actions they do.

Here, add this link to your NetVibes page.

You'll want to follow Brown's blog during the upcoming 105-day session, at the very least

Okay, we're up here in the corner of the country - out of sight and apparently out of mind.

But it's not like we don't have a lot of people here. We're not Wyoming.

So why is it that year after year, president after president, no Washingtonians are named to a presidential cabinet. In 120 years of statehood, just three cabinet members have claimed Washington as their state of residence.

That's one every four decades!

Barack Obama still has a few spots to fill. But unless we land the CIA directorship or the secretaries of Labor and Transportation, we'll be denied a spot again. How long has it been? Jimmy Carter is the last president to find someone from Washington worthy of a cabinet post.

The names still being tossed around are U.S. Reps. Adam Smith and Jay Inslee, former Gov. Gary Locke and King County Executive Ron Sims.

My Thursday column includes the names of the three cabinet members from Washington. If you can't wait until then, look here.

=> Read more!

I wrote an article for today's paper about a possible end to decades of contention between Tacoma Power and the Skokomish Tribe over the Cushman Hydroelectric Project.

The City Council gave its approval to the terms tonight, following up on last week's approval by the Tacoma Public Utilities board of directors.

Councilman Mike Lonergan called it a historic night, and said he hoped the tribe would also agree to the terms.

Councilman Jake Fey said the possible agreement was "simply amazing." Fey said it could remove a "black mark" regarding Tacoma's regard for the environment and the tribe.

The City of Tacoma received the benefit of low electricity rates as a result of the dam, and "up until recently pretty much ignored" the tribe, he added. Fey praised the TPU officials who worked on the deal. "It's a very significant accomplishment," he said.

The proposal calls for the utility to pay the tribe $12.6 million in upfront cash and transfer 1,140 acres of Tacoma Power property to the tribe in exchange for dropping all claims left over from a $5.6 billion lawsuit.

Tacoma Power also would give the tribe 300 acres of tidelands, and make annual payments equal to 7.25 percent of the value of electricity produced by Cushman Dam No. 2 for 40 years. For the first 20 years, the payments could not be less than $300,000 or more than $500,000 per year; for the 20 years after that, they’d fall between $625,000 and $950,000 per year.

The deal won't be complete until the tribe agrees, and several federal agencies also need to sign on, according to TPU officials.

That's what Tacoma City Council members were told Tuesday.

Even though officials haven't secured all of the estimated $80 million it will take to rehabilitate the bridge and re-open it to traffic, they are ready to replace the cables. That will allow the bridge to remain open to pedestrians, rather than lock it in the upright position -- something that was contemplated.

Jim Parvey, an assistant public works director, and Kevin Dayton, state Department of Transportation regional administrator, updated council members on the effort to rehabilitate the iconic bridge that connects downtown to the Tideflats.

It's been closed to vehicles since October, 2007.

The men outlined a four-phase approach to rehabilitating the bridge that starts with replacing the cables.

Doing so will cost about the same amount -- $3 million -- as it would to lock the bridge in the upright position. The money might as well be spent on something that will contribute to the rehab effort, they said.

About $36 million is currently set aside for bridge work.

"At this point, we are ready to move forward with the design of the lift cable replacement," Parvey said. The work is scheduled to be finished by July.

The other phases include:

=> Read more!

Former Seattle City Attorney Mark Sidran got the appointment at the beginning of Gov. Chris Gregoire's first term.

He, like 5 or 6 others, won't be around for Gregoire's second term.

Mark Sidran to leave UTC

OLYMPIA, Dec. 16, 2008 – Mark Sidran will step down as chair of the state Utilities and Transportation Commission early next year, the UTC announced today.

"I've completed my term and it's time to move on," Sidran said. "It has been a rewarding experience, and I'm grateful to Gov. Gregoire for giving me the opportunity to serve."

=> Read more!

I couldn't make this morning's meeting of the Washington Transportation Commission to hear Robert Ryan, chairman of the Narrows Bridge Toll Citizen Advisory Committee, make his pitch for no change in tolls for state fiscal year 2010. (That's from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.)

But he did pass on the CAC recommendation.

The commission will take no action until March or April -- if at all, said Pam Boyd, who passed on message from Reema Griffith, commission executive director. If commissioners do make a recommendation, it will be in spring, while the Legislature is still in session.

That's IF, she emphasized. Stay tuned.

These photos from the Washington State Department of Transportation show the giant icicles crews are battling on Highway 20 near Newhalem.

To see more photos, follow this link.

According to a WSDOT press release:

WSDOT maintenance crews working on SR 20 near Newhalem face some unique challenges when it comes to keeping the road safe for drivers. In the tunnels east of Newhalem, water dripping from the walls and roof form giant icicles when the temperature dips below freezing. Some of the icicles can get so large, they nearly impede traffic. Crews have to constantly monitor the tunnel and keep the icicles from growing too large.

Fortunately, traffic near Newhalem is limited since the North Cascades passes closed Monday, Dec. 15. For more detailed information about the pass, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades

The Pierce County Council likely will get a new leader when it reconvenes in January.

Councilman Roger Bush, R-Graham, will be elected chairman of the seven-member council next month, several council members say.

Bush would replace current Chairman Terry Lee, R-Gig Harbor.

Bush wouldn’t say he will be the new chairman. But he confirmed his interest in the job.

“I would look forward to any position in leadership that could bring some higher visibility to some issues dear to my constituents,” Bush said in an interview Monday.

Last month Bush won re-election to the District 3 council seat. The district covers much of southeast Pierce County, stretching from Mount Rainier to South Hill, Frederickson and Graham.

Lee served as council chairman for two years. Lee said it’s very unusual for someone to serve three terms as chairman, and he’s content to step aside.

The chairman runs the council’s regular meetings and also chairs the powerful Rules Committee, which serves as a gatekeeper for council legislation. As chairman, Bush also would work closely with new County Executive Pat McCarthy, a Democrat.

=> Read more!

That's what Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna is telling us in this news release. Washington will get $150,000 of the $7 million that Airborne makers are paying to settle lawsuits in 32 states.

“Airborne landed itself in hot water by marketing itself as a cold prevention remedy, claims that have since been disproven,” McKenna said in the news release.

Read on.

Grounding Airborne: McKenna announces $7 million settlement with maker of popular fizzing tablet

“Truth in advertising is nothing to sneeze at,” AG says

SEATTLE – Airborne is the top-selling product in the cold and cough aisles of major retailers. But it’s not a cold-buster, say state attorneys general. Just in time for the sniffling season, attorneys general in 32 states and the District of Columbia announced that they, too, have reached a settlement with the makers of the popular effervescent tablet.

=> Read more!

This just in from Employment Security. November's unemployment rose to 6.4 percent from 6.3 percent.

Washington’s unemployment rate inches up in November

OLYMPIA – Washington’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 6.4 percent in November, up from October’s rate of 6.3 percent, according to the state Employment Security Department.

Washington lost an estimated 11,700 non-agricultural jobs in November, seasonally adjusted. The employment number also has been adjusted to remove the effect of the Boeing worker strike that ended Nov. 1.

=> Read more!

This report at Stateline estimates that the 50 states have a $200 billion budget hole to fill. Washington's share of that could reach $6 billion by the time the Legislature begins to try to fix it.

The head of the National Governors Association called it the biggest budget crisis in 25 years. That refers to the recession of 1981-82 when Washington had problems similar to what it is going through now.

The story holds this fascinating fact – states will see a decline in spending for the first time since that recession. That means that during more-recent recessions the states increased their spending, just not as much as they had during more-flush times.

Gov. Chris Gregoire will release her budget proposal Thursday.

Pierce County was near the top third of the nation for how much property tax residents pay as a percentage of home value, according to a study by The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group based in Washington, D.C.

The study drew on new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the full report, Pierce County ranked 196 out of more than 1,800 counties nationwide (just outside the top 5 percent) for median property taxes paid on homes.

The county ranked 628th (in the top 35 percent) for taxes as a percent of home value and 256th (in the top 15 percent) for taxes as a percent of median income, the study found.

The raw numbers are:

Median property tax paid on homes: $2,564
Median home value: $248,900
Tax as percent of home value: 1 percent
Median homeowner income: $69,515
Tax as percent of income: 3.7 percent

Coming in at No. 1 was Westchester County, New York, where the median tax was $7,908.

Orleans County, New York ranked No. 1 for tax as a percent of home value with 3.05 percent.

Vernon Parish, Louisiana was the lowest, with a median tax of just $115.

Barack Obama's Presidential Inaugural Committee is releasing the names of donors to the event. Here's how the committee explained the move in a press release from last week:

Today, in keeping with President-elect Obama's commitment to changing the way business is done in Washington, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced unprecedented standards of transparency in the public reporting of donors to a presidential inaugural committee.

For the first time, an inaugural committee's donor disclosure efforts will include a searchable, sortable, virtually real-time database of donors, available on the PIC website. Any citizen will be able to search for and sort donors who give more than $200 by name, employer, or hometown (city, state and zip code). Information on donors and donations will be updated regularly, with information on each new donation over $200 appearing online within 48 hours of its receipt.

The Federal Elections Commission would require disclosure of those names within 90 days.

Among other changes, the committee is limiting donations to $50,000 and not accepting donations from political action committees, labor unions, non-U.S. citizens and registered foreign agents. Currently, there is no legal limit on the amount.

Six Washington donors - including Tacoma favorite son Dale Chihuly - have given the maximum $50,000. Here's the entire list of Washington donors so far:

=> Read more!

Rep. Steve Hailey, R-Mesa, has cancer. Last Friday, we reported that Rep. Bill Grant, D-Walla Walla, discovered recently that he, too, has cancer.

This from The Associated Press"

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A Republican state representative is resigning from the Legislature to focus on his cancer treatment.
Rep. Steve Hailey, R-Mesa, plans to officially step down Jan. 11. That’s one day before the Legislature opens its new session in Olympia.
In a letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire, Hailey says he can’t fully represent his constituents while continuing to battle colon cancer. Hailey, 63, was diagnosed in January. He’s a farmer and rancher.
Hailey’s 9th District covers the state’s southeastern corner. Local Republican officials will choose three nominees to replace him, with the finalist selected by county commissioners in the district.
There are 62 Democrats in the House, and 36 Republicans.

From D.C. correspondent Les Blumenthal:

WASHINGTON - This morning's Roll Call says Rep. Norm Dicks had a snit fit last week when the cafeteria in the Longworth House Office Building ran out of wheat bread.

Roll Call's "Heard on the Hill" column said Dicks was standing in the sandwich line when he heard a cafeteria worker say there was no more wheat bread. The congressman made sure the employee knew who he was before asking for the manager.

Dicks' spokesman, George Behan, sought to dismiss the incident, saying all his boss wanted was for someone to check if there was anymore wheat bread in the back.

The congressman finally settled for pumpernickel.

But one more intriguing fact: the article also indicated Dicks has been seen around town wearing a fleece jacket that says "Mr. Chairman" on it. Dicks, of course, is chairman of the House interior appropriations subcommittee. We assume the jacket is Husky purple and gold.

Want to be Pierce County auditor? The county has officially posted the job, which is being vacated by executive-elect Pat McCarthy.

The council is expected to pick an auditor on Jan. 13. Submit your application by Jan. 5. Here's the information:

Anyone seeking to be appointed Pierce County Auditor should apply to the Pierce County Council no later than Jan. 5, 2009.

The successful applicant will fill a portion of the unexpired term of current Auditor Pat McCarthy, who takes over as County Executive in 2009. He or she would need to stand for a special election in November 2009 to complete the remainder of McCarthy's term, which ends Dec. 31, 2010.

The Auditor's Office conducts elections for all taxing districts and performs recording, licensing, and other services such as animal control.

The application form is available at www.piercecountywa.gov/council.

CONTACTS: Council Chair Terry Lee, 253-798-6654; or Susan Long, Administrator for Legal and Operations, 253-798-6068

Tacoma's Blue Mouse Theatre, which celebrated its 85th birthday last month, is up for landmark status on Tuesday.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on a resolution placing the Proctor District theater on the city's Register of Historic Places.

Check out the resolution and supporting documents here.

Bryan Bissell of Tacoma has been all over the place, digging up news of relevance for our political scene.

Here is his last posting.

Another comment on our economic times (and journalism), I just heard on CNBC that the Detroit Free Press is going to publish a paper only 3 days a week. The other 4 days people will have to read the paper on line.

Rep. Bill Grant, D-Walla Walla, has been diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer.

Here's the e-mail that the House chief clerk forwarded from Grant to members and staff:

I understand there are many different stories circulating around the campus concerning my absence and thought I should send you 'the facts'.

After recommendation from my hometown doctor, I came to Seattle to undergo a lung biopsy. The procedure is over and the diagnosis I received is a rare form of lung cancer. (The oncologist sees only two or three cases a year.) Although these are not the results I had hoped for, the good news is I have been released from the hospital and am heading home to discuss my treatment options. Hopefully this will answer your questions. I thank you all for your concerns and would appreciate your positive thoughts and prayers directed my way.

Bill Grant

As caucus chairman, Grant is the No. 3 leader in the House Democratic caucus. He also is the longest-serving member in the House, now that Rep. Helen Sommers of Seattle has retired.

Grant, 71, was first elected in 1986, and was reelected this fall.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has released a list of 11,391 infrastructure projects in 427 cities that could be launched quickly as part of a national stimulus plan.

The projects would cost $73 billion and create 11,391 jobs, according to what the mayors call the MainStreet Economic Recovery plan.

Fifteen Washington cities took part in the survey,ranging from Seattle and Tacoma to Yarrow Point and Kirkland.

It is just one of the wish lists being created by state and local governments to take advantage of the recession-driven transformation of pork to stimulus. I talk about this transition in my column Sunday.

Here is a link to the list but be carefull – it is 800 pages long.

How timely is this? The state Department of Revenue just came out with its 2008 list of tax exemptions, exclusions, deductions, etc.

In layman's language, that's "The Really Big List of Tax Breaks and Loopholes." It's probably required reading for the upcoming legislative session, what with an impending $5-6 billion budget shortfall for 2009-11. It's a great reference manual.

The report says there was almost $100 million of savings to taxpayers (most of it from uncollected taxes) in the 2007-09 budget cycle. Now, that's a greatly exaggerated number because much of that money would never have come to the state anyway. For one, that number includes tax revenues for cities, counties and other governments. For another, a big chunk of that money could never be collected, even if the state did repeal some of the tax exemptions. (For instance, the state can't tax interstate commerce.)

Even so, Democrats in the House and Senate, where they have hefty majorities, will be scanning this tome, looking for ways they can raise money so they won't have to make what they consider beyond-draconian cuts to spending.

"Closing tax loopholes" and "getting rid of tax exemptions" doesn't count as a tax increase in their minds. Of course, if you are one of the groups that is not paying a tax today and you have to start paying it tomorrow, you probably will feel as if your taxes have been increased.

Just an example of a "tax break" (and I'm not suggesting the Legislature will or should get rid of this one) is the sales tax on food. We don't pay sales tax on food we buy at the store. If we did, the state would have collected about $1.7 billion more in taxes in the current 2-year budget cycle.

Here is a link to the "Tax Exemptions 2008" report.

If you think about it, after all of the millions of dollars were spent on state House of Representative elections this summer and fall, Republicans managed only to make up for the defection of Rep. Fred Jarrett of Mercer Island.

Democrats' ranks had risen briefly to 63 after Jarrett switched from the Republican to Democratic Party. (He ran for Senate, but his replacement also is a Democrat.) Now, House Democrats go back to a 62-36 majority.

Appointee Liz Loomis, the Democrat, lost by 138 votes to Republican challenger Mike Hope after the recount in Snohomish County.

Here's The (Everett) Herald story.

Can the Pierce County Council legally appoint one of its own members to be county auditor?

Council attorney Susan Long says there’s no state statute or case law prohibiting the move. But four state attorney general opinions suggest it’s no slam dunk that the council can appoint one of its own members to fill the auditor’s post.

It’s a timely question because County Councilman Shawn Bunney, a Republican from Lake Tapps, is one of several local politicians interested in the auditor’s job. It’s open because current Auditor Pat McCarthy will become county executive in January.

Bunney said this week he hasn’t decided whether to pursue the job. But with a Republican majority on the council, some believe it’s his if he wants it.

Still, those attorney general opinions could make a Bunney appointment problematic:

• A 1965 opinion holds that “a board of county commissioners may not appoint one of its members to fill a vacancy in the office of county auditor.” It also states that if a commissioner resigns for the sole purpose of accepting an appointment under a prior agreement he’s still ineligible for the appointment. You can read the full opinion here.

• A 1973 opinion states that commissioners can’t appoint one of their own members to fill a vacancy in the state House of Representatives. It also says commissioner is ineligible if he resigns with the understanding that he’ll get the House appointment. You can read the full opinion here.

• A 1985 opinions states that “if a vacancy occurs in one position of a House of Representatives district which encompasses two counties and part of a third county, the boards of county commissioners of the three counties, acting jointly … may not appoint one of their own members to fill such vacancy.” Read the full opinion here.

• Finally, a second 1985 opinion stats that a former commissioner is eligible for appointment to a vacant Senate seat if the commissioner “resigned prior to the appointment, the resignation is made without qualification and there is no pre-arranged agreement that the former member will be appointed.” Read the full opinion here.

=> Read more!

We received a phone call yesterday from former Pierce County Sheriff candidate Robert "The Traveller" Hill -- who was listed on the ballot as Jesse Hill, his middle name. The News Tribune had made a grievous error, he explained, in a Nov. 22 article ("Ex-candidate to get mental exam").

The photo that ran with the story -- which explained that Hill was to undergo a mental exam after allegedly pointing a fake gun at a courthouse security guard and following the arrest of his friend who apparently tried to smuggle a loaded gun registered to Hill's mom into the County-City building after Hill made inquiries about whether he'd become sheriff if the race's winner, Paul Pastor, died before the results were certified -- that photo, he said, showed him as Jesse Hill, not Robert Hill. (Click the link to listen to Hill's call.)

Our bad.

Just so we're all clear:

Robert "The Traveller"	Jesse Hill

Remember that voter survey that Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy says showed voters overwhelmingly disliked ranked choice voting? An RCV supporter says it’s fatally flawed.

In a post on Kelly Haughton’s ranked choice voting blog, University of Puget Sound professor Richard Anderson-Connolly writes that McCarthy’s survey may be skewed because of a low response rate. Though 90,738 voters responded to the survey, that’s only 27 percent of the registered voters surveyed. Anderson-Connolly says a minimum 50 percent response is required for an adequate analysis.

While the survey’s sample of voters is large, it’s not a random sample. So Anderson-Connolly says it likely is not representative of Pierce County voters or their opinions of ranked choice voting.

Last week McCarthy presented the survey results to a state Senate committee. "It was overwhelming," McCarthy told members of the state Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee on Friday. "The majority did not like it."

According to Anderson-Connolly, a more accurate way of stating the results would be:

72.8% No response
17.0% Negative view toward RCV
8.7% Positive view toward RCV
1.4% Undecided on RCV

McCarthy’s survey is fuel for those who want to repeal ranked choice voting next November. But Anderson-Connolly concludes: “The calls for immediate repeal are occurring in an environment filled with ulterior political scheming by powerful interests and devoid of reliable information regarding the true wishes of the public.”

You can read the full post here.

When last I spoke to Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, she said people were asking her to run for the newly elected position of King County elections director. (It's appointed right now.)

There will be a special election in February.

Sherril Huff, who holds the job at the moment, also has filed. Read these earlier postings about Huff and Roach.

There are others who have talked about it, but haven't put their name on the dotted line just yet.

Here's the King County Election website.

And the price tag is now more than $1 billion higher for both the final options. It's $3.5 billion. The Legislature has set aside only $2.4 billion.

That means the money has to come from somewhere else. (Other projects?)

Part of the reasons for higher costs are improvements that would be made to Interstate 5, the other main north-south corridor which is expected to pick up a lot of traffic from Alaskan Way (Highway 99), and other Seattle city streets.

Transit costs appear to be ongoing.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and King County Executive Ron Sims are supposed to make a final recommendation by the end of the year. Then, we'll see what the Legislature has to say.

=> Read more!

The MV Rhododendron, which usally plies the waters between Point Defiance and the Tahlequah landing, has capacity for 48 cars. But it's going to be out of service for six weeks for maintenance and inspection.

The Hiyu has room for only 34 cars, so the Washington Ferry System is scheduling an extra run.

34-car Hiyu to serve Point Defiance/Tahlequah ferry route for six weeks beginning on Jan. 5, 2009

POINT DEFIANCE – Beginning Monday, Jan. 5, 2009, the 34-car Hiyu will operate on the Point Defiance/Tahlequah route (Tacoma to south Vashon Island) for approximately six weeks while the 48-car Rhododendron is out of service for scheduled maintenance and inspection.

To assist customers on this route, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Ferries Division (WSF) will add an additional midday roundtrip sailing. The Hiyu will depart Point Defiance at 12:50 p.m. and Tahlequah at 1:15 p.m.

=> Read more!

Tacoma officials were working on a way to start rehabilitating the Murray Morgan Bridge long before there was any talk of state or federal "economic stimulus" projects, but all that talk might help.

Tacoma city lobbyist Randy Lewis said the city is trying to get the bridge project under way, and a plan might be coming together.

For some background, here's a story I wrote back in March, telling what the Legislature agreed to do about the bridge.

Here's how it would work:

1. Tacoma would accept full responsibility for the bridge, along with the $40 million the Legislature and governor already have set aside in this year's state budget to either demolish or fix up the bridge. (The state is insisting the city take over the bridge if it wants the money.)

2. The Tacoma City Council would borrow an additional $25 million, using councilmanic bonds. That's the kind of loan the council can do by itself and just pledge part of its regular tax revenues to make payments.

=> Read more!

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey results for 2005-2007 have just been released. The estimated data isn't perfect and there are some categories where the margins of error are pretty high. Nor is there a super easy way to compare one period of time with another.

That said, I thought some folks might be curious about the latest snapshot of Pierce County. Give a shout if something interesting jumps out at you.

For example, I noticed the median gross rent is $819. And that 32 percent of men, compared to 24 percent of women have never been married.

Updated: Something else I spotted. U.S.-born men and woman are split pretty equally (50.1 percent men vs. 49.9 percent women). But foreign born women outnumber men 56.3 percent to 43.7 percent; naturalized women outnumber men 59.6 percent to 40.4 percent; and non-citizen women outnumber men 52.7 percent to 47.3 percent.

Granted, I'm far from an expert on the topic, but I had always thought there would be more immigrant men here working and sending cash back home.

You'll find the big of list of numbers after the jump.

=> Read more!

House Democrats, who have a 62-36 majority over Republicans, picked a few more members for leadership positions. (I think they now have a leadership post for 61 of 62 members.)

Anyway, Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, is the "Majority Caucus Liaison," which means his "primary duties are coordinating with stakeholders and acting as liaison between stakeholders and leadership."

In layman's English, I think that means if the teachers union or the poverty lobby or any other interest group has heartburn over a particular bill or part of a bill, they go to Springer and say so. Then Springer stands up in the closed-door caucus meeting and announces, "The teachers got a problem with such-and-such...." and everybody then votes to get rid of whatever is upsetting the Washington Education Association.

On the flip side, with the Legislature is facing a $5-6 billion deficit, Springer's job also will have to go back to the "stakeholders" and say, "Frank (Chopp) says we don't have enough money to pay for that. Sorry."

You sure you want that job, Larry?

House Democrats elect additional leaders

OLYMPIA – Washington House Democrats have selected more members of their leadership team. Joining Speaker-designate Frank Chopp (Seattle), Majority Leader Lynn Kessler (Hoquiam), Caucus Chair Bill Grant (Walla Walla), Majority Whip Sharon Tomiko Santos (Seattle ), and Speaker pro tem-designate Jeff Morris (Mount Vernon) are:

Majority Floor Leader: Zack Hudgins (Tukwila)
Majority Caucus Liaison: Larry Springer (Kirkland)
Caucus Vice Chair: Dawn Morrell (Puyallup)
Assistant Majority Floor Leader: Tami Green (Lakewood)
Deputy Majority Whip: Kevin Van De Wege (Sequim)

In 2007-08, Hudgins and Springer shared Floor Leader duties while Morrell served as Deputy Majority Whip and Van De Wege was an Assistant Majority Whip.

If you wonder why Gov. Chris Gregoire has been talking about a $6 billion budget deficit, it's because the $5 billion deficit just keeps getting worse.

It's growing.

Witness the most recent tax collection report. It's $36 million less than expected. And for the last three months, tax collections are 5 percent lower. At that rate, it doesn't take long for a deficit to get much, much larger.

Gregoire is expected to come out with her budget proposal for 2009-11, as well as her supplemental budget for 2007-09, next Thursday.

But by the time the Legislature gets around to writing a budget, tax collection could have dropped so precipitously that they will have to plug a $6 billion hole, not a $5 billion hole.

Here is the revenue collection report for Dec. 10. It covers the preceeding 30 days.

Besides being interested in the job of U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg also has his eye on the Region X administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Of course, we'll have to actually let Barack Obama be sworn into office in January before we can say much more about this.

But being a long-time friend of U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, should help Ladenburg's cause, or causes.

Here's the posting in PolitickerWA blog by Bryan Bissell.

Bridge and baseball stadium money are among the items listed in the draft version of Tacoma's 2009 "legislative priorities," the annual wish-list that outlines whatofficials want from the state and federal governments in the coming year.

Tacoma wants to begin fixing the moribund bridge next year, according to the handout that government relations officer Randy Lewis provided to council members during yesterday's study session.

Officials are hoping for $4.5 million this year to fix up Cheney Stadium, which will soon the city's sole responsibility. City and county council members approved a property swap yesterday that gives Pierce County sole possession of the County-City Building, and the City of Tacoma sole ownership of the baseball stadium.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, said Mike Slevin, Tacoma's interim public works director.

Here's the full list of legislative priorities.

And here's last year's list .

I just had to share this. I just tried to contact the U.S. Department of Justice to ask a question about its new DNA policy.

There was no answer. Instead, there was a message that said "The mail box belonging to the communications office is full."

Maybe all the agencies working for the President are just not going to answer the phone for the next several weeks, and let Obama appointees take over.

Here, try it yourself..

Media Inquiries
Office of Justice Programs, Office of Communications
202–307–0703
Email OJP

(And yes, the photo above, which circulated widely via e-mail and the Internet, is a fake and has been debunked by Snopes.com.)

And those ticketws can carry fines of between $500 and $3,000, according to this news release from the state Department of Ecology.

DOE says it will cut red tape. Hmmmm. I wonder if the ticketed businesses woudl really want to cut government red tape in this instance.

From the release:

"Field tickets will provide near-immediate consequences for water quality violations, save state resources, and speed the enforcement process - and most importantly, they allow us to enforce the regulations already in the books," said Kelly Susewind, manager of Ecology's water quality program.

Susewind said a key goal of the tickets is to help reduce the large numbers of common violations that Ecology personnel regularly see during facility inspections.

Here's the rest

State environmental regulators using new enforcement tool

OLYMPIA - Inspectors from the Washington Department of Ecology
(Ecology) are now using ticket books during site visits to facilities covered by the state's Construction Stormwater, Industrial Stormwater, and Sand & Gravel General Permits.

=> Read more!

Just cleaning out my e-mails from the weekend.....

King County Republicans Elect County Leadership for 2009-2010

The King County Republican Central Committee held its 2008 Biennial Organization Meeting this past Saturday, December 6, 2008 at Newport High School in Bellevue. The purpose of the meeting was to elect new Party Officers and adopt Party Bylaws for the 2009-2010 cycle. Chairman Lori Sotelo was re-elected along with all of the positions where incumbents were running.

Both Senior Vice Chairman Steve Hammond and 2nd Vice Chair Catherine Trinh were re-elected as were 7th Congressional District Executive Board members Phil Bevis and Suellen Roche.

=> Read more!

A fight over how to replace Pierce County nonpartisan auditor is about to get very partisan, and may wind up in court.

At issue: whether the County Council must accept Democratic Party recommendations for a new auditor or whether it can open the job to all comers.

The Republican-majority County Council this afternoon will consider an emergency ordinance that lays out a replacement process that does not rely on nominations from the Democratic Party.

The process calls for advertising the position, with an ad hoc committee whittling the list to three applicants to be submitted to the council.

Several County Council members say Republican Shawn Bunney (right) is likely to get the council’s nod to replace the outgoing auditor.

He would be filling the shoes of Democrat Pat McCarthy,

(left) who was elected county executive last month. Bunney told me recently he is interested in the job.

But the county Democratic Party is objecting. Chairman Nathe Lawver contends that under the county charter the party should have a say in who is appointed auditor. He’s willing to press his case in court.

“We have a very solid case here,” Lawver said this afternoon. “If it comes down to it, yeah, we’ll be working through the courts.”

=> Read more!

King County Elections Director Sherril Huff will have to win election to her job if she wants to keep it. King County voters made elections director an elected, rather than an appointed, position last month.

King County Executive Ron Sims is backing her. He should. He hired her, didn't he?

There are a few others already in the race or expected to announce, including state Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, as you can see from these earlier posts.

Jason Osgood is one of them.

Sherril Huff announces candidacy for
King County Elections Director

SEATTLE – With unparalleled experience running 21 successful King County elections, King County Director of Elections Sherril Huff on Tuesday announced she is running for the position in the Feb. 3 election.

“I am honored today to announce my candidacy for Director of Elections,” Huff said at a news conference held at Strategies 360. “I want to continue running smooth elections for King County voters, and keep pushing for accuracy and innovations to ensure a fair, open election process.”

Huff has served as Elections Director since 2007, and was assistant Elections Director from 2005 to 2007.

=> Read more!

Are you paying too much in taxes? Check your cell phone bill. If you are being overcharged, we want to hear from you.

We found one Pierce County resident in Graham was being charged a Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) tax -- as a portion of the sales tax -- on her cell phone bill, even though she lives about five miles outside the taxation district boundary.

Update: And since then we've found two others who are in the same boat.

We’re trying to figure out how accurate phone companies’ methods are for figuring out who should be taxed. The state recently admitted its methods had an extreme number of errors, resulting in about $3 million being owed back to residents.

(You may not be able to tell on some cell phone bills because the RTA tax isn't broken out from the sales tax. The customer in question uses Verizon and it was broken out on the bill she provided to us.)

More details after the jump.

=> Read more!

No, that headline is not a mistake.

Barry (aka Bart) Ladenburg has been appointed to fill a vacancy on the SeaTac City Council and will take the oath of office at tonight's meeting. The council selected him last Tuesday to finish the term of Councilman Joe Brennan, a one-time mayor who died in late October.

Bart, 51, is the younger brother of Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, which makes him the much older brother-in-law of Tacoma City Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg. (You're welcome, Connie.)

Bart will have to stand for election in 2009 if he wants to keep the job. That means there probably will still be a Ladenburg on the ballot.

Not John. He ran for Attorney General and lost to incumbent Rob McKenna this year, and his executive term ends Dec. 31.

Not Connie. She is term-limited so her council term runs out on Dec. 31, 2009.

So, the political activities of the Ladenburg clan will be concentrated a bit further north next year.

Bart is a master mechanic for Metropolitan King County government and has lived in SeaTac for a while. I have a call out to him, but he must be at work. More later when he calls back.

UPDATE: Bart said he and wife, Debbie, built a house near Angle Lake in 1995 and he's gotten involved in the community. (She grew up in SeaTac.)

King County Councilwoman Julie Patterson had a hand in urging him to seek public office, Bart said. "She's been after me to run, but I didn't want to do anything until my kids were out of public school."

The appointment gives him "a chance to get my feet wet and see what it's like," he said.

The cost of Tacoma's big pay and benefits study -- known internally as the classification and total compensation study -- has been going up and down since the city hired Seattle-based consultant Milliman Inc. to help out.

The latest move is up.

The City Council is expected to vote tonight on a resolution that would increase the Milliman contract from $179,500 to $277,243.

City officials said they needed Milliman to do extra work related to "custom salary data" that was not requested in the original contract. That means they needed help figuring out what to pay some positions where it's not easty to find comparable positions in other cities or companies.

The original Milliman contract was for $200,000, but the city later reduced the scope of the work, which lowered the bill to $179,500.

The study, which is not quite finished, revealed lots of Tacoma's jobs have pay scales that top out below City Council's goal of the 70th percentile of the market. Some positions are within the market range, and a few are paid higher than the market.

City officials say it will cost about $2.9 million to adopt a new salary schedule that puts everyone in the market range.

Check out the resolution in tonight's City Council agenda packet, and supporting documents, here.

If you could increase your salary by $5,000 a year -- and I mean an ongoing increase, not just a one-time bonus -- wouldn't you?

You'd have to study and take a test, but when you're done, your employer pays you $5,000 more than your fellow teachers with comparable years of experience and education. Plus, if you could get another $5,000 a year if you got teach in one of the tougher schools.

The Legislature calls them "challenging" schools. They are defined by the number of students who get free or reduced lunches.

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction reports that in the 2007-08 school year, 919 teacher became National Board certified, which is what it takes to get the pay raise. That's nearly twice the number who got board certified the previous year.

The Legislature approved the $5,000 amount in 2007.

More than 2,000 teachers have signed up for 2008-09 to work toward certification. "A total of 22 percent of the newly Board-certified teachers in the state are now teaching in challenging schools, compared to 13 percent for all Board-certified teachers through 2007," OSPI reported.

Here's the full news release.

=> Read more!

C-Ted, as the acronym generally is pronounced, is an agency that seems to do a little bit of everything.

The departure of Juli Wilkerson means Gov. Chris Gregoire is going to have to find at least 4 or 5 new agency directors for her second four-year term.

CTED Director Wilkerson to retire

OLYMPIA – Juli Wilkerson, director of the Washington state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED), today announced her retirement effective January 9.

=> Read more!

On Friday, I noted the proposed labor contract with Tacoma's police union in a blog item.

Here's the proposed agreement.

Here's the resolution from City Council agenda packet, as well as supporting material.

And below is the article that will appear in tomorrow's paper.

Tacoma police will get a hefty raise next year, and move to 12-hour shifts in 2010.
By Jason Hagey
jason.hagey@thenewstribune.com
A proposed labor contract with Tacoma’s rank-and-file police officers calls for a 6.2 percent wage hike next year, and sets the stage for a move to 12-hour shift schedules in 2010.
Pay is up from the 3.3 percent raise officers received this year as part of the final year of a contract that was settled by an independent arbitrator, and higher than the two previous years wage hikes of 4.6 percent and 2.3 percent.
City officials said there wasn’t much to negotiate with regard to the overall wage increases. The arbitrator who decided the terms of the current labor agreement obligated Tacoma to maintain the department’s position as the highest-paid among a group of six comparable Washington cities.
The other cities are Bellevue, Everett, Kent, Spokane and Vancouver.
“We have to be at the top of the market,” said Joy St. Germain, Tacoma’s Human Resources Director. “We really were pretty much bound by that.”
Even so, city officials found reasons to be happy with the proposed agreement.

=> Read more!

People are eager to see what's in Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget proposal, if only to see how badly funds for their particular programs will be cut.

This budget probably won't assume any federal help, not yet. Some government folks say they are expecting Washington's "share" of an economic stimulus package for building projects to be between $250 million to $500 million.

But whatever that amount is, it probably won't firm up until after Gregoire releases her budget. That will happen sometime after the Legislature is in session, starting Jan. 12.

Gov. Gregoire holds roundtable with state business, labor leaders

Partners for economic recovery evaluate strategies

SEATTLE – Gov. Chris Gregoire today met with business and labor leaders from across the state for a discussion on economic recovery strategies.

=> Read more!

The National Trial Lawyers Association changes its name back in 2006 to the American Association for Justice, and at the time, I suggested they go for Justice League.

That way, they could meet regularly with the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, Flash (?), Green Hornet(?) (I'm not sure if they are dues-paying members.) Jack Connelly would fit right in, dontcha think? Oh wait, isn't that Jack, second from the right?

But alas, the nationals ignored me. So have the locals.

Washington's trail lawyers are now the Washington State Association for Justice.

WSTLA Changes Name to Washington State Association for Justice

SEATTLE – December 8, 2008 – Members of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association voted Friday to change the organization’s name to the Washington State Association for Justice at a membership meeting in Seattle.

“The new name best captures our mission,” said WSTLA President John Budlong.

=> Read more!

And I can't find it anywhere.

I know Gov. Chris Gregoire said she has a list of $600 million worth of projects that she could spend money on if Congress approves an economic stimulus package right away. But she wouldn't share it with our D.C. guy, Les Blumenthal, when she was back East last week.

I know the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials says the 50 states have a list of $64 billion worth of highway and bridge projects that are "ready to go" if Congress approves a stimulus package. The New York Times said so, so it must be true.

And I know AASHTO said that $1.339 billion of that $64 billion would be for projects in Washington state. AASHTO spokesman Tony Dorsey said not all the state's that responded to AASHTO's request for numbers listed specific projects. Looks as if only 6 states did, and Washington was not among them.

Lloyd Brown, chief spokesman for Washington's Department of Transportation, said he's trying to look into it. DOT Secretary Paula Hammond is back in Washington, D.C. today talking about this very thing with other West Coast transpo folks. (Maybe she took the list with her?)

I've got calls in to the governor's budget folks. Maybe they have the list. I hope they haven't misplaced the list. How will we get our money with no list?

Or maybe, just maybe, there is no list -- yet.

UPDATE: Lloyd Brown tells me state officials aren't keepign the list a secret, there are just too many lists floating around. "Nobody has the list because nobody knows what the criteria is yet," he said. That is, nobody knows what kinds of projects will be eligible for federal funds.

The $1.339 billion worth of projects that AASHTO referred to was a list of state highway projects combined with a still-growing-larger list of projects that cities and counties said they would spend economic stimulus money on. I'm going to pore over them and see if I can't recognize anything or if they are specific.

Meanwhile, here are AASHTO's summaries, state by state:

Ready to Go
America Is Ready to Build
Ready to Work, Ready to Go!
AASHTO State Survey

=> Read more!

Here's a story that will appear in Tuesday's print edition of The News Tribune.

Buckley city officials are trying to lease 140 acres of surplus land at Rainier School for the developmentally disabled in the hope of one day turning the property into baseball and other recreational fields, a golf course or man-made wetlands with hiking trails.
A hearing on a proposed 50-year lease is set for Tuesday at Buckley City Hall. The city is offering to pay $20,274 a year to the state Department of Social and Health Services. That money would go into a trust fund that can be spent only on helping people with developmental disabilities get employment or family support services.
City administrator Dave Schmidt said those longer-term uses will be the subject of a five-year planning process. In the short-term, the city would use the property to store its heavy equipment, sand and gravel and for an animal control compound, he said.

=> Read more!

The federal government has filed suit against the Washington State Department of Transportation seeking to recover $6.8 million for costs related to the cleanup of the Thea Foss and Wheeler Osgood waterways in Tacoma.

According to the complaint, which was filed in Federal court last Tuesday, the problem is with toxic stuff running of a state-owned property where the highway 705 spur is. Old toxic tar was discovered there during construction of the spur and there are continuing problems with runoff.

"Highway runoff containing hazardous substances is and has been transported from I-5, SR 705 and SR 509 by drainage structures and disposed of in the Thea Foss and/or Wheeler Osgood Waterways," the complaint says.

This history of the cleanup dates back to the 1980s and I've got calls into the WSDOT and U.S. Attorney's Office, so look for a more detailed story soon.

Updated: By request, here's a link to the complete federal complaint.

It's only in the rumor stage, but what's a political blog for?

Word on the Capitol Campus is that state Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy, would announce a run for Congress in the 9th District if incumbent U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma, gets appointed to something in the Barack Obama Administration.

And since we're talking rumors, here's a doozy: Recently deposed state Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville, who hails from the same 2nd Legislative District as Campbell, is thinking about running in 2010 against incumbent Rep. Jim McCune, R-Graham.

Of course, if Campbell were to move on, Rasmussen would have her choice of House seats in the 2nd District. Now, I can't tell you why Rasmussen would want to run for a House seat, except maybe because it will come up in only 2 years and she wouldn't be able to run against the Republican who beat her, Randi Becker, until 2012.

Backs to Campbell. He's been a Democrat and a Republican. He has his own brand of something in between. And the 9th Congressional District isn't as solidly Democratic as the 6th District, which has Norm Dicks.

Stay tuned.

State Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, was chosen to be chairman of the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee.

Maybe that puts him in a better position to keep an eye on the University of Washington Tacoma when it comes to budget and campus development.

That workforce development is a new component of the committee. It appears to be tailored to him. In real life, Kilmer is an economic development guy.

“During these tough economic times, maintaining access to higher education and helping workers get the skills they need will be more important than ever,” Kilmer said in a news release. “In the coming years, more and more people will look to our institutions of higher education – our community and technical colleges, our four-year universities, our private and career schools, our apprenticeship programs — to get the skills and credentials they need.”

By the way, it appears Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, paid a price for making a few not-discreet-enough calls about possibly replacing Sen. Margarita Prentice as chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Prentice is still chair of the committee, but Pridemore no longer is vice chairman. That job went to Rodney Tom, D-Medina.

=> Read more!

I'm taking some journalistic license here because, not only was Dick Ferguson spokesman for Pierce County government for the past 20 years, he also was my first boss at The News Tribune in the summer of 1977.

I was a reporter intern from the UW and Fergie was my supposed to keep an eye on me. And his did. I wrote 2 stories every week about the Kodak Snap Shot contest for an interminable 12 weeks. And I got to just the amateur photography submitted to us.

Anyway, Richard Ferguson, who spent almost 25 years as a reporter and editor at The News Tribune (he started in February 1964 and left in December 1988), and another 20 year working for the county, is retiring.

His formal job title at Pierce County is media and community relations manager for the executive branch of government.

His co-workers are throwing a retirment party for him on Monday, Dec. 15.

Fergie told me he plans a third career: He's going to spend his retirement trying to track down the person or persons who chopped down (almost) the only tree on that golf course.

And I believe him.

Flashback: In a 1983 photo, Billy Graham, center, chatted with religion editor Richard Ferguson, left, media aide Don Bailey and staffer Jan Gildenhar during visit to The News Tribune.

A new three-year contract proposal between the City of Tacoma and the labor union that represents the city's rank and file officers calls for a 6.2 percent wage hike next year.

That's up from the 3.3 percent raise officers received this year as part of the final year of a contract that was settled by an independent arbitrator.

Under the new contract, wage increases in 2010 and 2011 would be tied to the Consumer Price Index.

The agreement calls for raises equaling 100 percent of the CPI with a maximum of 5 percent, unless a larger raise is required to keep the current first-place ranking in the market, according to a city memo highlighting terms of the deal.

The three-year cost of the new contract is estimated to be $7.13 million in salary and benefits.

In addition to salary increases, the contract allows officers to receive extra pay for:

=> Read more!

Interestingly, it includes state Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, who will advise Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark, and Sen.-elect Kevin Ranker, a Democrat who also is a San Juan County Commissioner, for the moment, anyway. Ranker is Goldmark's aquatics adviser.

And in case you wondered what happened to Gov. Chris Gregoire's campaign press secretary after she won reelection, Aaron Toso is on Goldmark's transition team, too.

Goldmark announces transition plans

Public Lands Commissioner-elect taps statewide leaders for transition team

Olympia – Public Lands Commissioner-elect Peter Goldmark today announced members of his transition team. These leaders will help him usher in a new vision of environmental sustainability and economic opportunity on our state’s lands.

=> Read more!

Lost in all the hubbub over Nativity Scene vs. Freedom from Religion debate is the fact that there will be a Christmas (can I say that?), I mean, a green tree that will be adorned with lights and they will be lighted.

The Association of Washington Business donated a tree and is hoping to stay above the fray so kids can get presents and have fun.

This show starts at 6 o'clock tonight. (The photo to the right is a TNT snap of the 2005 tree.)

AWB Holiday Kids’ Tree lighting tonight at Capitol Rotunda

OLYMPIA — The holidays will officially kick off tonight in Washington state’s Capitol Rotunda with the lighting of the 20th Annual Capitol Holiday Kids’ Tree. The tree is sponsored by the Association of Washington Business.

=> Read more!

I've confirmed the first half of that headline, but not the second half.

Katie Blinn, 37, who has been assistant director of elections for Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed for the past four years, is going to seek appointment from the Pierce County Council to replace Auditor Pat McCarthy.

McCarthy just won election as county executive, so she'll be leaving the County Annex on Jan. 2 to work downtown at the County-City Building.

And she's taking her chief deputy, Keri Rooney, with her.

Shawn Bunney, who lost to McCarthy in the executive race, reportedly also will seek appointment to her (soon to be) old job.

Could be quite a fight, this month and into the new year. Voters made Pierce County auditor a non-partisan job, starting next year. But the Democratic Party will argue that McCarthy is a Democrat so the council should be obliged to replace her with a Democrat. And then hold a special election later in 2009 to see who voters pick in what's supposed to be a "nonpartisan" race.

Bunney is a Republican.

That's what Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, told Gov. Chris Gregoire in a letter.

Of course, that was before anyone knew the display by the Freedom from Religion Foundation had been swiped.

UPDATE: Brad Shannon, my colleague at The Olympian, reports that the display is on its way back to Olympia, thanks to the State Patrol.

Roach told me during a 10 a.m. hearing on how the Nov. 4 election went that she had to leave because she had to be in Seattle at a TV studio so she could tape a segment for Bill O'Reilly's show. It apparently will delve further into the anti-Christian nature of the display in the Legislative Building on the state Capitol Campus. It's a counterpoint to a nearby Christmas display

The TV show will be on at 5 p.m., or so I'm told.

I asked her if she was planning on being critical of the atheist display.

"No. I'm going to praise free speech and point out that with a half million square feet (of space in the building), I think it's possible to have them further apart," Roach said.

Here's what Roach sent to the governor:

Senator Pam Roach appears on “O’Reilly Factor” concerning rotunda display

State Senator Pam Roach (R) today delivered to Governor Gregoire a letter in response to the dispute on the rotunda display. On this issue she will be appearing on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly’s “The O’Reilly Factor” which will air this evening. The letter is attached.

=> Read more!

Here's the story that will appear in Saturday's paper:

Pierce County spent a lot of money on a new voting method for a few Pierce County offices this election, and most voters didn’t like it a bit.

Auditor Pat McCarthy said Ranked Choice Voting will cost county taxpayers about $1.7 million, which is half of the overall $3.4 million it cost to put on the 2008 general election.

Although Pierce County voters changed the county charter last year to allow the new voting method, it appears they have changed their collecting mind. Two of three voters who responded to a survey were opposed to the concept.

“It was overwhelming,” McCarthy told members of the state Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee on Friday. “The majority did not like it.”

=> Read more!

I'm working on a story about the oh-so-sexy topic of litter.

It's focused on the state's 866-LITTER-1 hotline. We've got the database of the calls and Web responses and are looking at the types and volumes of trash that are being reported, especially around Pierce County.

Quick fact: Last year, state crews picked up more than 6.2 million pounds of trash.

Here's who I'd love to hear from: people who have no compunction about tossing stuff out of their car, people who have a pet peeve about the aforementioned group, people who have used the state's litter hotline and people who have received a litter letter from the state as a result of someone else calling the hotline (perhaps you were framed!).

You can e-mail me or call 253-597-8872. Please be sure to include your name, hometown and a daytime contact number.

Some readers of my story about some people being owed a refund for tax they paid to Sound Transit have contacted me wanting to know where to direct their questions.

Here's what the agency has on it's Web site:

People with questions can call 1-877-755-4550, e-mail main@soundtransit.org or visit www.soundtransit.org, where information about the Sound Transit District is located under the “About Us” menu at top right.

Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, is looking decidedly slimmer these days. So is Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor.

Hargrove was notorious for his penchant for Twinkies. No longer. He said he's dropped 30 pounds since last session and has a new diet.

"You can each all the salad you want," he told me yesterday.

(I think he was looking at my own paunch, something I've added since quitting smoking almost a year ago.)

But Kilmer has Hargrove beat by a long shot. He's dropped 63 pounds, from 252 to 189, he said.

"It's belt-tightening in Washington these days," he joked, alluding to the state's looming $5-6 billion budget deficit. "And belt-tightening begins at home."

(Photo courtesy of skampy.)

Washington's $5 billion or $6 billion budget shortfall is only part of an estimated $97 billion worth of budget problems across the nation.

Our projected shortfall over the next 31 months is about 16 to 18 percent of our $30 billion two-year (state portion, only) operating budget.

Arizona, on the other hand, is looking at something like 24 percent. (Isn't that John McCain country?) Imagine for a moment what sort of outcry there would be if the Washington Legislature cut one-fourth of its budget. Why, they'd probably hear our stakeholders screaming...way over in Kansas.

Check out this story on Stateline.org. It shows Washington's problems are pretty middlin' compared to some other states.

University of Washington president Mark Emmert says the Huskies are one of only 14 athletic departments in the country that are self-sustaining, and that the football program accounts for 85 percent of the $60 million a year that UW sports takes in.

Of course, the Husky program probably would not have been self-sustaining if the university had actually set aside money every year, as most well-run businesses do, to pay for needed facility maintenance.

Last legislative session, Emmert, football coach Tyrone Willingham and former Gov. Dan Evans came down to Olympia to make a pitch for $150 million of the $300 million they say they need to fix up and expand facilities at Husky Stadium. (Most of the other $150 million will come from boosters, etc.)

Public taxes would pay for safety improvements and boosters would pay for the fancy new stuff. Hard to sell if you did it the other way around.

The trio showed members of Sen. Margarita Prentice's Ways and Means Committee a slide show of rusty and dangerous stuff. They were safety hazards that can be created only by decades of neglect.

The UW will be one of several groups seeking to feed at the trough of rental car, hotel-motel and restaurant sales taxes in King County to pay for something they want. (The hoped-for new Seattle Sonics will be another. So will Seattle's International District, which -- believe it or not -- has been just devastated by the presence of two world-class professional athetic facilities, Safeco Field and Qwest Field. That's according to Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, D-Seattle.)

Read Emmert's letter to the Faculty Senate, which is posted by UW lobbyist Randy Hodgins on his blog.

Turns out the holiday display by the Freedom from Religion folks has turned into quite a catalyst for religious conservatives.

Two more groups have emerged and are trying to set up their own Christmas displays at the state capital.

Larry Stickney, executive director of Washington Values Alliance, sent out an e-mail early this morning, saying the organization has applied for a permit to put up its own holiday display at the capital "to counter atheist's display."

He said he expects to get permission so the group can set up its display on Monday.

Scroll down to read about the tree-lighting ceremony tonight and about another protest demonstration on Sunday, led by grass-roots organizers.

And KIRO is reporting there's one more group jumping onto the bandwagon, too.

Jerry Cornfield of The (Everett) Herald wrote a piece back in April that gives some background on the consolidation of two family value groups.

=> Read more!

Secretary of State Sam Reed today certified the results of the Nov. 4 general election.

We set a record for turnout and number of ballots cast, 3,071,587.

The 84.61 percent turnout of registered voters was record and a couple counties had a turnout higher than 91 percent.

Reed certifies Washington’s record election turnout

Secretary of State Sam Reed has certified Washington state’s 2008 General Election results, capping a watershed election year that included a hotly contested presidential primary, the first-ever Top 2 Primary, and a record voter turnout in November. Governor Chris Gregoire also certified the vote tally on three statewide initiatives.

=> Read more!

I can't add anything to this, but readers of this blog should know about it, regardless of who gets credit for the information/rumor.

Here's a link to Joel Connelly's piece on the Post Intelligencer blog.

That makes it official (well, tomorrow it will be official) that incumbent state Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, has been defeated by Democratic challenger John Driscoll.

The recount gave Driscoll 2 fewer votes, but he still won by 72 votes out of nearly 76,000 ballots.

I ran into Ahern earlier today at the Sundial on the Capitol Campus. He told me his House Republican colleagues got him a birthday cake and invited me to go over and have some.

Yes, today is Ahern's birthday. (Heckuva celebration, huh?) He's celebrating, as he said, the 20th anniversary of his 54th birthday.

Happy Birthday, John.

=> Read more!

Here is the link that you really do want to bookmark if you're the least bit interested in Washington's $70 billion two-year budget. (OK, odds are it will be quite a bit smaller next year.)

The Legislative Evaluation and Accountabilty Program committee teamed up with the Office of Financial Management (the governor's budget office) to put this site together.

It's a few weeks ahead of schedule. It wasn't supposed to be up and running until January, but they got most of it done.

This is invaluable stuff, but a word of caution: If you are not already a budget wonk, this may turn you into one.

But if you want to know how much money the state collects in sales tax, how many people work for the state Department of Ecology, how much money the governor wants to spend compared to the House and Senate budget proposals and much, much more, you'll visit this site a lot.

I went to a presentation Wednesday on how the site works now and what improvements will be made. LEAP's Michael Mann (not the producer of Miami Vice) gave an overview of the site.

They're looking for feedback. Give it to them. It would be great if someone other than reporters, gadflys and other self-appointed watchdogs availed themselves of the information assembled there.

Sen. Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland, is the one who sponsored the bill that led to creation of the site. The point is to make the state budget transparent.

That was just an illustration offered up just a few minutes ago by Bryon Moore, the new budget coordinator for the state Senate Ways and Means Committee. That's the committee that's going to write the state budget for the Senate.

Moore led a staff presentation for committee members to give them an idea of just what they are facing in the upcoming legislative session, which starts Jan. 12 and is supposed to last for 105 days.

Moore said if all state agency employees and all higher education workers worked for free for 22 of 24 months in the 2009-11 biennium, the state could solve its budget woes. (I'm guessing their salaries for those months would add up to $6 billion, or so.)

Moore said he was just trying to give lawmakers an idea of the magnitude of the problem, (so, Federation members, you can put away the rope for the lynching.)

Bottom line: Given the much-lower-than-expected tax collections and projections for the next 30 months, plus increases in costs (e.g. more public school students to educate, etc.) and the negotiated contracts that give pay raises to state workers....Washington's budget shortfall could reach $5.976 billion.

That includes the carryover budget shortfall from the current 2-year budget cycle, which ends June 30. But some of that is being solved as we speak by spending cuts that Gov. Chris Gregoire has ordered up from her agency directors.

House Democrats chose Rep. Kelli Linville of Bellingham to be the next budget chairwoman, succeeding retiring chair Helen Sommers.

Rep. Hans Dunshee of Snohomish is the one who got the consolation prize of Capital Budget Committee chairman.

That means Linville gets to oversee about $30 billion in state general fund operating spending over the next two years and Dunshee oversees a $4 billion building budget.

Dunshee reportedly was lucky to get any chairmanship because he dared to go up against House Speaker Frank Chopp and his Committee on Committees recommendations.

There are lots of rumors swirling about Dunshee's future in the Legislature (and whether he has one), but I have to look into them.

For one, Dunshee is helping newly elected state Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark make the transition into his new job. More later.

=> Read more!

Yesterday I asked Political Buzz readers to weigh in on the performance of County Executive John Ladenburg. As I prepare an article on the executive’s tenure, I’ve heard from a lot of folks. Here’s a sample of what some of them are saying:

“He never sought cover from an issue by cowering behind a banal argument. Though I disagreed with him on a number of issues, his reasoning was always sound.”
Bruce Lachney, Democrat and county council candidate

“He has been involved in leadership roles regionally in both economic development and the related area of transportation … And locally he has been a strong supporter of infrastructure and projects that will provide economic growth.”
David Graybill, president, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce

“I was very impressed with his allowing his directors to work with the council … John is not a micromanager. He tends to give a vision and direction to his staff, and then they go out and make things happen.”
Dick Muri, Republican county councilman

=> Read more!

Steve Wilson of Federal Way is trying to organize a protest of the atheist display in the Legislative Building on the state Capitol Campus on Sunday afternoon.

Wilson, 29, a salesman, said he wants the protest to be "peaceful and non-combative." He started reaching out to others after hearing a snippet of nationally sydicated TV talk-show host Bill O'Reilly's remark on the radio, then researched online to find out what he was talking about.

"I believe this sign does not qualify as it is not merely a state of atheist belief, but is rather a rebuke of all Religions and people of faith," Wilson said in his e-mail to friends. "It is an insult toward religious people that is both inflammatory and discriminatory in nature."

Below are his full e-mail with contact information, as well as a short story from The Associated Press about the tree-lighting ceremony tomorrow night at the state capital.

=> Read more!

Gov. Chris Gregoire and Attorney General Rob McKenna issued a joint statement today, basically telling the public "we're just following the rules" by allowing an atheist display in the Legislative Building on the Capitol Campus.

There's a nativity scene, too, but that's not the one that is generating "200-plus calls an hour" to the governor's office, said Gregoire spokesman Pearse Edwards.

It's the one put up by the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

"We have had to set up other phone lines to handle the influx," Edwards said. "Most of the calls and faxes appear to be from non-Washingtonians who are asking the Governor to "take down the sign" (assume they mean the atheist sign) - and those are the nice responses. Some of the responses are not suitable for publishing in a family paper.

"On a positive and seasonal note, many of the callers and those sending faxes and e-mails are wishing us a Merry Christmas," he said in an e-mail.

The flurry follows a segment by Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly night, who called the display “political correctness gone mad” and urged viewers to call the governor's office.

=> Read more!

State Sen. Darlene Fairly, D-Lake Forest Park, chairwoman of the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee, changed the agenda for Friday's meeting.

What was going to be a simple report from 3 county elections people is now going to be a hearing. (The public can comment.)

Pierce County Auditor (soon to be Executive) Pat McCarthy is last on the list, so I don't know how much time she'll have to expound on Ranked Choice Voting, aka Instant Runoff Voting.

Government Operations & Elections
Friday Senate Hearing Rm 2
December 5, 2008 J.A. Cherberg Building
10:00 am Olympia, WA

REVISED 11/24/2008 1:15 PM

Work Session:
1. Presentation of findings by Advisory Committee on the impacts of climate change through the Growth Management Act:
a. Senator Chris Marr, 6th District.
b. Leonard Bauer, Managing Director of the Growth Management Program for the WA State Dept. of Community, Trade, and Economic Development.
c. Joyce Phillips, WA State Dept. of Community, Trade, and Economic Development.

2. Update on the Ruckelshaus Center Study on preserving the viability of agricultural lands:
a. Lane Rawlins, Interim Director of the William D. Ruckleshaus Center and President-emeritus, WSU.
b. Jon Brock, Associate Director of the William D. Ruckelshaus Center and Associate Professor, UW-Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs.

Public Hearing:Post-Election report from county auditors:
a. Corky Mattingly, Yakima County Auditor.
b. Evelyn Arnold, Chelan County Auditor.
c. Pat McCarthy, Pierce County Auditor.

I wrote an article for today's paper about likely increases in several Tacoma utility rates next year, including garbage.

If approved, the new rate structure will increase the city's subsidy of customers who opt for the smaller 20- and 30-gallon containers, and make up the lost revenue on the backs of customers who use the bigger 60- and 90-gallon containers.

The city's aim is to encourage people to throw out less and recycle more, but Councilman Mike Lonergan believes it's simply unfair. Lonergan isn't opposed to recycling, but he voiced his objection to the structure at last night's council meeting and I asked him to expand on his concerns this morning.

"We want to punish those who have more volume," Lonergan complained. He noted that some large families may be doing plenty of recycling and still need a larger container.

Lonergan would prefer a system that charges everyone the true cost of the service used.

What do you think? Is reducing waste an important enough goal that it outweighs any concerns about fairness?

Northwest Detention Center watchers say they're sharing information with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of an investigation into the private contractor that runs the immigration lock up.

UPDATE: We contacted ICE in Seattle; a spokeswoman said she could not confirm or deny the existence of such an investigation.

The following comment appeared on TacomaSDS.org: "ICE is investigating GEO for fraudulent representation."

To which, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, replied:

"[Chairman Tim] Smith also confirmed a report posted on TACOMASDS.org, 'We are cooperating fully with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in a different investigation of GEO Group, Inc and the City of Tacoma. We have provided all requested documents. I cannot comment on this due to the on-going investigation.'

In a press release today, the watchdog group was asking for construction, which will disturb potentially toxic soil on the Tideflats, to be halted until an appeal on planned expansion at the facility can be heard.

Read the full press release after the jump.

=> Read more!

The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation gave one of four "Landmark Deeds" awards to 27th District Rep. Dennis Flannigan. His deed? Stopping the demolition of the Murray Morgan Bridge across the Foss Waterway in Tacoma and working to get money to refurbish it.

Here's what the trust said about Flannigan: "As Vice Chair of the House Transportation Committee ... Representative Flannigan effectively negotiated terms permitting state funds to be used for bridge rehabilitation. In addition, during the 2008 legislative session Representative Flannigan introduced a bill that would enable the City of Tacoma to create a transportation improvement district with sales tax revenue going toward maintenance and operation of the bridge."

Also honored was State Sen. Craig Pridemore of Clark County for passage of a bill to set aside some money from the fee charged for recording documents to historic preservation promotion and projects.

King County Councilmen Bob Ferguson and Larry Phillips were honored for an ordinance that "includes historic preservation action plans for improving stewardship of county-owned historic resources and streamlining the permitting process for privately owned historic and archaeological properties. In addition, major maintenance reserve funds may now be utilized for historic preservation projects."

The awards were presented at a ceremony Tuesday.

Reporter Jason Hagey and I are working on this story for tomorrow's paper:

In a swap of major public facilities, the City of Tacoma and Pierce County are working on a deal that would give the city full control of Cheney Stadium and the county sole possession of the County-City Building.

Under a deal to be considered by elected officials from both governments next week, Tacoma would give the county its share of the jointly owned County-City Building downtown. In exchange, Pierce County would give up its share of Cheney Stadium, plus $2 million.

City and county officials say the deal makes sense for taxpayers and will give each government control of a prized asset.

“It’s better to have one government in charge (of each facility) instead of multiple governments,” said County Executive John Ladenburg.

The county owns half an interest in six parcels at and around Cheney Stadium, the home of minor league baseball’s Tacoma Rainiers. The city owns the remaining share and manages the stadium property.

According to the county assessor-treasurer’s office, the six Cheney Stadium parcels are worth about $10.5 million.

The city owns about 44 percent of the County-City Building. The county owns the remaining share of the building, which is assessed at $115.6 million.

=> Read more!

Legislators are gathering today, but won't start meeting in earnest until tomorrow, the first of two "assembly days."

Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall when the House Democrats hold their caucus at 10 a.m. Thursday? That's probably when they will sort out the contest between Reps. Hans Dunshee of Snohomish and Kelli Linville of Bellingham to see which of them becomes chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

I've been asking around to see how that contest is shaping up and the most interesting comment was this one: "I don't know. They both say they have 38 votes."

Since there are only 62 members in the caucus, that means:

a.) Democrats actually won a total of 76 seats in this past election and the Secretary of State is hiding that from us.
b.) Seven House Democrats have assured each candidates for the chairmanship, "You can count on my vote!"
c.) Each of the candidates is exaggerating the depth of support that he or she has.
d.) Speaker Frank Chopp is casting a "weighted" vote that is worth 32 ordinary member votes.

ANSWER: b, c AND d

For background, see below.

Here's what I posted earlier this week. You have to scroll down to find remarks about Dunshee and Linville.

And here's an even earlier posting, which has been overtaken by events -- that is, it might be flat-out wrong.

As John Ladenburg winds up his tenure as Pierce County executive, what should we make of his eight years in office?

I’ve posed that question to more than two dozen local political, business and community leaders. Now I’m asking Political Buzz readers.

I’m working on an article about Ladenburg’s time in office. I’ve been asking folks to list his top accomplishments as well as mistakes or missed opportunities. I’ve received some interesting responses.

The folks who have responded so far often mention Chambers Bay Golf Course as a top Ladenburg accomplishment. Others talk about his attention to regional economic development and transportation issues.

More than one respondent mentioned Ladenburg’s leadership style as both an asset and a flaw. They say he brought a former county prosecutor’s aggressiveness to the executive’s job. That style could win political arguments but also make enemies.

Feel free to post your own thoughts. To get the conversation started, here’s a thoughtful response to my question written by Bryan Flint, executive director of Tahoma Audubon.

Despite our disagreements on the cross-base highway our members feel that John Ladenburg is the most environmentally minded County Executive Pierce County has had. Some of the accomplishments include: purchasing of floodplain for salmon habitat and flood control, championing low impact development, a county wide tree protection ordinance, championing the bonding of conservation futures so that we could buy larger pieces of habitat, and pushing for farm protections. The executive was willing to stand up to the development community on key issues in the Directions package, that now does a better job of protecting streams, wetlands and natural areas. When it came time to hire a new parks director, Ladenburg listened to our concerns and even let the conservation community interview the top candidates and give input. His ultimate decision replaced an all-ball-fields-all-the-time director with one who truly values the natural parks and their potential. Even his controversial golf course, if it pans out financially, will fund an environmental learning center.

=> Read more!

That would be Rep.-elect Shelly Short. She's from Addy, Wa. I had to look it up in Wikipedia because I'd never heard of it before. It has one gas station, one coffee shop and one restaurant.

Amazing what you learn here, right?

Addy is an unincorporated community in Stevens County, Washington, United States. A small town alongside State Route 395, Addy is not tracked by the U.S. Census, but is populated. The town has one gas station, and a coffee shop. There is one restaurant in town, although several businesses cater to the primarily agricultural local economy. Addy is assigned the ZIP code 99101.

Here's the news release from the House Republican caucus, telling us the hometowns of the new members.

Hi,
I’ve had a few requests for a list of our new members, so I thought I send them to everyone. In the case of Rep. Mike Hope, there will be a hand recount beginning Dec. 9. That effort should be completed by Dec. 12, with the election being certified on Dec. 15.

=> Read more!

That means the standard toll probably will stay at $4 for cash-paying customers at the toll booths and $2.75 for those with transponders.

Of course the final say is up to the Legislature, which will start meeting in January. And there's one more step along the way, the Washington Transportation Commission, which must make a recommendation to lawmakers.

Robert Ryan, chairman of the Narrows Bridge Toll Citizen Advisory Committee, told me yesterday afternoon that he expected rates to stay the same. Despite the fairly brief spike in gasoline prices to more than $4 a gallon, (and a corresponding dip in traffic across the bridge) the amount of money coming in from tolls is tracking projections.

And the tolls that were increased by $1 in July 1, 2008 were sufficient to build up a surplus over the first 12 months and then tap into that surplus over the next 12 months.

So, barring any dramatic change in bridge traffic, the existing tolls probably will stay in place through June 30, 2010. That's the way Ryan and the CAC designed them.

The CAC had scheduled another meeting on Thursday night to finalize its recommendation, but it appears unnecessary now.

Read another account of what the CAC did last night in the Kitsap Sun.

This from our man in Washington, Les Blumenthal:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Washington state officials have identified a minimum of $600 million in infrastructure projects they would like funded by a federal economic stimulus package early next year, Gov. Chris Gregoire said this afternoon after she and other governors met with President-elect Barack Obama.

The state may also need nearly $1 billion in federal money for its Medicaid program if it is to avoid cuts in medical care for the poor and disabled or in other state programs, Gregoire told reporters in Washington, D.C., where Democratic governors were gathering as a follow-up to the meeting with Obama in Philadelphia.

“I don’t think any of this is a handout,” the governor said. “If we don’t do something, it (the economy) will only get worse.”

Gregoire said she has made clear to the Obama transition team that she is not interested in a job in the new administration.

But in conversations with Rahm Emanuel, who Obama has named his White House chief of staff, and John Podesta, who is helping run the Obama transition team, Gregoire said she has lobbied for several other Washingtonians.

The governor wouldn’t name names, but among those mentioned are Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., for a high ranking post in the State Department, perhaps undersecretary; former Gov. Gary Locke as U.S. trade representative and Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., for secretary of interior.

=> Read more!

That means the current toll schedule -- $2.75 for passenger cars with transponders, $4 for those who stop at a toll booth -- could remain in effect for 2010 fiscal year. (That's July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.)

Here are the four options (ETC stands for "electronic toll collection" aka, transponder rate):

1. No change to current rates ($2.75 ETC and $4.00 Cash)

2. No change to ETC rate with a corresponding Cash rate needed to meet target ($2.75 ETC and $6.00 Cash)

3. No change to Cash rate and corresponding ETC rate needed to meet target ($3.50 ETC and $4.00 Cash)

4. Changes to both ETC and Cash rate needed to meet target ($3.25 and $5.00 Cash)

Robert Ryan, chairman of the Citizen Advisory Committee, which is meeting tonight, said members wanted a few options to examine.

The materials for tonight's CAC meeting are currently posted on-line at
this link.

Even though traffic dropped a tad when we had $4.35 gasoline, revenue collection is slightly ahead of schedule. And gas in now under $2 a gallon again.

The AP has a story about a Seattle artist, chosen to make a decoration for the White House Christmas tree, who decorated her ornament with pro-impeachment messages.

Here's the story...

WASHINGTON (AP) — An ornament made by a Seattle artist for the White House Christmas tree includes a message supporting efforts to impeach President Bush.

Artist Deborah Lawrence says she wanted to salute Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott of Seattle, a longtime Bush foe who backs impeachment.
The nine-inch ball is covered with swirly red and white stripes and features a picture of McDermott. Tiny glued-on text salutes the impeachment resolution.

First lady Laura Bush asked members of Congress to pick artists to decorate ornaments for the tree. The ornaments are supposed to showcase something special about each congressional district.

A spokeswoman for Laura Bush told The Washington Post there were no plans to remove Lawrence’s artwork — or her invitation to a White House reception Tuesday.

UPDATE: The White House has changed course and has now rejected the ornament.

“I think it really is a shame and, quite frankly, not very much in the holiday spirit,” Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for the first lady, told The Associated Press.

Instructions to the artists were very clear: Decorate the ornaments in a patriotic, red, white and blue theme, McDonough said. Lawrence’s ornament was the only one of about 370 submitted for the White House tree that was rejected, she said.

I always get suspicious when a cabinet member leaves right after her boss is reelected, but the departure of Jone (pronounced like "Joan") Bosworth doesn't appear to be part of a second-term house cleaning.

"It's my choice," Bosworth said a few minutes ago. Her father died unexpectedly this year and she let Gov. Chris Gregoire she would not be around for a second term, Bosworth said.

Her last day is Jan. 9.

I take some of the blame for her leaving. Every time I plan to do a profile on a cabinet officials, they leave. True. I was half-way through my research on DOC Secretary Harold Clarke, and he announced he was leaving for Massachusetts. Now Bosworth, who had an interesting resume, includign a stint with the U.S. diplomatic corps.

Bosworth was the first every director of the state Department of Earling Learning. "I'm proud of what we've done in a little over two years," she said. "I know kids are safer in Washington because of what we've done."

All of the pre-school programs and day-care oversight were put under the new agency.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Dec. 2, 2008

DEL founding director announces resignation

OLYMPIA – Jone Bosworth, the founding director of the Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL), today announced her plans to leave the agency next month.

=> Read more!

Brad Shannon at The Olympian has an item today about the proposed resolution of a complaint against an independent expenditure campaign called Citizens for Washington.

The PAC, which started life as a pro-Chris Gregoire PAC but morphed into a pro-Randy Dorn (and anti-Terry Bergeson) PAC was accused of violating laws governing independent expenditures. Specifically, Bergeson supporters said the PAC – funded exclusively by the Service Employees International Union – was too-closely tied to Dorn and his campaign.

Take a look at Brad's post here.

Jeff Koenings "resigned" Monday after a special telephonic meeting by members of the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

His resignation is effective in 10 days.

Phil Anderson is acting director.

Here is the full story by the TNT's Jeff Mayor, as well as the news release sent out last night by the commission.

ANNOUNCEMENT – Dec. 1, 2008

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission convened in a special meeting via telephone conference call this afternoon and immediately went into executive session to discuss personnel issues. The Commission came back into public session and voted in favor of accepting a letter of resignation received today from Director Jeff Koenings, with an effective date of December 11, 2008. Another vote was taken to appoint Phil Anderson as acting director.

=> Read more!

I'm told the departing Pierce County Republican Party Chairman Deryl McCarty signed a lease to move the party HQ from downtown Tacoma on St. Helens Avenue out to Lakewood, but failed to get board approval before he did so. And the lease is for 4 years.

So, "atwitter" might be an understatement for the reaction he got at the November meeting. (Rather, the reaction he would have gotten had he actually attended that meeting. He wasn't there.)

The executive board did pass a motion, basically scolding McCarty for not getting prior approval on a lease that will cost the county party about twice as much as it is paying for the old digs on St. Helens.

But the board also approved the lease. (Some say it's because they weren't given all the details...like how it costs at least $2,000 a month compared to $1,000. It's a "triple net operating lease," whatever that means, but I know that means the tenant pays the property tax, utilities and for other stuff.)

Some Republicans reportedly are so incensed that they are threatening not to pay their dues this year. That's about $25 to $100 a year.

(I'm reminded of when Sen. Don Benton, then-chairman of the STATE Republican Party, moved the HQ from Southcenter to Olympia a few years ago without asking anybody. He had to move it back, by the way.)

Anyway, the Pierce GOP probably will pick a new chairman when it holds a reorganizational meeting on Dec. 13 at Steilacoom High School.

Bob Lawrence, retired Air Force guy who lost to U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks about three times and also lost twice in legislative races against state Rep. Tami Green, D-Lakewood, has thrown his hat into the ring to become county chairman.

Not sure whether he's going to have an opponent. Jane Milhans, who had the chairmanship in 2001-05, reportedly is mulling another run.

Oh yes, the new digs are off Highway 512, near the Great American Casino. Some of you will recognize it because it's the building from which Shawn Bunney ran his failed executive campaign, and Alex Hays had his get-out-the-vote offices.

County Councilman Dick Muri reportedly is looking forward to locating his campaign offices there, too.

A proposed six-month moratorium on converting mobile home parks to other uses died in a Pierce County Council committee today.

The council’s Rules Committee voted 2-1 to table the proposal indefinitely after mobile home park owners testified the moratorium would deprive them of their property rights.

The proposal stemmed from an announcement earlier this year that the Country Aire Manor mobile home park in South Hill will close to make way for a shopping center anchored by Home Depot. Park residents have until Feb. 28 to move. Most already have.

Country Aire isn’t the only mobile home park in jeopardy.

Rising land values tempt many park owners to sell. According to the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, 18 parks around the state closed last year, affecting 534 households. An estimated 1,000 parks in urban areas are threatened.

For months Country Aire residents pleaded with the County Council to save their homes. County officials said there was little they could do.

But two Democratic council members – Tim Farrell of Tacoma and Calvin Goings of Puyallup – proposed a six-month moratorium on converting mobile home parks to other uses. They said it would give the county time to develop a long-term strategy to preserve mobile homes.

Their plan got a hearing today. Nearly everyone who testified opposed the plan. Among them were numerous mobile home park owners who said the moratorium would amount to taking their private property without compensation.

“When a park is no longer viable, the owner should do what he sees is best for his pocketbook,” said Buddy Cox of Orting, the manager of a park.

=> Read more!

There's a point where the adrenalin from a really close race turns into something else, and incumbent state Reps. Liz Loomis, D-Snohomish, and John Ahern, R-Spokane, have reached that point.

Both of them are losing their races as automatic recounts begin.

Our friends at the state Secretary of State's Office tell us that Spokane County officials will start the recount in the 6th District race between Ahern and Democratic challenger John Driscoll tomorrow. Right now, Driscol has a 74-vote lead over Ahern.

Loomis will be coming down to Olympia one last time -- perhaps -- this week for Assembly Days, still not knowing whether she will have a job down here in 2009 or not. Snohomish County election officials are not going to start their recount until Dec. 9. Loomis trails Republican Mike Hope by 118 votes.

If those leads hold up, Democrats will have a net loss of 1 seat in the House, but will still have a handsome 62-36 majority.

The recounts are expected to take between 1 and 3 days.

The Senate Democrats' Committee on Committees, the folks who decide who will be chairmen and chairwomen and other such stuff, is meeting today to do what it does.

On the informal agenda is what to do with Sen. Craig Pridemore. Rumor is, the Vancouver Democrat wanted to be promoted from vice chairman of Senate Ways and Means Committee to chairman, and started making a few calls to that end.

Problem was, Sen. Margarita Prentice of Renton already has that job.

Pridemore failed. Now what?

Maybe there's something in the water in Olympia these days. There's also a fight in the House between Reps. Hans Dunshee and Kelli Linville over who gets to succeed Rep. Helen Sommers as that chamber's budget chair.

While I was on vacation last week, House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler even sent out a special e-mail in response to a report that Linville had the job wrapped up. The caucus will vote later this week, Kessler said.

It'll all get sorted out over the next few days, or maybe on Saturday.

The advisory committee will meet Tuesday and Thursday to consider raising tolls on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and will make up its collective mind after Thursday's meeting.

I'm still going over the traffic counts and revenue numbers and I can't figure out what's going to happen yet. However, it appears that DOT is assuming that starting July 1, 2009, everybody will be paying a $4 toll, even those who have transponders. And it will stay that way for at least two years.

Right now, the standard toll for a two-axle vehicle is only $2.75 if you have a transponder so you can pay your toll electronically.

Here is a link to the state Department of Transportation's bridge account.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Citizen Advisory Committee
Readies its Annual Rate Recommendation

GIG HARBOR - The Tacoma Narrows Bridge Citizen Advisory Committee will complete its annual toll rate review with a series of meetings on Tuesday, Dec. 2 and Thursday, Dec. 4, from 5 to 7 p.m. Both meetings will be held at the Inn at Gig Harbor, located at 3211 56th St NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98335.

=> Read more!

This is the group that will set salaries for all the statewide elected officials -- governor, attorney general, etc. -- Supreme Court judges and legislators.

The new salaries probably will take effect on Sept. 1, 2009 and Sept. 1, 2010.

Right now, the governor's salary is $166,891. Legislators make $42,106.

The 2009 meeting schedule has been set for setting the salaries for Washington State’s elected officials.

The meetings are as follows:

January 20 and 21 (Tuesday / Wednesday) -- 9 am Olympia Phoenix Inn

February 17 (Tuesday) -- 6 pm Vancouver Downtown Hilton

March 17 (Tuesday) -- 6 pm Bellingham Best Western Lakeway Inn

April 23 (Thursday) -- 6 pm Richland Red Lion Hotel

May 19 (Tuesday) -- 9 am Tacoma Downtown Courtyard

une date TBD --Phone Conference Call will Originate in Olympia

Please visit our website at www.salaries.wa.gov for additional information.

What’s the newest way to curry favor with a congressman? Give to his favorite charity.

The Seattle Times today reports that Boeing, TriWest Healthcare Alliance and a host of corporations have contributed $478,000 to charities in the name of U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair.

Dicks isn’t the only Washington election official so honored. The Times reports that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, was honored with charitable contributions totaling $64,000. Democratic Sen. Patty Murray was honoree with contributions totaling $45,000.

“This is a new stealthy way to retain influence with favorite and most helpful lawmakers,” Keith Ashdown of Taxpayers for Common Sense told the Times. “It shows you have similar interests as someone like Norm Dicks and that can be nothing but helpful to your long-term goals.”

You can read the full Times report here.

From Adam Wilson at our sister paper, The Olympian:

Although it seems to get another neighbor every year, the Association of Washington Business’ holiday tree still is the centerpiece of the season in the Capitol.

The tree, up to 30 feet tall, will arrive in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday and be lighted in a celebration Friday. This year, a Christian nativity and an atheistic billboard will join it in the seat of state government.

"The way this whole thing started is that some folks came to us from the Legislature and the Capitol visitor center and said, ’Hey, there’s no Christmas tree in the Capitol; could you help us?’ And we said, ’OK, sure,’ " said Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business.

Now in its 19th year, the tree has become part of a charity drive for rural fire departments and the focal point of a popular lighting ceremony the first Friday of each December.

It has sparked a series of additions, the most recent of which is the billboard by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, new this year.

"Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds," declares the sign, which is scheduled to be dedicated at 10 a.m.

=> Read more!

One more map, this one showing changes in voter registration. I don't have up-to-date population maps, but I'm guessing the changes mirror population grown to a large extent.

The places where registration fell by more than 50% are largely places with low registration numbers to begin with. But the yellow areas show an trend that might warrant further scrutiny.

Some veteran Pierce County politicians would get some extra time in office if the County Council and voters approve term-limit changes that will get a public hearing Tuesday.

The council will consider a proposed amendment to the county charter that would allow the county executive and council members to serve up to three consecutive four-year terms in office, up from the current limit of two terms.

As currently drafted, the three-term limit would not apply to any time elected officials have served before 2010. That would give existing officeholders a clean slate and would allow some council members to serve up to 19 years in office.

Councilman Dick Muri, R-Steilacoom, who drafted the proposal, said it wasn’t his intent to allow council members to serve that long. He said he will introduce an amendment at Tuesday’s council meeting that would count time already served toward the three-term limit.

The proposal already has drawn criticism from those who say it’s a way for incumbents to extend their hold on power.

“To the victors go the spoils,” Councilman Calvin Goings, D-Puyallup, said at a council Rules Committee meeting Monday. “I think this is a power play, pure and simple.”

Muri originally pitched his proposed charter amendment as a way to address long lines and other problems experienced during the Nov. 4 general election.

=> Read more!

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee says they are filing an appeal to halt expansion of the federal immigration facility on the Tacoma Tideflats. The group is concerned plans for the new construction at the Northwest Detention Center didn't have enough citizen input.

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee – Tacoma has filed an appeal with the City of Tacoma concerning the proposed expansion of the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) at 1623 East "J" Street on the Tacoma Tarpits EPA SuperFund Site. The expansion of the NWDC will provide housing for 575 detained citizens from other countries, expand the total bed-space to 1575, and provide 104,000 square feet of floor space.

The appeal is currently the last act in a failing attempt to provide input to the approval process.

"The City has pretty much taken every effort to exclude citizen input from the expansion approval process" said Tim Smith, chairperson of the committee. "At this point and time we can only appeal the determination of non-significance issued by the City of Tacoma on Nov 14. We have 14 days but as today is a city holiday, Monday Dec 1st is the last day to submit and appeal."

More after the jump.

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From Adam Wilson, state government reporter at our sister paper, The Olympian:

Having Friday off has become routine for workers at some state agencies, but it’s too soon to tell whether moving to a four-day workweek is saving money, the agencies report.

Leaving government offices empty on Fridays was supposed to save on energy costs, one of the early moves Gov. Chris Gregoire made as the state’s budget began to shrink. Washington now faces a $5.1 billion shortfall in funds.

“Things have been going smoothly and people are driving in to work one less day a week, which is an energy savings. But in terms of building energy use, we won’t know until December,” said Wendy Pugnetti of the Department of Community Trade and Economic Development.

=> Read more!

University of Puget Sound professor Richard Anderson-Connolly has a message for Pierce County Democrats: stop blaming your troubles on ranked choice voting and take a good look in the mirror.

Anderson-Connolly is a ranked choice voting supporter. On Kelly Haughton’s RCV blog, he expresses disappointment that local Democrats are, in his mind, blaming the new voting system for their poor showing in the recent election.

Earlier this month, County Councilman Calvin Goings, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for county executive, urged his fellow Democrats to reconsider their approach to fielding candidates under the RCV system. Goings noted that Democrats allowed multiple candidates to bear the party label in local elections, while the Republicans allowed only a single party standard bearer.

In the blog post, Anderson-Connolly also cites comments by Pierce County Democratic Party Chairman Nathe Lawver as evidence that Democrats are scapegoating ranked choice voting.

“I hope that rank-and-file Democrats, the progressive base that does most of the work for the leadership, will refuse to go along with the scapegoating of RCV,”Anderson-Connolly writes. “Instead of blaming the system – an explanation that doesn’t fit the facts – Democrats need to engage in a deeper debate about the best way to recruit and build strong candidates.”

You can read the full post here.

It took me most of Tuesday and Wednesday to crunch the 2008 election results from Pierce County and start comparing them to 2004.

We're still analyzing the data to get a better sense of what happened and why. But that's no reason not to share our initial findings with you, dear reader.

After the jump are several maps I put together -- from voter turnout to how many votes in each precinct Gregoire picked since the last election. We'd love to hear your thoughts on how things are changing. (Stay tuned for a story.)

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After the Nov. 4 election results were certified yesterday, I started using our fancy-schmancy mapping software to look at how Pierce County voted.

The map below shows perhaps the most interesting results, voting precincts where Rossi and Obama both won -- the darker the purple, the greater the Obama win. The darkest purple shows areas where Obama won by 11 to 24 percent.

You can see the quite a mixture in the communities between the Democratic stronghold in Tacoma and the traditionally Republican rural areas. And also in the Gig Harbor area.

As we dig into the election results and what they mean, we want to talk to people -- especially from those purple areas around Lake Tapps, Puyallup, Northeast Tacoma and Gig Harbor -- who voted for both Rossi and Obama. While the map gives the bird's-eye view, we're interested in finding out more about the view from the ground, the business, the family...

You can contact me at ian.demsky@thenewstribune.com or 253-597-8872. (Make sure to include your name, city and daytime phone number.)

Following news that its former executive director is suing Centro Latino, the Pierce County Council on Tuesday put a hold on nearly $30,000 worth of funding for the nonprofit group.

Joy Gomez-Gonzalez, the former director, says she was wrongfully fired when she questioned improper behavior by a board member. She accuses the board member, David Almonte, of using his position to secure a large contract for his furniture business and trying to hire a friend as a contractor on the renovation of Centro Latino’s Tacoma building.

Almonte has denied any wrongdoing. Other board members say their attorney has advised them not to speak with the media.

But a majority of County Council members wants to know more.

The county’s 2009 budget includes $29,630 for Centro Latino, a nonprofit group that serves the local Latino community with job training, youth mentoring and family services. The county money is included in a line item that provides $4.8 million for numerous nonprofits and community programs.

By a vote of 5-2, the council stipulated the county should not release funding for Centro Latino until the group reports to the council’s rules committee. The budget provision requires the nonprofit to report on its ‘financial condition and ongoing activities” and stipulates the council must reapprove the funding before it can be released to Centro Latino.

Republican Councilmen Dick Muri and Roger Bush, who sponsored the provision, said they want to ensure taxpayer money is being spent wisely.

“This is an exceptional circumstance,” Muri said. “I don’t know what’s going on (at Centro Latino).”

Two council members – Democrats Tim Farrell and Calvin Goings – opposed the provision. They said it was unfair to single out one group out of the dozens the county funds. And they suggested the council should scrutinize all of the groups equally.

I don't know if Republican challenger Dino Rossi is saddled with any debt from his failed second run for governor, but he is pushing book sales.

As a parting shot (warning?), he's telling his supporters to hold onto their wallets, implying that Gov. Chris Gregoire will, indeed, raise taxes to balance the state budget in light of a now $5 billion shortfall. That, despite her campaign promise not to raise taxes.

What taxpayers need to worry about is what Democrats in the Senate and House send to Gregoire. If the only thing she gets from a Democrat-dominated Legislature is a tax increase, she might have to say "The devil made me do it."

Democrats, I suspect, are pinning a lot of their budget-balancing hopes on a rescue package from President Barack Obama. And the sooner the better.

Dear friends,

I wanted to thank you again for your help and support during the Governor's race. While we did not receive a majority of votes, we accomplished many things, the most exciting of which was inspiring thousands of people to involve themselves in politics for the first time. My hope is that everyone reading this will stay involved for the betterment of our state and nation.

=> Read more!

It appears the Washington Transportation Commission is trying to do some advance work on the public in the event they decide to raise the tolls on the new bridge so soon after raising them.

Tolls went up by $1 on July 1, to $4 for cars at the toll booths and to $2.75 for those with transponders.

A citizen advisory committee is reviewing traffic counts to see whether it will recommend higher rates for July 1, 2009. Members will meet 2 more times next week. Their recommendation will go to the commission, then the commission will send its recommendtion to the Legislature, all before the Legislature convenes on Jan. 12.

Even though tolls are reviewed every year (or more often, if necessary), the tolls set a few months ago should have been high enough to last for two years. But the state Department of Transportation has been spooked by lower-than-expected traffic for a month or two, and they might prod the committee and commission to booth the toll.

On the other hand, gas is no longer $4.35 a gallon, as it was when traffic on the bridge took a dip. It's about $2, so maybe the DOT is panicking just a tad. They tend to err on the conservative side so they can make the loan payments.

Stay tuned.

Commission Chairman Dan O'Neal sent out this opinion-editorial piece.

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Pierce County will cut about 75 jobs, delay capital spending and boost a variety of fees to balance a 2009 budget approved by the County Council Tuesday.

The $854.5 million spending plan also counts on cheap gas and revenue from red light cameras to keep the county in the black.

Council members say the budget supports key services like public safety while cutting back in other areas.

“Government does not always need to grow,” said Councilman Shawn Bunney, R-Lake Tapps.

For years Pierce County government grew steadily, fueled by a residential and commercial development boom that provided a dependable source of revenue.

But earlier this year, as the real estate market slumped, the county cut nearly $5 million from its 2008 budget. With a full-blown recession looming, the council approved a largely status-quo spending plan for 2009.

Total spending will fall about 3 percent from this year’s budget. Spending on the general fund, which includes most traditional county services like law enforcement and courts, would rise about 1 percent to $289 million.

The general fund plan would cut about 75 jobs, most of them vacant.

The county planning department will take the biggest hit, losing about 38 positions. Planning department Director Chuck Kleeberg said five of those will be layoffs. With the slowdown in construction, county officials believe the department doesn’t need as many employees to do its job.

Other workforce reductions are spread across numerous departments. The budget also cuts spending on extra hires, overtime, equipment, training and other line items.

While other departments cut staff, the sheriff’s department would add six positions, paid for with contracts or grants.

Other budget highlights include:

• The council voted to charge more for various county services. Sewer rates would rise an average of 5 percent. Surface water management fees – assessed to pay for flood control and water quality programs – would rise 10 percent. Fees on park rentals, fire inspections, court filings and other services also would rise.

But the council declined to raise numerous planning department fees, which County Executive John Ladenburg had counted on to raise $1.7 million.

=> Read more!

Earlier today, Pierce County released certified elections results, capping a long and historic election season. Voter turnout set a recent record for presidential election years in terms of both the raw number of voters (333,824) and the percentage of registered voters participating (81.20 percent). Turnout ranged from 74 percent to 78 percent in the election years from 1976 to 2004, according to county election manager Lori Augino. The county didn't have readily available numbers for earlier elections.

Pierce County's turnout trails the state, which experienced a whopping 84.55 percent turnout. The turnout surpassed the previous record of 84.5 percent, set in 1944, Secretary of State Sam Reed just announced. (The state keeps turnout stats going back to 1936.) For the first time, more than 3 million Washingtonians voted.

Here's a comparison between the last two presidential elections in Pierce County.

	                   2004           2008
Registered Voters 	405,023	       411,103
Poll Ballots Cast 	 62,034	        52,134
Percent poll ballots	 19.56%	         15.62%
Absentee Ballots Cast 	254,981	       281,690
Total Ballots Cast 	317,015	       333,824
Turnout	                 78.27%	         81.20%

Political bloggers have been abuzz over rumors/reports that Washington state Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders heckled U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey last week. Someone shouted "tryant" at Mukasey. This was at the Federalist Society speech in which Mukasey fainted.

Yesterday, Sanders was cagey when Olympian reporter Adam Wilson asked about it. Sanders said he was in town, but not in the room when Mukasey collapsed. At the time, the only one really "reporting" that Sanders was the heckler was Michele Malkin, a conservative blogger who said that's what someone said on Fox News.

Sanders declined to respond directly to Malkin’s post. "As to that, I don’t have any comment," Sanders said. "But I wasn’t there when he collapsed. I heard it on television the next morning. I was very sorry to hear it."

But others picked up the story, including a Wall Street Journal reporter who was at the table next to the alleged heckler.

A few minutes ago, Sanders issued the following statement, confirming that he did say something to Mukasey out of frustration, but disputing that it qualifies as heckling.

RICHARD B. SANDERS
P.O. BOX 40929
OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON 98504-0929

November 25, 2008

I want to set the record straight about a dinner I attended on November 20, in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Federalist Society — a conservative and libertarian legal group of which I am a member. Attorney General Michael Mukasey was the keynote speaker.

In his speech, Attorney General Mukasey justified the Bush administration’s policies in the War on Terror, which included denying meaningful hearings for prisoners in Guantanamo, and other questionable tactics, all in the name of national security. Mr. Mukasey said those who criticize the Administration for abandoning provisions of the Geneva Conventions fail to recognize that “… Al Qaeda [is] an international terrorist group, and not, the last time I checked, a signatory to the Conventions.” Although the United States is a signatory, and these Conventions prohibit torture, the audience laughed. Attorney General Mukasey received a standing ovation. I passionately disagree with these views: the government must never set aside the Constitution; domestic and international law forbids torture; and access to the writ of habeas corpus should not be denied.

The program provided no opportunity for questions or response, and I felt compelled to speak out. I stood up, and said, “tyrant,” and then left the meeting. No one else said anything. I believe we must speak our conscience in moments that demand it, even if we are but one voice.

I hope those who know my jurisprudence will agree that to truly love the Constitution is to uphold it, to speak out for it, not just in times of peace and prosperity, but also in times of chaos and crisis.

I did not “heckle” Attorney General Mukasey, and I did not disrupt the meeting, as those who watch the video of his speech on the Federalist Society’s website will discover. I left before Mr. Mukasey had his frightening collapse. I learned of his collapse later, from news reports. It should go without saying that, despite our vastly different views on what constitutes upholding the rule of law, I hope he continues to recover and remain in good health.

This just in from the Associated Press:

Gov. Chris Gregoire is unveiling emergency plans to carve another $260 million from this year’s state budget.

Gregoire’s new cuts follow last week’s announcement that the state is facing a deficit of about $5 billion through mid-2011. The shortfall includes a gap of about $500 million in this year’s state budget.

Gregoire previously announced plans to trim about $330 million from this year’s spending. Tuesday’s announcement bumps that amount up to $590 million, putting this year’s state budget back in the black when it ends in June.

Gregoire’s budget office is giving agencies a targeted dollar amount of cuts to reach. They’re being told to scale back new programs, and cut spending on existing programs that have been identified as low priorities.

Update No. 1: The AP's Curt Woodward filed more material. Here's the rest:

=> Read more!

The City of Tacoma plans to hire three new parking patrol officers to crack down on handicapped parking scofflaws.

The hiring is one part of a larger plan city officials are assembling after a citizen committee proposed its own plan for using volunteer civilians to enforce the city’s handicapped parking laws.

City and union officials did not want volunteers doing patrols, but City Manager Eric Anderson developed an alternative plan that includes increasing the number of Tacoma’s parking patrol officers from eight to 11.

The new officers will be hired as soon as possible, Anderson told a City Council committee Tuesday morning. Funding for the officers will come from the city’s parking fund, which receives revenue primarily from the city’s various parking garages.

The extra staff will cost approximately $230,000 per year for salaries, benefits and equipment, said Kurtis Kingsolver from the city’s public works department. The city will need to spend an additional $110,000 or so in one-time equipment costs to buy new cars and handheld computers, Kingsolver said.

Until the new officers come on board, the current parking patrol officers will conduct a special emphasis on handicapped parking violators beginning Friday, Anderson said.

=> Read more!

Back on Oct. 5, I wrote a story about the "Rossi budget" and the "Gregoire deficit" but some of my best stuff ended up on the cutting room floor. (I had to cut the last part of my story so it would be ONLY 40 inches and would fit into the newspaper.) But the full 75-inch story was posted on line, and I'm republishing that now, with a few modifications.

For one, the deficit is now $5.1 billion, not $3.2 billion.

HOW WILL THE GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE BALANCE THE BUDGET NEXT YEAR?
They’ll be looking at closing roughly a 16 percent gap between spending and revenue -- $5 billion out of a two-year $30 billion general fund budget.

Look to the past and you’ll see what’s probable or possible:

=> Read more!

The more I listen to Barack Obama and Congress talk about what they're going to do to lessen the impact of our recession, the more I'm reminded of revenue sharing from the early 1980s.

When I started covering Pierce County government in 1981, cities and counties were still getting no-strings-attached money from Uncle Sam. According to Wikipedia, revenue sharing existed from 1972 (the last bad recession) until 1987. It lost favor under President Reagan.

But it appears to be making a comeback, and Washington state workers no doubt will rejoice if it does. Basically, the federal government gives cities, counties and states money to pretty much what they please. That means Gov. Chris Gregoire and the Legislature could head off some of those layoffs that probably are in their future.

State Schools Superintendent-elect Randy Dorn said he was going to propose just that when he spoke last Friday to about 800 members of the School Directors Association. (I didn't have a chance to watch Dorn on TVW so I'm not sure if he did.)

But before his speech, Dorn told me he wants Obama to take $100 billion of the $350 billion TARP money that had yet to be committed, and drive that out to the states for K-12 and higher education. (Well, he is the new public schools buy after all.)

If it's based on population, Washington would get about $2 billion. That would come in pretty handy for a state that is facing a $5.1 billion deficit. (Of course, some of that money probably would go directly to cities and counties.)

As for jobs, back in the 70s and 80s, there also was something called CETA, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. This time, it probably would be called CERTA, as in "reTraining."

Just about the time that credit card bills from the Christmas shopping season are taking their toll on family budgets, Tacoma Public Utility customers will get some relief in the form of their utility bills.

The TPU board has decided to pass along a $15 million overpayment to the Bonneville Power Administration to its customers.

Utility officials still are crunching the numbers to see what this will mean, but they estimate the refund will equal slightly more than one-half an average month's bill, according to a press release.

Refunds could start showing up in February's utility bills.

“Refunding this money to our customers is the right thing to do – especially considering the current economy,” said Public Utility Board Chairman Tom Hilyard said in a statement. “Hopefully it will provide them at least a little relief.”

Click ahead to read the TPU press release.

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Pierce County would install red-light cameras at up to six intersections next year under a budget plan the County Council is expected to approve Tuesday.

The proposal would generate $1.3 million annually for the county. Supporters on the council say the plan is about safety, not revenue.

But sheriff’s department spokesman Ed Troyer questioned whether public safety is the council’s priority. He said the department won’t get any of the net revenue from the cameras.

“Are they revenue-producing machines for the county? Absolutely,” Troyer said.

The council is hashing out last-minute details of an $852 million budget that will be approved today.

Among those details is a plan to install automated traffic safety cameras at six intersections yet to be determined. The cameras – better known as “red light cameras” – automatically photograph drivers who run red lights.

Violators would get a $124 ticket. All of the intersections would be signed to notify motorists of the cameras. There would be a 30-day warning period before the penalty was enforced.

The cameras would be located at major arterial intersections. Undersheriff Eileen Bisson said the county will select intersections in cooperation with the private vendor selected to operate the system. But the county already has looked at five possible locations:

=> Read more!

From Richard Roesler's 'Eye On Olympia' blog:

As Olympia struggles to bridge a record budget shortfall of $5.1 billion - or more - over the next 2 1/2 years, lawmakers and budget officials say that cutting jobs looks more likely.

"It's difficult to imagine that we'd be able to balance the budget without there being some reduction in the size of the work force," said Glenn Kuper, spokesman for the state budget office. Retirements and attrition, he said, aren't likely to be enough.

"I would say it's very likely," state Sen. Margarita Prentice, when asked about layoffs. The Renton Democrat leads the Senate's budget-writing committee.

Dean Ando, the Tacoma man who grew up with Barack Obama in Hawaii, has a new blog.

Quill to the Scroll has only a couple items of content so far, but it looks like Ando plans to document his 21 months as a grassroots organizer on Obama's campagin, perhaps in book form.

Check out his blog here.

Dale Washam, Pierce County's assessor-treasurer-elect (man, that's a lot of hyphens), called today. He's run for various county offices since the early 1990s and never tasted victory, so I asked him how it felt to win.

"Do you know what feels the best?" he said. "The people who come up to me. It’s ‘we won, we won.' I think that I give them a sense that if you stick to it and you keep your values and you stay on point about what you believe about public office, and then finally get there, it’s like they feel a part of it."

He's still not a big fan of ranked-choice voting. He called several times during the campaign to express concerns that voters didn't understand it. Now that he's won, he's not changing his tune. He says it troubles him that some voters get more than one vote (if their first choice is eliminated, then their second and possibly third choices come into play). He also said the RCV system is too costly and that it takes too long to determine a winner.

Jason Osgood, Democratic candidate for Secretary of State in this past election, announced yesterday he is running for Director of Elections for King County.

Incumbent Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, won reelection to a four-year term.

King County will hold a special election in February for director of elections, which voters turned into an elective post in this election.

Jason Osgood Declares Candidacy for King County Director of Elections

Jason Osgood, co-founder of the election integrity watchdog group Washington Citizens for Fair Elections, today officially declared his candidacy for King County Director of Elections.

=> Read more!

Browsing around on the city of Tacoma's Web site today, I discovered that they've started posting some public records request responses.

Follow the link to the city's Web site and click on Public Disclosure... there are other type of documents that look interesting, too.

For example, one I downloaded contains Equal Opportunity complaints. This page shows a breakdown by agency/department:

I got the job right, but the committee wrong when I reported that Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, was likely to get a chairmanship for the upcoming session. Actually, I probably just have the wrong year.

The House Democratic caucus is poised to create a new committee on mental health issues and make Darneille its first chairwoman. So Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, won't lose her job presiding over the House Human Services Committee, as I reported yesterday.

Look at my earlier blog post for more details.

However, Dickerson reportedly is mulling a run for King County Council and if she wins next year, she'd leave the Legislature and make room for Darneille to slide into that Human Service chairmanship.

It's all very fluid. We'll know more after the Committee on Committees meets again Dec. 3, although the dust probably won't settle Assembly Days end on Dec. 5.

The above headline summarizes the points made in a recent letter from Walt Bowen, president of the Washington State Senior Citizens Lobby, to recently re-elected Gov. Chris Gregoire.

And the letter was written before we all learned the state is facing a $5 billion budget shortfall.

You can read the whole letter here:

Dear Governor Gregoire:

On behalf of the Washington State Senior Citizens’ Lobby I want to congratulate you on your successful re-election campaign. We believe many older voters, were offended by the harsh, and untruthful negative ads run against you. According to CNN exit polling in Washington State, 56% of voters over 50 were in your corner.

I write you today on a matter of the utmost importance to the Senior Citizens’ Lobby. We have seen the dire reports with regard to the looming shortfall in the budget for the next biennium. As you formulate your proposals for dealing with the budget challenge, we want to make three important points.

=> Read more!

But after all the dust settles, it looks as if the Democrats will have a net loss of 1 seat in the House (Pat Lantz of Gig Harbor) and 1 seat in the Senate (Marilyn Rasmussen of Eatonville).

Of course, those recounts could alter that a bit.

Two House races appear certain to go to hand recount

OLYMPIA…More than two weeks after the November 4 General Election, two state House races are so close that they appear well within range of a hand recount.

In Spokane County, the 6th Legislative District House Position 2 race between Republican incumbent John Ahern and Democratic challenger John Driscoll currently has Driscoll ahead by 63 votes out of about 70,000 cast, a difference of 0.09 percentage points. The last update on the race was November 14.

In Snohomish County, the 44th Legislative District House Position 2 battle between appointed Democratic incumbent Liz Loomis and Republican challenger Mike Hope shows Hope leading by 100 votes out of more than 68,000 cast, a difference of 0.14 percentage points. The race’s last update was November 20.

=> Read more!

Democrat Pat McCarthy beat Republican Shawn Bunney by a narrow margin to become the first woman to serve as Pierce County executive, results released Thursday show.

With nearly all of the votes counted, McCarthy beat Bunney by a margin of 51 percent to 49 percent under the county’s new ranked choice voting system.

“I’m thankful to the voters of Pierce County to have confidence in me to be the first woman county executive,” McCarthy said late Thursday. “These are challenging times. But I look forward to some exciting opportunities for us to do some good things in Pierce county.”

Meanwhile, Dale Washam – a perennial candidate and frequent critic of county government – won election as the county’s nonpartisan assessor-treasurer over five other candidates. And Republican Joyce McDonald won the race for County Council District 2 over two Democrats.

In another closely watched race, Republican challenger Randi Becker has unseated incumbent Democrat Marilyn Rasmussen in the 2nd District state senate race.
The results won’t be official until Tuesday. But Bunney called McCarthy to concede the executive’s race Thursday evening.

“I called to congratulate her on her success and to let her know I’m there to be of assistance to her in any way, because I want what’s best for the families of Pierce County,” Bunney said.

The latest results cap what is perhaps the most memorable county executive race in Pierce County history.

=> Read more!

Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, reportedly is in the running to become chairwoman of the House Human Services Committee, which is right up her alley. Darneille has a penchant for all social services. It's her life.

That, of course, means that current chairwoman, Mary Lou Dickerson of Seattle, won't keep the job.

And, contrary to what I posted a few weeks back, the choice of who will preside over the House Appropriations Committee has not been settled.

I said Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, the current vice chairman of the budget-writing committee, probably would replace retiring Rep. Helen Sommers of Seattle and that Rep. Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, would get the consolation prize of House Capital Budget Committee.

I might have to reverse that prediction -- or not.

=> Read more!

House Democrats were supposed to have picked their committee chairmen and chairwoman yesterday. But the Committee on Committees, the 15-member team of leadership, committee chairs and at-large members postponed their final deliberations.

House Speaker Frank Chopp of Seattle, who presides over that committee, learned earlier this week that his mother was very ill.

She died Wednesday night. Anne Brozovich Chopp was 91. The House Clerk notified members this morning.

The Committee on Committee now will meet Dec. 4 to finalize the slate of chairmanships that will be submitted to the full 61- or 62-member caucus.

The caucus probably will vote Dec. 5, the last of two Assembly Days when lawmakers come to Olympia to hold some brief hearings.

Richard McKinley, currently the Bellingham Public Works Director, will take over the same job for Tacoma early next year, city officials announced.

McKinley replaces Bill Pugh, the long-time public works director who retired earlier this year following a 33-year career with the City of Tacoma.

City Manager Eric Anderson chose McKinley following a nationwide search.

Mike Slevin has served as Tacoma's interim public works director.

Click ahead to read the city's press release.

=> Read more!

I know my cynicism is coming through here, but do any of you think it's just a coincidence that the new, mostly higher cost estimates for those two mega-projects are coming out two weeks after the reelection of Gov. Chris Gregoire?

Both of these projects will be paid for with proceeds from the last two increases in the state gas tax -- 5 cents a gallon in 2003 and 9.5 cents in 2005 -- so every driver in the state has a stake in them and a role in paying for them.

The mediation team created by the Legislature was supposed to come up with a 520 bridge solution that would keep the local Seattle neighborhoods on the west end of the 520 bridge happy. They appear to have come up with 3 options -- happy, happier and happiest.

DOT Deputy Secretary David Dye said the most likely cost for the 520 bridge is now $4.5 billion, if an interchange for the Montlake District near the University of Washington is similar to the one put forth by the team.

That $4.5 billion is now the lowest cost estimate. When the Legislature adjourned in March, the estimate was only $3.9 billion. Half of that cost was supposed to come from tolls. Who knows what lawmakers are going to settle on this upcoming session.

“If decision makers select one of the other options, costs will increase another $500 million to $2 billion,” Dye said.

As for the viaduct, we'll find out just how expensive that project is by the end of December. That's when Gregoire, King County Executive Ron Sims and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels are supposed to come to agreement on a final joint recommendation.

Below are 2 news releases from the Washington Department of Transportation. One deals with the viaduct, the other with the 520 bridge.

=> Read more!

His team may have picked up not 1, but 2 seats in the House. Unfortunately, state Rep. Richard DeBolt, D-Chehalis, and his House Repulicans have a lot farther to go to reclaim the majorities they held after the 1994 and 1996 elections.

They were outnumbered 63-35 going into this election and, as I said, may have picked up 1 or 2 seats. But I'm not going to do the math as I did in the previous post. Let me just say that DeBolt, at least, is younger than Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt.

There are no Pierce County or South King County Republicans in the leadership positions in the House. But then, there aren't many, period.

Minority Whip Bill Hinkle of Cle Elum did attend Tacoma's Lincoln High School, so many that counts. And he's a good fit for sergeant at arms. He's a big, big guy, and a former paramedic, too.

The House Republican caucus also chose its leadership team today. The met this afternoon in Cle Elum, Hinkle's turf.

State House Republicans elect new leadership team
DeBolt continues role as Leader, looks forward to 2009 legislative session

State House Republicans today elected a new leadership team that will lead the caucus heading into the 2009 legislative session. The leadership vote came just 16 days after a general election that will likely result in the caucus gaining one or two more net seats in the Washington State House of Representatives.

Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, was re-elected House Republican Leader. His responsibilities include overseeing the leadership team, setting legislative priorities, policy development, and working directly with the governor and other state government leaders.

=> Read more!

His Republican colleagues in the Washington Senate have relected Sen. Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla to be their leader once again.

No doubt it's a reward for leading the GOP caucus to picking up 1 seat in the state Senate. They were outnumbered 32-17 by Democrats. Now, they're outnumbered only 31-18.

If the Senate R's can keep picking up 1 seat in each election cycle, Hewitt can expect to be elected majority leader in November 2022, if he can just hang on that long......

Hey, he'll be only 76 years old.

Of local note, Sen. Mike Carrell (right) of Lakewood is deputy leader and Sen. Cheryl Pflug of Maple Valley is caucus vice chairwoman.

=> Read more!

After 16 days of suspense, Pierce County voters should know tonight who likely will be the county’s new chief executive and next tax collector.

That’s a day ahead of the original schedule.

Auditor Pat McCarthy said this morning her office will have counted nearly every vote today. So elections officials will run computer software that will determine the next executive and assessor-treasurer this afternoon instead of waiting until Friday, as originally planned.

With practically all of the votes counted, McCarthy said it didn’t make sense to wait 24 hours to release new ranked choice voting results.

The auditor’s office plans to release the new results at 6 p.m. today. I'll post them here when they're released.

The new results may be the final word on who will fill two key county offices.

There are four candidates four county executive and six for assessor-treasurer.

But recent tallies of ranked choice voting results show the executive race will come down to a contest between Democrat McCarthy and Republican Shawn Bunney. In results released last Friday, McCarthy won 51 percent to 49 percent.

Last Friday’s results showed Dale Washam beating Barbara Gelman in the assessor-treasurer’s race by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent.

Since those results were released, elections officials have counted thousands of additional ballots.

McCarthy said there may be a few straggler votes to be counted before the election is certified on Tuesday. Her office plans to run the ranked choice voting computer software again Monday night.

But tonight’s tally should be all but definitive.

Even as the last votes are counted, Bunney is considering requesting a recount if he loses to McCarthy by a close margin.

=> Read more!

Our Lisa Brown is Senate Majority Leader. The other Lisa Brown just got appointed to Barack Obama's staff.

And I know this only because I got an e-mail from an organization I had never heard of -- until five minutes ago.

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) is pleased to announce that President-elect Barack Obama has chosen ACS Executive Director Lisa Brown as White House Staff Secretary.

=> Read more!

Victor Moore, budget director for Gov. Chris Gregoire, has told all of the universities and colleges, as well as all state agencies to show him what their budgets would look like if they had to cut them by 20 percent.

I asked Moore's office for the memo, but I'm told he made the request over the phone and at a cabinet meeting. (I still think there's an e-mail to be found somewhere, but maybe I'll pursue that later.)

Moore actually asked for the budget scenarios before the revenue forecast indicated tax collections probably will be $2 billion lower over the next 31 months. Now, they really do need to look at cuts that deep, at least for some agencies.

My colleague, Rich Roesler over at The (Spokane) Spokesman Review, has a good take on some of the details of the higher ed stuff on his blog, Eye on Olympia.

Good thing the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council doesn't have a "shoot the messenger" policy, or newly hired Arun Raha wouldn't have lasted beyond his first ever forecast.

Raha had the unhappy task of informing legislators and the governor's cabinet that tax collections are expected to plunge by nearly $2 billion over the next 31 months. That will help produce a budget shortfall upwards of $5 billion.

When the press releases were being handed Wednesday just a few minutes before the 10 a.m. meeting, I saw the precipitous revenue drop and told Raha that his predecessor, ChangMook Sohn, had earned the nickname of "Dr. Doom" because of his conservative and often gloomy forecasts. I told Raha he was at risk of earning a similar nickname.

Before Raha could say much, Dr. Kriss Sjoblom, vice president for research for the Washington Research Council, who was standing within earshot blurted out, "Doom and Doomer."

Pray the nickname doesn't stick, Arun.

State Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser says he’s “increasingly alarmed” by reports he’s getting from party observers at the Pierce County Elections Center. In an e-mail to Secretary of State Sam Reed, Esser has asked that someone from Reed’s office monitor vote counting here, citing “disturbing and repeated episodes which have turned the Pierce County observation process into a meaningless exercise.”

Republican observers cite restrictions on their movement that they believe violates state law. They say they have not been able to fully observe signature checking, ballot evaluation for voter intent, ballot remaking and provisional ballot checking, among other things.

The backdrop: a close county executive race that pits Democratic Auditor Pat McCarthy (who oversees elections) vs. Republican Shawn Bunney.

You can read Esser’s e-mail Secretary of State Sam Reed below. It includes first-hand report from Republican Party observers at the elections center.

From: Luke Esser, Chairman
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 1:51 PM
To: sreed@secstate.wa.gov
Cc: sexcell@secstate.wa.gov
Subject: Request for SOS Monitoring of Pierce County Election Activities

Dear Secretary Reed,

I have become increasingly alarmed at the reports forwarded to me by Republican elections observers in Pierce County over the last two weeks. Following is a memo by one of our observers that thoroughly addresses disturbing and repeated episodes which have turned the Pierce County observation process into a meaningless exercise. In light of these concerns, I am requesting that someone from the Secretary of State's office monitor activities at the Pierce County Elections Center between now and the time of certification to provide independent oversight and assurances of a transparent elections process. If party observers are not afforded a meaningful opportunity to observe, then direct action by the Secretary of State's Office is surely warranted.

=> Read more!

This comes to us courtesy of our friends at The Associated Press. Rodgers, who used to be just Cathy McMorris when she was in the state House, appears to moving up the ranks in the minority Republican caucus in the U.S. House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state has been elected vice chair of the House Republican Conference.
In her new role, McMorris Rodgers will work with House Minority Leader John Boehner and other GOP leaders to approve GOP committee assignments, manage floor debates and develop the party’s communications strategy.
McMorris Rodgers, of Spokane, easily won re-election to a third term this month.
At a news conference Wednesday, she said the party’s actions over the next two years will determine how long Republicans remain in the minority in Congress. She said the party must broaden its appeal and reach out to women, minorities and young people.

Republican Shawn Bunney is asking supporters to help pay for a possible recount in the Pierce County executive’s race.

In an e-mail this morning, Bunney says the race may come down to a recount, “but only with help from my friends.”

“The election isn’t over, and I need your help to keep it alive,” Bunney writes.

Last Friday’s ranked choice voting results show Democrat Pat McCarthy clinging to a narrow lead over Bunney – 50.65 percent to 49.35 percent. They are separated by about 3,400 votes.

Under state law, there would be an automatic recount if the candidates are separated by fewer than 2,000 votes and by less than one half of one percent of the total ballots cast for both candidates. Based on results so far, there would be no automatic recount.

However, Bunney could still request a recount. He’d just have to pay for it. Thus the fund-raising appeal.

The auditor’s office won’t run ranked choice voting results again until Friday. The election is scheduled to be certified on Tuesday.

Update: I just spoke with Charla Neuman, a Bunney campaign spokeswoman. She said there probably won't be a decision made about whether to request an recount until after Friday's results are released.

"I know that everyone is looking at `just in case' scenarios," Neuman said.

Here’s the full text of Bunney’s e-mail.

From: Shawn Bunney
Reply-To:
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:36:11 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Recount?

Yes, a RECOUNT!

That's what it might come down to.

Last Friday the Pierce County Executive election results were run and the difference in the number of votes between me and my leading opponent was barely over one percentage point.

The election is still too close to call.

This may come down to a recount, but only with help from my friends.

=> Read more!

It actually may be larger than that because I'm just adding the additional $1.9 billion revenue shortfall to the previous projected deficit of $3.2 billion.

That $1.9 billion shortfall was the news delivered just a few moments ago by Arun Raha, the state's new chief economist. He told members of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, which met at 10 a.m. today in Olympia.

UPDATE: Read beyond the "more" to get the governor's budget office's, Sen. Joe Zarelli's and Rep. Ed Orcutt's takes on things.

In addition to lower than expected tax collections over the next 2 and 1/2 years, demand on state spending also is on the rise. Last week, the state Caseload Forecast Council reported that it is raising its forecast for public school enrollment by an additional 10,000 students during the 2009-11 biennium because it expects at least 7,000 private school students to transfer to state schools in light of the recession.

=> Read more!

Tim Farrell is something of an endangered species: a Democrat on the Pierce County Council.

Though results aren’t official, Farrell appears to have won easy re-election representing much of the City of Tacoma on the council. His only Democratic companion on the seven-member council will be either Barbara Gelman or (if she’s elected assessor-treasurer) her Democratic replacement.

In an interview today, Farrell half-jokingly said he sees himself as “the leader of the resistance” on a council that – assuming Joyce McDonald wins in District 2 – would have a Republican supermajority.

Farrell said he works well with Chairman Terry Lee, Dick Muri and Shawn Bunney. He described them as moderate Republicans. But he fears a Republican supermajority could lead to a shift to more conservative policies.

He thinks the tone will be set in the first 100 days of the new council. Farrell said the tenor of the new council might influence his decision on whether to run for mayor of Tacoma next year. He plans to make a decision by March.

The state Department of Ecology is going to be investigating possible pollution by the state penintentiary in Walla Walla. DOE notes that chemicals have been found in the nearby groundwater, but not in Walla Walla's drinking water -- at least, not yet.

They're in the landfill outside the prison perimeter. DOE notes "chemicals from processes such as license plate manufacturing, dry cleaning, motor pool maintenance, and sign manufacturing may have been disposed of in the prison’s construction debris landfill."

Incidentally, the following news release came from DOE, not the Department of Corrections.

Walla Walla meeting will focus on proposed investigation of contamination at Washington State Penitentiary

OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) will meet this week with Walla Walla residents to talk about investigating contamination at the Washington State Penitentiary.

=> Read more!

That's because the last state revenue forecast left us with a projected $3.2 billion budget shortfall for the 2009-11 budget cycle, and this one could be so bad that it gets us close to $4 billion.

The Revenue Forecast Council will meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow in one of the House hearing rooms and its proceedings will be televised live by TVW (Television Washington).

Keep in mind, the forecast predicts only how much money the state expects to collect in taxes and fees for the remainder of this two-year budget cycle (2007-09) and in the next biennium, (2009-11). So, it won't reflect the steps that Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget office is taking to whittle down that projected deficit by reducing spending.

The Office of Financial Management says it can shrink the shortfall to about $1.7 billion by freezing hiring, travel and some contracts, as well as by spending about half of the Rainy Day savings account.

Now that the election is over, maybe the governor's budget office will resume publication of its 6-year forecast. If not, state Sen. Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield, the top Republican on the Senate budget committee, probably will make the Senate Ways and Means Committee produce one in short order.

Personally, I love it when Rep. Jim McIntire, now treasurer-elect, talks about "elasticity." It's spellbinding.

TVW head honcho Mike Bay sends us the following reminder:

=> Read more!

Paula Hammond, secretary of the Washington Department of Transportation, told state transportation commissioners this morning she is toying with the idea of inviting Initiative 985 sponsor Tim Eyman to take a ride with her in the carpool lanes on December 5.

That's the day after election results will be certified. That's also the day that Eyman was going to lead a freedom caravan of cars in the high-occupancy vechilce (HOV) lanes on the freeway, because I-985 would have opened carpool lanes for all vehicles -- solo drivers, too -- during off-peak hours. About a month before the Nov. 4 election, Eyman was telling Hammond she'd better start getting ready to open the lanes. Of course, at the time, Eyman was confident his initiative would pass.

It failed in all 39 counties, Hammond reported to commissioners.

Hammond said she'd be willing to take Eyman on a drive in the carpool lanes anyway, and the time of day wouldn't matter because with two of them in the car, they'd be eligible to drive in the HOV lanes.

Dave Ammons, spokesman for Secretary of State Sam Reed, sends along this update on voter turnout.

Washington voter turnout tops 3 million mark

FYI: Washington’s voter turnout has just topped the 3 million mark for the first time in state history. As of this morning, 3,001,551 ballots have been counted by the 39 County Auditors across the state. That amounts to 82.69 percent of the state’s 3,629,898 record number of registered voters. The previous record for ballots cast, set in 2004, was 2,884,783. The percentage turnout that year was 82.23.

The counties say they have over 55,000 ballots on hand that still remain to be processed,

=> Read more!

From Les Blumenthal in our Washington, D.C. bureau:

WASHINGTON - Washington Sen. Patty Murray was re-elected Democratic conference secretary Tuesday, the fourth most powerful position among Senate Democrats.

But any chance of Murray becoming the first woman to chair the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee evaporated when Democrats decided not to punish Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman for his outspoken support of Republican John McCain’s presidential bid.

Through a complicated game of musical chairs, Murray could have become chairman of the veterans committee if Democrats had stripped Lieberman of his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The possibility had always been a long shot, and Murray took the development in stride. Though she said she was disappointed with Lieberman’s decision to campaign for McCain and speak at the Republican National Convention, Murray said it was time for Democrats to move on and not refight the election.

As conference secretary, Murray will rank only behind Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer of New York.

Murray will be the thick of things as Democrats set the legislative agenda.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Murray said. “It gives me an opportunity to put important Washington state issues on the table.”

=> Read more!

This just in from the state Department of Employment Security. In September, unemployment rate was 5.8 percent.

Unemployment rate up, jobs (sort of) down in October

OLYMPIA – The nation’s economic woes continued to be felt in Washington state in October, where the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 6.3 percent from September’s rate of 5.8 percent, according to the state Employment Security Department.

At the same time, the roughly 24,000 aerospace jobs that were on strike in October contributed to a net loss of 23,200 non-agricultural jobs. Without the strike, jobs in Washington increased by about 800.

=> Read more!

Pierce County’s canvassing board convened this afternoon to sort through 199 ballots in which the voter’s intent was in question or which were otherwise problematic.

It was a lesson in the breathtaking tedium of democracy. But it was also reassuring to know that just about any way you can screw up your ballot has been taken into account in state regulations the board used to determine which ballots should count and which shouldn’t.

The canvassing board has three members: county elections manager Lori Augino (subbing for Auditor Pat McCarthy, who’s on the ballot), Ron Williams of the prosecuting attorney’s office and County Councilman Dick Muri (subbing for council Chairman Terry Lee, who’s locked in a close race for assessor-treasurer).

They sifted through the ballots, applying 82 pages of Secretary of State guidelines to include or exclude votes. They did this ballot by ballot and sometimes race by race on individual ballots.

Some of the problems they saw:

• People who stuffed multiple ranked choice or traditional ballots into a single absentee envelope. Under state law, if two ballots in a single envelope are marked identically, they count as a single ballot. If they don’t match, neither is counted.

• People who left “hesitation marks” by one candidate’s name but fully marked a second candidate. Sometimes, you can tell people started to vote for one candidate and changed their mind. Other times, the “hesitation” mark looks too much like a real vote, so the race is counted as an “overvote” on the ballot. That means your vote doesn’t go to either candidate.

• People who didn’t mark their ballots correctly (by connecting the arrows beside their candidates of choice). Some marked their ballots with checks or circles. If they did it consistently, the board was inclined to count the votes. If not (maybe they used circles for some votes and checks for others), they didn’t.

I confess I didn’t stick around to watch them process all 199 ballots. I left after ballot No. 66 was decided – an hour and 48 minutes into the meeting. But I came away with two impressions:

First, the board seemed inclined to count votes, within the leeway provided by the law.

Second, a close election could come down to the votes of people who can’t follow directions.

That's one of the three requirements the King County Council put on the newly "elective" director of elections.

You don't have to be qualified when you win election to the job, but you have to be certified by the Secretary of State within 2 1/2 years of getting the job.

You also wouldn't be able to hold office in a political party, so I guess Luke Esser and Dwight Pelz need not apply -- yet. And you can't work for any of the vendors who want to sell voting machinery to the county. Makes sense.

Here's the exact wording for No. 3:

Must earn certification as an elections administrator from the Washington Secretary of State within 30 months of being elected or appointed to the office, and meet all continuing education requirements.

(Scroll down to see earlier posting about state Sen. Pam Roach's interest in the job.)

Council acts to prevent conflicts of interest for
new office of King County Elections Director

Voters who created elective office also called for Council to set qualifications

Now that voters have made the job of King County Elections Director an elective office and empowered the King County Council to set qualifications for the office, the Council today unanimously set three standards that help ensure the new officeholder is impartial and free of any conflicts of interest.

=> Read more!

Off-peak fares for adults will rise to $1.75 in a couple months, then to $2 in 2010.

Here's the news release from the King County Council

Council finds savings in Metro budget
that enable delay of half of bus fare increase

$43.7 million in savings help push back second half of Executive-proposed 50-cent fare increase by one year while maintaining current levels of bus service

With record numbers of new bus riders coinciding with plunging revenues to support public transit, the Metropolitan King County Council today unanimously adopted a two-step fare increase that protects current levels of service while scrutinizing the transit system for cost-savings and efficiencies.

“Our highest priority is to maintain our current levels of service and keep buses on the streets,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine, chair of the Council’s Transportation Committee and co-sponsor of the fare ordinance. “This fare increase is not as sharp as originally anticipated, but should allow us to maintain service despite spikes in fuel prices or drops in the revenues that support public transit.”

=> Read more!

Sen. Patty Murray's staff says constituents are flooding her office with requests for tickets to President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20.

Here's an update from her press secretary, Matt McAlvanah:

· After receiving more than 6,000 individual requests for tickets, Senator Murray’s office has stopped taking requests for tickets to the Inauguration ceremony.

· We stopped taking these requests on Wednesday November 12th because the demand for tickets far exceeds the limited number of tickets our office is likely to be provided.

· In 2005, our office received around 350 tickets and we expect a similar number for the upcoming ceremony.

· We are however, still taking names and contact information via our web-site and D.C. office phone lines for constituents to be added to a list for information on non-ticketed areas and any additional Inauguration information our office is provided.

· Washington state residents who have requested tickets PRIOR to November 12th will be notified in mid-November to early-Dec