A team of experienced reporters keep you updated on what's happening in political arenas at the city, county, state and federal levels. From presidential campaign visits to who's running for city council, we've got it covered.
Contributors
Peter Callaghan is a local columnist. He’s covered the
statehouse and state politics since 1981. Before joining The News
Tribune in 1985, the Stadium High grad worked for newspapers in Everett
and Lewiston, Idaho, and for The Associated Press in Olympia and
Seattle. Email
Peter
Joe Turner has covered state government and transportation
issues since 1990. Since the Bellarmine grad’s arrival in the newsroom
in 1978, he’s covered police, suburban cities, Tacoma City Hall,
Federal Way City Hall and the Pierce and King county governments. Email Joe
David Wickert covers Pierce County government. Before coming to
The News Tribune in 1998, he covered local government for newspapers in
Illinois, Virginia and Tennessee. Email David
Ian Demsky is a general assignment reporter who specializes in
database-driven reporting. He's been at the News Tribune since 2007 and has
previously worked in Nashville, Tenn. and Portland, Ore. When he's not at
work, he enjoys hiking and science fiction. Email Ian
Les Blumenthal has been covering Washington, D.C. for The News
Tribune since 1990, focusing on issues and politicians involving the
state. Before joining The News Tribune, he spent 13 years working for
The Associated Press in Seattle, Illinois and Washington, D.C. Email Les
John Henrikson is a local news editor who oversees political coverage. He's worked as a journalist in the
Northwest for 19 years, supervising coverage and reporting on local and
state government, the environment and growth. Email John
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The professional initiative promoter sent out an e-mail today to let reporters know he'll be back in action this year.
Eyman plans to file the Reduce Traffic Congestion Initiative at 11 a.m. this Friday, 10 days before the start of the upcoming 60-day legislative session. He said he hopes to start collecting signatures by mid-February.
Here's what it would do:
Open carpool lanes to everyone during non-peak hours, midday and evenings on weekdays and all day and all night on weekends, require cities and counties to synchronize traffic lights on heavily-traveled arterials and increase funding for emergency roadside assistance to clear out accidents faster.
Sounds like good stuff, doesn't it?
Here's the poison pill that will align almost all of officialdom against Eyman: He wants to divert existing state sales tax into a special anti-congestion account.
That, of course, means money that now goes to public schools and welfare moms and prison operations would be used to pay for traffic stuff. Most legislators and governors don't like that.
Eyman does propose a logical nexus. He wants 10 percent of sales tax on new and used vehicle sales dedicated to a special account. But it's still sales tax. He estimates $85 million a year from those taxes.
Eyman will have until early July to collect signatures of 224,880 registered voters to qualify for the Nov. 10 ballot.
