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Friday, February 29th, 2008
Posted by Hunter George @ 02:55:29 pm
Folks around here, like U.S. Rep. Adam Smith and Gov. Chris Gregoire, are waiting to read the fine print to find out why Boeing lost the bid for the Pentagon's tanker contract. In Alabama, meanwhile, politicians are celebrating because the tanker will be built in Mobile, generating thousands of jobs. From U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
From U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
Posted by Hunter George @ 02:29:32 pm
U.S. Rep. Adam Smith released the following statement after the Pentagon announced that Boeing lost the long-awaited aerial refueling tanker contract to the Northrop Grumman/EADS (Airbus) team:
Next came Gov. Chris Gregoire's response.
Here's a link to our developing story. Update: We got a joint statement from Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and Reps. Norm Dicks, Rick Larsen, Jay Inslee, Adam Smith (again), Jim McDermott and Dave Reichert.
Posted by Joe Turner @ 01:07:25 pm
The Senate and House are both "committing news" at the same time, so I'm playing catch-up. (I'm trying to listen to the House debate a financing plan for the Highway 520 bridge, and Brad Owen, Senate president, issued a crucial ruling.) Owen sided with Tim Eyman and Initiative 960 supporters by ruling that a bill to raise state liquor taxes would require a supermajority vote -- that is, 33 of 49 votes -- instead of a simple 25-vote majority to pass. That was for Senate Bill 6931. Consequently, even though the vote was 25-21, the effort to raise the liquor tax for more State Patrol drunken driving crackdowns and drug and alcohol treatment failed. Here's the roll call:
Here's what Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, had to say about the whole episode. (Just for the record, there were six of her Democrats among the "Republicans" who voted against the liquor tax hike.)
Here is Lt. Gov. Brad Owen's ruling in its entirety:
Posted by Hunter George @ 01:00:03 pm
Barbara Gelman sent us a press release saying she will run for assessor-treasurer. The seat is held by Ken Madsen, who has said he probably won’t seek re-election. Gelman, currently a member of the County Council, has 22 years of experience in two Pierce County offices. She served two terms on the County Council and then two terms as assessor-treasurer before rejoining the council. She's in her second consecutive (fourth overall) council term, which expires in 2010. (Four terms on the council will probably get a conference room named after her at some point, don't you think?) She'll face Jan Shabro, also a veteran office holder, who announced her candidacy on Feb. 12. The job pays $112,500 a year. Here's Gelman's press release:
Categories: Pierce County, Campaign news
Posted by Joe Turner @ 11:26:58 am
Senate Bill 6626 would let the former Frank Russell Company defer sales tax on construction of a new headquarters building in a "community empowerment zone" as long as the building costs at least $30 million and employs at least 300 people who earn the average annual wage in Washington. That sales tax eventually could be forgiven. Downtown Tacoma is, in fact, an empowerment zone, mostly because it combines the Hilltop neighborhood. Apparently, Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, is going to get credit for it. The House had a bill sponsored by Rep. Troy Kelley, D-Tacoma (or University Place), but that one hasn't quite made it out of the House yet. The Senate vote was 48-0. The bill now goes to the House. Just a thought, here. Bremerton also is an empowerment zone and Bremerton (part of it, anyway) lies in the 26th Legislative District. That's Kilmer's district. What if Russell moved its headquarters to Bremerton? I mean, the company could still get the tax break and Kilmer could still be the hero for keeping the company in Washington state. Right? Incidentally, the state Senate today is passing all the miscellaneous tax cut, tax increase or any kind of tax break bill that has some bearing on how much money it taken out of or put into the state treasury. Those are called "bills necessary to implement the budget."
Categories: Legislature
Posted by Joe Turner @ 11:01:22 am
The Senate is taking up a liquor tax. Right now. It clearly is an orchestrated effort to challenge Initiative 960. It started with Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, asking Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, president of the Washington Senate, how many votes it will take to pass Senate Bill 6931. That's the bill that would raise the liquor tax by 42 cents a liter to pay for more drunken driving enforcement by the Washington State Patrol and more treatment for drug addicts and alcholics. Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, is prime sponsor. The tax would raise about $12 million a year, to be split half and half between the two programs. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, just finished the floor speech that frames the issue. That is, the constitution says bills, including tax bills, can be passed by a simple majority. I-960 says tax bills need a two-thirds majority. But the constitution trumps an initiative. So there! Owen just said he'll rule later on how many votes are needed to pass Sentate Bill 6931. If he says it takes 33 votes to pass the liquor tax increase, he's siding with Eyman and the initiative. If he say it takes only 25, he's siding with Brown and the constitution. Stay tuned.
Categories: Legislature
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Posted by Joe Turner @ 02:54:47 pm
The Senate is now debating whether to take out the $250,000 that Sens. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, and Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, put into the state operating budget to help support the Seattle Storm women's professional basketball team. The team was recently purchased by a group of local women and will be staying in town, not leaving for Oklahoma City as the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics will likely do soon. The argument is over whether the state should buy tickets to give girls so they can go to Storm games. Actually, the tickets would go to anyone, but in the floor speeches, the senators talked about giving them to girls. Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, sponsored the amendment to delete the funding. He said he doesn't want the state setting a precedent by buying tickets for games. Prentice noted that the state recently gave millions of dollars to a bunch of Triple-A professional baseball teams last year. I think it was about $5 million to help make repairs to ballparks, including Cheney Stadium for the Tacoma Rainiers, the Everett AquaSox the Yakima team and a couple others. Sens. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, and Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond, joined Murray in speaking in favor of amendment. Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, backed up Prentice and Kohl-Welles. The vote to remove the money was 24-23, but it failed. That's because it takes a 60 percent majority vote by the full Senate to amend the budget. That means the state will be buying tickets to Storm games, provided the House and Gov. Chris Gregoire go along with that provision in the Senate operating budget. Here's what the amendment would have done:
Categories: Legislature
• 2 comments
Posted by Joe Turner @ 01:42:31 pm
The Senate is back in session and is likely to consider a tax increase bill. Senate Bill 6931 would raise the state liquor tax by 42 cents a liter to raise money for the Washington State Patrol and the Department of Social and Health Services. Each of them would get about $6 million a year, the State Patrol to go catch drunks and DSHS to provide treatment to drunks and drug users. If I'm reading Initiative 960 correctly, the Senate will have to pass this bill by a two-thirds vote. And since the bill does not say the tax increase will be referred to voters this fall for a binding vote, the bill might be on the November ballot anyway for an advisory vote. UPDATE: Just got off the phone with Tim Eyman. He says the bill definitely would require a public advisory vote. He also pointed out the state Attorney General is the one who makes the decision on whether an advisory vote is require. SECOND UPDATE: It looks as if the liquor tax bill won't come up until tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.
Categories: Legislature, Initiatives
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 11:30:51 am
After sorting through January's Public Disclosure Commission filings of earnings and expenses for lobbyists, I started wondering how this year added up. Yes, it's a lot of money. But how much? Well, Doug Ellis from the PDC helped me answer that by sending me the amount, over the last five Januaries, made and spent by lobbyists in Washington. The figures represent the amount lobbyists are paid, plus what they spend on things like gas, lodging, entertainment and contributions. Without further delay:
Remember that odd years are long sessions and even years are short, supplemental-budget sessions. Thoughts? Ideas? Dreams of becoming a lobbyist? I'm hoping to get the isolated amount for entertainment soon.
Categories: Legislature
Posted by Joe Turner @ 11:17:48 am
State legislators have a lot of questions about why the Washington Department of Transportation is asking for an additional $5 million to pay TransCore, the private company that DOT hired to collect tolls on the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. That's $18 million instead of $13 million over a two-year period. It's not only the Gig Harbor crowd of Sen. Derek Kilmer and Reps. Pat Lantz and Larry Seaquist. With the likelihood that tolls are coming soon to Highway 167 (this spring)in South King County and to Seattle and Bellevue (probably next year), lawmakers from all over the place suddenly have a keen interest in how tolls are collected and how much the private company that collects them is paid. State transportation officials produced a 35-page document to explain what they're doing, what went wrong and why it cost so much. I can summarize it for you here: "It wasn't our fault. We are new at this tolling thing. Experts from all over the country told us stuff that wasn't true, and we believed them. It wasn't our fault. Really. Honest." Or you can read the full report on WSDOT's Web site.
Categories: Legislature
Posted by Joe Turner @ 10:54:49 am
David Moseley, former Steilacoom administrator, former Federal Way city manager and newly appointed chief executive officer of Washington State Ferries, has agreed to speak to City Club next month. Republicans have criticized Moseley, alleging he has no background in ferries. Not true. Everyone knows there's a ferry dock in Steilacoom.
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Posted by Scott Fontaine @ 04:36:39 pm
Ruston lost its latest lawsuit against The Commencement, the condo group constructing a high-rise building near the former school building. From the blog Ruston Home:
Categories: Pierce County
Posted by Jason Hagey @ 11:11:45 am
The Tacoma City Council heard a progress report Tuesday on the city's year-old residential street repair program, and council members liked what they heard. Last year, 93 residential blocks were paved; 182 blocks received a surface treatment called a slurry seal, public works officials said. The city spent $2.1 million on the work. For 2008, officials have identified 178.5 blocks for paving and 156 blocks for the surface treatment. Mayor Bill Baarsma and several council members were excited about the progress. The lousy condition of the city's streets is something that elected officials hear about frequently from constituents, especially when they're talking with folks on the campaign trail. A 2006 "citizen satisfaction survey" found that 76 percent of respondents thought Tacoma was doing a bad job of maintaining its streets. To help guide the repair work, the city developed a city-wide rating system that identifies the condition of residential streets. Streets that score 40 and under – the worst of the lot – are targeted for paving, officials said. Streets that score 60 and above are candidates for the slurry seal, which officials say will extend their useful life by a decade or more. At the current rate, Tacoma is on track to fix the worst of the bunch in 11 1/2 years, said Interim Public Works Director Mike Slevin. So, if you live on one of the worst streets, help is on the way – if not this year, sometime in the next decade. If you're lucky enough to live on one of the better streets, the city plans to keep it nice for a long time. But what about those who live on a street that falls somewhere in the middle? Are they doomed to wait until the street gets bad enough that its score drops below 40? Is this the municipal equivalent of hoping your sports team misses the playoffs so it gets a better draft pick? Click here for the list. Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 04:23:30 pm
A certain someone just sent me the transcript of the soon-to-be-legendary floor speech of Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia. I'm speechless. Read on: Scene: Monday's House debate on the budget Stage right, Rep. Alexander:  I'm going to try, Mr. speaker, because actually, a nine‑year‑old granddaughter from the gentleman of the sixth district painted this picture, but I can't put it up on the board behind you, so I'd like to paint it for you, Mr. speaker, and the members here in the chamber. Here's the picture. I thought perhaps it, too, was part of the trip... but no, it's a real picture.
Categories: Legislature
• 7 comments
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 12:39:05 pm
We're still in the budget meeting, and I'm flipping through the 3 inch stack of papers they handed me. Here's one thing I think is curious (of hundreds). In the highlights book, page 30: "Expenditures for employee health benefits during the 2007-2009 fiscal biennium are anticipated to be lower than budgeted due to the removal of funding for a new information technology ...blahblah... and unexpectedly low health care costs in Calendar Year 2008." It's Feb. 26, 2008. How are expectations for the next 10 months unexpected? Don't e-mail me. I get it.
Categories: Legislature
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 12:18:54 pm
Joe and I just got to the Senate budget unveiling. Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, opened with these remarks: "There are a couple of words to remember: Supplemental budget. Hard times. No dough." She said the budget offers mid-course corrections and unexpected emergencies. Which category does the $150,000 WASL legislative workgroup I just spied in the budget highlights fit into?
Categories: Legislature
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 11:37:43 am
I just spent some time on the Public Disclosure Commission's Web site. I recommend it! Here's what I found: In the month of January, during which the Legislature was in session for a whopping 18 days (including weekends, 14 of those were actual workdays), the 900 or so lobbyists registered here made and spent $3,547,846. A few caveats before I continue: With that in mind: $3,370,516: Lobbyists' earnings and expenses during January. This is fun! Stay tuned: By Friday, I'll have how these "election-year-and-tight-budget-so-we're-not-going-to-do-much" figures compare to the previous two years.
Categories: Legislature
Posted by David Wickert @ 11:01:35 am
Pierce County executive candidate Mike Lonergan says County Councilman Calvin Goings is using the announcement of a public hearing on ethics reform as a chance to build name recognition for the county executive’s race. “The mailing prominently displays the name and color pictures of Goings and another County Councilmember, not once but twice – on both sides of the meeting notice,” Lonergan said in a press release. “Once an official is a declared candidate for a county-wide office, should the taxpayer bear the cost of name-familiarity mailings outside the district the official represents? I don’t believe so.” Lonergan, a Tacoma City Council member, is running for county executive as an independent. Goings is running as a Democrat. Goings said Councilman Tim Farrell are pushing for revisions in the county ethics code. Goings said they followed all county rules regarding the mailing. And he dismissed Lonergan’s assertion that it’s an attempt to build name recognition for the executive’s race. “It must be the start of the silly season,” Goings said. “I hope Mr. Lonergan will attend our meeting.” Read on for Lonergan’s full statement: Monday, February 25th, 2008
Posted by Jason Hagey @ 02:34:37 pm
Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson has requested time during tomorrow's noon study session to talk about the planned park at the head of the Foss Waterway. I've got a call into Anderson to get some details about what she wants to discuss. But it's no mystery why the park property is the subject of a public meeting: the Children's Museum of Tacoma wants to build its new home there. The idea has touched off a controversy. Rowers, preservationists and some Dome District property owners are crying foul, pointing out that the Foss Waterway Development Authority bought the land with Pierce County Conservation Future funds, and it was supposed to be used for "passive recreation" only. The Foss board has looked into the possibility of swapping the property for open space elsewhere in an attempt to satisfy the restriction, but it's not clear if that would work. In a memo to the City Council, Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson said the idea is a new one that lacks precedent. The Foss board has asked for a legal opinion from the county before making a final recommendation, Anderson said. An open house regarding the park is scheduled for March 10 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Phoenix Room at Freighthouse Square. A public hearing will be held at 5 p.m. March 19 at the Fabulich Business Center (Port of Tacoma Commission meeting room.) The Tacoma City Council study session begins at noon Tuesday in Room 16 of the Tacoma Municipal Building North, 733 Market Street.
Categories: Pierce County, Tacoma
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 02:07:57 pm
Last week, we heard from the good folks at the Washington Poll -- a nonpartisan, academic survey of 300 registered voters in the state -- that Gov. Chris Gregoire is likely ahead of Dino Rossi. This week, they've struck again: Their newest findings say that 52 percent of people want primaries. That's primaries only. About 30 percent want both caucuses and primaries in the state. Their second question goes: "This year in the state of Washington, the Democratic Party will select all of its presidential delegates based ONLY on the results of the Feb. 9th caucuses? Do you think we should continue to hold a presidential primary election or not?" About 65 percent of people said they still wanted the primaries. Thirty percent were in favor of canceling the primary. The numbers did vary between Republicans, Democrats and Independent voters, but not as much as I expected. Like last week's survey results, this has a margin of error of 5.6 percent.
Categories: President
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 10:03:08 am
Ralph Nader announced today on NBC's Meet the Press that he'll run for president. Hillary Clinton responded by saying it was a "passing fancy." If this fancy is passing, it appears to be doing so very slowly: He ran a write-in campaign in 1992, was the Green party nominee in 1996, was Al Gore's alleged foil in 2000 and got limited (and sometimes spiteful) attention in his 2004 bid. The AP reports that she told reporters: "Obviously, it's not helpful to whomever our Democratic nominee is. But it's a free country." Do kids still say that? Mike Huckabee, for his part, was delighted.
Categories: President
• 5 comments
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
Posted by Hunter George @ 10:00:00 am
While editing Les Blumenthal's upcoming story on federal highway spending, I was struck by a comment from a White House budget official. The story, scheduled for publication Sunday, says state and local governments are worried because the federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to run out of money next year.
Doesn't that seem like an odd comment considering the $9 trillion deficit? Friday, February 22nd, 2008
Posted by Hunter George @ 07:21:34 pm
We've heard from a few readers who think the Legislature is about to impose a fee on vehicle owners based on the size of their cars' engine. It's true that such a proposal was filed. Senate Bill 6900 is sponsored by state Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue. The fiscal analysis estimates the fee would generate $283 million in revenue in the first year. But legislative leaders say the proposal is the "deadest of the dead bills." Rich Roesler has a good piece about the proposal's online immortality on his Eye on Olympia blog. Legislators are clearly hearing about it. Today, Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen sent out a press release that all but says "Stop calling me about this!"
Categories: Legislature
• 3 comments
Posted by Joe Turner @ 12:16:13 pm
It took awhile for this to arrive, but here it is:
Categories: Legislature
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 06:00:23 pm
The independent, non-partisan Washington Poll came out today. Sponsored by the University of Washington political science department, the poll was conducted over the telephone with 300 registered voters this month. The poll shows Washington voters prefer current Gov. Chris Gregoire to Republican Dino Rossi, 53.7 percent to 42.1 percent. That's certainly big, and the state Democratic party celebrated by sending out a press release celebrating the governor's 11-point lead. Here's the fine print: The survey's margin of error is +/- 5.6 percent. That means any number could be off by as much as 5.6 percent in either direction. And that means that Gregoire's lead could be anywhere from nearly zero to more than 20 points. So, how do we know what this all means? Dr. Matt Barretto, one of the principal investigators, told Peter Callaghan that the difference is statistically significant. In other words, it's big enough that it's probably not zero. Here's more of what he said.
I think I can speak for all of us when I say: Yes. Update: Clearly I never took statistics (nor did I take the WASL). For a more detailed explanation of margin of error, check here. Don't say I never did anything for you.
Posted by Joe Turner @ 05:58:20 pm
OK. I guess I haven't read a news release from the Washington Education Association in awhile. They put their membership numbers at the bottom of every release. So WEA spokesman Rich Wood sent me an e-mail, telling me just how large the WEA has grown. It's not 78,000 as I reported in today's B-1 story. He mainly wanted to give me a heads up that House Democrats probably will restore the planned cuts to all-day kindergarten expansion. (I think the WEA knew before House Speaker Frank Chopp did. Imagine that!)
Rich also corrected me on how the all-day kindergarten is being phased in, that is, going from half days to full days. I said it was 10 percent of the schools each school year, over a 10-year period. Rich said WEA has a different understanding of which schools get all-day first:
Categories: Legislature
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 05:38:00 pm
The state Republican party has told me innumerable (at least four) times that they may have had record-breaking crowds at this year's caucuses. What's your previous record? (I ask.) "We don't really know." Then how do you know it's a record? "There were people lined up outside the doors." Oh yeah. Which doors? You get the point: Twelve days and we still haven't gotten a count. We've gotten a count from Democrats, who say they had 250,000 people show. A certain Republican suggested to me that the other party was "gilding the lilly," but frankly, I'd rather have a gilded lilly than none at all (ladies and gentlemen, take note). At any rate, they've left me nothing but my powers of deduction. I know, for example, that I was at the Republican caucuses in Puyallup, and there were this many people:  So I can deduce that more than the 100 or so people in this photo caucused. Deryl McCarty, chairman of the Pierce County Republican party, told me there were about 2,200 Republicans across the county who caucused. So there's that. Luke, I'll be scratching my head until you call.
Posted by Joe Turner @ 05:32:27 pm
Randy Boss, who has an abiding interest in anything having to do with the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, sent me an e-mail. I've included part of it because I've been contacted by other readers who have been ticketed by the Tacoma police for driving in the car-pool only onramp when they shouldn't. DOT told last summer they would take another look at whether the High Occupancy Vehicle restriction was needed any more. But it truly is a City of Tacoma ordinance. From Boss:
Categories: Legislature, Tacoma
Posted by Joe Turner @ 04:19:01 pm
Rep. Dennis Flannigan, D-Tacoma, and Tacoma lobbyist Randy Lewis probably deserve the credit for this item in the supplemental transportation budget: The state would increase its contribution toward the bridge rehabilitation (or demolition) to almost $40 million. That's up from $26.5 million in the last budget. However, the bill that Tacoma wanted, the one that would let them keep part of the state sales tax collected in Tacoma. That puppy is dead. Our columnist, Peter Callaghan, ran into Lewis down here and got the basics and I followed up with a few questions at the Speaker's media availability. House Speaker Frank Chopp said almost all of the bills that called for the state to give a slice of its 6.5 percent sales tax to various localities -- Federal Way, Auburn, Tukwila and Richland -- are not gonna happen. The Murray Morgan Bridge bill falls into that category. Another bill, to defer or waive the state sales tax on construction of a new headquarters building for Russell Investments in Tacoma, is still alive, Chopp said. The difference there is that the state sales tax waiver would be a one-time thing, not an ongoing drain on the state's tax collections, Chopp said. Of course, all this still has to be sorted out with the Senate and the governor's office. UPDATE: Got an e-mail from Flannigan. "We're half way there," Flannigan said.
Categories: Legislature
Posted by Joe Turner @ 03:45:14 pm
The House Democrats' budget includes a lot of money for low-income housing, a favorite of House Speaker Frank Chopp's. Part of the $90 million is coming from the convention center in Seattle. And they ain't happy about it. Chopp, at his weekly meeting with reporters at the Capitol, repeated how he thinks using some of the convention center money for low-income housing is entirely proper. He said he helped with the expansion of the center, which displaced low-income housing. This is only fair play, he said. Read the news release from the convention center:
Categories: Legislature
Posted by Joe Turner @ 03:38:54 pm
House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, told reporters a few minutes ago that he expects to see most of the $16 million that was cut from all-day kindergarten restored by the time the Legislature passes a final budget. I wrote about the House's proposed budget in today's paper. In brief, House Democrats unveiled a budget that spends $35.6 million more than they have to by giving public school employees an extra 1 percent pay raise. That's above the cost of living adjustment they are entitled to. But the House cuts $16 million that was going to be used to bring day-long kindergarten to 10 percent of Washington's public school in the 2008-09 school year. Chopp said he isn't sure exactly how much money will be restored, but most of it will. At the same time, House Democrats are committed to gradually making up for the two years that teachers got ZERO pay raises because the Legislature suspended Initiative 732 for the 2003-05 biennium. I-732, passed by voters, guaranteed pay raises to school employees (and some community college workers) based on inflation. Teachers should have gotten 2.6 percent raises over those two years. If this latest 1 percent extra gets signed into law, that will bring the "make-up" total to 1.5 percent. (Teachers got an extra 1/2 percent in 2006.) That leaves 1.1 percent more makeup pay raises to go. Chopp said eventually teachers will get the rest, "as we can afford it." Automatic pay raises is what the people want because they passed I-732 and teachers still are underpaid, he said. "People wanted teachers to have those raises," he said. Just for the record, teachers in many school districts, including Tacoma, never got a 0 raise in those years. They didn't get any state funding for raises, but Tacoma and other districts uses their own local levy money to give raises to school workers in those two years. What Chopp did not indicate -- and I didn't ask -- was what will get cut from the budget to restore the kindergarten funding.
Categories: Legislature
• 3 comments
Posted by David Wickert @ 12:05:04 pm
Pierce County Councilman Calvin Goings has scored the endorsement of a local Realtors group in his campaign to become county executive. Tacoma-Pierce County Association of Realtors President Virgil Wells said Goings “understands what it will take to keep Pierce County’s economy strong and growing in a difficult global environment.” In a news release, the association also cited his public policy experience and his “positive vision for a more prosperous Pierce County.” Goings, a Puyallup Democrat, won the endorsement over three other executive candidates: Councilman Shawn Bunney, R-Lake Tapps; County Auditor Pat McCarthy, a Democrat; and independent Tacoma City Councilman Mike Lonergan. Read the Realtor’s announcement below.
Categories: Pierce County, Campaign news
Posted by Joe Turner @ 11:32:21 am
I found part of the news release curious: "The Sound Transit Board of Directors is responding to the public’s support for voting on a transit-only measure by taking a renewed look at what transit service expansions would make the biggest and quickest improvements for commuters for the least cost." It was only three and a half months ago that the $18 billion ballot measure got the stuffing kicked out of it. I know Sound Transit paid good money to have consultants tell the agency why the measure got trounced so badly. There were a lot of reasons, but the one that Sound Transit wanted to hear most was how the agency should never have been forced to team up with a roads package to get onto the ballot. The Legislature is doing its part to clear the way for Sound Transit. The Senate has passed a bill that would force the roads advocates to sit on the sidelines for at least a year. Are lawmakers trying to set the stage for Sound Transit to put another multibillion proposition on the ballot this fall? I don't know. I do know that Prop. 1 failed because it was so big. Even Sound Transit's consultants said that. It was so big because $11 billion of the $18 billion was Sound Transit's share. Moreover, Seattle and King County both had a hand in undermining Prop. 1, according to John Stanton, the wireless company executive who is now trying to persuade locals stop being parochial and get behind a regional transportation czar. The year before the Proposition 1 vote, King County Metro Transit took actions to start raising $2 billion and Seattle to raise $800 million, "and probably contributed to the failure of Proposition 1 at the ballot," Stanton said. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is the new chairman of Sound Transit, so it's not surprising that he is so eager to go back to voters with another request. From the outset, the light-rail system has been designed to keep Seattle the employment center of the Puget Sound universe. It's the only mode of transportation that can move downtown Seattle's work force into the city fast enough. Gov. Chris Gregoire said after the Prop. 1's defeat, she thought maybe voters wanted to actually observe Sound Transit operating a light-rail line for awhile before agreeing to spend another $11 billion to expand it. And the first segment of light rail between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac Airport won't be up and running until December 2009. Nickels apparently isn't paying attention to the governor. But then, he didn't pay any attention to Gregoire when she said the Alaskan Way Viaduct had to be replaced with another elevated structure, either. Here's the official news release:
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 06:26:24 pm
Today's election update: Barack Obama is still ahead. With 552,836 Democratic votes counted, Obama has 278,101 votes to Hillary Clinton's 257,722. That's 50.30 percent to 46.62. As for the Republican race, I wouldn't call it a race. John McCain has about half of the 408,873 votes, but the next closest candidate (Mike Huckabee) has 22 percent. Votes continue to come in, so stay tuned.
Categories: President
Posted by Joe Turner @ 02:18:21 pm
"This is preposterous," said state Sen. Bob Morton, R-Kettle Falls. "Holy smokes!" Morton was just getting warmed up for the best floor speech of the 2008 session, at least the best I've heard so far. He was arguing futilely against passage of the so-called "Climate Change" bill being put forth by Democrats and environmentalists. Here's his award-winning statement: "You city slickers are going to come and tell my farmers and ranchers and tell them how big a tractor they can have to till the land to provide food for all of us?" The Democrat-dominated Senate passed Senate Bill 6580 on a 31-18 vote.
Categories: Legislature
Posted by David Wickert @ 12:01:51 pm
A proposal to force Pierce County to adopt all-mail voting apparently died in the Legislature Tuesday. But the debate within Pierce County remains alive. The debate pits the County Council against Auditor Pat McCarthy. The auditor wants to close the poll. She says implementing instant-runoff voting with both poll and mail voting could lead to voter confusion and error. The council has rejected her plans. And it weighed in again Tuesday, approving a resolution that urged the Legislature to kill the bill that would have closed Pierce County polls. McCarthy countered in a letter to council members Tuesday. She questioned some of the facts in the council’s resolution. And she suggested the council has violated open meetings requirements by reaching a decision on the issue without public notice or input. Read the full text of McCarthy’s letter below.
Posted by Joe Turner @ 11:46:29 am
Wynn Cannon, chairman of the League of Washington Taxpayers, dropped by our Olympia news bureau on his way to the Washington Secretary of State's office. He said he's filing an initiative petition. He wants to lower property taxes by 25 percent, starting in 2009. I'd give you more details, but Wynn said he has only one copy and wants to give it to state election officials so they can pass it on to the Code Reviser. (That's where initiative language is put in proper legal form.) You can contact Cannon at 15127 N. E. 24th St., Suite 380, Redmond, Wa. 98052 or at 425-746-2983. Cannon is a footnote in Washington initiative history. In 1998, Cannon and Tim Eyman were both circulating initiative petitions to lower the state's motor vehicle excise tax. Each of them failed. Why? They weren't working on the same initiative. They were competitors. I was never able to verify just how many signatures each of them got on their separate petitions, but I believe they would have qualified for the ballot if they'd been working together and combined them. In 1999, Eyman persuaded a key supporter of Cannon to come over to Eyman's side and that's how Initiative 695 qualified for the ballot. Voters approved it that fall. A King County judge threw out I-695 in early 2000, but then-Gov. Gary Locke and the Legislature enacted the provisions of 695 anyway. Collectively, car and truck owners got an $800 million a year tax break, and state and local goverments lost $800 million a year. The legend of Eyman was born. The guy who joined Eyman's camp was Monte Benham. That's what enabled Eyman to have an active, motivated presence in Eastern Washington. Now, it's the Fagans. Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Posted by Hunter George @ 11:50:50 pm
Given national trends in recent weeks, it's not surprising that more Democrats are participating in the primary than Republicans, who've got their nominee. With results still trickling in tonight, here's a look at turnout by party so far: Statewide: 500,000 Democrats, 369,000 Republicans. Pierce County: 58,800 Democrats, 43,500 Republicans.
Posted by Hunter George @ 11:38:59 pm
The Democratic race between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton is so tight that some folks believe it'll come down to the 795 superdelegates nationwide. Last week, a Georgia congressman switched his commitment from Clinton to Obama, citing the Illinois senator's overwhelming victory in his state. A second Georgia congressman was considering a switch as well. So if Obama's lead in our (meaningless) primary holds up, thus giving him a sweep of the two Democratic events in the Evergreen State, will that influence uncommitted superdelegates here? Not likely, says David McDonald, a Washington state superdelegate and member of the Democratic National Committee. He tells Niki Sullivan: “My vote will be based on what I think will be best for the party and for winning the election in November, not my personal preference.” At this point, he said, it’s too soon to say who will get his vote.
Posted by Hunter George @ 11:34:35 pm
A few thousand more poll-site results have been released, resulting in minor changes on the GOP side. REPUBLICANS DEMOCRATS
Categories: Campaign news, President
Posted by Hunter George @ 09:28:26 pm
Here's a quick look at Pierce County's first round of results: REPUBLICANS DEMOCRATS Here's a link to the county's results page. Next round coming up. |
