Got a false alarm a couple hours ago from TVW, about how the House might start debating House Bill 1773 this afternoon.

Not today, Speaker Frank Chopp said. The debate will be on Friday.

HB 1773 contains a provision that says tolls of the future might be enacted for new bridge or highway projects and they would remain in place forever.

The one exception: The new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. The bill says that "for ever after" provision would apply only to projects that are tolled after July 1, 2008.

Rep. Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, said there has to be some compensation for being the only one of six toll projects that actually was built, over the objections of the Gig Harbor community.

"We're just not going to be your cash cow forever," Lantz said of the state Department of Transportation.

The tolls on the Narrows Bridge are scheduled to come off in 2030, when the $735 million project is paid off.

Reporters try to cover the news, not make the news. So we assume our former politics reporter, Kenneth P. Vogel (Kenny V to his friends), needs to do some serious groveling with his girlfriend after this item moved on the AP wire.

(NYT12) VIENNA, Ohio -- Feb. 14, 2008 -- CAMPAIGN-CLINTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) uses a reporter's mmobile phone to relay Valentine's Day greetings to his girlfriend on board her campaign jet in Vienna, Ohio, on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008. The presidential candidate also distributed chocolates to the press on board the plane. (Beatrice de Gea/The New York Times)

Political Play of the Day: Hillary Clinton shares Valentine's chocolates, makes a few calls

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) - It was Valentine's Day aboard Hillary Rodham Clinton's plane Thursday.

The New York senator made her way to the back of the cabin with a tray full of chocolates to share with her media entourage and got to help some reporters make amends with their significant others back home.

"I would love to be Fernando's second choice for Valentine's Day," she told CBS news producer Fernando Suarez's girlfriend, Michelle, by cell phone.

To Politico reporter Ken Vogel's girlfriend, Danielle, she cautioned that despite the call, "that doesn't excuse him from not sending you something."

=> Read more!

U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert was hoping for a seat on the influential House Appropriations Committee - you know, the folks who spend money.

He didn't get it. Republican leaders named Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama to the panel. Bonner replaces Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who was appointed to the Senate.

From the AP's story:

Reichert says he supports the decision and understands the rationale in replacing one lawmaker from the Gulf region with another. Reichert has visited the areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and says he knows how important recovery of the region is.

Reichert wanted the Appropriations seat in part to help with his tight re-election race against Democrat Darcy Burner.

Here's the press release issued by his office.

=> Read more!

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and his daughter went to the caucuses on Saturday, he told a group of reporters gathered for a weekly meetup.

Who did he caucus for?

He paused. He said it was tough, since he had close friends on both campaigns.

He finally said he and his daughter caucused for different candidates. After someone asked who his daughter caucused for, he finally broke down and revealed his choice:

Barack Obama.

He said Obama's commercial about a unified America brought a tear to his eye.

You've probably heard the horror stories from around the state: Thousands of ballots being tossed simply because someone forgot (or refused) to check The Box -- the one with The Oath that indicates which party you're declaring allegiance to.

Pierce County's 2.5 percent (so far) of unchecked ballots is apparently low compared to other areas in the state. Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy just told me that, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony today, auditors from other counties were asking her what her secret for success is.

=> Read more!

I wrote about this in an earlier blog post.

Ballots will be mailed out Feb. 29 to about 2,000 operators of adult family homes and the votes will be tallied on March 26, according to the Public Employment Relations Commission.

PERC oversees the election to see which group will represent the home operators, the Washington Federation of State Employees or the Residential Care Council.

I just checked with the state Office of Financial Management, (that's the governor's budget office) to find out how many people have signed up for the e-mail notification list called for in Initiative 960.

OFM spokesman Glenn Kuper says as of today there were 2,287 people on the list.

I signed up out of occupational necessity. In fact, I was No. 3 on the signup sheet, after the 2 OFM people who set up the notification list.

I wonder how many others are just routinely deleting all those e-mails. An e-mail goes out every time a bill to raise fees or taxes is introduced, every time that bill is scheduled for hearing, every time a bill is approved by a committee and every time a bill passes either the House or Senate.

That's a lot of e-mails. I doubt that even Tim Eyman reads them all.

Here's something you should probably know: If you participated in the caucuses, but changed your mind and want to vote for a candidate of the opposite party in the primary, there's a chance you could be committing some kind of crime.

But you'll probably never be prosecuted for changing your mind.

Why? You sign an oath to participate in the party-run caucuses and vote in the partisan primary. It says that you promise to not participate in another party's nominating process in this election cycle.

The oath doesn't contain a line that says it's OK to circumvent the law if you're indecisive. Or a spoiler.

So we put the question to some of the experts: Nick Handy in the Secretary of State's office and Jeff Even in the Attorney General's office. They said that, while it's technically breaking the law to switch-hit, it would be nearly impossible to catch someone for it.

Being lawyerly, they set out to find an instance in which it could be proven and prosecuted.

While standing in front of ten people, two of whom are bishops in the Catholic church, the voter announces "I am a card carrying member of the Democratic Party. I am not and never will be a member of the Republican Party but have decided to lie on my declaration and say I am a member of the Republican Party, which I absolutely am not, so I can vote for Mike Huckabee because my candidate Hillary Clinton will run better again Mike Huckabee."

Got that? One bishop, voter's delight. Two bishops, voters take warning.

And another thing: If you're in Pierce County and decide not to sign any oath at all (which about 2 percent of voters have done so far), Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy said her office will send a letter to you, asking whether you meant to enter a "protest vote" or if you simply overlooked the large red and blue box on the front of the envelope. If you sign an affidavit saying that you simply forgot, your vote will count.

Not all counties are doing that. If the 2 percent figure holds and 50 percent of the county's 283,000 absentee voters send in their ballots, that's (... a lot of math and) and a couple thousand letters.

Update: Someone suggested we make up punishments for getting caught for the semi-fictional crime of caucusing for one party and primary-ing for another.
Ideas? Post them here.

Peter wrote his annual love notes to beloved targets today.

After the editors' morning meeting in which we critique the paper and web site, John Henrikson, one of our local news editors, penned the following and sent it around the newsroom.

Morning Critique to Callaghan

Every year, you pen your love
to pol, and athlete and hack
And do you really wonder why
They never write you back?

Former state Sen. Jim Clements of Selah just won confirmation to the state Public Disclosure Commission. Clements served most of his time in the House of Representatives. He was elected in the Republican Revolution of 1994.

When Sen. Alex Deccio, R-Yakima, stepped down mid-term, Clements was appointed to fill the vacancy. However, he served only one year. He was defeated last year in a special electdion by now-Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima.

Clements often referred to himself as "just an old porch dog." Now, he's on the state's watch dog commission for election campaigns.

Just catching up with some of the stuff the House passed Wednesday night. House Bill 2567 would increase the fine for violating the state Open Public Meetings Act.

The current fine is $100. The bill would set a range between $250 and $1,000. Testimony on the bill noted the $100 fine has been in place since 1971. Inflation over the past 37 years alone would have pushed it up to $539.

This bill pitted newspapers against cities and counties. Newspapers said they wanted a deterrent to violations. Reps for city and county councils said their members make so little that $100 still is a deterrent.

The vote was 77-19. It now heads to the Senate. Here's the roll call:

Voting Yea: Representatives Alexander, Anderson, Appleton, Armstrong, Bailey, Barlow, Blake, Campbell, Chandler, Chase, Clibborn, Cody, Conway, Darneille, DeBolt, Dickerson, Dunshee, Eddy, Eickmeyer, Ericks, Flannigan, Fromhold, Goodman, Grant, Green, Haigh, Haler, Hankins, Hasegawa, Herrera, Hudgins, Hunt, Hurst, Jarrett, Kagi, Kelley, Kenney, Kessler, Lantz, Liias, Linville, Loomis, McCoy, McIntire, Miloscia, Moeller, Morrell, Morris, Nelson, Newhouse, O'Brien, Orcutt, Ormsby, Pedersen, Pettigrew, Priest, Quall, Roberts, Rolfes, Ross, Santos, Schual-Berke, Seaquist, Sells, Simpson, Skinner, Smith, Sommers, Springer, Sullivan, Takko, Upthegrove, Van De Wege, Wallace, Williams, Wood, and Mr. Speaker Chopp
Voting Nay: Representatives Ahern, Condotta, Crouse, Dunn, Ericksen, Hinkle, Kirby, Kretz, Kristiansen, McCune, McDonald, Pearson, Roach, Rodne, Schindler, Schmick, Sump, Walsh, and Warnick
Absent:
Excused: Representatives Hailey and Hunter