Political Buzz - Archives for: May 2008, 07

A place where people go to talk about politics.

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Will Washington's superdelegates sway? Not today.

Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 06:21:22 pm

Brad Shannon, political reporter for The Olympian, and I spent some time today talking to Washington's uncommitted superdelegates. The question: Do you have any plans to commit to a candidate now that headlines are declaring Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid all but over?

The answer: Not for now.

What follows is a good portion of a story written by Shannon and I that will run in Thursday's paper. It will accompany a national story by the McClatchy national political reporter. Stay tuned, the superdelegates will have to make a call (or change their phone numbers) sooner or later:

“I think over the next 48 hours I’ll be talking to the other uncommitted delegates in the state to see where the mood is. ... It may be time for us to make that choice as a Washington delegation,’’ superdelegate and party vice chairwoman Eileen Macoll of Pullman said Wednesday by telephone. “It’s definitely time to have a serious discussion.’’

But state party chairman Dwight Pelz and David McDonald, a member of the Democratic National Committee, say they’ll stay out of it for now.

“I remain uncommitted. Perhaps not all the way to the convention, but I’m the chair of the party and we’re still picking delegates,” Pelz said. He says he hopes the party can have a nominee in June and avoid a divisive national convention.

=> Read more!

Categories: Campaign news, President • 5 comments

Separating the wheat from the chaff: Gubernatorial campaign finance edition

Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 05:50:46 pm

I've been writing about April fundraising totals for Gov. Chris Gregoire and her opponent, Dino Rossi, since the month ended. And, while I now have some memos and guestimations, I don't have all the answers.

I do, however, have some questions. And math. Here goes.

Gregoire reported $2.843 million cash on hand in March. Subtract $75,803.16 in unpaid debt and you've got $2.767 million.

Rossi ended the month with $2.623 million cash on hand, zero unpaid debts. (Spokeswoman Jill Strait says the campaign pays debts as they're incurred, which means none carry over.)

So ... Gregoire's campaign memo says they raised $1.3 million this month and indicated they'd end up with about a million more cash on hand. That means they spent the $.3 million (OK, $300,000) and will now have somewhere in the neighborhood of $3.8 million. Got that?

Now for Rossi: Strait told me they raised about $625,000 and ended with around $3.1 million cash on hand. Get out your pencils.

$2.623 million + $625,000 = $3.248 million.

$3.248 million - X = $3.1 million. (X = all expenditures for the month.)

X = $148,000.

Question = The Rossi campaign spent about twice that during the previous month. And the month before. So how did they save all that dough? Strait told me they were being fiscally conservative.

To be clear, I believe and distrust everyone equally. Nobody wants to tell me – and, by extension, you and their competition – the truth about money until they have to.

So we'll wait, impatiently, for the final numbers. Unless anyone cares to enlighten me. You know how to reach me.

Categories: Governor, Campaign news • 2 comments

Gregoire's April fundraising totals, updated

Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 01:37:08 pm

I asked campaign representatives from Gov. Chris Gregoire and challenger Dino Rossi's campaigns today for their April numbers. I've already gotten a ballpark figure for each campaign and an e-mail to Gregoire supporters that gives their haul for the month.

The response: We won't have final numbers until Monday, the deadline to file to the PDC.

I understand: No campaign wants the other campaign to know exactly how they're doing until they absolutely have to, which is the 10th of every month.

But give me some credit! I know you know. And now, courtesy of an e-mail sent to a handful of Gregoire supporters, you know that I know.

Without further delay:

April 2008
Total contributions: $1,323,089.49
Number of contributors: 6,353
Average contribution last month: $160.27

Cycle-to-date
Total contributions: $6,011,067.84
Number of contributors: 21,635
Average contribution: $167.20

So, Rossi's campaign told me earlier that they had about $3.1 million cash-on-hand. In the one of the last lines of the memo I received it says: Gregoire "will end April with around $1 million more in cash-on-hand." That means $4.1 million, give or take. Or does it? Because that might mean that she spent zero dollars, and statewide bus tours cost money.

Maybe the seemingly quickly written letter (there's a few grammar problems, but who am I to complain?) should have said a million more than last month, which would mean they'd have spent .3 of the $1.3 million raised.

I'm working on it. Stay tuned.

Categories: Governor, Campaign news

Tacoma's longtime public works director takes post in Sumner

Posted by Jason Hagey @ 12:39:49 pm

Bill Pugh joins Diane Supler, Tacoma's former budget director, at Sumner City Hall. Supler is Sumner's deputy city administrator.

This from my colleague Mike Archbold:

The City of Sumner has hired recently retired Tacoma assistant city manager and public works director Bill Pugh to be Sumner’s public works director.

Pugh is taking over for longtime Sumner public works director Bill
Shoemaker, who is retiring May 21.

Pugh was recruited by the city for the job. His salary will be $107,856.

“Bill Pugh brings a huge level of talent and experience to Sumner,” Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow said in a press release. “ Frankly, hiring him is a great opportunity and I’m very proud ‘little old Sumner’ could do it.”

City Administrator John Doan noted: “Bill recently sponsored a program called Community Based Services: staff from different
departments got together with the community to address their needs. This kind of initiative really matches well with Sumner’s mission and vision.”

In announcing his retirement in September, Pugh, who worked for the City of Tacoma for 33 years, said he planned to continue working.
“I’m too young to not be doing anything,” he said.

Pugh is out of town and couldn’t be reached.

Pugh will head a Sumner Department with 34 employees. As Tacoma public works director he directed 900 employees. Last year he was recognized as one of the top 10 public works leaders by the American Public Works 2007 National Congress.

Throughout his career, Pugh was responsible for the operations of the Tacoma Dome and Cheney Stadium, worked to attract investment in the city and establish Tacoma as a destination city, and partnered with the Tacoma School District to develop an environmental education program.

Categories: Tacoma, Suburbs

Tacoma City Council to citizens: 'We're not closing the King shelter'

Posted by Jason Hagey @ 09:29:47 am

"We are coping with a private organization's decision to consolidate its line of business," Councilwoman Julie Anderson said near the end of last night's council meeting.

Anderson and other council members felt the need to respond to folks who testified during the Citizen's Forum about the fate of Tacoma's homeless population.

Last week, the board of directors of the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association voted to get out of the business of running the men's and women's overnight shelters on Tacoma Avenue.

Council members observed that several citizen's who spoke at the council meeting seemed to be testifying under the false impression that the homeless shelter was closing, and that the city had made the decision to shut it down.

Councilman Mike Lonergan said the source of confusion may be a piece of paper circulated at the shelter indicating it was closing June 1. "It's absolutely false," Lonergan said. "Whoever is putting out that information, it's very sad," he added.

Earlier in the day, John Briehl, Tacoma's director of Human Rights and Human Services, gave council members on update on the city's efforts to find a new operator for the shelter. Briehl also attempted to set the record straight on a couple of issues, one of them being something I reported. From Briehl's e-mail yesterday to council members:

=> Read more!

Categories: Tacoma

Normally, I wouldn't post about a movie but...

Posted by Niki Sullivan @ 09:14:45 am

...I thought you're just the kind of group that might like to see this:

Categories: President • 3 comments

Tacoma City Council should extend or drop term limits, councilwoman says

Posted by Jason Hagey @ 06:11:05 am

Tacoma City Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg wants the City Council to consider asking voters voters this fall either to extend the current two-term limit on City Council service to three terms, or eliminate term limits entirely.

Ladenburg said the role of a council member is changing, with more emphasis being placed on long-term projects. Under the city's current two four-year term limit, council members often are not able to see something to fruition, she said.

She cited former Councilman Tom Stenger's work on the planned Water Ditch Trail -- a project she has since taken an interest in promoting -- as an example.

"I've kind of taken a lead, but it still won't be completed when I finish my term," Ladenburg said Tuesday during the council's Committee of the Whole meeting.

Ladenburg was elected to her second term in November 2005. It expires at the end of 2009.

Ladenburg cited the work of several other council members as well, including Julie Anderson's work as a Sound Transit board member, Marilyn Strickland's interest in education, and Spiro Manthou's work on the old Asarco smelter site.

Other council members showed some interest in the idea, but they also expressed some concerns.

=> Read more!

Categories: Tacoma, Voting • 9 comments

Political Buzz

A team of experienced reporters keep you updated on what's happening in political arenas at the city, county, state and federal levels. From presidential campaign visits to who's running for city council, we've got it covered.

Contributors

Niki Sullivan covers politics. Before coming to Tacoma, she covered state government in Oregon. She is a regular contributor to the GritCity blog. Email Niki

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

Jason Hagey covers Tacoma city government. Before coming to The News Tribune in late 2000, he worked at newspapers in the Tri-Cities and Pendleton, Ore., covering city and county government, courts, crime and the occasional feature. Email Jason

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

Hunter George is the local news editor who oversees coverage of state and county politics. Before coming to The News Tribune in 2001, he spent 11 years covering the statehouses in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington state for The Associated Press. Email Hunter

John Henrikson is a local news editor who oversees City of Tacoma and education 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

Local politics links

• Chris Mulick's Olympia Dispatch
• Brad Shannon's Campaign Trail
• Postman on Politics
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• Horse's Ass
• Richard Roesler's Eye on Olympia
• P-I's Strange Bedfellows