This was expected. The Community Care Coalition of Washington said they would file a lawsuit to keep Initiative 1029 off the ballot.

Secretary of State Sam Reed has accepted the 300,000-plus signatures on petitions and plans to have his staff start counting a sample of them next week.

The Service Employees International Union Local 775 circulated initiative petitions that said I-1029 would go to the Legislature. But they said they "meant" it would go to the people this November.

At stake is a one-year delay in the public vote on whether home care workers should have 76 hours of training. Taxpayers would pay for the training for home-care workers who take care of Medicaid clients and poor people. The coalition's members would pay to train their private pay clients.

UPDATE: Here's what Reed had to say,

“We stand by our decision to accept over 300,000 voter signatures on I-1029 petitions, and believe that the courts will hold that the Elections Division exercised its discretion properly. A similar case went to the state Supreme Court in 1991 and a unanimous court held that an error on the petition did not require the Secretary of State to reject the signatures.”

“The Secretary of State’s Office looks forward to an expedited review and a timely decision by the court so that state and county officials will know whether Initiative 1029 can be properly certified as an initiative to the people and be included in the state Voters’ Pamphlet and on ballots statewide this fall.”

Here is the coalition news release:

JULY 22, 2008
Contact: Deb Murphy
murphy@wahsa.com
Office: (253) 964‐8870
Cell: (253) 468‐5394
CARE COALITION FILES LEGAL ACTION TO FORCE SECRETARY OF STATE
TO SUBMIT INITIATIVE 1029 TO LEGISLATURE
Reed Should Follow Instruction on Petition Forms, Group Says
A lawsuit filed today in Washington State Supreme Court seeks to force Secretary of State Sam Reed to
send Initiative 1029 to the legislature, as the petition forms clearly state. The lawsuit was filed by the
Community Care Coalition of Washington, which said that Reed shouldn’t be allowed to ignore the clear
instructions printed on the initiative petitions.

=> Read more!

Gov. Chris Gregoire's campaign aired the first campaign-purchased TV ad for the 2008 race yesterday.

Here it is:

Another sign that this race is a bit different than 2004: Dino Rossi's campaign announced that, with four months to go, its already raised more money than last time around.

Update: The record-breaking amount? $6,254,035.80. That was surpassed on June 18 July 18. (Campaign spokeswoman Jill Strait said the press release incorrectly identified the month.)

The campaign says that, as of last Sunday, the campaign had raised $6.28 million. Sixty-six percent of donors are new.

Our McClatchy Newspapers colleague in Olympia, Brad Shannon, wrote today about the state Democratic Party's complaint against Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna. At issue is McKenna's appearance in public-service announcements in an election year.

“These are not public service announcements,” McKenna foe John Ladenburg asserted in a news release, adding that as AG he would work for a ban on using an elected officials’ name or likeness in PSAs or privately sponsored ads during an election year.

The Democrats’ complaint said payment for the ads was by Boeing Employees Credit Union, Comcast and the Century Council. McKenna spokeswoman Janelle Guthrie said the three groups have longstanding connections to McKenna and public-service ads.

“Attorney General McKenna’s been doing PSAs since shortly after he took office. It’s a function of the office, and you’re asked to do public service announcement as a leader,” Guthrie added, citing ads done with the Century Council on underage drinking and preventing drunken driving and others on identify theft with BECU. “These are longstanding relationships that are consistent with work that our office does.”

Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz filed the complaint with the state Public Disclosure Commission. Among other things, the complaint contends that the ads on radio and television are “electioneering communications” that exceed limits for the 60 days prior to the Aug. 19 primary and also violate a $1,600 campaign-contribution limit.

State Republican Party chairman Luke Esser put out a statement late Monday saying the complaint was hypocritical since Gov. Chris Gregoire has appeared in many public-service announcements.

Esser also pointed out that Ladenburg, as Pierce County executive, had an ethical lapse by failing to fully disclose his ownership in a drug-making company that was receiving contracts from the county.

I wonder if the PDC's ruling would have an effect on those "Paul saves again" billboards around town featuring blood-donating Sheriff Paul Pastor - a guy hired by Ladenburg who's now running for election.

Update: Sawyer, Ladenburg's campaign manager, sent me a note complaining that Esser's "ethical lapse" comment is based on inaccurate reporting by the TNT last year. I have yet to see evidence that we reported anything inaccurate. However, I do think Esser is taking what we reported a bit out of context by saying Ladenburg "under-reported" his ownership of stock in a company doing business with the county.

That might sound like Ladenburg didn't report his stock ownership to the PDC. He did. It turns out, he had bought $2,700 in company stock, which was less than the $3,000-plus he had reported to the PDC. But it was more than the $900 he told a TNT reporter when the story first broke.

So the discrepancy came when we asked him what he owned, and he gave us a number, and then a month later he told us that he checked and realized he owned more than he initially said.

Is it possible he just didn't know off the top of his head? Sure, it's possible. If someone asked me right now about my stock holdings, I'd be guessing. We reported what he told us, and then we reported on it again when he made a subsequent disclosure.

The politicos can fight over whether there's an ethical lapse. I just want to make sure Esser's comment is in context.

Steve Fabre, owner of the Point Defiance Cafe & Casino, followed through with his threat to file a lawsuit against the Town of Ruston over its increase in the gambling tax.

Fabre filed suit Friday in Pierce County Superior Court asking for an injunction against the collection of the tax increase, alleging that it will "produce great injury" to him and his business, and that it was adopted without due process rights afforded to him by the Washington State Constitution.

He says the tax hike is retaliation for speaking out against the Town for violating public disclosure laws, and for his action against the Ruston Connection.

=> Read more!

The Aug. 19 primary is no longer closed. We're back to they way things used to be -- pretty much, anyway.

State Voters’ Pamphlet to be mailed soon

OLYMPIA – Secretary of State Sam Reed today announced that the 2008 State Primary Voters’ Pamphlet, Washington’s most complete elections guide, soon will arrive in mailboxes across the state.

“The Voters’ Pamphlet is a useful and valuable tool for our state’s voters as they get ready to take part in the state’s first-ever Top 2 Primary,” Reed said. “This year, 37 of Washington’s 39 counties are voting entirely by mail. The Voters’ Pamphlet helps people to make an informed choice as they mark their ballots.”

=> Read more!

Carlson is not the John Carlson you hear on the radio, who also ran for governor. He's the John Carlson who used to be a health care executive.

Meanwhile, the Secretary of State's office says election workers are verifying that Initiative 1000 has enough valid signatures to get onto the November ballot.

SUBJECT: Initiative checks

Several of you asked about the timeline for initiative checks. Work began on I-1000 on Monday and the check, using a 3 percent random sample, could be complete by next Monday, the 28th.

After I-1000 is checked, the crew will turn to I-1029. The I-1029 petitions were copied and archived and were returned to Elections on Monday. The plan is to check the signatures, again using random sampling, and to await any further guidance from the courts. We still have not gotten word of a lawsuit being filed yet. The attorney general’s office will provide you notice when that happens. Our Elections Division and the counties will be hoping for a quick resolution of the question of whether I-1029 is properly an initiative to the people, because the General Election Voters’ Pamphlet has printing deadlines in early September and the counties need to know whether to include I-1029 on the ballots they print.

General election ballots for military and overseas voters must go out by Oct. 5.

And here's the news release on Carlson:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 21, 2008
For further information contact:
Marie Harkins:
206-337-2091
JOHN CARLSON TO MANAGE CAMPAIGN OF OPPONENTS TO PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE

Olympia---Former veteran health care executive John Carlson was named today as the full-time campaign manager of the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide’s effort to defeat Initiative 1000 which is expected to be on the November ballot.

=> Read more!