Supporters of Initiative 1000, the Death with Dignity ballot measure, sent out a news release with names of prominent people and groups who are backing the measure.

No, there were no Catholic priests or bishops on the list.

The pro-1000 campaign highlighted the fact the former Gov. Dan Evans and former Secretary of State Ralph Munro are helping out. Those guys are mainstream Republicans.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2008

CONTACT: Anne Martens
206-633-2008

Broad List of Community Leaders Support Yes on 1000 Death with Dignity

SEATTLE – The Yes on 1000 campaign for death with dignity today released a broad list of supporters, including medical professionals, clergy members and community leaders both Democrat and Republican.

“This shows the wide range of support for Initiative 1000 and death with dignity,” said Alex Morgan, campaign manager for Yes on 1000. “Local leaders and community organizations across Washington are standing up for the rights of terminally ill patients to make their own decisions.”

=> Read more!

David Sawyer, campaign manager for Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg in his run against incumbent Attorney General Rob McKenna, passes on this item.

The debate (?) will be Sept. 18.

I took the liberty of deleting a bit of propaganda from the Ladenburg camp. (Sorry, David.)

ADVISORY: Joint Appearance with John Ladenburg and Rob McKenna

WHAT: Q&A at the Gig Harbor Chamber

There will be 10 minutes of opening remarks by each candidate (assigned by coin flip) and 3 minutes of closing remarks. The rest of the time will be questions from the audience for a total of 60 minutes. Questions from the audience will be answered by both candidates (rotating who goes first with an answer.)

WHEN: 7:30-8:30 AM, September 18th.

WHERE: Cottesmore: 2909 14th Ave, Gig Harbor 98335

The Recreational Gaming Association, which represents 81 non-Indian cardrooms and minicasinos, is asking the Washington Gambling Commission to approve a betting limit change to $500 from $200 for black jack and other house-banked card games.

The state Gambling Commission is scheduled to take final action (vote) on that request when its members meet Friday morning in Gig Harbor.

The $200 limit has been in place in some fashion since 2004, when the commision raised the limit from $100 for a few gaming tables. It became widespread in 2006.

The commission meeting is at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Inn at Gig Harbor, 3211 56th St. N.W.

The change would not affect poker games. The limit for poker games is $40 a bet, but the gaming association also is asking the commission to raise that limit to $500. The poker limit will be discussed at the commission’s October meeting.

I'll have more about this in Thursday's paper. And we'll let you know what the commission does on Friday, too.

Four candidates for Pierce County Council weighed in on issues ranging from community zoning to code enforcement at a public forum in South Hill Tuesday night.

The forum, sponsored by the South Hill Community Council, featured candidates from Districts 2 and 3 in East Pierce County.

District 2 stretches from Northeast Tacoma to Puyallup. In the most competitive council race this year, three candidates are seeking to fill a seat left vacant by term-limited County Councilman Calvin Goings. The candidates include:

• Republican Joyce McDonald, who has served 10 years in the state House of Representatives.
• Democrat Carolyn Merrival, a preschool assistant active in local politics.
• Democrat Al Rose, an attorney in the county prosecutor’s office.

District 3 includes Frederickson, Graham, Eatonville and South Hill. Democrat Bruce Lachney, an airline pilot, cranberry farmer and former planning commissioner, is seeking to oust incumbent Roger Bush, R-Graham. Bush did not attend Tuesday’s forum.

The League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County moderated the forum. In response to audience questions, the candidates tackled a host of thorny issues. Some highlights:

=> Read more!

This is supposed to save money. It will be interesting to see just how much money actually will be saved.

As for the Washington Federation of State Employees and other state employee unions, they can't be complaining about this latest directive from Gov. Chris Gregoire. I mean, they get a 3-day weekend.

There's always another side of the coin.

For instance, when Gregoire "cut" 1,000 middle managers from state government, one huge by-product was to eliminate Washington Management Services positions and shift the work to union dues-paying workers.

This is sorta like that move, though this one is more likely to be cheered by rank-and-file workers, while the middle manager reduction was boon for the union itself.

Gov. Gregoire directs state agencies to experiment with four-day workweek, use additional energy savings measures

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today directed selected state agencies to experiment with a four-day workweek and to put into place additional measures for saving energy.

=> Read more!

One of the people who taught me how to read the state budget -- which is no small achievement -- will be leaving. David Schumacher, staff coordinator for the state Senate Ways and Means Committee, announced today he is leaving to become director of State and Local Government Affairs for the Pacific Northwest.

That means he's joining the ranks of the lobbyists in Olympia, and will be elbow-to-elbow with Randy Hodgins, another former Ways and Means staff director who left a few years ago to become a lobbyist for the University of Washington.

(Sorry guys, I just can't use that foot-long job titles you're now carrying.)

There is a whole lot of institutional memory leaving Olympia these days. Rep. Helen Sommers, D-Seattle, is not seeking reelection. She wrote the budget for the House for many years.

Seattle Times reporters Ralph Thomas and David Postman are leaving. Longtime Associated Press reporter David Ammons left AP to work for Secretary of State Sam Reed.

Those folks all knew the state budget really well.

Here's David's memo:

Hello everyone,

I think the word has slipped out a bit, but for those who have not heard - after 13 great years with Senate Committee Services I will be leaving in the next few weeks to take a job with the Boeing Company as the Director of State and Local Gov’t Affairs for the Pacific NW. It’s a big job that has me both nervous and excited. It’s hard to imagine voluntarily leaving a place that I have enjoyed so much but it just feels like it is time for me to try the next thing.

=> Read more!

The New York Times has a great story today about the nationwide backlash against term limits.

Guess who's quoted? Nevermind, I'll tell you:

Some officials pushing the changes say the turnover created by term limits robs an elected body of valuable institutional memory. In Tacoma, four of the city’s nine council members will be forced from office by January 2010 after completion of their second four-year terms. That worries Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg, who has spent years pushing for a $2 million pedestrian and bike trail, among other projects.

“That is when I thought, ‘This is crazy.’ If I go away, and it’s not completed, what will happen?” she said.

As a result, Ms. Ladenburg shepherded a November referendum to overturn term limits. “The public wonders why we don’t get things done. Well, you have to be there awhile to get things done.”

But there's more drama to the Tacoma story. Since Ladenburg didn't go through the usual channels to get the referendum on the ballot, some city officials seem less-than-jazzed about it from the start.

At a meeting last month to decide who would write the arguments for the voters' pamphlet, only one person signed up to write the argument for Ladenburg's referendum.

Thoughts on term limits?

Here's a pair to draw to: Professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman vs. professional initiative opposer Doug MacDonald, former secretary of the state Department of Transportation.

Eyman, of course, is trying to make a living by pushing still another ballot measure, Initiative 985, which would force the state to spend about $115 million a year on congestion relief, open carpool lanes during off-peak hours and put "camera cops" money into a special account.

MacDonald is opposing both I-985 and Proposition 1, the latest Sound Transit ballot measure to raise money to pay for an extension of rail and regional bus service in Pierce, King and Snohomish counties.

I don't know yet whether MacDonald is being paid by anyone. It may just be a new hobby in retirement. And his does have a bit of expertise with respect to transportation issues.

The faceoff is at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at Cottesmore Nursing Home in Gig Harbor, hosted by the Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce. What a way to have breakfast!

Every once in awhile, the Washington Department of Corrections posts on its Web site a news release that's kinda interesting.

I just find it ironic that the claim of overcrowding was about birds and not inmates -- especially given the fact that Washington has 1,000 inmates in out-of-state prisons because its own prisons are so overcrowded.

From the news release:

"DOC does not tolerate cruelty to animals and the department took swift action to investigate the HSUS allegations to ensure the pheasants are treated humanely."

Of course, our inmates are raising these pheasants at Walla Walla and Coyote Ridge prisons so hunters can blow them to smithereens during hunting season, which is just around the corner.

Good thing the Humane Society is looking out for those pheasants.

DOC Releases Statement on Pheasant Care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 9, 2008

The Department of Corrections Monday assured the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) that a pheasant farm it operates at Washington State Penitentiary meets or exceeds all industry standards for game birds.

=> Read more!