At today's press meeting with Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson, he talked briefly about I-985, the Tim Eyman initiative du jour.

The initiative would require all revenue generated from red light cameras to go to the state. If that's the case, not only is Tacoma losing out on a chunk of cash, but the red light camera vendor also loses.

"If all revenue goes to the state, we don't get revenue and we won't have money to pay (the vendor) to do it," Anderson said, which makes it "mutually impossible to go forward."

Red light cameras don't operate themselves, you know!

So the city's thinking of canning the whole deal if the initiative passes.

There are more questions to be answered. Here's one: Didn't we just hear that red light cameras are preventing accidents in Tacoma? If true, are the number of accidents prevented enough to offset the cost of running the cameras? (Anyone?)

We also talked a bit about the Broadway/St. Helens Local Improvement District, also known as "the reason the streets between the Theater and Stadium districts are torn up" and "the harbinger of Tacoma's first urban village."

The city's view is this: If you widen the sidewalks (up to 16 feet in some areas), put in more trees, add chic lighting and spruce up the infrastructure (bigger solid waste pipeline!), the urban village will sprout.

What's an urban village? Think Pearl District in Portland: The kind of place that makes you want to congregate and spend more money on home goods and happy hour than you normally would.

Thoughts?

The Washington Federation of State Employees says the contract calls for 2 percent pay raises in each of the next two years.

Union members still must ratify the contract that their negotiators agreed to, and the 2009 Legislature will have to approve the financial elements of the contract when it convenes in January for a 105-day session.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contract agreement reached for 33,000 Washington state employees

CONTACT: Tim Welch

The largest state employees union reached tentative agreement early Friday morning on a new two-year contract that would take effect July 1, 2009.

The agreement between the Washington Federation of State Employees and Gov. Christine Gregoire’s bargaining team covers 33,000 state agency workers, such as Community Corrections officers, social workers, highway workers, direct-care workers, natural resources workers, among others.

=> Read more!

Spokane journalist Jim Kershner will discuss his book "Carl Maxey: A Fighting Life" during a book signing at Tacoma's University Book Store at 6 p.m. Monday.

Maxey was a civil rights and defense lawyer who helped break most of the color barriers in Spokane. He also was the anti-war candidate for U.S. Senate against Henry Jackson in 1970.

As a lawyer, Maxey defended Kevin Coe, the so-called South Hill Rapist, as well as Coe's mother Ruth who was accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill the judge and prosecutor.

Maxey was born in Tacoma and returned in 1970 as one of the defense attorneys for the Seattle Seven, all accused of conspiracy to riot and destroy public property as part of the anti-war movement.

Maxey's self-description? "A guy who started from scratch – black scratch."

Former Washington Secretary of State Ralph Munro just sent out an e-mail to reporters to alert them to Lieberman's "private" visis. Munro is still active with the Mainstream Republicans.

If you'll recall, there was some speculation that Lieberman would be GOP presidential nominee John McCain's choice for VP. For awhile, anyway.

We have just learned that Senator Joe Lieberman will be in Seattle on a private visit this Sunday, September 14. He is making himself available during the late morning hours to do 'one on one' interviews with Seattle press.

(I'm deleting some of the stuff that Munro wouldn't want published.)

Senator Lieberman from Connecticut was the Democratic candidate for Vice President in 2000. He is a friend and strong supporter of Senator John McCain.

The latest polling data for Washington State comes from the Rasmussen tracking poll. It was conducted statewide and released today. It shows Senator Obama at 49 points and Senator McCain at 47 points. That is down from a 4 point spread of just a week ago and a 10+ point spread of two weeks ago.

Feel free to contact me should you have any questions.

Ralph

Ralph Munro
Washington State's Longtime Secretary of State
Triple Creek Farm
Olympia, Washington, 98502-1723
United States of America

Earlier today, Patrick Bell, current communications director and chief propagandist for the Washington State Republican Party, brought his replacement on a tour of the press houses in Olympia.

Matt Lundh is the new guy. His job is to issue periodic diatribes against anything Democratic and, of course, to make state GOP party chairman Luke Esser sound articulate. (OK! OK! Luke the Truth is a former journalist, of sorts, but let me have a little fun here at their expense.)

I promised Matt I wouldn't publish his cell phone number so Democratic operatives can't load up his voice mail. However, I also had to disclose that I gave his Democratic counterpart, Kelly Steele, the same assurance but I keep forgetting to delete Kelly's cell phone number from those news releases of his that I do post.)

Fair warning.

Young Patrick is leaving to study global warming, which I find ironic because so many Republicans contend that global warming is a made-up crisis, made up, or course, by Democrats and their fellow travelers.

Mr. Bell is no dummy. Not everyone gets a Fulbright.

The state Gambling Commission approved the increase at a meeting this morning in Gig Harbor. The higher limit takes effect Jan. 1.

Here's the story I've written for Saturday's paper.

There would be more information, but the Recreational Gaming Association, the group that represents and lobbys for the 81 non-Indian cardrooms, has suddenly become very bashful and doesn't return my phone calls.

UPDATE: Dolores Chiechi from RGA said she was on the road, returning from Gig Harbor when she got my message and called me when she got to Olympia. She said her members were disappointed by the commission vote because last month it appeared commissioners were poised to approve the full $500 betting limit.

Higher limits attract high-rollers, she said. And gives the cardrooms a chance to compete with the Indian casinos.

"The perception is that our industry is thriving," she said. "But last year 44 percent of our members reported net losses."

The maximum bet for blackjack and other house-banked games at non-tribal cardrooms and minicasinos will increase to $300 next year.

The Washington Gambling Commission approved the increase at its meeting Friday in Gig Harbor. The current limit is $200. The higher limit will take effect at 81 non-tribal cardrooms on Jan. 1.

The Recreational Gaming Association had asked the commission to approve an increase to $500, but commissioners -- as they did in 2004 -- chose an incremental approach. That commission raised the betting limit to $200 from $100 in 2004.

Minicasino owners and operators say since tribal casinos have a $500 maximum bet, the non-tribal businesses are at a disadvantage and cannot attract highrollers who prefer to better larger amounts.

The new betting limit does not apply to poker games. The commission is scheduled next month to discuss a separate proposal to raise the betting limit for poker games to $500 from the current $40 limit. No formal action on that proposal is expected at the October commission meeting.

If you're not happy with either the Obama/Biden ticket or McCain/Palin ticket, take heart - six other presidential pairings have earned spots on Washington state's Nov. 4 ballot.

Secretary of State Sam Reed announced today that the following pairings qualified for the ballot:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Democratic Party nominees.

John McCain and Sarah Palin, Republican Party nominees.

Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez, independent candidates.

Gloria La Riva and Eugene Puryear, Socialism and Liberation Party nominees.

James E. Harris and Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party nominees.

Bob Barr and Wayne A. Root, Libertarian Party nominees.

Chuck Baldwin and Darrell L. Castle, Constitution Party nominees.

Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente, Green Party nominees.

Here's how they earned their way onto the ballot, according Reed's office:

Under state law, the Republican and Democratic tickets automatically qualified for the Washington ballot when they were nominated by their respective national conventions. The other candidates qualified after their backers held conventions in Washington state and gathered at least 1,000 valid signatures of registered voters. Washington is considered an “easy access” state, and it is the norm to have a large number of choices for voters here.

Update: A reader posed a question in a comment to this post: Who determines the order the candidates appear on the ballot?

I sent the question to Reed spokesman David Ammons, who said the answer is provided in state law:

RCW 29A.36.161
(4) On a general election ballot, the candidate or candidates of the major political party that received the highest number of votes from the electors of this state for the office of president of the United States at the last presidential election must appear first following the appropriate office heading. The candidate or candidates of the other major political parties will follow according to the votes cast for their nominees for president at the last presidential election, and independent candidates and the candidate or candidates of all other parties will follow in the order of their qualification with the secretary of state.

So, thanks to the Legislature and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, Obama gets top billing over McCain.

I read this out loud to the reporters in my corner of the newsroom. Peter Callaghan thinks it should be changed to whoever wins the All-Star Game. (A truly inside baseball joke.)