I was just cleaning off my desk and found a memo about the City of Tacoma's thoughts on what happens if Eyman's transportation initiative, I-985, passes.

From Rob McNair-Huff:

What happens if I-985 passes?
If I-985 passes, the red light cameras would have to be removed, because there would be no revenue to pay for their operation.
Our legal staff has interpreted the initiative to say that every dollar collected from the red light cameras would have to be sent to the state, which would not provide any monies to cover the cost of the cameras.

What are the revenues from the cameras used for today?
We have estimated that the cameras would bring in $2 million per year in 2009 and 2010, and those revenues would be used to support the camera operations as well as for public safety programs. Specifically, they would help pay for 12 firefighters and 3 police officers who have had to be shifted to new locations in the wake of last year's closure of the Murray Morgan Bridge.
The 12 firefighter positions are filled with overtime out of Station 2.
Funding for those positions would go away if the red light cameras are removed.

What are the other impacts on the city if the initiative passes, since it includes taking a portion of the vehicle excise tax that would have gone to cities?
The initiative is vaguely worded and open to interpretation. It may contain a number of unintended consequences.
The initiative would have the state create a one-size-fits-all approach to reflecting funds collected through this initiative back to the cities. Every city has its own approach to issues like traffic light synchronizaiton and that shouldn't be decided at the state level.

Thoughts?

Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg tomorrow will present a $288 million 2009 general fund budget that cuts 71 mostly vacant positions from the county budget to offset lagging revenue.

Planning and land services will absorb the biggest cut: 33 positions. The corrections department will lose six positions because of a delay in opening another 84-inmate unit at the county jail. Other departments also will take a staffing hit.

The sheriff’s department will add six positions, four funded by a contract to provide security for Pierce Transit and two funded by grants.

Most of those positions to be cut are already vacant or will be by the time January rolls around, Ladenburg said in an interview this afternoon. Others are expected to be cut through attrition or through transfers to other departments.

Under Ladenburg’s plan, total general fund spending would be essentially flat, representing a .7 percent increase over the 2008 budget.

Total 2009 spending, including all funds would be about $852 million. The executive’s office says that’s a decline of $29.6 million – or 3.4 percent – from 2008.

In an interview this afternoon, Ladenburg said some of the county’s top revenue sources have taken a hit because of the slowing economy, including sales taxes, real estate excise taxes and property taxes from new construction.

Below is a press release about the budget sent by the executive’s office a few minutes ago. Look for more budget coverage tomorrow.

=> Read more!

Tim Eyman has Initiative 985, the traffic congestion measure, on this fall's ballot, and it looks to be faring well in polling.

But since Eyman turned pro, he and the Fagans, a father-son team in Eastern Washington, have to keep something in the pipeline so they can make a living pushing another ballot measure next year.

This one appears to be the beginnings of an Initiative to the People because it's written to have an effective date of December 2009. That means a vote in November 2009. (Even though it says it will be an initiative to the Legislature.)

Basically, Eyman want to cut property taxes by 25 percent and put a 1 percent limit on the growth of annual increases. In this case, he would limit the growth of taxes on an individual piece of property to no more than 1 percent a year. The current law, from I-747, as reinstated by the Legislature in a special session last fall, just limits the total amount of revenue governments can collect to 1 percent overall. Taxes on individual properties have and can still rise more than 1 percent.

The 25 percent cut and 1 percent limit would apply only to regular government levies, such as those for the city of Tacoma, Pierce County and various fire districts. It would not apply to voter-approved levies, such as the one that pays for the Tacoma Dome or Tacoma Public Schools.

Here is a copy of what Eyman submitted to state election officials today.

This may not be the final version. The Office of the Code Reviser helps all citizens who file initiative petitions. Its workers make things fit into the state's Revised Code of Washington. Eyman usually has them rewrite it several times.

Not bad for a $5 initiative filing fee.

Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg has long opposed the county’s new ranked-choice voting system. Now he may do something about it.

In an interview today, Ladenburg said he might lead an effort to repeal the new system after the November election. He thinks county voters will hate the new system once they use it – especially if it takes days to determine the next county executive.

“People are going to be very upset,” Ladenburg said.

Under ranked-choice voting, there is no primary election for most county offices. Instead, people rank candidates in order of preference.

The candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated. Voters who selected that candidate as their first choice will have their second choice considered. The votes are recounted, and if a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the election is over.

If not, the process of elimination continues until some candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote.

Want more information on ranked-choice voting? Check out the auditor’s web site.

About 600 people showed up late last week at former Gov. Booth Gardner's annual Legacy Foundation Dinner, including former Govs. Dan Evans and Gary Locke, and former Secretary of State Ralph Munro, according to Anne Martens, campaign spokewoman for the Initiative 1000 campaign.

Dino Rossi stopped by and Booth's former chief of staff, Denny Heck, was the master of ceremonies, she added.

"Billy North of the champion 1974 Oakland A’s showed up – Booth was his little league coach. It was one of the nicest dinners I’ve been to," Martens said.

Booth, of course, is prime sponsor of the Death with Dignity measure that will be on the November ballot.

The No on Assisted Suicide campaign had asked me how Booth was going to apportion money from the dinner, since the dinner is held to raise money for three different Booth causes.

"Booth will allocate money raised between the NW Parkinson's Foundation, the League of Education Voters and Yes on 1000," Martens said.

And apparently, he can divvy it up any way he wants. The Legacy Committee is a registered political action committee. So Booth can give 99 percent of the money to the I-1000 campaign if he wants, as long as he reports it, according to the state Public Disclosure Committee.

No word yet on just how much money was raised.

I couldn't help but notice the juxtaposition of a couple events on Dino Rossi's campaign calendar this week.

At noon Thursday, he gets an award from the Association of Washington Business. At 7 p.m. Thursday, the same AWB hosts a debate between Rossi and Chris Gregoire.

I'm sure the dinner crowd will be much more neutral than the lunch crowd.

It's a very busy business week for the Republican challenger.

Dino Rossi Schedule

Redmond, WA –Dino Rossi will be attending the following upcoming events:

What: NFIB Annual Member Retreat
When: Monday, September 22nd at 9:00 am
Where: Campbell’s Lake Chelan Resort
104 W. Woodin
Lake Chelan, WA

=> Read more!

The 35th District is just at the fringe of The News Tribune's circulation area. Well, for our newsprint edition, anyway. Our Web site is in cyberspace, so it has no limits.

Fred Finn, a Democrat, is trying to replace Bill Eickmeyer, D-Belfair, who decided not to seek reelection.

His host for this event (on Thursday night)is a one-time Democratic legislative candidate who was foolhardy enough to think he could win election in John Birch Society country (Lewis County), running as a Democrat. That would be Cody Arledge. And that was a lifetime ago.

Now, Cody is a union boss, I mean, lobbyist for HVAC people.

And Jeff Gombosky is a former legislator from Eastern Washington and lobbyist for Eastern Washington University, last I heard. His wife, Melissa, was a lobbyist for Pierce Transit and may still be.

And Michael Temple is a lobbyist for what the Liability Reform Coalition would consider the "Evil Empire." No, not Star Wars. No, not the New York Yankees. Yes, the trial lawyers.

Small world, isn't it.

(I can't remember what Brendan, Kathy and Sam do for a living. Does anyone know?)

Cody Arledge & Linda Hodge
Jeff & Melissa Gombosky
Michael Temple

Invite you to a fundraiser for
FRED FINN
Candidate for 35th Legislative District
State Representative, Position 2

Featuring Representatives Brendan Williams, Sam Hunt & Kathy Haigh

Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Starting at 5:30 p.m.

=> Read more!

Our former colleague, David Ammons, sends a breakdown of who participated in the Aug. 19 primary election.

If I'm reading this right, 72 percent of registered voters 65 and older turned out to vote in the Top Two primary and only 18 percent of those age 18-24 did.

Democrats are expecting a better showing of young people in November because they are "inspired" by Obama's candidacy.

I think there's a strong correlation between those voter demographics and newspaper readers.

Memo: “Slicing and dicing” the numbers from the Top 2 Primary showed a clear trend that the votor participation directly increased with age, with less than 1 in 5 of the youngest voters casting ballots, and the number growing to nearly three-quarters of our elder voters casting ballots. David Motz of the Elections Division and voter outreach specialists can explain the continuing efforts to increase registration and participation among the younger voters.

David Ammons
Communications Director
Office of Secretary of State

We now have the Top 2 vote history “pulled into” the VRDB (Voter Registration Database) from the counties, so I can show the

Turnout in the Top 2 Primary, by Age Bracket:

18-24....18%
25-34....19%
35-44....27%
45-54....41%
55-64....58%
65+......72%

Total....42%

Among our counties, 18-24 year olds made up between 2% and 5% of all who voted, depending on the county.

Voters aged 65 and older made up between 27% and 47% of all who voted, depending on the county.

Apparently, Pierce County was trying to get its new ferry, the Steilacoom II, back in service in the county and swap the older ferry, the Christine, for the state ferry route.

But the waters are too turbulent for the Christine, so the state is keeping the Steilacoom for almost a year.

At least the county is getting about $700,000 by leasing the newer ferry to the state for 14 months.

Here's the story I wrote back in March.

And here's the news release the state posted on its Web site last Friday.

SEATTLE – Pierce County and the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) agreed on Thursday, Sept. 18 on a plan to ensure continuous ferry service for both the state’s Port Townsend/Keystone route and the County’s route from Steilacoom to Anderson and Ketron islands. Pierce County’s ferry, the Steilacoom II, has been leased to WSDOT since February. The County will honor the lease through its expiration in August 2009, allowing the Steilacoom II to continue operating on the Port Townsend/Keystone route. The Christine Anderson, Pierce County’s other ferry, will continue service between Steilacoom and Anderson and Ketron islands.

=> Read more!

OSPI Candidates Forum

The future of Education in Washington State!

Debate Style Forum with Incumbent Terry Bergeson and Challenger Randy Dorn

Where do they stand on.....
The WASL
New graduation requirements
Funding
Everything else that matters to you and your child!

Sponsored by the Equitable Opportunity Caucus and Minority Executive Directors Coalition

=> Read more!

I'm posting this just to add to mix of debate. Oregon has had an assisted suicide law for a decade.

This was forwarded by a consultant from the opposition camp to Initiative 1000, which is on Washington's Nov. 4 ballot:

There has been a change of opinion regarding assisted suicide and Washington State’s I-1000 on the part of the editorial staff of the Portland Oregonian newspaper. The editorial was published in the paper’s Saturday, Sept. 20 online edition. The editorial appeared in the print edition today, Sunday, September 21.

The link to the article on the Oregonian website is provided. Once on the website, the editorial on assisted suicide is the fourth down.

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/editorials/

The text of the editorial appears below my signature.

Cyndie Ulrich
Director of Communications
Coalition Against Assisted Suicide
ulrichconsulting@comcast.net
www.noassistedsuicide.com

=> Read more!

The Association of Washington Business will host the next debate between incumbent Attorney General Rob McKenna, a Republican, and challenger John Ladenburg, a Democrat, who is Pierce County executive.

It's closed to the public, but open to media and AWB folks.

ADVISORY: AWB Debate - John Ladenburg and Rob McKenna

WHAT: Association of Washington Business Policy Summit Debate for Attorney General

WHEN: 1:30 PM - Thursday, September 25, 2008

WHERE: Semiahmoo Ballroom

Semiahmoo Resort 9565 Semiahmoo Parkway, Blaine, WA 98230

AUDIENCE: Closed to General Public, Open to Media

SEATING: Candidates will be at podiums on either side of the stage. Moderator C.R. Douglas and the associate moderators will be at a table on stage positioned opposite the two candidates. Audience members will be at 10’ rounds. Media will be seated at designated tables.

=> Read more!