This from News Tribune columnist Peter Callaghan:

One interesting revelation from Thursday's debate between Randy Dorn and Terry Bergeson is that Dorn, the challenger, said he would support a constitutional amendment to eliminate the school superintendent as an elected office.

Dorn said the top schools job should be appointed, perhaps by the governor.

Bergeson, the 12-year-incumbent, said she thinks it should continue to be elected by the voters.

Kira Millage of our sister paper, The Bellingham Herald, filed this report from the state school superintendent debate at the AWB summit.

BLAINE, Whatcom County – Regardless of whether Terry Bergeson or Randy Dorn wins the campaign for state superintendent of public instruction, education reform will continue to be a top priority.

The two candidates agreed on that much – but little else – during a debate Thursday at the Association of Washington Business policy summit.

Bergeson said in her 11 years as state superintendent she’s improved education in Washington by taking a fragmented school system and creating universal standards so kids in all parts of the state receive the same education.

Dorn, who is a former teacher and principal from Eatonville and was a state lawmaker when the education reform bill was passed in 1993, criticized Bergeson’s record. He pointed to the fractured implementation of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning and the amount of time it has taken her to improve career and technical education opportunities.

Here are their answers to key questions in Thursday’s debate (questions condensed for clarity):

What do you think of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning?

Bergeson: She maintains her support for the WASL.
“We’ve changed the culture of learning in our state and we’re on a journey that’s not over,” she said. “It’s well worth the time it’s taken to do it.”

She acknowledged that the math WASL needs to be changed, which is why it’s been postponed as a graduation requirement until 2013. State leaders are still debating changes to math standards and are discussing replacing the math WASL with assessment tests at the end of each math course.

“I accept responsibility for the struggle,” she said, “but I also accept responsibility that we have fixed it.”

Dorn: He is highly critical of the WASL and said leaders should be looking to states with better tests, especially in math.

He said students should be tested on calculations and being able to crunch numbers, not “fuzzy” math, which is what he believes the WASL promotes.

He’d like to implement an assessment that allows teachers and students to see results more quickly.

“There are too many standards to teach to in a 180-day schedule,” he said. “So let’s get it concise so that people understand.”

He supports the idea of having a test as a graduation requirement but doesn’t think it should be the same for everyone because not every student takes the same path.

=> Read more!

Sam Taylor of our sister McClatchy paper, The Bellingham Herald, filed this report from today's "debate" in the lands commissioner race.

BLAINE, Whatcom County – It wasn’t much of a debate Thursday between the two candidates for state commissioner of public lands.

One of them didn’t show up.

Republican Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland had written down the wrong time for the debate at the Association of Washington Business policy summit.

“When you mess up your calendar, you mess up your calendar,” Sutherland said after entering the banquet hall at Semiahmoo Resort as debate moderators wrapped up the 30-minute conversation with Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark.

Though the lands commissioner is one of the lesser-known executive positions, this year’s race between the two candidates is considered one of the closest and interesting to watch.

The commissioner is in charge of the state Department of Natural Resources and manages about 5 million acres of state land. The position includes regulation and enforcement of various environmental regulations, especially on timber harvesting, and working on wildfire management.

Sutherland is a former Tacoma mayor and Pierce County executive seeking a third term as lands commissioner. He bested Goldmark in the August primary 51 percent to 49 percent.

Despite his absence, the Thursday “debate” went on. Goldmark, who lives in Seattle and maintains a family ranch near Okanogan, answering questions on his many campaign contributions from environmentalists, wildfire protection, potential logging in areas with endangered species such as the spotted owl and how he’d do the job differently than Sutherland.

Goldmark painted Sutherland as an incumbent who has cost the state millions in court fees, doesn’t enforce regulations on the books and is unresponsive to the public when making deals with special interests trying to benefit from state land.

The Democratic challenger highlighted his own resume, touting himself as a volunteer firefighter who loves his community and is accessible to taxpayers and others with a stake in public lands issues.

“Above all I will bring fairness to an agency that the public needs to trust,” he said, adding that he’d make sure “all of the public is treated with respect, and that includes the employees.”

In an interview after the event, Sutherland took aim at Goldmark, pointing out that the Democrat’s experience as state director of agriculture under Gov. Mike Lowry in the early 1990s was for only a four-month stint.

“My opponent is working really hard to find an issue,” the commissioner said.

=> Read more!

Jason Hagey filed this report this afternoon from Semiahmoo:

BLAINE, Whatcom County - Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna and challenger John Ladenburg, a Democrat, clashed on just about every subject under the sun Thursday during a lively 60-minute debate.

Ladenburg picked up where he left off during their first debate last week in Gig Harbor, criticizing McKenna for having a thin resume and failing to protect Washington consumers.

McKenna hit back more forcefully than he did in their first exchange, defending his own experience by saying, “I think John is the only person in the state that doesn’t believe being attorney general of the state of Washington for four years is a qualification to run for attorney general.”

McKenna also took shots at Ladenburg, the two-term Pierce County executive, for failing to win his own county in the August primary election.

The debate was sponsored by the Association of Washington Business and held at the organization’s annual policy summit at the Semiahmoo Resort.

The verbal salvos drew laughter from the audience on a few occasions and prompted moderator C.R. Douglas to note what a difference it makes to have two people participating. (Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland failed to arrive in time for the day’s first debate, but the group stuck to its schedule and posed questions to challenger Peter Goldmark.)

The candidates continued to differ on such topics as mortgage fraud, identity theft and methamphetamine use. Ladenburg said McKenna hasn’t done enough to protect consumers regarding the first two, and Ladenburg took credit for a meth crackdown that began in Pierce County.

=> Read more!

I ran across this stuff while researching another story.

Just for the record: Republican challenger Dino Rossi and incumbent Democrat Chris Gregoire both have "raised" taxes.

This first block of type is the record for the 5-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase that was approved by the Legislature in 2003, along with some weight fee increases and higher sales tax on vehicle sales:

ESHB 2231: Trans financing alternatives
Senate vote on Final Passage as Amended by the Senate
4/26/2003

Yeas: 38 Nays: 11 Absent: 0 Excused: 0

Voting Yea: Senators Brandland, Brown, Carlson, Doumit, Eide, Fairley, Finkbeiner, Franklin, Fraser, Hale, Haugen, Hewitt, Horn, Jacobsen, Johnson, Kastama, Keiser, Kline, Kohl-Welles, McAuliffe, Morton, Oke, Parlette, Poulsen, Prentice, Rasmussen, Reardon, Regala, Rossi, Schmidt, Sheahan, Sheldon, B., Shin, Spanel, Swecker, Thibaudeau, West, and Winsley

Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Deccio, Esser, Hargrove, Honeyford, McCaslin, Mulliken, Roach, Sheldon, T., Stevens, and Zarelli

This second block of type is the record for the 9.5-cent phased-in gas tax hike of 2005, which also included some car fees and trucking fees. Rossi wasn't in the Senate that year, but Gregoire was governor. She's the one who signed it into law.

SB 6103 - 2005-06 Providing funding and funding options for transportation projects.
Revised for 1st Substitute: Providing funding and funding options for transportation projects. (REVISED FOR ENGROSSED: Funding transportation projects.)

IN THE SENATE passed; yeas, 26; nays, 22; absent, 0; excused, 1.
IN THE HOUSE passed; yeas, 54; nays, 43; absent, 0; excused, 1.
OTHER THAN LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Delivered to Governor.
May 9 Governor signed.
Chapter 314, 2005 Laws.
Effective date 7/24/2005*.

United for Peace of Pierce County is organizing a protest of the proposed Wall Street bailout tonight from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Sprague Avenue in Tacoma. From their Web site:

Stand with your neighbors and say NO Bush Bailout! Let them give the money to the folks who are being foreclosed on if they truly want to help the American people. While they're at it, they could stop their wars too, and we could use that money for education, solving our environmental challenges, etc. Make signs and bring them.

UPDATE:One of the organizers, Steve Nebel, got back to me with a little more information:

This is part of an event that is being promoted by a number of national organizations. I signed up for it through the Backbone campaign, but it is also being pushed by MoveOn.org, and TheTrueMajority.org (which I believe was how Backbone contacted me), and several other national organizations.

Seattle pollster Stuart Elway was on a media panel (along with News Tribune columnist Peter Callaghan) and dropped some interesting numbers from his latest statewide poll.

First, Republican presidential nominee John McCain does better among Washington voters (though still trails) when his name is read to voters alone than he does when his name is read along with vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. That suggests that Palin's presence on the ticket doesn't help in Washington state.

Second, Republican gubernatorial nominee Dino Rossi does better (though still trails) when his party preference is listed as "GOP" than he does when his party preference is listed as "Republican." This is significant because Rossi will appear under the label "GOP", something that state Democrats object to and have filed litigation to block.

The debate between Public Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland and challenger Peter Goldmark just began here at the Association of Washington Business annual policy summit.

Without Sutherland in the room.

Sutherland apparently had the wrong time marked in his calendar and is somewhere in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, the audience here was told.

(The conference is at the Semiahmoo Resort near Blaine.)

Rather than wait for him to arrive, the group is pressing on. Goldmark is giving his opening statement and will be presented with questions. He'll get 90 seconds to answer, just like a real debate.

Sutherland, we were told, will join the program as soon as he gets here.

I wonder if this is the same format that will be used in tomorrow's presidential debate.

UPDATE: It was close, but I'd give the edge in this one to Goldmark.

(Sutherland has yet to arrive, and Goldmark is just making his closing statement.)

UPDATE DEUX: Sutherland eventually arrived, but too late to speak to the AWB audience.

News Tribune writers Jason Hagey and Peter Callaghan are on their way to Blaine this morning to attend the Association of Washington Business policy summit. Today's conference agenda includes debates between candidates for lands commissioner, state superintendent of public instruction, attorney general and governor.

We're teaming up with a sister McClatchy paper, the Bellingham Herald, to cover all four debates. Check back here throughout the day for updates.

In the meantime, let's start a pool: How many times will Chris Gregoire mention George W. Bush during her debate tonight with Dino Rossi?