The Senate Democratic caucus has sent out "talking points" to its members, basically telling them how they should handle any questions they get from constituents about the governor's budget cuts.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has told her budget office and state agencies to make more cuts, enough to shave $330 million off the current 2007-09 budget and to cut in half the projected $3.2 billion deficit for 2009-11.

But even if she cuts it in half, the state still will be facing a shortfall of at least $1.7 billion when the Legislature writes the next budget and that begs the question: Will the Democratic governor and Democrat-controlled House and Senate raise taxes to balance the next budget?

Here's what you're supposed to say: "The governor has said no."

Not, "No way in heck!" Not, "No, I'm a state senator and I don't want to raise your taxes." Not, "Maybe, because I might have to raise your taxes to keep from laying off Federation union members and to give teachers the 5 percent pay raise they're expecting."

No, they're supposed to duck the question. Because it's very much an option for a Senate whose Democrats currently outnumber Republicans 32-17. Oh, yeah. Members also are supposed to be noncommittal about spending the rainy day fund, too.

Here, read for yourself:

Governor Gregoire’s Budget Savings Plan
October 7, 2008

Background
Governor Christine Gregoire announced October 7 that she has taken additional steps to save $330 million in the current biennium. The cuts, which impact state agencies and some programs, are necessary to compensate for a projected shortfall of $3.2 billion in 2011.

=> Read more!

At first, I thought I would be getting a list of bus routes and times, but turns out a "guide" is really an ostensibly neutral explanation of what Proposition 1 will do for me.

Apparently, state law allows Sound Transit to "guide" me on the ballot measure.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — October 8, 2008

Mass transit guides start arriving in mailboxes today

Today, registered voters across the Sound Transit District will start receiving mailers explaining the mass transit expansion proposal they will consider as part of the Nov. 4 general election. This Mass Transit Guide mailer provides voters with detailed information about the expansions, as required by state law [RCW 81.104.140(8)].

=> Read more!

That's nice, Alex. But I would suggest you lose the Seattle dateline on your news releases. Just reinforced the Seattle-centric feel of Proposition One.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mass Transit Now!
Alex Fryer
Communications Director
alexfryer@masstransitnow.org
206-321-9730

Prop. 1 Endorsement-Palooza

Seattle—The cities of Redmond and Issaquah endorsed Proposition 1 on Tuesday, joining Kirkland and a host of other government, business, labor, environmental and community groups around the region.

=> Read more!

Finally!

Rebuilding the Nalley Valley Viaduct has been on the books for decades, at least all 18 years that I've been writing about transportation issues. But it kept getting pushed back by events.

a. the years-long dispute between Democrats and Republicans over raising the gas tax.

b. Tim Eyman's successful Initiative 695, which repealed the state motor vehicle excise tax and took away $800 million a year in state funding, part of which went to transportation projects.

c. Even after the Legislature increased the gas tax by 5 cents in 2003 and by 9.5 cents in 2005, it took some fighting by the Pierce County delegation to get money earmarked for Nalley Valley. (As it is, some parts of the viaduct are not going to be built without additional money because the cost of all the projects went up so high and because the state is getting less money from the feds and less purchasing power from the gas tax collections. The carpool off-ramps and out for now.)

Here is a link to a story my colleague, Paul Sand, wrote last year.

With the completion of the second Narrows Bridge, the new bottleneck in Tacoma is Nalley Valley. It's only two lanes in each direction, and the westbound portion gives drivers only 600 feet to get on or off at Sprague Avenue.

The Washington Department of Transportation made the announcement today.
First, they will rebuild the westbound portion, so it will be easier to get off of Interstate 5 and west across the Narrows Bridge into Gig Harbor and beyond.

I drive across Nalley Valley Viaduct every day. I also drive past the Highway 512 interchange with Interstate 5 every day. I'd have to give the nod to 512 as the worst bottleneck, especially from southbound I-5 trying to head east on 512 in the afternoon. That backup generally is longer even than the westbound Nalley Valley traffic from the I-5 northbound offramp.

(Although that new offramp that lets you bypass the viaduct and get off downtown was built just for me. Gets me to 705 and the North End faster than the viaduct.)

=> Read more!

Sounds terrible at first. I mean, 16,000 illegal voter registrations! How could they? But read the fine print.

"Over the last eight years, more than 16,000 registrations have been accepted by election officials from underage teens, and dozens have received ballots and cast votes."

Even if it's true -- and we don't know that -- that's still only 2,000 a year. And "dozens" received and cast ballots. That would work out to 1 or 2 or 3 a year.

I'm not sure why the Evergreen Freedom Foundation got involved in any of this, but here's part of what state Elections Superintendent Nick Handy had to say,

“We were pleased that out of nearly 1.5 million ballots cast in the primary, we had no instances of underage voters and we don’t expect any problems in the upcoming General Election. There were no problems reported in the 2007 election and four cases of human error that allowed four 17 year olds to vote in the presidential primary this year. Since that time, we have tightened our procedures further and stepped up our monitoring.”

EFF files lawsuit against Secretary of State for allowing improper voter registrations

More than 16,000 registrations from underage voters
have been accepted since 2000

OLYMPIA—Today the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) filed a complaint against Secretary of State Sam Reed in Thurston County Superior Court, alleging the Secretary is violating his obligation to prevent ineligible voters from registering.

=> Read more!

I don't much care about the rock 'em, sock 'em nature of the political ads, but I prefer the local ones. I mean, the Republican Governors Assocation is paying for the TV ad about how Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire is responsible for losing track of 1,300 sex offenders.

I don't know where they get that info. At least the locals will sorta footnote their hit pieces, so you can look up the often slim bit of truth that supports the allegation. The outta state guys don't back it up with bill numbers or anything.

So, I feel compelled to point out that the so-called "Rossi budget" was able to erase part of the $3 billion deficit in 2003 by cuts to the Department of Corrections.

Remember, the Rossi budget actually was then-Gov. Gary Locke's budget before it became Rossi's. And one of the ways Locke wanted to save money was embodied in Senate Bill 5990, also in the 2003 session. It shortened prison sentences for drug offenders and residential burglars and cut the community supervision (parole officers') budget by having them watch fewer ex-cons.

To their credit, Senate Republicans, including Rossi, wanted to take the $7 million in savings from not supervising about 20,000-plus ex-cons and plow it into more rigorous supervision of the offenders who were considered more likely to commit new crimes. But the House amended that to take the $7 million out. (I don't know what finally happened to the $7 million. I know Sens. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, and Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, wanted to plow it into more drug treatment, but I think it just got cut period.)

But when the bill got back to the Senate, Rossi voted for it, too.

Here is a link to WashingtonVotes, which gives a summary of what Senate Bill 5990 did after it was amended, followed by the RGA news release about its attack ads on Gregoire.

Chris Gregoire Has Been a Nightmare for Washington

On Gregoire’s watch the state lost track of 1,300 convicted sex offenders

The Washington State RGA PAC released two ads today that show how Chris Gregoire has put Washington families at risk by losing track of 1,300 convicted sex offenders. The ads can be viewed at www.onherwatch.com.

=> Read more!

Here is a link to the anti Proposition One Web site. Click on one of the three Radio ad links to hear their ads.

Here is the e-mail I just got from the No To Proposition 1 campaign.

You have been waiting too long, so now the new NoToProp1.Org radio messages with the big ka-chings are on the air and at http://www.notoprop1.org/Voter_Message.html



Text of NoToProp1.Org Radio

Both presidential candidates, both candidates for governor, and most economists agree- this is the wrong time to raise taxes on working families. But Sound Transit simply won't listen.

Prop 1 is the biggest local tax increase in Washington State, ever.

=> Read more!

State Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-Tacoma, is organizing a forum on civic engagement later this month at The Evergreen State College Tacoma Campus.

Franklin said she was encouraged by the passion she's seen this political season, but she she's dismayed at the erosion of civic engagement and how little people really know about government.

"There was huge participation in the precinct caucuses, however people don't understand the political process," Franklin said.

She wants to start a discussion about what civic engagement is and how to sustain it. Franklin has been working with three Evergreen students to put together the event.

"It's not a candidate forum," Franklin said. "It's civic engagement."

Representatives from the Secretary of State's office, the Pierce County Auditor's Office, and the League of Women Voters are expected to participate.

Young people can learn about the political process in general, and also get their questions answered about Pierce County's ranked-choice voting system.

"Civic Engagement: Understanding the Political Process" is scheduled to run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at The Evergreen State College – Tacoma Campus, 1210 Sixth Avenue, Tacoma.