Tim Farrell is something of an endangered species: a Democrat on the Pierce County Council.

Though results aren’t official, Farrell appears to have won easy re-election representing much of the City of Tacoma on the council. His only Democratic companion on the seven-member council will be either Barbara Gelman or (if she’s elected assessor-treasurer) her Democratic replacement.

In an interview today, Farrell half-jokingly said he sees himself as “the leader of the resistance” on a council that – assuming Joyce McDonald wins in District 2 – would have a Republican supermajority.

Farrell said he works well with Chairman Terry Lee, Dick Muri and Shawn Bunney. He described them as moderate Republicans. But he fears a Republican supermajority could lead to a shift to more conservative policies.

He thinks the tone will be set in the first 100 days of the new council. Farrell said the tenor of the new council might influence his decision on whether to run for mayor of Tacoma next year. He plans to make a decision by March.

The state Department of Ecology is going to be investigating possible pollution by the state penintentiary in Walla Walla. DOE notes that chemicals have been found in the nearby groundwater, but not in Walla Walla's drinking water -- at least, not yet.

They're in the landfill outside the prison perimeter. DOE notes "chemicals from processes such as license plate manufacturing, dry cleaning, motor pool maintenance, and sign manufacturing may have been disposed of in the prison’s construction debris landfill."

Incidentally, the following news release came from DOE, not the Department of Corrections.

Walla Walla meeting will focus on proposed investigation of contamination at Washington State Penitentiary

OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) will meet this week with Walla Walla residents to talk about investigating contamination at the Washington State Penitentiary.

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That's because the last state revenue forecast left us with a projected $3.2 billion budget shortfall for the 2009-11 budget cycle, and this one could be so bad that it gets us close to $4 billion.

The Revenue Forecast Council will meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow in one of the House hearing rooms and its proceedings will be televised live by TVW (Television Washington).

Keep in mind, the forecast predicts only how much money the state expects to collect in taxes and fees for the remainder of this two-year budget cycle (2007-09) and in the next biennium, (2009-11). So, it won't reflect the steps that Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget office is taking to whittle down that projected deficit by reducing spending.

The Office of Financial Management says it can shrink the shortfall to about $1.7 billion by freezing hiring, travel and some contracts, as well as by spending about half of the Rainy Day savings account.

Now that the election is over, maybe the governor's budget office will resume publication of its 6-year forecast. If not, state Sen. Joe Zarelli of Ridgefield, the top Republican on the Senate budget committee, probably will make the Senate Ways and Means Committee produce one in short order.

Personally, I love it when Rep. Jim McIntire, now treasurer-elect, talks about "elasticity." It's spellbinding.

TVW head honcho Mike Bay sends us the following reminder:

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Paula Hammond, secretary of the Washington Department of Transportation, told state transportation commissioners this morning she is toying with the idea of inviting Initiative 985 sponsor Tim Eyman to take a ride with her in the carpool lanes on December 5.

That's the day after election results will be certified. That's also the day that Eyman was going to lead a freedom caravan of cars in the high-occupancy vechilce (HOV) lanes on the freeway, because I-985 would have opened carpool lanes for all vehicles -- solo drivers, too -- during off-peak hours. About a month before the Nov. 4 election, Eyman was telling Hammond she'd better start getting ready to open the lanes. Of course, at the time, Eyman was confident his initiative would pass.

It failed in all 39 counties, Hammond reported to commissioners.

Hammond said she'd be willing to take Eyman on a drive in the carpool lanes anyway, and the time of day wouldn't matter because with two of them in the car, they'd be eligible to drive in the HOV lanes.

Dave Ammons, spokesman for Secretary of State Sam Reed, sends along this update on voter turnout.

Washington voter turnout tops 3 million mark

FYI: Washington’s voter turnout has just topped the 3 million mark for the first time in state history. As of this morning, 3,001,551 ballots have been counted by the 39 County Auditors across the state. That amounts to 82.69 percent of the state’s 3,629,898 record number of registered voters. The previous record for ballots cast, set in 2004, was 2,884,783. The percentage turnout that year was 82.23.

The counties say they have over 55,000 ballots on hand that still remain to be processed,

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From Les Blumenthal in our Washington, D.C. bureau:

WASHINGTON - Washington Sen. Patty Murray was re-elected Democratic conference secretary Tuesday, the fourth most powerful position among Senate Democrats.

But any chance of Murray becoming the first woman to chair the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee evaporated when Democrats decided not to punish Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman for his outspoken support of Republican John McCain’s presidential bid.

Through a complicated game of musical chairs, Murray could have become chairman of the veterans committee if Democrats had stripped Lieberman of his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The possibility had always been a long shot, and Murray took the development in stride. Though she said she was disappointed with Lieberman’s decision to campaign for McCain and speak at the Republican National Convention, Murray said it was time for Democrats to move on and not refight the election.

As conference secretary, Murray will rank only behind Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer of New York.

Murray will be the thick of things as Democrats set the legislative agenda.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Murray said. “It gives me an opportunity to put important Washington state issues on the table.”

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This just in from the state Department of Employment Security. In September, unemployment rate was 5.8 percent.

Unemployment rate up, jobs (sort of) down in October

OLYMPIA – The nation’s economic woes continued to be felt in Washington state in October, where the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 6.3 percent from September’s rate of 5.8 percent, according to the state Employment Security Department.

At the same time, the roughly 24,000 aerospace jobs that were on strike in October contributed to a net loss of 23,200 non-agricultural jobs. Without the strike, jobs in Washington increased by about 800.

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