Gov. Chris Gregoire and Attorney General Rob McKenna issued a joint statement today, basically telling the public "we're just following the rules" by allowing an atheist display in the Legislative Building on the Capitol Campus.

There's a nativity scene, too, but that's not the one that is generating "200-plus calls an hour" to the governor's office, said Gregoire spokesman Pearse Edwards.

It's the one put up by the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

"We have had to set up other phone lines to handle the influx," Edwards said. "Most of the calls and faxes appear to be from non-Washingtonians who are asking the Governor to "take down the sign" (assume they mean the atheist sign) - and those are the nice responses. Some of the responses are not suitable for publishing in a family paper.

"On a positive and seasonal note, many of the callers and those sending faxes and e-mails are wishing us a Merry Christmas," he said in an e-mail.

The flurry follows a segment by Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly night, who called the display “political correctness gone mad” and urged viewers to call the governor's office.

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State Sen. Darlene Fairly, D-Lake Forest Park, chairwoman of the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee, changed the agenda for Friday's meeting.

What was going to be a simple report from 3 county elections people is now going to be a hearing. (The public can comment.)

Pierce County Auditor (soon to be Executive) Pat McCarthy is last on the list, so I don't know how much time she'll have to expound on Ranked Choice Voting, aka Instant Runoff Voting.

Government Operations & Elections
Friday Senate Hearing Rm 2
December 5, 2008 J.A. Cherberg Building
10:00 am Olympia, WA

REVISED 11/24/2008 1:15 PM

Work Session:
1. Presentation of findings by Advisory Committee on the impacts of climate change through the Growth Management Act:
a. Senator Chris Marr, 6th District.
b. Leonard Bauer, Managing Director of the Growth Management Program for the WA State Dept. of Community, Trade, and Economic Development.
c. Joyce Phillips, WA State Dept. of Community, Trade, and Economic Development.

2. Update on the Ruckelshaus Center Study on preserving the viability of agricultural lands:
a. Lane Rawlins, Interim Director of the William D. Ruckleshaus Center and President-emeritus, WSU.
b. Jon Brock, Associate Director of the William D. Ruckelshaus Center and Associate Professor, UW-Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs.

Public Hearing:Post-Election report from county auditors:
a. Corky Mattingly, Yakima County Auditor.
b. Evelyn Arnold, Chelan County Auditor.
c. Pat McCarthy, Pierce County Auditor.

I wrote an article for today's paper about likely increases in several Tacoma utility rates next year, including garbage.

If approved, the new rate structure will increase the city's subsidy of customers who opt for the smaller 20- and 30-gallon containers, and make up the lost revenue on the backs of customers who use the bigger 60- and 90-gallon containers.

The city's aim is to encourage people to throw out less and recycle more, but Councilman Mike Lonergan believes it's simply unfair. Lonergan isn't opposed to recycling, but he voiced his objection to the structure at last night's council meeting and I asked him to expand on his concerns this morning.

"We want to punish those who have more volume," Lonergan complained. He noted that some large families may be doing plenty of recycling and still need a larger container.

Lonergan would prefer a system that charges everyone the true cost of the service used.

What do you think? Is reducing waste an important enough goal that it outweighs any concerns about fairness?

Northwest Detention Center watchers say they're sharing information with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of an investigation into the private contractor that runs the immigration lock up.

UPDATE: We contacted ICE in Seattle; a spokeswoman said she could not confirm or deny the existence of such an investigation.

The following comment appeared on TacomaSDS.org: "ICE is investigating GEO for fraudulent representation."

To which, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, replied:

"[Chairman Tim] Smith also confirmed a report posted on TACOMASDS.org, 'We are cooperating fully with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in a different investigation of GEO Group, Inc and the City of Tacoma. We have provided all requested documents. I cannot comment on this due to the on-going investigation.'

In a press release today, the watchdog group was asking for construction, which will disturb potentially toxic soil on the Tideflats, to be halted until an appeal on planned expansion at the facility can be heard.

Read the full press release after the jump.

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The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation gave one of four "Landmark Deeds" awards to 27th District Rep. Dennis Flannigan. His deed? Stopping the demolition of the Murray Morgan Bridge across the Foss Waterway in Tacoma and working to get money to refurbish it.

Here's what the trust said about Flannigan: "As Vice Chair of the House Transportation Committee ... Representative Flannigan effectively negotiated terms permitting state funds to be used for bridge rehabilitation. In addition, during the 2008 legislative session Representative Flannigan introduced a bill that would enable the City of Tacoma to create a transportation improvement district with sales tax revenue going toward maintenance and operation of the bridge."

Also honored was State Sen. Craig Pridemore of Clark County for passage of a bill to set aside some money from the fee charged for recording documents to historic preservation promotion and projects.

King County Councilmen Bob Ferguson and Larry Phillips were honored for an ordinance that "includes historic preservation action plans for improving stewardship of county-owned historic resources and streamlining the permitting process for privately owned historic and archaeological properties. In addition, major maintenance reserve funds may now be utilized for historic preservation projects."

The awards were presented at a ceremony Tuesday.

Reporter Jason Hagey and I are working on this story for tomorrow's paper:

In a swap of major public facilities, the City of Tacoma and Pierce County are working on a deal that would give the city full control of Cheney Stadium and the county sole possession of the County-City Building.

Under a deal to be considered by elected officials from both governments next week, Tacoma would give the county its share of the jointly owned County-City Building downtown. In exchange, Pierce County would give up its share of Cheney Stadium, plus $2 million.

City and county officials say the deal makes sense for taxpayers and will give each government control of a prized asset.

“It’s better to have one government in charge (of each facility) instead of multiple governments,” said County Executive John Ladenburg.

The county owns half an interest in six parcels at and around Cheney Stadium, the home of minor league baseball’s Tacoma Rainiers. The city owns the remaining share and manages the stadium property.

According to the county assessor-treasurer’s office, the six Cheney Stadium parcels are worth about $10.5 million.

The city owns about 44 percent of the County-City Building. The county owns the remaining share of the building, which is assessed at $115.6 million.

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Legislators are gathering today, but won't start meeting in earnest until tomorrow, the first of two "assembly days."

Wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall when the House Democrats hold their caucus at 10 a.m. Thursday? That's probably when they will sort out the contest between Reps. Hans Dunshee of Snohomish and Kelli Linville of Bellingham to see which of them becomes chair of the House Appropriations Committee.

I've been asking around to see how that contest is shaping up and the most interesting comment was this one: "I don't know. They both say they have 38 votes."

Since there are only 62 members in the caucus, that means:

a.) Democrats actually won a total of 76 seats in this past election and the Secretary of State is hiding that from us.
b.) Seven House Democrats have assured each candidates for the chairmanship, "You can count on my vote!"
c.) Each of the candidates is exaggerating the depth of support that he or she has.
d.) Speaker Frank Chopp is casting a "weighted" vote that is worth 32 ordinary member votes.

ANSWER: b, c AND d

For background, see below.

Here's what I posted earlier this week. You have to scroll down to find remarks about Dunshee and Linville.

And here's an even earlier posting, which has been overtaken by events -- that is, it might be flat-out wrong.

As John Ladenburg winds up his tenure as Pierce County executive, what should we make of his eight years in office?

I’ve posed that question to more than two dozen local political, business and community leaders. Now I’m asking Political Buzz readers.

I’m working on an article about Ladenburg’s time in office. I’ve been asking folks to list his top accomplishments as well as mistakes or missed opportunities. I’ve received some interesting responses.

The folks who have responded so far often mention Chambers Bay Golf Course as a top Ladenburg accomplishment. Others talk about his attention to regional economic development and transportation issues.

More than one respondent mentioned Ladenburg’s leadership style as both an asset and a flaw. They say he brought a former county prosecutor’s aggressiveness to the executive’s job. That style could win political arguments but also make enemies.

Feel free to post your own thoughts. To get the conversation started, here’s a thoughtful response to my question written by Bryan Flint, executive director of Tahoma Audubon.

Despite our disagreements on the cross-base highway our members feel that John Ladenburg is the most environmentally minded County Executive Pierce County has had. Some of the accomplishments include: purchasing of floodplain for salmon habitat and flood control, championing low impact development, a county wide tree protection ordinance, championing the bonding of conservation futures so that we could buy larger pieces of habitat, and pushing for farm protections. The executive was willing to stand up to the development community on key issues in the Directions package, that now does a better job of protecting streams, wetlands and natural areas. When it came time to hire a new parks director, Ladenburg listened to our concerns and even let the conservation community interview the top candidates and give input. His ultimate decision replaced an all-ball-fields-all-the-time director with one who truly values the natural parks and their potential. Even his controversial golf course, if it pans out financially, will fund an environmental learning center.

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That would be Rep.-elect Shelly Short. She's from Addy, Wa. I had to look it up in Wikipedia because I'd never heard of it before. It has one gas station, one coffee shop and one restaurant.

Amazing what you learn here, right?

Addy is an unincorporated community in Stevens County, Washington, United States. A small town alongside State Route 395, Addy is not tracked by the U.S. Census, but is populated. The town has one gas station, and a coffee shop. There is one restaurant in town, although several businesses cater to the primarily agricultural local economy. Addy is assigned the ZIP code 99101.

Here's the news release from the House Republican caucus, telling us the hometowns of the new members.

Hi,
I’ve had a few requests for a list of our new members, so I thought I send them to everyone. In the case of Rep. Mike Hope, there will be a hand recount beginning Dec. 9. That effort should be completed by Dec. 12, with the election being certified on Dec. 15.

=> Read more!

That means the standard toll probably will stay at $4 for cash-paying customers at the toll booths and $2.75 for those with transponders.

Of course the final say is up to the Legislature, which will start meeting in January. And there's one more step along the way, the Washington Transportation Commission, which must make a recommendation to lawmakers.

Robert Ryan, chairman of the Narrows Bridge Toll Citizen Advisory Committee, told me yesterday afternoon that he expected rates to stay the same. Despite the fairly brief spike in gasoline prices to more than $4 a gallon, (and a corresponding dip in traffic across the bridge) the amount of money coming in from tolls is tracking projections.

And the tolls that were increased by $1 in July 1, 2008 were sufficient to build up a surplus over the first 12 months and then tap into that surplus over the next 12 months.

So, barring any dramatic change in bridge traffic, the existing tolls probably will stay in place through June 30, 2010. That's the way Ryan and the CAC designed them.

The CAC had scheduled another meeting on Thursday night to finalize its recommendation, but it appears unnecessary now.

Read another account of what the CAC did last night in the Kitsap Sun.