Secretary of State Sam Reed today certified the results of the Nov. 4 general election.

We set a record for turnout and number of ballots cast, 3,071,587.

The 84.61 percent turnout of registered voters was record and a couple counties had a turnout higher than 91 percent.

Reed certifies Washington’s record election turnout

Secretary of State Sam Reed has certified Washington state’s 2008 General Election results, capping a watershed election year that included a hotly contested presidential primary, the first-ever Top 2 Primary, and a record voter turnout in November. Governor Chris Gregoire also certified the vote tally on three statewide initiatives.

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I can't add anything to this, but readers of this blog should know about it, regardless of who gets credit for the information/rumor.

Here's a link to Joel Connelly's piece on the Post Intelligencer blog.

That makes it official (well, tomorrow it will be official) that incumbent state Rep. John Ahern, R-Spokane, has been defeated by Democratic challenger John Driscoll.

The recount gave Driscoll 2 fewer votes, but he still won by 72 votes out of nearly 76,000 ballots.

I ran into Ahern earlier today at the Sundial on the Capitol Campus. He told me his House Republican colleagues got him a birthday cake and invited me to go over and have some.

Yes, today is Ahern's birthday. (Heckuva celebration, huh?) He's celebrating, as he said, the 20th anniversary of his 54th birthday.

Happy Birthday, John.

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Here is the link that you really do want to bookmark if you're the least bit interested in Washington's $70 billion two-year budget. (OK, odds are it will be quite a bit smaller next year.)

The Legislative Evaluation and Accountabilty Program committee teamed up with the Office of Financial Management (the governor's budget office) to put this site together.

It's a few weeks ahead of schedule. It wasn't supposed to be up and running until January, but they got most of it done.

This is invaluable stuff, but a word of caution: If you are not already a budget wonk, this may turn you into one.

But if you want to know how much money the state collects in sales tax, how many people work for the state Department of Ecology, how much money the governor wants to spend compared to the House and Senate budget proposals and much, much more, you'll visit this site a lot.

I went to a presentation Wednesday on how the site works now and what improvements will be made. LEAP's Michael Mann (not the producer of Miami Vice) gave an overview of the site.

They're looking for feedback. Give it to them. It would be great if someone other than reporters, gadflys and other self-appointed watchdogs availed themselves of the information assembled there.

Sen. Eric Oemig, D-Kirkland, is the one who sponsored the bill that led to creation of the site. The point is to make the state budget transparent.

That was just an illustration offered up just a few minutes ago by Bryon Moore, the new budget coordinator for the state Senate Ways and Means Committee. That's the committee that's going to write the state budget for the Senate.

Moore led a staff presentation for committee members to give them an idea of just what they are facing in the upcoming legislative session, which starts Jan. 12 and is supposed to last for 105 days.

Moore said if all state agency employees and all higher education workers worked for free for 22 of 24 months in the 2009-11 biennium, the state could solve its budget woes. (I'm guessing their salaries for those months would add up to $6 billion, or so.)

Moore said he was just trying to give lawmakers an idea of the magnitude of the problem, (so, Federation members, you can put away the rope for the lynching.)

Bottom line: Given the much-lower-than-expected tax collections and projections for the next 30 months, plus increases in costs (e.g. more public school students to educate, etc.) and the negotiated contracts that give pay raises to state workers....Washington's budget shortfall could reach $5.976 billion.

That includes the carryover budget shortfall from the current 2-year budget cycle, which ends June 30. But some of that is being solved as we speak by spending cuts that Gov. Chris Gregoire has ordered up from her agency directors.

House Democrats chose Rep. Kelli Linville of Bellingham to be the next budget chairwoman, succeeding retiring chair Helen Sommers.

Rep. Hans Dunshee of Snohomish is the one who got the consolation prize of Capital Budget Committee chairman.

That means Linville gets to oversee about $30 billion in state general fund operating spending over the next two years and Dunshee oversees a $4 billion building budget.

Dunshee reportedly was lucky to get any chairmanship because he dared to go up against House Speaker Frank Chopp and his Committee on Committees recommendations.

There are lots of rumors swirling about Dunshee's future in the Legislature (and whether he has one), but I have to look into them.

For one, Dunshee is helping newly elected state Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark make the transition into his new job. More later.

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Yesterday I asked Political Buzz readers to weigh in on the performance of County Executive John Ladenburg. As I prepare an article on the executive’s tenure, I’ve heard from a lot of folks. Here’s a sample of what some of them are saying:

“He never sought cover from an issue by cowering behind a banal argument. Though I disagreed with him on a number of issues, his reasoning was always sound.”
Bruce Lachney, Democrat and county council candidate

“He has been involved in leadership roles regionally in both economic development and the related area of transportation … And locally he has been a strong supporter of infrastructure and projects that will provide economic growth.”
David Graybill, president, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce

“I was very impressed with his allowing his directors to work with the council … John is not a micromanager. He tends to give a vision and direction to his staff, and then they go out and make things happen.”
Dick Muri, Republican county councilman

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Steve Wilson of Federal Way is trying to organize a protest of the atheist display in the Legislative Building on the state Capitol Campus on Sunday afternoon.

Wilson, 29, a salesman, said he wants the protest to be "peaceful and non-combative." He started reaching out to others after hearing a snippet of nationally sydicated TV talk-show host Bill O'Reilly's remark on the radio, then researched online to find out what he was talking about.

"I believe this sign does not qualify as it is not merely a state of atheist belief, but is rather a rebuke of all Religions and people of faith," Wilson said in his e-mail to friends. "It is an insult toward religious people that is both inflammatory and discriminatory in nature."

Below are his full e-mail with contact information, as well as a short story from The Associated Press about the tree-lighting ceremony tomorrow night at the state capital.

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