Is she in Washington D.C., waiting to annouce that she's taken a job in President Barack Obama's administration? (There is a fresh vacancy, you know.)

One of my sources said he couldn't tell me where Gov. Chris Gregoire is now, but assured me she would still be my governor in March. "She's not going to take Bill Richardson's place as Commerce Secretary. So you can kill that story."

But he wouldn't tell me anything else. And the governor is supposed to announce "something big" at 10:05 a.m. tomorrow.

Another source speculated that Gregoire has lined up a big chunck of federal money for Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct, and she's going to announce it Tuesday. (And it would have to be a big chunk because that project keeps getting more and more expensive.)

It could be broader than that. Democratic governors are set to meet again with Obama this week about the stimulus package. Gregoire has been active in pushing for a large boost to state's with shovel-ready projects but there is no word as to whether she will be part of any meeting.

All this speculation started because the guv cancelled her appearance at the Associated Press legislative preview on Tuesday. She was supposed to talk to reporters and editors about the upcoming 105-day session at 11 a.m. Instead, we'll be getting the tag team of her legislative liaison, Marty Brown, and her budget director, Victor Moore.

That's like being promised Eva Mendes, and getting Cheech and Chong.

Here's what AP wrote:

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s whereabouts are unknown
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Gov. Chris Gregoire is out of state, but her office won’t say where she is.
Gregoire was set to be the keynote speaker Tuesday at a pre-legislative session forum sponsored by The Associated Press, but her office canceled Monday afternoon. Legislative director Marty Brown will stand in for Gregoire at the forum.
Spokesman Pearse Edwards said that Gregoire will be making an announcement tomorrow morning, and that no further information would be released before then.

And that's even though Initiative 985 was defeated in all 39 Washington counties in the November general election. (I-985 would have opened carpool lanes in off-peak hours and shifted some sales tax on cars to congestion relief fund.)

Here's a story that will appear in tomorrow's print edition of The News Tribune. Scroll to the bottom of it to read about the financial arrangement professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman has with his main financial supporter, Woodinville millionaire Mike Dunmire.

Dunmire says he helps Eyman because he had enough money to do what the average person can't: finance an initiative.

And he backs Eyman because he believes there should be more restraint when it comes to state spending. The $6 billion projected budget deficit would be solved very easily, Dunmire told me earlier today.

"All the governor has to do is say, 'Everybody has to live on last year's budget.' No more crisis," Dunmire said.

That's because despite all the hue and cry, the state still will collect more taxes in the next 2 years than it's collecting in the current 2-year budget cycle, he said.

Here's the story that's running tomorrow:

BY Joseph Turner
joe.turner@thenewstribune.com
Tim Eyman kicked off 2009 by filing another initiative to the people, one that seeks to limit the growth of all taxes and revenues that cities, counties and the state use to operate their respective governments.

=> Read more!

The Barack Obama Inauguration celebration won't be confined to D.C. We're starting to see announcements of local events, such as this one, sponsored by Pierce County Democrats and People for Peace, Justice, and Healing (isn't that an Elvis Costello song?)

Come Celebrate the Inauguration of Barack Obama.

Tuesday evening, January 20, 2009

6:00 pm – Midnight

The Swiss Tavern

1904 South Jefferson, Tacoma (South 19th & Jefferson, across from UWT at top of steps)

Live Music by The Disclaimers: 7:00 – 11:00

Free admission. No-host bar.

*Must be at least 21 years old to attend

*Tuxedos to T-shirts -- Tiaras to Tennis shoes

*Big Screen TV with feed from DC

Be there or be square!

If you hear of other open-to-the-public local events, let us know.

(Photo: boltron-.)

MetroParks Tacoma officials are blaming the destruction of the field at Portland Avenue Park (above) on joyriding vandals doing donuts in the snow. But what if there's another explanation? Could the mysterious circles be the work of space aliens (see photo below)?

Say aliens did visit Tacoma, What do you think they are trying to tell us? Post your answer in the comments section.

(Crop circle photo: LePetitPoulailler.)

This goes beyond the 1 percent limit on the annual growth of property taxes, which was contained in Initiative 747, another Tim Eyman ballot measure. That limit was only on property taxes. This new one would limit the growth of all revenues that go into the general fund of the state, each city and each county.

That means the state limit would be applied collectively to all property taxes, sales taxes, business and occupation taxes and federal funds that go into the state general fund. Combined, all of those sources could grow no more than the rate of inflation or the state would have to cut property taxes by the amount in excess of inflation.

Same for the cities. Same for the counties.

At his news conference in the Secretary of State's Office in Olympia this morning, Eyman used that federal funding provision as an example.

He spoke to reporters while holding Riley Dawn, his newly adopted daughter. She's 8 months old.

Eyman dodged all questions pertaining to his finances and referred reporters to his Public Disclosure Commission filings.

I specifically asked him if Mike Dunmire, who has bankrolled past Eyman campaigns, was going to do so again. Eyman told me to look at the PDC. (By the way, I'm pretty sure his PDC filings won't show anything yet, but I'll look.)

UPDATE: I did reach Dunmire a few minutes ago. He said he was disappointed by the failure of Initiative 985, the 2008 ballot measure that he helped pay for, but he's still backing Eyman.

"I plan to be a significant contributor during the course of the year, but I don't know how much yet," Dunmire said.

I also asked Eyman if he owns his house free and clear. Same answer. (Actually, I meant to ask him if he had cleared the lien that the bank put on his Mukilteo home to secure a line of credit for his last initiative campaign, but I never got a chance to clarify my question.)

Eyman needs 241,153 valid signatures from voters by July 3 to qualify for the November general election ballot.

UPDATE NO. 2: The link I had to a PDF file was for the wrong version of Eyman's initiative. He handed in Version D, which has some different effective dates. Here's the complete text of Eyman's final version.

COMPLETE TEXT

=> Read more!

Members of the Tacoma City Council choose their own deputy mayor, and they generally tap the most senior council member who hasn't already had a turn.

Councilwoman Julie Anderson is expected to get the nod this year.

A resolution appointing Anderson to the position is on the council's Tuesday agenda. She will replace Spiro Manthou, whose term as deputy mayor expired at the end of last year (leaving a power vacuum of sorts -- the city has operated without a deputy mayor for several days now.)

The deputy mayor is largely a ceremonial role in Tacoma, where the appointed City Manager runs the day-to-day operations. The mayor presides over council meetings and represents the city at events, and the deputy mayor fills in during the mayor's absence.

Anderson was elected in November, 2007 to her second term on the nine-member council.

She is one of three people nominated by the Pierce County Democratic Party to replace Pat McCarthy as Pierce County Auditor following McCarthy's election as county executive.

But the County Council is moving ahead with its own system for choosing McCarthy's replacement. At least 19 people have applied for the position.

UPDATE: Regardless of what the County Council decides, Derek Young at Exit 133 points out that Anderson is apparently planning to run for the Auditor position in November.

Below is the story I wrote for today's print edition. It's one of many, many looks at Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget that we'll be taking between now and March. In March, Senate Democrats are likely to come out with their budget proposal.

BY Joseph Turner
joe.turner@thenewstribune.com
There are pretty much three ways to cut the cost of operating Washington’s prisons: send some criminals to prison for shorter periods, let others out sooner than they deserve and stop watching many others once they get out. You also can save money by not sending them back to prison when they violate terms of their release.
Gov. Chris Gregoire proposes to use a bit of all four approaches to help close a $5.7 billion gap between how much money the state expects to collect in taxes over the next 30 months and how much it will cost to maintain all state programs that are in place today.
Her 2009-11 budget tells the state Department of Corrections to cut about $125 million from what otherwise would be a $1.95 billion budget.
DOC Secretary Eldon Vail said to meet the target set by Gregoire the state will mete out shorter sentences for drug offenders, let some older inmates out of prison early, deport illegal immigrant offenders and eliminate or shorten the length of community supervision for thousands of ex-convicts after they get out of prison. About 25 percent of those ex-cons who do violate terms of their release would be under house arrest wearing ankle bracelets instead of going back to jail or prison for up to 60 days.
Will the community be safer after all those moves?

=> Read more!

State Department of Transportation regional administrator Kevin Dayton refers to the Nalley Valley Viaduct as the "crown jewel" of ongoing work in Pierce County.

(Click here for our earlier story and map detailing the project.)

It may a pretty lonely jewel, too. Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget would delay parts of the viaduct project, as well as parts of the carpool lane project on Interstate 5 through Tacoma to the point that they might not get done at all. At least, not without another source of money.

Stay tuned to see how much the governor and Seattle legislators decide to spend on their projects up north -- their viaduct (Alaskan Way) and their bridge (Highway 520).

Next up in Tacoma: New SR 16 Nalley Valley viaduct

Date: Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Contact: Ricky Bhalla, WSDOT Asst. Project Engineer, 253-589-6100
Jamie Swift, WSDOT Communications, 360-507-4261

TACOMA – Work begins Monday, Jan. 5 on a replacement for the Interstate 5/State Route 16 interchange, one of Pierce County’s worst bottlenecks.

“There’s no question the new Narrows Bridge is the crown jewel of our ongoing work in Pierce County,” said WSDOT Olympic Region Administrator Kevin Dayton, “but the new interchange is the pivotal centerpiece of our transportation strategy and brings all the parts together. More than $1 billion in improvements on I-5 and SR 16 now converge in the Nalley Valley.”

=> Read more!

If you haven't already, please use the survey below to let us know what you think should be done with the state law banning drivers from yakking on the phone.

The survey first appeared in a blog post on Political Buzz on Dec. 25, but we're posting it again to go along with today's story. (You might want to surf over and check out some of the vociferous comments the first post generated.)