Former Tacoma City Councilman Kevin Phelps has been named deputy county executive by Pat McCarthy.

Phelps, who resigned his council seat in the middle of his second term, has been working with state Auditor Brian Sonntag in Olympia.

His new job starts Jan. 26.

Here's the press release from the county...

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A committee has picked three finalists for Pierce County auditor. Now the decision goes to the County Council, and likely to court.

The five-member committee selected three finalists Wednesday from among 13 applicants for the auditor’s job:

• Katie Blinn of University Place, assistant director of elections for the Washington Secretary of State’s Office.

• J. Richard McEntee of University Place, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for state auditor last fall.

• Former state Rep. Jan Shabro of Lake Tapps.

The committee’s recommendations were given in alphabetical order, not order of preference. The County Council will interview the candidates next Tuesday before making an appointment.

The committee members – five local elected officials – praised the finalists as the best qualified to run one of the most complicated offices in Pierce County government. The auditor oversees county elections, licensing, recording and animal control.

“They all were good candidates,” said Lakewood Councilwoman Claudia Thomas, a committee member. “These happen to come closest to the qualifications.”

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Marty Loesch, now attorney for the Swinomish Tribe, will take over as Gov. Chris Gregoire's personal lawyer and adviser next week.

"Loesch has a strong background in environmental, insurance, international and Tribal law. He also served as an international elections monitor in South Africa, Bosnia and Republika Srpska and an international law consultant with Catholic Relief Services regarding the lessons learned in humanitarian operations in Kosovo."

Sounds like a pretty varied background. Plus, he's "Fighting Irish" from Notre Dame. He'll make $139,000 a year.

He replaces Richard Mitchell, the guv's general counsel for her first term. He left late last year to join Summit Law Group in Seattle.

Gov. Gregoire appoints Marty Loesch as General Counsel and Sr. Advisor

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced she is appointing Marty Loesch as her general counsel and senior advisor. Loesch currently serves as the inter-governmental affairs director and tribal attorney for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.

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From Les Blumenthal in our D.C. bureau:

WASHINGTON - Like an annual rite of passage, two Washington state lawmakers have again introduced legislation that would make permanent the state sales tax deduction on federal returns.

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell and Democratic Rep. Brian Baird have tried to do this previously and the issue always gets wrapped up in an end-of-session, last-train-leaving-the-station piece of legislation that extends the sales tax deduction only temporarily. Last year, Congress extended it for the 2008 and 2009 tax seasons.

It is a big deal for Washington state residents. In other states, taxpayers can deduct their state income taxes. The state is one of only seven which has a sales tax without an income tax. According to Cantwell, the deduction has put an average of $600 more per year in the pockets of Washington's taxpayers. In 2006, more than 880,000 Washingtonians claimed the deduction.

The deduction was eliminated in 1986 when Congress simplified the tax code. The story goes that former Oregon Sen. Bob Packwood, then chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Illinois Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, then chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, cut the deal on the back of cocktail napkin at a restaurant. Packwood was from a state that didn't have a sales tax, so he didn't care about ending the deduction.

The deduction was restored, temporarily, in 2004 with the state's lawmakers calling it a matter of tax fairness. But every year, as the congressional session winds down, it becomes a bargaining chip as the chairmen of tax writing committees wheel and deal to pick up support for some controversial bill.

A police report concerning Puyallup City Councilman John Knutsen allegedly harassing a citizen has caused a bit of a stir in the city.

The incident occurred back in August, but I only just got a copy of the report late last month, as did Knutsen's fellow members of the City Council.

According to the police report, Knutsen, a first-term councilman, swore at a teenage son of a local business owner when the boy was leaving Puyallup City Hall.

Knutsen and his wife had recently bought something at the family business, and the boy apparently had mixed up his order.

According to the police report, Knutsen told the boy in front of a witness that if the mix-up happened again, “he would have Guido put his hand up his ass, reach up and shut (the victim's) heart.”

In a phone interview today, Knutsen said he did indeed say those words to the woman’s teenage son. But he meant it in a joking manner.

“This is a joke I heard other boys the same age saying, and they thought it was funny and I thought it was funny,” said Knutsen, a retired City of Tacoma police officer. “I thought other boys the same age would feel the same way.”

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A group known as the Bill of Rights Defense Committee has been fighting the expansion of the federal immigration lockup on the Tacoma Tideflats on several fronts.

Recently, they sent me correspondence they received from the state Department of Ecology that seems to indicate GeoGroup, the contractor that runs the Northwest Detention Center, may have been violating some pretty serious restrictions.

Here's an except from what the group received from Ecology:

However, for the recent INS Center expansion in 2008, the property owner did not contact Ecology with a request to approve additional site construction. Ecology became aware of this because your email triggered a file review and research into records. We quickly contacted the City of Tacoma Planning Department and the property owner, GeoGroup, to indicate the project is in violation of the 2003 Restrictive Covenant. As with the earlier construction phase, Ecology will require the contractor to implement practices that will protect the environment and workers to avoid release of petroleum contaminants or contact with people.

The restrictive covenant basically means they have to abide by certain rules because of toxic stuff that was buried on the site during previous cleanup efforts.

Update: I just got off the phone with Joan Mell, the attorney for GeoGroup. Things may not be as cut-and-dried as the e-mail makes them appear, she said.

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Looks like Pierce County has renewed its contract with KemperSports, the Illinois firm that manages Chambers Bay Golf Course.

According to a KemperSports press release issued this morning, the company will continue to manage Chambers Bay beyond the 2015 U.S. Open to be held at the course. Former County Executive John Ladenburg credits the company with helping Pierce County secure the championship, considered by many to be the nation’s premiere golf tournament.

You can read the full press release below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Pierce County Extends Chambers Bay Contract
with KemperSports Through U.S. Open

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Jan. 7, 2009 – Pierce County today announced that it has extended its management agreement with KemperSports to operate Chambers Bay Golf Course beyond the 2015 U.S. Open to be held at Chambers Bay.

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Former state Rep. Jan Shabro, who just ran an unsuccessful campaign for assessor-treasurer, confirmed this morning she’s a candidate for Pierce County auditor.

The Lake Tapps Republican is one of 13 applicants to be considered by a five-member committee at a meeting this afternoon. The committee likely will meet behind closed doors to review the candidates’ qualifications, then pick three finalists in public. The County Council will appoint a new auditor next Tuesday.

Shabro, 68, served eight years on the County Council and four in the Legislature. In 2000 she ran unsuccessfully for county executive and last fall ran for assessor-treasurer. She briefly considered running for auditor in 2002, but ran for the Legislature instead.

Shabro cited her government and teaching experience and her job managing a successful dental practice as qualifications for auditor. “I really feel I have a talent for managing and working with people,” she said.

As auditor, Shabro said she would support repealing Pierce County’s ranked choice voting system, used for the first time in November. And she wants a performance audit to examine whether consolidating polling places has been cost effective.

One Political Buzz reader claims Shabro will get the auditor’s job, thanks to backing from Councilmen Dick Muri and Shawn Bunney (you can read the comment here). Shabro said such a deal is “news to me” and she doesn’t assume she’ll get the job.

“Politics is too fluid and unpredictable to take anything for granted,” she said.

Since Niki Sullivan used to be my partner in crime covering the Legislature, I'm taking some journalistic license in giving her some "Web ink."

It was Niki who taught me crucial things about blogging, such as how to bold face her name. (She's agreed to provide emergency help (if I ever buy an i-phone, or whatever they're called) since I'm a taxpayer and she's a public servant. Right, Niki?

As The News Tribune's political and legislative reporter, Niki was the first to publish the phrase "97 to Dunn" to sum up a typical House rollcall vote. That's probably why Jim Dunn lost his bid for reelection.

Anyway, add the TVW RSS feed to your NetVibes page because Niki will be worth reading. I already have. And even though she doesn't know who J.P. Patches is, don't hold it against her. She wasn't even born by the time his show was taken off the air.

“The Capitol Record” launches TVW into blogosphere

Today, TVW launched The Capitol Record, a new blog dedicated to providing information about Washington state government, including the Legislature, courts and state agencies.

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