Most gubernatorial appointees are confirmed as a matter of course, but the appropriate Senate committees do hold meet-the-nominee meetings. They're not really confirmation hearings, not like you see in Congress.

Michael Amos has been serving for several months already. The law says appointees can serve without being confirmed, as long as they aren't flat-out rejected by the state Senate.

Chances are, Amos will be confirmed by the Senate during one of those just-killing-time periods later in session, while other senators are trying to negotiate last-minute deals on other bills.

Confirmation Hearing Held for Michael L. Amos

In September 2008, Governor Gregoire appointed Mike Amos as Gambling Commissioner. He attended his first Gambling Commission meeting in October 2008. On January 15, 2009, the Senate Labor, Commerce, and Consumer Protection Committee recommended that Mike Amos be confirmed by the full senate, after his confirmation hearing.

Commissioner Amos was born in Yakima, Washington. After 37 years of duty with the Yakima Police Department, Commissioner Amos retired as patrol sergeant. He is Vice-President of the Eastern Washington State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, a position he has held for the past five years.

Commissioner Amos was the President of the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs from 2000-2007. This group represents 5000 law enforcement officers. He also served on the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission after his appointment by then-Governor Gary Locke in 2000. He was reappointed by Governor Christine Gregoire in 2004 and retired as President in 2007.

He is a part owner in Yakima 911 Driving School that provides drivers training for teens and first time drivers. Commissioner Amos and his wife Linda have been married for 38 years and have two adult children and two grandsons.

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Marty Brown, legislative liaison for Gov. Chris Gregoire, said earlier this month that the governor might bring up her proposal to allow law officers to set up road blocks to check for drunks.

Brown made the remark at the Associated Press legislative preview on Jan. 6 when I asked him if the governor had any non-budget policy proposals to bring to the 2009 Legislature.

Anyway, even if Gregoire does bring it forward, it probably won't fare any better than it did last year.

Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, is one of the House members who led the charge to kill that proposal in the 2008 session. And now, Pedersen is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is where such a bill most likely would be assigned.

"There are some ideas that are really bad," Pedersen said a few minutes ago. "I would strongly oppose it."

He said he might, out of respect for the governor, schedule a hearing on such a proposal, but probably wouldn't let it advance beyond his committee.

Here's the story I wrote last year when that same committee killed it by not even letting it come up for a vote. Last year, then-Rep. Pat Lantz of Gig Harbor was chairwoman of the committee, and she was in favor of the bill, but killed it after her committee members let her know it would fail if it came up for a vote.

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I seriously expected to read news accounts of legislators and state officials being trampled to death by each other in the stampede to appear before the state Salary Commission and beg them "Please, don't give us a raise!"

The announcements were coming in such quick succession that I couldn't keep up....the governor, Republican lawmakers, Democratic lawmakers, new state treasurer Jim McIntire. House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, rather than risk reinjuring her aching neck, avoided the fray. She wrote a letter.

And then, of course, I saw what Randy Dorn had to say. (If anyone can figure out what he was saying, would you please tell me?)

It sounded as if he really, really, really wanted to get paid more but couldn't come right out and say that because everyone else was being so, well, self-sacrificing. So instead, he started building a case for a humongous raise in 2011 and 2012. (See, if you're a state employee, your retirement is based on your highest two years of pay in your final five years of work.)

There's still time, Randy. All you have to do is hang on for two years, get a pay raise for the final two years of your term after the economy improves, and you can accomplish through legitimate work what you couldn't do through special legislation.

Here's what Brad Shannon wrote in his story about the salary commission vote. And here's what Brad wrote about Dorn's appearance.

There will be public hearings through May, then a final decision by the commission.

And here's the story I wrote last year about Dorn trying to boost his pension by about $90,000 a year.

Questions on candidate pension
A candidate for state schools superintendent tried for two years to get lawmakers to boost his pension. He says costs cited by the state were exaggerated.

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U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks bundled up and ventured out Tuesday to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama from the steps of the Capitol. But the staff took advantage of the Belfair Democrat's choice Rayburn House Office Building assignment and watched from the windows.

And apparently so did a lot of others who realized that it was better to be up close and warm than way in the back and freezing.

"We had many people in town who didn’t get tickets, so we told them we have a great view of the show – three large windows facing the Capitol," wrote Dicks' top aide George Behan.

The staff served coffee and food and offered binoculars and TVs – sort of like a luxury suite at the ballpark.

"As it turned out, we had some constituents who called us from cell phones while they were in lines that obviously were not moving," Behan wrote. "We told them to come on in and they were much better off than colleagues who were in a line while Barack was taking the oath."

Behan guesses that 150 people passed through the office during the day.

Dicks was near the aisle, next to U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. Both were close enough to shake Obama's hand, as this photo – taken by Michael Meehan – shows.

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Members of the state Economic Review and Revenue Forecast Council are looking at the pros and cons of moving up the date of the revenue forecast by a full month.

Right now, it's set for March 19. That's when the Legislature will get an up-to-date prediction on how much money the state can expect to collect in taxes over the next 28 to 30 months. That will be the basis for their budget writing. Main question: Do we have a $7 billion hole in a $32 billion two-year budget?

Circle Feb. 18 on your calendar.

Moving up the date would give lawmakers an extra month to get serious about writing a budget. (The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn April 26.)

On the other hand, we may not know exactly how much money we're gonna get from the feds, the forecast council won't get as much feedback from the governor's economic council and budget staff in the Legislature. And waiting until March probably would give a clearer picture of what Washington can expect for the 24 months in the 2009-11 biennium. (It actually might be better than a February look.)

UPDATE: Here's the letter that Sens. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver; Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, and Reps. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, and Ross Hunter, D-Medina, wrote to forecast council executive director Arun Raha. (Although it is dated Jan. 21, it actually was sent only today, so Raha might not have it yet.)

Just when you thought the proposal was dead (considering the state's budget woes) it gets resurrected.

Refresher: This is the program that would give you $250 a week for up to five weeks to take care of a child, spouse, domestic partner or parent. Or yourself.

Of course, if that funding source of 2 cents an hour, paid for by employees, stays in the proposal, it would have to go on the ballot in November and win approval from voters.

If the money was going to come from the state treasury, it probably would be dead on arrival.

Aaron Keating, communications director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, said Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, and Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, will be prime sponsors for the measures in their respective chambers.

Keating's e-mail is below.

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Josh Feit at Horsesass reports rumors that the King County Executive has accepted a job in the Obama Adminstration at HUD. It was well known that Ron Sims wanted a new job, even though he was making noises about seeking a fourth term as executive.

Not much in the way of sourcing in this but it is first. So far no confirmation or denial.