An alphabet soup of unions and other organizations whose state funding would be decimated if the Legislature were to close its $6 billion budget hole only by cutting spending is doing preliminary work on the final element of the state budget solution: taxes.

See, even though it appears the Washington Legislature has been moving at something less than what Sen. Jim Hargrove called "ludicrous speed," (invoking the term from the movie, Space Balls) they're right on pace for a deliberative democratic-republic.

On Tuesday, President Obama signed the $789 billion economic stimulus plan and Washington lawmakers learned they will get maybe a bit less than $2 billion to apply toward their own state operating budget mess.

On Wednesday, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a "micro supplemental belt-tightening budget" for the final six months of the 2007-09 biennium which cuts about $300 million in state spending, uses $340 million of federal money to replace state funds and grabs about $100 million of unguarded "leftovers" from other state accounts.

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Victoria Woodards said today that she'll be a candidate for the Tacoma City Council this fall.

Woodards, the president of the Metropolitan Parks board, will run for the at-large position now held by Mike Lonergan. Under the Tacoma charter, Lonergan cannot seek an additional term on the council.

"I am running for Tacoma City Council because I care about Tacoma and want to help make Tacoma an even better city - for all of us," Woodards said in a prepared statement.

She is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Washington State History Museum and sits on the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation Grants Distribution Committee. Woodards is the former chair of the Washington State Commission of African-American Affairs, a member of Allen AME Church and Chair of the Joint Municipal Action Committee.

Born in Riverside, CA, Woodards moved to Tacoma at the age of four and is a 1983 graduate of Lincoln High School. She enlisted in the US Army and spent three years stationed at Fort Lewis.

Woodards serves as assistant to County Council member Tim Farrell.

State Rep. Dan Roach, R-Bonney Lake, top Republican on the House Transportation Committee, has a novel approach to pay for Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct without robbing money from other state highway projects.

"We would raise $1 billion by selling the real estate where the viaduct currently sits and then dedicate all sales tax on tunnel construction and related private development back to the project to reduce costs," he said.

That's how the state would come up with $1 billion of the $2.4 billion the Legislature already has committed to the project. It's an interesting idea that's going to go nowhere, of course.

But you gotta hand it to Roach for coming up with a way to maximize the use of state lands. Face it, downtown Seattle waterfront property under the state highway (the viaduct is Highway 99) will be worth a fortune when the viaduct is torn down, so why not sell it to developers instead of turning it into a promenade for Seattle?

"It would also free up $1 billion for other projects throughout the state," he said.

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Can you believe after all the fuss of awarding Bill Gates Jr. a state medal for distinguished public service, the word was misspelled on the lapel pins?

It's true. Wilfred Woods got a bad one, too. (Or maybe his was a "metal" of "merid.")

I'm not sure what lesson should be learned from this. Maybe it, "Never place an order over the phone." Or, "Always pronounce your consonants clearly.

Dave Ammons over at the Secretary of State's Office said:

The actual medals, cast by Northwest Territorial Mint in Auburn, do not have the recipients' names. The lapel pins for the two honorees had Metal of Merit and then the person's name in a larger font. They were ordered in person at Color Graphics in Olympia, and somehow the person who made the lapel pins used the wrong spelling. The weird thing is that lots of people saw the tags here, including me, and didn't notice the error. I just noticed the two names on the tags, and thought, that's nice. The rest of the party, including the Dan Evanses and family members and others at the reception, the joint session, and the Governor's Mansion luncheon, all had cheapo name tags generated by computer. The phrase Medal of Merit was spelled right, tho!
Best,
dave

David Ammons
Communications Director
Office of Secretary of State

Scroll further down to find my post on the Medal ceremony last week.

State Rep. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma is holding a town hall meeting this Saturday at Pacific Lutheran University that's more than just asking the folks back home what they want from the Legislature this session.

It's designed to let folks hit by the economic downturn what's available to them. As chairman of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, Conway know better than most, but he's also assembled some folks who also are knowledgeable -- unemployment, job retraining and other stuff.

From Conway's office:

SPECIAL TOWN HALL: The Economic Crisis, Unemployment, and our Social Safety Net

Saturday, February 21 - 9am to 12pm
Pacific Lutheran University
Scandinavian Cultural Center Room
Park Avenue South and Garfield Street

Money is tight, jobs have become scarce, and families are struggling to make ends meet. That’s why it’s more important than ever to know what options are available, and how your state government can assist you through these tough times.

Join state Rep. Steve Conway and other legislators for a special town meeting to discuss the economic crisis, unemployment, and our state’s social safety net.

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BY JOE TURNER
The News Tribune

Work on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge still isn’t done, partly because the state Department of Transportation keeps thinking of more things to do with the toll money it’s collecting on the new bridge.

For instance, next week the state DOT will be asking contractors to submit bids to build new, movable barriers in the plazas at each end of the twin bridges at an estimated cost of $852,000.

DOT engineers decided after the new bridge opened in July 2007 that barriers should be erected to keep drivers from crossing over and running into oncoming traffic from the other bridge. Barriers also could be used to divert traffic from one bridge onto the other in case one of them is out of commission.
Overall, DOT has $4.1 million worth of bridge work it wants to do in 2009 and 2010.

Kevin Dayton, DOT administrator for the region that includes Pierce County, said he approved the barrier project even though it wasn’t part of the original construction contract with bridge builder Tacoma Narrows Constructors because it was “within the scope” of the original project.

He said the same is true for the noise wall that is being built at the west end of the bridge to shield neighbors from washboard-like racket caused by cars driving over an expansion joint. That was a contract change that came up late in the bridge project and also is being paid for with tolls.

Even so, local legislators want to subject Narrows Bridge work to closer scrutiny to make sure tolls are not being used to pay for bridge and Highway 16 corridor improvements that should come out of gas tax collected statewide.
Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, has introduced a pair of bills that would require DOT to get legislative approval before spending any more money on capital improvements or preservation work, such as repaving or painting, on the bridge and to prohibit the agency from using toll money to pay for staff expenses such as travel, meals and cell phone use.

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Maybe that headline overstates what the state Public Disclosure Commission actually did earlier this month.

The PDC said the woman who lodged a complaint against then-candidate, now-state Rep. Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup, a month before the November 2008 election did not back up her claim. So the PDC dismissed the complaint.

Lindsey Grad claimed Dammeier was getting a below-market rate on the cost of his campaign literature from Print NW, a company in which Dammeier has a 14 percent ownership interest. Grad claimed that printing amounted to an in-kind campaign contribution in excess of the $800 contribution limit, and that Dammeier didn't report it.

The PDC contacted a Tumwater printing company and found that Print NW actually charged between 5 and 15 percent more than what Dammeier's own print shop charged him for some work, and 15 percent less for door hangers.

"In summary, no evidence was provided by Ms. Grad or found during the investigation that Print NW rendered services to the 2008 Bruce Dammeier campaign in the form of printed political advertisements or other services for less than the fair market value," the PDC ruled. "As such, contribution limits are not implicated by this activity."

This is one reason I don't pay much attention to allegations of campaign abuses. They are so easy to make. And so seldom proved. Mostly, they are designed to splash some mud on a candidate and raise some doubts.

Dammeier defeated Democrat Rob Cerqui, a Fife councilman, in the election.

Here is the PDC ruling.

And here is Dammeier's take on what happened.

Frivolous campaign complaint against Dammeier dismissed by Public Disclosure Commission

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