The state Labor Council says now that they've been cleared of any criminal wrong-doing, Democratic leaders in the Legislature should bring the Worker Privacy Act up for a vote. (See several earlier posts on this issue below, and read the entire infamous e-mail yourself here).

And Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington, said after reading the e-mail in which a Boeing lobbyist gives the governor's office a list of representatives who plan to vote "yes" and "no" on the bill, suggests that Democratic leadership has too much power over what the caucus votes on.

"We should have a caucus discussion about this," Simpson wrote in an e-mail to his 61 fellow House Democrats. "I propose that vote counts no longer be confidential and privy only to leadership and am open to other ways to strengthen our democracy – here in Olympia, where it should matter the most."

Here are the latest chapters in the Neverending Saga. First Labor; then Simpson.

We ask for a moment of truth

Gregoire, Chopp and Brown:
Allow a vote on the Worker Privacy Act

OLYMPIA -- Last week, Gov. Chris Gregoire, House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown made a choice.

The state's three most powerful Democratic lawmakers decided to suspend consideration of the Worker Privacy Act (SB 5446 and HB 1528), organized labor's top priority legislation for 2009. Their decision prevented the people of Washington from knowing where their elected representatives stand on this important workers' rights legislation.

=> Read more!

The Pierce County Council is preparing to cut deeper and rely less on fund balances to fill an $8 million budget hole.

At a hearing this morning, the council unanimously approved a measure that will cut $6.1 million in spending to help balance the budget – $800,000 more than County Executive Pat McCarthy recently proposed to cut.

The council’s plan would cut deeper in human resources, the sheriff’s department, the corrections bureau and other departments. The council would cut less than McCarthy in several departments, including the prosecuting attorney, assessor-treasurer and superior court.

It was unclear whether the plan would result in any layoffs. Council members said the move would not cut existing sheriff’s deputies or corrections officers.

Still, Councilman Tim Farrell, D-Tacoma, acknowledged the cuts will be painful.

“I hate this budget,” Farrell said. “But I’m going to vote for it. And I’m going to stand by every decision in it.”

=> Read more!

The governor announced this a few weeks ago, but I didn't realize it was going to happen this quickly. Drivers are being diverted to Puyallup, Kent and Federal Way offices instead.

Auburn Driver Licensing Office Closing Permanently

Auburn—South King County residents are advised the Auburn Driver Licensing Service Office (LSO), 3310 Auburn Way North, Suite H, Auburn, is closing permanently.

The last day of service at the Auburn LSO will be Friday, March 27, 2009, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The office closure is part of Governor Chris Gregoire’s plan to reinvent government services. As part of this plan, DOL will consolidate 25 driver licensing offices around the state and offer more online and self-service options.

=> Read more!

Pierce County Councilman Tim Farrell, who had been considering a run for Tacoma mayor, confirmed today that he has decided not to enter the race.

I ran into Farrell at the new Blackwater coffee shop across from City Hall. He said his phone had been ringing with supporters since Tacoma City Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland announced yesterday that she is running for the mayor's seat.

Farrell said he's breaking the news to his fans that he's throwing his support behind Strickland.

Careful readers of Strickland's two-page press release would have noticed Farrell's name among the list of Strickland's endorsements.

Political junkies and just plain concerned citizens (which these days should include about everyone) are invited to The News Tribune Thursday evening for what should be a lively discussion of the 2009 legislative session.

Our own Peter Callaghan will moderate a panel of local legislative leaders from both sides of the aisle: Sen. Debbie Regala, D-Tacoma, Rep. Skip Priest, R-Federal Way, and Rep. Dawn Morrell, D-Puyallup. Fresh on the heels of tomorrow's revenue forecast, expect Callaghan to press the panel on how they will balance the budget, whether they will go for a tax increase and other key issues of the session.

The free event starts at 6:30 p.m. at The News Tribune, 1950 S. State St.
I hope to see you here.

The Worker Privacy saga continues....

I frankly don't know what to make of this. Clearly, Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, who I believe is not seeking reelection in 2010, is taking a shot across the bow of The Boeing Co. How much is jest and how much is real is what I can't figure out.

Responding to recently publicized concerns about the undue influence of lobbying upon legislative decision-making, Representative Brendan Williams (D., Olympia) has introduced House Bill 2316 (placing restrictions on lobbying) – which would add to existing legal limitations upon lobbyists clear direction that a forbidden practice would be to “[t]hreaten any legislator, or any government official, with the relocation of manufacturing jobs, including, but not limited to, jobs involving commercial airplane manufacturing, based upon the outcome of any pending or proposed legislation.”

Stated Williams: “We must clarify the rules. The recurring subtext to the recent debate over worker privacy was whether a major manufacturer would relocate jobs if not permitted to browbeat workers in captive audience meetings about their political and religious views. Let’s keep debate over bills strictly on the merits.”

Rep. Brendan W. Williams
22nd Legislative District

A follow-up from Williams: He said the bill is still in Code Reviser, so copies are not yet available, and he added,

If it’s evidently forbidden for labor unions to state that they will not contribute to those opposing labor priorities – a decision entirely within the First Amendment discretion of those unions – surely it should be expressly forbidden to actually threaten, as a means of influencing legislative outcomes, the relocation of taxpayer-subsidized manufacturing jobs.

First, I have to acknowledge the valuable contribution by Curt Woodward, Associated Press reporter, who requested the exchange of e-mails between the governor's office and others about the Worker Privacy bill, which was killed by Gov. Chris Gregoire, House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown.

The rest of the press corps merely piggybacked on Curt's request. I singled out this particular e-mail because the Boeing lobbyist was telling the governor's main Boeing liaison that the Worker Privacy Bill, which was being pushed by Labor, was on the verge of winning approval by the Legislature. That was gonna be bad news for Boeing.

UPDATE: A reader suggests that I point out what could have happened if Brown and Chopp had NOT killed the bill. If they passed it and the Labor Council e-mail came out later, they would have been open to criticism that they caved in to threats from Labor and they just passed the bill to keep the campaign contributions flowing from Labor into Democratic political action committees warchests. Consequently, they were justified in killing it because THAT would have looked bad. (Fair enough?)

This e-mail shows part of the head count that Boeing had done. Some of the "yes" votes were reluctant, according to Boeing. He's also saying the governor has to get off her butt and do something.

"The Governor cannot sit by and wait for this stuff to go away on it's
own. It will not," Boeing lobbyist Trent House said.

Lucky for House, a copy of a Labor Council strategy e-mail was CC'ed to four legislators and that provided the cover for Brown, Chopp and Gregoire to kill the bill.

Here is cast of characters:
The part of the Boeing lobbyist is played by Trent House.
The governor's advisor on all things Boeing: Bill McSherry

Two more notes: The bill would have let employees walk out of management meetings that bad-mouthed labor unions or hit workers up for United Way contributions, etc.

All the last names listed in House's head count are state Representatives.

-----Original Message-----
From: House, Trent M .M.House@boeing.com>
To: Bill McSherry
Sent: Fri Mar 06 23:29:15 2009
Subject: Vote count on HB 1528 - Worker Privacy

Bill,

I have been counting votes and the reality is grim.

=> Read more!

State Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, is looking at the state law which the state Public Disclosure Commission will be looking at after the State Patrol forcibly handed off the whole "e-mail" case to the elections watchdog agency.

If you'll recall, the State Patrol announced yesterday it couldn't find a state law that was violated by the e-mail the was CC'ed to four legislators, an e-mail in which the Labor Council laid out its strategy for lobbying the Worker Privacy Bill.

I'm posting Williams' e-mail because he cites the same civil statute that PDC executive director Vicki Rippie mentioned yesterday when I asked her if the PDC had requested the material from the WSP. (It did not, she said, contrary to what the State Patrol said.)

As Williams notes, that statutes prohibits lobbyists from exercising "any undue influence, extortion, or unlawful retaliation upon any legislator by reason of such legislator's position with respect to, or his vote upon, any pending or proposed legislation."

You be the judge. I'm not gonna repeat the whole story here, especially when I can just provide a link to past coverage.

From: Williams, Rep. Brendan [mailto:Williams.Brendan@leg.wa.gov]
Sent: Tue 3/17/2009 6:04 PM
To: Turner, Joe - Tacoma
Subject: E-mail-gate

The only arguably relevant provision of state law I can find is chapter 42.17.230(2)(e), which prohibits lobbyists from exercising "any undue influence, extortion, or unlawful retaliation upon any legislator by reason of such legislator's position with respect to, or his vote upon, any pending or proposed legislation." I'm not aware of this ambiguous statement - surely the most violated, at least in spirit, provision of state law (read any edition of BIAW's Building Insight) - being tested in court.

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Karen Cooper has been in charge of NARAL forever. (No offense, Karen.) But in the following e-mail news release, she introduces her successor, Lauren B. Simonds.

Simonds will take over in May.

Cooper actually has been NARAL's executive director for 15 years, which passes as "forever" in this rapidly changing world.

I would like to give you an update on my upcoming retirement and our successful search for a new executive director. We are also making a formal announcement today, but I wanted to let you know personally that NARAL has found and hired an outstanding person to take over when I leave in May.

I am pleased to inform you that our Board of Directors has selected Lauren B. Simonds, M.S.W. (pictured) to replace me as NARAL Pro-Choice Washington's executive director. Lauren is currently the executive director of the Seattle Section of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), a position she has held since 2003.

She has a strong history of leadership and involvement in reproductive rights; NCJW is a key participant in the Washington Alliance for Reproductive Choice, and prior to her work there she served as a clinic manager at Planned Parenthood of Western Washington and at Cedar River Clinics.

=> Read more!

The Pierce County Council plans to investigate the Assessor-Treasurer’s Office to determine whether it has the resources needed to physically inspect properties as required by state law.

The council next Tuesday will consider a measure directing its performance audit staff to review the department. The news comes a week after Assessor-Treasurer Dale Washam announced that the office skipped tens of thousands of property inspections under his predecessor, Ken Madsen.

“On behalf of everyone who pays property taxes, the most important thing we can do right now is get to the bottom of this,” council Chairman Roger Bush, R-Graham, said in a statement announcing the audit. “People have to know that they – and their neighbors – are paying no more than their fair share.”

Most years the assessor’s office uses real estate sales records and other information to calculate property values for the purposes of assessing taxes. But state law requires local assessors to physically inspect properties at least once every six years. The inspections can help catch major improvements or deterioration that can affect property values.

Last week Madsen said the office did not conduct “boots on the ground” inspections of every property, but used statistical methods to assess property values.

=> Read more!