The League of Women Voters of Washington is holding its annual convention in downtown Tacoma this weekend, and using the opportunity to highlight area institutions.

The theme of this year’s event is “Reflections on Democracy” to tie in with the glass-art decor of The Hotel Murano, headquarters for the convention, and the Museum of Glass. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell is scheduled to give the keynote address Friday.

On Saturday evening, members will hold their annual Good In Government Awards Gala at the Washington State History Museum. The award “recognizes individuals and organizations who have made outstanding contributions toward achieving good government,” according to a press release. Award recipients include Tacoma state Sen. Rosa Franklin, The Korean Women’s Association and The News Tribune.

Here is press release with more on the awards:

=> Read more!

The Tacoma Retirement Board, which oversees city pensions, voted to oust Patrica Pabst from her post as director last Thursday citing a desire for a "new direction."

Update: I just got off the phone with Mayor Bill Baarsma, who is also the chairman of the Board. He said there were issues apart from the management of the fund that the board was concerned by. They discussed the matter for 10-15 hours total; six members of the nine-person board voted to let Pabst go, two wanted more time and one abstained, he said.

Tacoma's retirement portfolio declined nearly 34 percent through the end of November, the News Tribune reported in January. (And certainly the city isn't alone in that; similar hits were taken around the country.)

City spokesman Rob McNair-Huff said he didn't have specifics about the reason(s) behind Pabst's departure. I left message for Pabst, who has been with the city for 26 years, at her home.

Here's the press release he sent out:

Retirement board recommends removal of retirement director
The Tacoma Retirement Board has made a recommendation to the Tacoma City Council to remove Patricia Pabst from her post as Retirement Director.

Jodie Trueblood, who has served the City as the manager of the Tax and License Division, will serve as interim retirement director, pending approval of the City Council at its next meeting on June 2, 2009.

“The board has decided, through the course of its regular performance evaluation, that it is time to take a new direction with the leadership of our retirement system,” said Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma, who also serves as chair of the Tacoma Retirement Board. “Jodie Trueblood is well qualified to lead the retirement system as the interim director, and pending City Council approval, we will begin a search for a new permanent director.”

Pabst has worked for the City of Tacoma for 26 years.

Yesterday I blogged (ahead of an upcoming story) about some of the emotionally difficult calls Pierce County 911 operators field. Today I present the flip side of that coin -- which comes to us from the distant Andromeda galaxy.

Another piece that got lost in the transition between City Hall reporters was this announcement by Tacoma MetroParks Commissioner Larry Dahl that he's running for the seat again:

A lifelong resident of Tacoma’s South End, Dahl has resided in the Wapato neighborhood for nearly forty years. Dahl is married to wife, Linda. They have two grown children and five grandchildren.

Dahl is a 39-year Municipal employee for the City of Auburn’s Engineering Division. He is an Air Force Veteran. Dahl has been active in the Tacoma Community for the past twenty five years, serving on numerous boards or committees, both public and private. Prior to his current term on the Metro Parks Board of Commissioners, Dahl served on the Park Board of Commissioners from 1996 to 2001 and has served on the Tacoma City Council. He is a past President of the Metro Parks Foundation..

=> Read more!

After eight years, the reign of Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma is coming to a close. What's that you say? He's got a half a year left -- equivalent to an eighth of his term or 3.5 dog years?

No matter. Election season is upon us!

The Hillside Development Council will be holding a forum for mayoral candidates at 9 a.m. tomorrow. I'll be there and will let you know how the race is shaping up.

From Les Blumenthal in our D.C. bureau:

WASHINGTON - Calling her "unquestionably qualified," Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray said Tuesday in nominating Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court President Barak Obama picked someone who was an "unparalleled example of the true spirit and determination of the American dream."

In a statement, Murray lavished praise on the federal appeals court judge, though she didn't come right out and endorse the nomination. Murray, as she has with previous Supreme Court nominees, said she wants to wait and listen before making a final decision.

"I will evaluate Judge Sotomayor's nomination based on the same standards I use for all judicial appointments," Murray said. "Is she ethical, honest and qualified? Will she be evenhanded, fair and independent and will she uphold our rights and liberties?

"I want to know that when an individual comes before the court, that he or she will receive a fair hearing and that justice will be rendered according to the law."

Washington state's other senator, Democrat Maria Cantwell, also praised Sotomayor.

=> Read more!

Over the past couple of weeks I've blogged and written about the findings of a recent performance audit of Pierce County's major 911 center, the Law Enforcement Support Agency (or LESA).

The audit found the agency was understaffed and underfunded, and raised questions about the center's ability to handle big emergencies on top of an already heavy load.

How heavy? Here are a few stats that jumped out at me:

* LESA call takers handle more than twice as many calls per year than the state average -- the state average was 9,526 calls per call taker, in Pierce County it was 22,764.
* They're budgeted for 34 call taker positions and the audit (based on national standards) recommends 44.
* During the peak week of the busy summer season last year, call takers each averaged 14 hours of overtime.
* Due to a big budget shortfall, the agency is girding for a second round of layoffs this summer and director Tom Orr said this time he won't totally be able to protect the call center.

But I also wanted to find out more about the people represented by those statistics. Last week, I got to "double plug" with veteran call taker Dave Lovrak and I'll have a more detailed story out sometime soon.

One thing I wanted to show was the emotional charge of the job. The video below is the first two minutes of a 911 call from a 10-year-old girl during a domestic disturbance. (No one was hurt, thankfully. I edited out name and address info.)

At least, I think he has.

I've gotten e-mails forwarded from a couple folks but none directly from Dick Muri himself.

There's also a post on RedCounty.

That means Muri probably would be running in the Republican primary against state Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy, who announced a couple months ago he is running for the 9th Congressional District seat held by U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Tacoma.

Smith passed up an Obama administration appointment to stay in Congress.

From: dickmuri2010@aol.com
To: dickmuri2010@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2009 11:11 PM
Subject: Pierce County Councilmember Dick Muri announces his candidacy for congress, 9th

Pierce County Councilmember Dick Muri announces his candidacy for the congress, 9th District. Muri, a retired USAF Lt Colonel, will continue his decades long advocacy for a balanced budget amendment to our nation’s constitution. Congress for too long has not had the internal mechanisms to say no to interest groups' insatiable appetite for more taxes or even worse, more borrowing to be paid later by future generations. The concept of independent states served by a limited federal government, as envisioned by our nation’s founders, has been increasingly ignored. We are now suffering the consequences. The unprecedented increase of deficit and debt these past ten years, and the credit card mentality of our current congress, is considered by many to be "generational theft".

For more information about Dick Muri's campaign for congress, visit www.dickmuri.com, contact DickMuri2010@aol.com or call 253-581-5609.

As a means of celebrating last week's signing of House Bill 2261, education reform advocates met for a town hall session titled "Now What?" The keynote speaker was Education Trust president Kati Haycock who presented some disturbing but compelling statistics on national and state schools.

I write about the numbers Tuesday in the print edition and on thenewstribune.com. If you want to look at Haycock's Powerpoint slides, they're here.

Another article on her presentation in Crosscut.com by former Seattle School Board member Dick Lilly is here.

Gov. Chris Gregoire wasn't too happy with her Democratic colleagues at the end of the session in April when they failed to pass the climate change bill, Senate Bill 5735. So she issued an executive order last week.

This memo from a House Democratic staffer to House members and staff explains what the governor is doing. Not sure how the governor can rewrite a legislative budget without using her veto. She's "reprioritizing" what spending is there, or so she says.

Also, the business about TransAlta agreeing with the state Department of Ecology to burn less coal and more biomass might be wishful thinking.

From: Fleckenstein, Mary
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 1:02 PM
To: @HDC Members
Cc: @HDC Caucus Staff; @HDC LA's
Subject: Climate change executive order


Yesterday the Governor signed an executive order (E. O) relating to climate change. The EO is attached. It addresses many of the provisions in the proposed final striking amendment to SB 5735 and goes a bit further. As you may recall, SB 5735 was not adopted by the legislature. The E.O. does not specifically call out legislative participation, but the Governor has said she welcomes legislative involvement.

=> Read more!

The fatal accident happened early this morning in Parkland. The Washington State Patrol sent out this news release.

One man dead in roll-over collision on State Route 7

Pierce Co-On 5-24-09 at 3:35 AM, State Troopers responded to a one vehicle roll-over collision on State Route 7 near State Route 512. Upon arrival Troopers observed a heavily damaged 2003 Jeep Cherokee still running on top of some cars parked in a car lot.

The Jeep was driven by 33 year-old Anthony T. McDonald of Renton. McDonald was driving northbound on SR 7 approaching SR 512 at a high rate of speed. The Jeep left the roadway, rolled over, and came to rest on top of some cars parked at the Parkland Chevrolet dealership.

Tragically McDonald was ejected form the vehicle and was pronounced deceased by medical personnel at the collision scene.

Troopers are currently investigating the circumstances around this collision and it is unknown at this time if alcohol and/or drugs were involved. There’s a large amount of property damage involved with this collision and State Troopers will be on scene investigating for several hours.

And the state Department of Transportation says northbound lanes of Pacific Avenue are blocked, so traffic is being rerouted onto 112th Street.

WSDOT Alert - Update

DATE/TIME: May 24, 2009, 6:35 a.m.
DESCRIPTION: A serious-injury rollover collision blocks the northbound lanes of SR 7. Northbound traffic is being diverted off SR 7 at 112th Street East.
LOCATION: Northbound SR 7, at milepost 52, Tacoma, Pierce County
START: May 24, 2009, 3:45 a.m.
Est. END: Unknown
OTHER: Please contact Washington State Patrol for further details. WSP is on scene conducting an investigation. Updates will be provided as the situation changes.
CONTACT: Emily Pace, WSDOT Communications, 360-507-1854

DISCLAIMER: The Washington State Department of Transportation provides this information as a public service. It is based on currently available information. Motorists are reminded that weather and road conditions can change rapidly and should plan accordingly. For current traveler information, please visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic or call 5-1-1

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Beverly Grant has officially dismissed a lawsuit seeking the ouster of County Auditor Jan Shabro.

In a brief hearing Thursday, Grant dismissed a suit brought by Pierce County Democratic Party Chairman Nathe Lawver. The move made official Grant’s ruling against Lawver earlier this month.

Lawver claimed the County Council illegally appointed Shabro – a Republican – to the auditor’s post in January. Lawver contended the council should have selected from among three candidates for the job recommended by the Democratic Party.

Under the county charter, the council is bound to fill vacant partisan offices by selecting from among nominees submitted the party of the person vacating the post. Shabro’s predecessor – Pat McCarthy – was twice elected as a Democrat.

However, in 2007 voters approved a charter amendment making the auditor a nonpartisan position.

In her recent ruling against Lawver, Grant appeared suggest the council didn’t have the authority to replace McCarthy at all – something neither Lawver nor the county’s attorney argued in court.

Lawver said Friday he would not appeal Grant’s ruling. But he said “there’s still kind of an air of suspicion” around the council’s appointment of Shabro.

Grant’s decision doesn’t end the legal wrangling over Shabro’s appointment. Local resident Ron Lopp still has a lawsuit pending over her appointment.

Shabro is seeking to fill the remainder of McCarthy’s term in a special election this November. The post will be up for election again in 2010, when McCarthy’s term would have expired.

The Pierce County Planning Department will close its development center (where you get building permits, etc.) on Tuesday because of employee furloughs. Read the press release below. For more information – future closure dates – click here.

May 22, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Pierce County Planning and Land Services Department (PALS) will close its development center for the day on Tuesday, May 26, due to an employee furlough.

The one-day closure is the second in a series of nine closures spread through the rest of the year as a result of budget constraints. In some cases, including Tuesday's, the closures are timed to coincide with holiday weekends, which are traditionally slow periods for the development center.

The Development Center is located in the Pierce County Annex, 2401 S. 35th St., Tacoma. Other services in the Annex will be available on these dates, including those provided by the County Auditor and the County Assessor-Treasurer.

More information, including the rest of the closure dates, is available on the PALS web page, http://www.piercecountywa.org/pc/services/home/property/pals/palsmain.htm.

Contact: Chuck Kleeberg, Planning and Land Services director, 253-798-3130; or Hunter George, Communications Department director, 253-798-6606 or hgeorge@co.pierce.wa.us.
Find more Pierce County news at www.piercecountywa.org or follow us at twitter.com/pierceco .

I've blogged quite a bit in the last couple weeks about the Portlandification of Tacoma, to coin a phrase. That is, things the city is doing to be more green, more hip, more modern. I'm talking about things like bike commuting, Complete Streets and mixed-use design.

I sat in on a presentation by City Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg on Tuesday about her recent trip to Portland, where she and other city leaders got to look at some of the progressive ideas that might be incorporated into the City of Destiny (a.k.a Grit City). They include green roofing, rain gardens, stormwater recycling, zero-impact zones.

But after the jump you can see how the really hardcore folks are already taking "green" to the next level.

=> Read more!

Just got a phone call from a woman, a consultant-type, who is working for the LeMay Automobile Museum. She saw the story I wrote about LeMay's presentation to the Tacoma City Council last week, and wanted to know my opinion about the museum. When it became clear that I was going to pass her along to business reporter C.R. Roberts and columnist Dan Voelpel, she asked what opinions I had heard from the man-on-the-street. Again I demurred.

Professionally, it would be what the Buddhists call "un-skillful" to have such opinions.

The LeMay saga started long before I was a reporter here and has been covered in much more depth by business and city hall reporters before I started filling in on the beat a few short weeks ago.

And while I don't have opinions, I certainly have questions (as did the members of the City Council at the meeting):

* How many city-owned parking spaces will be lost during construction, when/how will they be replaced and what will be the impact on traffic/parking in the meantime?

* How much money does the museum need to make from leasing retail space (on land donated by the city) in order to break even or make a profit?

* What are the attendance projections of half a million visitors per year – nearly triple that of the Museum of Glass – based on?

And so on...

But in light of my phone call, I wanted to throw it open to you, dear readers – what questions or opinions do you have for the phone lady?

For those who couldn't attend yesterday's Tacoma City Council study session, here's a copy of the U.S. Amateur slideshow (in .pdf format).

Jim King Jr. gives his take on how state parks fared in the final budget, after Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed a couple things.

As he notes, that initial list of parks that The Guv wanted to transfer to others remains in play.

Folks:

The work of the 2009 legislative session came to an end yesterday with Governor Gregoire's action on the operating budget and the few remaining bills on her desk.

There were two partial vetoes in the State Parks portion of the operating budget- one regarding moving forward on transfers of state parks, the other regarding a bill that would have provided as much as another $1.5 million for State Parks from leases for telecommunication towers on parklands.

The latter- SHB 2109- never made it out of the House Rules committee, where it had languished from March 2nd until the session adjourned on April 26th. Why it was included in the budget when it wasn't moving- and there was no apparent intent to move it- remains a mystery. The failure to pass the bill lowers the State Parks budget by that $1.5 million.

The final budget for State Parks for 2009-11 is thus $151,981,000, up from $149,908,000 (estimated) for 2007-09, and from a maintenance level (what it would take to run programs at current levels) of $151,201,000. That is a reduction in general fund support of 52.6%- from $98,104,000 down to $46,485,000. The difference is made up from diversions from outdoor recreation capital programs ($19.4 million), car-tab fees ($23 million), and other increased revenues (from camping and the like).

If all revenues emerge, this budget will keep all state parks open. There is little room for shortfalls to be accomodated. A poor camping season- due to a wet summer, for instance- could cause a shortfall. A shortage in anticipated car tab revenue could be disastrous.

=> Read more!

Here's the long and short of it for Referendum 71, the challenge being mounted to the expansion of rights in domestic partnerships:

BALLOT TITLE

Statement of Subject: The legislature passed Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5688 concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners [and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill].

Concise Description: This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage.

Should this bill be:
Approved ___
Rejected ___

David Ammons at the Secretary of State's office sent us an update on the timeline for challenges, etc.

=> Read more!

Scott Noble will be sentenced on June 19. Conviction of a felony means he has to resign, too.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2009

King County Assessor enters guilty plea

SEATTLE—Today in King County Superior Court, King County Assessor Russell Scott Noble pled guilty to one count of felony vehicular assault under the driving under the influence (DUI) prong. Sentencing has been set for 1 p.m. on June 19 in Superior Court Judge Michael J. Fox’s courtroom, E-815.

The Attorney General’s Office, represented by Assistant Attorney General Melanie Tratnik, on March 6 charged Noble with two counts of vehicular assault, one for each victim in a wrong-way drunken driving accident on Jan. 18. Today the state amended its filings to reflect Noble’s plea.

“Throughout this negotiation, the attorney general’s office insisted on two things: First that Mr. Noble would be charged with a felony and second that he would serve jail time,” said Attorney General Rob McKenna. “He caused a terrible accident that easily could have killed himself and the two victims in the other car. His guilty plea to felony vehicular assault guarantees he will spend several months in jail which is appropriate given the seriousness of this offense.”

The standard sentencing range is three to nine months in jail and the Attorney General’s Office is recommending the maximum.

Per state law governing elected officials convicted of felony crimes, Noble will forfeit his office and will not be eligible for public office in the future.

No picture, but here's audio of Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma waxing alliteratively about the farmer's market at last night's City Council meeting.

Hotel rooms in much of Pierce County would cost 50 cents to $1.50 more per night under a proposal to raise money to promote tourism and conventions.

The Pierce County Council next month will hold a public hearing on a request by local hotel owners to impose the new charges. If approved, hotel charges would raise an estimated $1.1 million to $2.7 million annually for tourism promotion.

Local hotel owners have presented the county with a petition requesting the creation of a “tourism promotion area” where the higher fees would be imposed. The area includes unincorporated Pierce County and the cities of Tacoma, DuPont, Fife, Gig Harbor, Lakewood, Sumner and Puyallup. Other cities would not be included.

Under the proposal submitted by hotel owners, the new room charges would vary, ranging from $1.50 a night in Tacoma to 50 cents a night in the county. The charge would apply only to lodging facilities with 40 or more rooms.

The proceeds would help pay for general tourism promotion, marketing of convention and trade shows, marketing Pierce County to the travel industry and recruiting sports events to the area.

“Tourism protection areas” are authorized under state law. Spokane County, Clark County, the Tri-Cities and the City of Yakima already have created such areas. Local hotel owners told the Pierce County Council Tuesday that puts this area at a disadvantage when it comes to attracting tourist dollars.

“We are quickly losing ground to the competition,” Mike Gommi, general manager of the Courtyard by Marriott in Tacoma, told the council.

The hotel group already has the support of representatives of lodging businesses that would pay more than 60 percent of the new charges – the minimum threshold required to establish a tourism protection area under state law.

The County Council will have the final say about whether to establish the area and new charges. The county also would have to negotiate agreements with the cities included in the tourism protection area.

Want more information? Below is a memo on the subject prepared by Hugh Taylor, a senior legislative analyst for the County Council.

MEMORANDUM

TO: Councilmembers

FROM: Hugh Taylor, Senior Legislative Analyst

DATE: May 14, 2009

SUBJECT: Tourism Promotion Areas

This memorandum provides general information regarding Tourism Promotion Areas (TPA) and the steps involved in establishing such areas. This information is intended to assist Councilmembers in their review and deliberations related to Resolution R2009-32, which provides a notice of intent to form a Tourism Promotion Area covering several of Pierce County’s cities and towns and the unincorporated area.

=> Read more!

As lotteries all over the nation struggle to increase sales to help fill budget shortfalls, they are looking out for new and exciting games.

Perhaps they are missing a bet by just giving away money. The national Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has launched another raffle to raise money for campaigns. The prize? A dinner with D.C. bigwigs and a photo session with the President of the United States himself.

All this for the low, introductory price of just $5. And just as with the lottery, your odds increase the more often you play. It's not a night in the Lincoln Bedroom but what do you want for five bucks.

How does meeting President Obama sound? Save the date. Because on June 18, you and a friend could be attending a dinner and having your picture taken with the president!

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is hosting a dinner to celebrate President Obama's plans to bring needed change to our country, and excitement about the evening is growing. We'd like you to be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime event.

Entering for your chance to win is easy. When you make a donation to the DSCC - the only branch of the Democratic Party solely dedicated to expanding the Democratic majority in the Senate - you will be automatically entered into a contest to win a trip to Washington, D.C., to attend our special dinner. We'll pay for airfare and a hotel. All you'll have to do is decide which friend you would like to bring along and start packing!

On May 8 the national ethics committee of the Society of Professional Journalists took issue with a new technique to judge media ethics – an online poll.

The poll was conducted by the Washington News Council, a self-appointed media watchdog group that receives complaints about TV, newspaper and radio news reports and sometimes hold hearings to decide whether the media acted properly.

The News Council used an online poll to determine whether KIRO TV acted ethically in reporting on Washington voting irregularities.

The Washington Secretary of State had complained to the News Council, a self-appointed watchdog group, about KIRO's pieces on voter registration irregularities. KIRO declined to take part.

"A hearing can be worthwhile if all parties voluntarily participate and work toward a common understanding," the SPJ said in a news release. "The committee strongly objects to having a public online vote, or virtual hearing, on journalism ethics.

“The news council is wrong to emulate the ‘American Idol’ model of voting for a ‘winner,’” said Andy Schotz, chairman of SPJ’s Ethics Committee. “Gimmickry is a major step backward if the council wants to appear professional and credible.

Here is the News Council's detailed response to the SPJ statement.

Pierce County Council Chairman Roger Bush, R-Graham, isn’t the most dynamic public speaker. At one point during yesterday’s council meeting the soft-spoken Bush had to be prompted to speak up so his fellow council members could hear him.

But put the right words in someone’s mouth and perhaps anyone can become an orator for the ages. So it was yesterday when Bush read a resolution encouraging residents to visit neighborhood farmers markets. The resolution’s purple prose seemed to inspire Bush, who read it straight but forcefully. An excerpt:

“Whereas, as we start the farmers market season we are reminded of the sumptuous strawberries, bodacious berries, charming cherries, fragrant flowers, appealing apples, ravishing rhubarb, luscious lettuce, radiant radishes and bountiful baked goods that we haven’t seen since the markets closed last fall; and

“Whereas, school cannot end, summer cannot start, temperatures cannot rise, smiles cannot return to the faces of our fair County until the farmers markets reopen…”

You get the idea. The colorful language prompted a few chuckles from the audience. And Bush may have discovered a hidden talent. Can’t wait for Geoduck Appreciation Week.

This is a full service blog -- vital statistics, weddings, engagements.

Of note here: Rep. Jaime Herrera met her now fiance Daniel Beutler (pronounced "Butler") while both were working for Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers in Washington, D.C.

May 19, 2009 – State Representative Jaime Herrera and Daniel Beutler proudly announce their engagement. Jaime is the daughter of Armando and Candice Herrera of Ridgefield, Washington, and Daniel is the son of Paul and Patti Beutler of Salem, Oregon.

Daniel proposed Sunday, May 17, near the summit of Hamilton Mountain on the Columbia River Gorge after having dated Jaime for three years.

Jaime, 30, said that a date and location was close to finalization, and the wedding would occur this fall. “We are very happy and blessed, and we look forward to a long and joyful life together,” she said.

Jaime is a graduate of the University of Washington, with a degree in Communications, and Prairie High School. She is serving her second term representing the 18th Legislative District in the Washington State House of Representatives. Jaime is Deputy Floor Leader for the House Republican Caucus.

Daniel is a native of the Pratum, Oregon area. He is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University, with a degree in Political Science, and Silverton Union High School. He currently works at SeaPort Airlines as Lead Dispatcher. Daniel plans to attend Lewis & Clark School of Law in Portland beginning in the fall of 2010.

The couple met when both worked in U.S. Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ office in Washington, D.C.

How about nixing the 'pony wall'?

That's what Tacoma City Councilman Mike Lonergan told City Manager Eric Anderson during a Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday.

He was referring to a short wall with several gates that is part of a $30,000 upgrade to the Council Chambers.

"The fence and the gate are really bothersome to me," he said, adding that it made the wrong kind of statement by separating the elected officials and staff from the public.

"Every courtroom has it," Mayor Bill Baarsma said.

"They wear robes," Lonergan retorted.

Other Council members seemed to agree it wasn't necessary and Anderson noted it would be cheaper not to build it.

Lonergan was supportive, however, of moving the speaker's podium from the side of the chambers to the center.

Both of these come from Tuesday's Tacoma City Council Committee of the Whole meeting:

"I think he caught her after he caught me."

"Is that your finger?"

Here's what happened at the Tacoma City Council meeting tonight:

*The consent agenda adopting various meeting minutes and a couple of land-use items passed unanimously.

*There was one public comment from a Puget Sound Energy representative praising the Right-of-Way restoration policy. (Robert "The Traveller" Hill was a no-show, apparently having found better things to do with his first night of freedom in more than three months than to speak at the meeting.)

*The Council unanimously passed a purchasing resolution that extends a contract with Bill's Towing until July 31 while a new contract is bid; provides for phone service for the city; and authorizes $3 million in repairs to the trestle over the Niqually river that will allow Tacoma Rail (hopefully) to regain a lost customer and re-open the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad depot in Elbe.

I previewed this action earlier in the week. Most of the repairs are being paid for by the state and federal governments.

=> Read more!

That quote was uttered by Tacoma City Councilman Mike Lonergan during a Committee of the Whole Meeting Tuesday in reference to a spat that's brewing involving the city, Pierce County and the Port.

Here's the 10-second summary. Tacoma thinks Pierce County is jumping the gun in amending its Comprehensive Plan to allow expansion of warehouse and freight facilities into rural areas beyond the Urban Growth Boundary. Apparently the Port is arguing that this is necessary because cities are putting up barriers to such facilities. Wait a second, Tacoma says, no one talked to us; there hasn't been any collaboration.

I think county reporter Dave Wickert is already working on at least the county piece of the story, so I'm going to leave the nitty gritty details in his capable hands.

But I decided to note it here since a draft letter from Tacoma to the Pierce County Council was handed out during the subcommittee meeting.

At today's Tacoma City Council Committee of the Whole meeting members heard from the United Steel Workers union and reviewed a proposed resolution conveying a desire to spend federal economic stimulus money on materials, goods and services produced right here in the land of the brave, the home of the free.

And while the council members seemed generally supportive of the idea, there were a few catches:

1) Quite a bit of international business comes through the Port and such a measure could actually hurt/anger some local businesses.

2) The city does not currently require and is not administratively set up for tracking the origin of products used by vendors -- or even most of the products used by the city itself.

3) The city must award contracts to the lowest responsive bidder under state law.

These and a few other caveats were spelled out in a memo from Assistant City Manager Tansy Hayward. (By following the link you can also see a copy of the proposed language and a similar resolution that was adopted by Sumner.)

=> Read more!

A key part of the coalition that pushed for passage of the basic education reform bill walked away nearly empty handed. That's because Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed a section that would have included early childhood education within the definition of basic education.

Below is the press release from the Children's Alliance that had celebrated passage of House Bill 2261. Included are comments from two of the prime sponsors of the big reform bill – Reps. Pat Sullivan and Skip Priest. Both showed up for the bill signing today but after being told of the veto chose not to stand behind Gregoire for the signing.

Gregoire said she didn't like that the bill included early learning only for at-risk kids. She wants the Legislature to work to include a broader program for all students, regardless of economic means.

Here's the release

=> Read more!

Pierce County’s Chambers Bay golf course will need to raise $600,000 in corporate sponsorships in order to break even on the 2010 U.S. Amateur, officials told the Tacoma City Council at a study session Tuesday.

Fundraising has just begun and the publicly financed University Place course only has a couple of commitments so far, general manager Matt Allen told The News Tribune.

That amount “frankly would be on the high end of what other Amateurs have been able to raise, but so far we’re optimistic about our abilities to do that,” he told the council.

In the down economy, Chambers Bay has been profitable, but just barely. In 2008, it saw a shortfall in golf revenue, but it was made up for by food, beverage and merchandise sales. The course finished the year with a $45,202 surplus on revenue of just over $6 million.

Chambers Bay isn’t looking to Tacoma for any direct logistical support for the event, which is expected to draw 3,000 to 5,000 spectators and national media attention, but will certainly be plugging into the regional network of tourism offerings including hotels and restaurants.

The Amateur will also be a trial run for what the “Big One” – the 2015 U.S. Open – will be like, Mayor Bill Baarsma said. That event is expected to draw at least 45,000 people per day.

Deputy Mayor Julie Anderson also asked the golf officials to follow up with the Council about their plans to promote Tacoma along with the events and prevent the national and international media, as much as possible, from referring to the event as being “near Seattle.”

Golf officials touted volunteer opportunities that will be coming with the 2010 championship. They include duties as spotters, scorers and standard bearers as well as off-course jobs in admissions and transportation.

“Volunteer slots are expected to fill up quickly due to the excitement surrounding the nationally-televised event,” championship coordinator Kathleen Pope wrote in a recent news release.

There will also be an opportunity for local residents to host players in their homes.

Typically, about 60 of the 312 players are put up in private lodging, Allen told the Council.

“I think we can recruit far far more homes than that,” he said.

For more information, visit www.2010usamateur.com.

Gov. Chris Gregoire signed House Bill 2261 this morning, but not before disappointing supporters with two last-minute vetos.

The bill attempts to begin reforming the state's public school system by broadening the definition of basic education and directing various committees and work groups to develop rules on compensation, teacher qualification and dealing with failing schools.

Gregoire pushed for passage of the bill, even lobbying fellow Democrats to buck to Washington Education Association and send the bill to her desk. But she took out two sections - one dealing with early childhood education and the other with gifted education.

The vetoes disappointed supporters who felt that if she had issues with those sections she could have asked lawmakers to resolve them next year. Still, they found much to like about the legislation.

Here is the text of the governor's veto message.

Here is a press release from advocates of the bill.

=> Read more!

KHQ-TV in Spokane has a story called "Paying for a Poet" which questions the state spending $20,000 on a poet laureate in the face of a $9 billion budget hole.

If you watch the embedded video, you can see that the report is done in rhyme and illustrated by a calligrapher. (Maybe I'm showing my bias, but as someone who enjoys contemporary poetry, that seems like the equivalent of illustrating a story about a police scandal with file footage of the Keystone Cops, that is, it's a caricature.)

Here's how it starts:

SPOKANE, Wash. - If you could add one more position in your state and have taxpayers pay for it, what would it be? A police officer? A teacher? What about a Poet? Yes, a Poet.

They even manage to zap the governor by getting her to admit on camera that she wasn't aware the position paid anything.

And while journalists should be skeptical of government spending and test every sacred cow, there's a few things in the story that jumped out at me.

=> Read more!

For all the home gamers out there in Tacoma:

The Government Performance and Finance Committee meeting on the 20th (tomorrow) was canceled. That's where they were going to discuss the Small Works program revisions.

Also canceled: the Economic Development Committee meeting next Tuesday.

Nor will there be a City Council meeting next week following the Memorial Day holiday.

UPDATE: (5:27 p.m.) Political folks who are more knowledgeable than I say the appointment of Randy Pepple signals that Rob McKenna plans to run for governor in 2012.

I guess it would like Aaron Toso being hired to work in Gov. Chris Gregoire's communications office a couple years ago, and then later going to work for her 2008 reelection campaign.

Et tu, Randy?

McKenna announces new Chief of Staff

OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced the selection of former congressional chief of staff and private sector CEO Randy J. Pepple as his new Chief of Staff, effective June 1.

Pepple joins the Attorney General’s Office with more than two decades of experience in management, public policy, strategic planning, media relations and community engagement. His experience includes serving as Chief of Staff to a U.S. Congressman, leading the Northwest offices of the multinational communications consultancy Hill & Knowlton and, most recently, managing his own strategic communications consulting firm.

=> Read more!

Robert "The Traveller" Hill may be gone, but he has not been forgotten. Hill watchers over at FeedTacoma noted today that after spending the last few months in jail for pulling a fake gun on a security guard at the County-City Building, he is scheduled to be released tomorrow (in time to appear at the 5 p.m. City Council meeting if he so chooses).

For those who aren't familiar with Mr. Hill, he has been described in the TNT as: a former Pierce County Sheriff candidate and "a gadfly who is frequently kicked out of Tacoma City Council meetings, who agitates on behalf of female masturbation and who was convicted (in 2008) of scrawling a judge's signature on a restraining order."

JesseHillFan wrote at FeedTacoma:

I think that he still has time to apply for the position of Mayor of Tacoma if he has some extra gold coins on hand.He may not win but he could be a spoiler in an election.

-- A reference to gold coins with which Hill says he financed his run for sheriff.

Harold Moss, the first African American mayor of Tacoma, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Puget Sound on Sunday during its graduation ceremony.

For those who aren't familiar with Moss' contributions to the Tacoma community read on, they're spelled out in the citation that was read aloud:

Civic leader, civil rights activist, selfless citizen, you are the architect of equality for the city of Tacoma. A son of Texas and a child of Detroit, you came to this city when your service in the United States Army stationed you at Fort Lewis. Here in the beautiful Northwest, you encountered once again the familiar face of discrimination you had met before in the rural South and the urban Midwest. You were disappointed but not discouraged, and did not turn away. When the army discharged you, you remained in Tacoma to discharge your duty; and Tacoma would not remain the same.

=> Read more!

I'm a little late to the party on this news release, which came out Friday. I focused primarily on the Pierce County aspects of the capital and transportation budgets. Here's the view from Sen. Karen Fraser's office.

The Olympia Democrat is chairwoman of the "unofficial" capital budget subcommittee of the Senate Ways and Means Committee

Fraser: Millions of dollars in area projects will spur construction, employment

OLYMPIA – The capital budget signed today by Gov. Chris Gregoire sets in motion more than $45 million in projects in and around Olympia and Thurston County.

“Each of these projects has a dual benefit,” said Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Thurston County. “They address longstanding needs, and they put people to work and get money flowing through our district at a time when we need it the most. That’s why I worked so hard to make sure they were funded.”

Fraser, the vice chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee and Senate leader on the capital budget, said the projects reflect the three priorities the Legislative used in choosing what to fund:
Jobs now — projects that are “ready to go” and will put people to work now
Quality communities — local infrastructure projects that maintain public safety and community vitality

=> Read more!

The League of Women Voters and Washington Education Fund are holding an awards event from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. May 30 (Saturday) at the Washington State History Museum, 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma.

They will be honoring Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-Tacoma, the Korean Women's Association and The News Tribune.

It's $40 a head for the dessert and wine reception. The awards program starts at 7:45 p.m.

The backdrop is the "Women's Votes, Women's Voices" exhibit, celebrating the Washington Women's Suffrage Centennial.

The 4-day school week actually is a sort of shorthand for HB 1292, which would let several small school districts get themselves exempted from the 180-day minimum school year as long as they provide the required hours of instruction. A 4-day week is just one route.

Event Date: May 18
OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today will take action on several bills.

=> Read more!

State Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, at first wanted to suspent the half-percent for art program for 2 years to save about $6 million. There was too much resistance to that, so he settled for an amendment to the state capital budget, one that would have limited public art contracts only to Washington residents.

On Friday, Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed that, too. Hobbs said he agrees with The Guv most of the time, but not this time.

“This veto establishes the public arts program as a sacred cow at a time when vital state services are being slashed and people are losing their jobs," Hobbs said.

During session, he got a list of artists from the state Arts Commission to see where artists who were getting contracts lived. The roster of 236 artists showed 40 percent live out of state.

Of the 64 who got money in 2008, half of them were out of state in such places as British Columbia, Utah, Arizona, NY, LA, San Fran, Chicago, North Carolina, etc.

Here's the 2008 list of artists.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — May 15, 2009

Statement by Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, on Gov. Chris Gregoire’s decision to veto the public arts amendment in the 2009-2011 capital budget. The amendment would have required the Washington State Arts Commission to restrict the purchase of public art to artists living in our state.

=> Read more!

Here's what coming up for the City Council this week:

*Some purchasing agreements for towing, telephone and tourism promotion. Of note is a $3 million contract to fix the Nisqually River trestle near Elbe coming out of the Tacoma Rail Mountain Division capital projects budget. The trestle's approaches were damaged by flooding in 2006.

*First reading ordinances on right-of-way restoration, appropriating $220,000 to create public art for the Pacific Plaza building and pay/classification adjustments for several non-union employees.

Also of interest:
The Government Performance and Finance Committee will be discussing changes to the Small Works Roster program, which allows companies to bid on public works projects with budgets of $25,000, with the idea that smaller, local companies will have more opportunities. The revisions will allow more projects to be eligible for the program.

In her own words:

For Immediate release

Tacoma, WA – May 18, 2009 – Catherine Ushka-Hall, a long time education advocate, has announced her candidacy for Tacoma School Board. Catherine is seeking position #2, currently held by board member Connie Rickman, who is up for re-election this fall.

Catherine’s history of education advocacy includes membership in Tacoma Citizens for Schools, Stand for Children, working on levy and bond campaigns. She has represented the community on education issues ranging from programming, to the sale of school property at school board meetings, and at Tacoma City Council. Ushka –Hall has been involved with education issues since 1989, and the decision to move from advocate to School Director is one she does not take lightly. “I have a unique combination of leadership experience of school issues going back twenty years. I am running because I believe a free public education is the foundation of our democracy. As a mother of two children in the Tacoma Public School System I understand the need for real change today and strategic planning for the future” she said.

Ushka-Hall went on to add “Transparency, accountability and leadership are my top priorities. We must restore the public trust by being invitational and accountable. In the words of a dear friend ‘our schools should be hubs- not islands in our community.’ I have worked hard for my community, and will continue to work hard as your Tacoma School Board Director.” In addition to being a passionate advocate for schools and education, Catherine has been an outstanding servant to her community. She is the a former chair of the East Side Neighborhood Council, serves on the City of Tacoma Human Rights Commission, and is also a member of several community groups.

Catherine is a former Navy reservist who was recalled to duty following 9/11. “When I left active duty my family and I made a commitment to continue to serve here at home, to the best of our ability, and if I am elected as your school director I will keep that commitment.”

Catherine is proud to announce her candidacy with the support of Tacoma City Council Members Julie Anderson, Spiro Manthou, Connie Ladenburg, Metro Parks Board Member Ryan Mello, and Pierce County Councilman Tim Farrell, among many others.

Contact: Catherine Ushka-Hall
VoteCatherine@gmail.com

For those out there who have been following the issue of Tacoma's mixed-use centers:

Several unresolved issues regarding Tacoma’s mixed-used centers are slowly wending their way toward resolution. Still under deliberation are the height for buildings on certain designated core streets, a palette of options developers could incorporate to be allowed additional height and transition heights at the edge of centers near single-family areas.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to deliver its final recommendations to the City Council on May 20. A public hearing is slated for June 30.

City Council members asked for additional information on several points such as tools for reducing “land banking” and the economic calculations behind the palette. A seven-page memo containing the questions and responses is available on our Political Buzz blog right here.

The domestic partnership bill will be signed at a ceremony in Seattle on Monday.

The operating budget will be signed at 3 p.m. Tuesday. There's bound to be a couple dozen items vetoed. There usually are.

Monday, May 18
10:30 p.m. Gov. Gregoire to take bill action – domestic partnership
Montlake Community Center, Multipurpose Room
1618 E Calhoun Street
Seattle

=> Read more!

The "cheering" and "jeering" didn't take place at the bill signing. It takes place here. See comments below from prime sponsor Rep. Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, and from the Washington Policy Center's Paul Guppy.

When I was in the Army, "payday stakes" is what they called these soldier-to-soldier loans. You lend me $10 now, I pay you $20 on payday. I'm not sure what interest rate that amounts. It was about 100 percent for a week or so. Annualized....?

Lawmakers applaud payday lending law
May 15, 2009
OLYMPIA – Rep. Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, praised Governor Gregoire for signing into law House Bill 1709, which provides protections for borrowers of payday loans.

“This bill provides new consumer protections for those borrowers who use payday loans,” said Rep. Nelson, the prime sponsor of HB 1709. “Payday lending can trap families into a cycle of debt if they are unable to repay the loan on their pay date. This legislation provides borrowers with a simple installment plan option if they cannot repay and gives them a pathway to pay off their loan.”

HB 1709 was the product of long negotiations between consumer advocates, payday lenders and members of the House Financial Institutions & Insurance Committee. It includes portions of other bills introduced by Rep. Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma, chair of Financial Institutions and Insurance, and Rep. Troy Kelley, D-Lakewood.

=> Read more!

Somehow this one slipped through the cracks. It's been noted other places, but just in case some people hadn't seen it:

City Manager Eric Anderson announced today that Kristin Lynett will become the City’s new Office of Sustainability Manager on June 1, 2009. Lynett was selected from a group of candidates from across the nation.

Lynett currently works for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife where she serves as Resource Conservation Manager/Sustainability Coordinator. She has a Masters Degree in Environmental Studies, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science as well as a Sustainable Building Advisor Program national certification.

“Kristin has a wealth of experience and a solid educational background that we believe will be a great foundation for building this new office,” said City Manager Eric Anderson. “She will help us become a more sustainable and environmentally aware City.”

As the Sustainable Development Manager, Lynett will be responsible for working to balance the City’s commitment to manage environmental impacts; planning and implementation of the five-and 10-year sustainability goals for City government and the community; as well as the refinement and implementation of the City’s Climate Action Plan. She will also be charged with integrating sustainability and environmental values into City plans, programs and policies.

Gov. Chris Gregoire on Friday signed a two-year capital budget that is the skinniest in many years, largely because so much money for building projects was transfered to help the state deal with a $9 billion shortfall in its operating budget.

Nonetheless, House Bill 1216 did includes a pair of substantial projects in Pierce County -- $34 million to renovate the Joy Building into classrooms and offices on the University of Washington Tacoma campus, and $10 million to push ahead with a skills center in the Bethel School District, which will serve students from a dozen other Pierce County schools.

UPDATE: I forget to mention a partial veto to the capital budget. The language that said the half-percent for art money would go only to Washington artists was vetoed. So, all those expatriate artists living in Paris can still get their absinthe.

The 2009-11 capital budget spends about $3.2 billion. Some $777 million was transferred into the state operating budget for the next two years.

House Bill 2339, which Gregoire also signed Friday, is considered by lawmakers to be crucial to keeping state parks open. It authorizes a $5 check-off contribution, starting in September, from license tab renewals to raise an estimated $22 million. That amount assumes half of vehicle owners will let the money be collected and won't "opt out" of the donation.

Among the local projects in the capital budget are:
--$128,000 for the Pierce County Therapy Center
--$1.85 million for the Milgard Work Opportunity Center at Tacoma Goodwill.
--$1.163 million for Highline YMCA.
--$1 million for the South Tacoma Community Center.
--$950,000 for a "Zina Linnik Park," in Tacoma, named for the girl who was abducted from a Tacoma neighborhood and murdered in 2007.
--$1.93 million HOPE center for Tacoma-Lakewood.
--$325,000 for the Federal Way Performing Arts Center.
--$1.115 million for the Vashon Arts Center.
--$1.9 million for community health care in New Eastside Clinic in Tacoma.
--$5 million for Federal Way urban infrastructure.
--$567,000 for Percival Landing in Olympia.
--$750,000 for Foss Waterway Seaport Building in Tacoma.
--$800,000 for the Auburn Boys and Girls Club.
--$800,000 for the East Pierce County HOPE Center.
--$750,000 for Ward Lake purchase for Olympia parks.
--$350,000 for Tacoma Metropolitan Park District, children's exploration area.
--$465,000 for two projects at Wapato Park in Tacoma.
--$750,000 for Chambers Creek pedestrian overpass (North Dock)

It isn't a real shocker because her name had topped the lists of potential candidates. But Seattle attorney Jenny Durkan has officially been appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington.

Durkan is 51 and has been around politics and government her entire life. Her father is the late Martin Durkan, a powerful state senator and lobbyist who twice ran for governor as a Democrat. Durkan was a top aide to Gov. Mike Lowry and has handled legal work for Gov. Chris Gregoire, especially representing the governor in the legal challenge to the 2004 election.

Here's the excerpt from the White House press release:

Jenny Durkan: Nominee for U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington

Jenny Durkan, 51, is a noted civil and criminal litigator in private practice. Since 1997, she has owned the Law Offices of Jenny Durkan in Seattle, WA. Ms. Durkan began her legal career as an associate at the law firm Schroeter, Goldmark & Bender, and later worked at Williams & Connolly, and Foster, Pepper & Riviera. She has served as counsel to Washington Governor Christine Gregoire and taught trial advocacy at the University of Washington School of Law. Ms. Durkan graduated from the University of Notre Dame (1980) and the University of Washington School of Law (1985).

Looks like the official web site for next year’s U.S. Amateur championship at Chambers Bay Golf Course is up. You can check it out here.

Six months after placing a hold on funding for Centro Latino amid accusations of wrongdoing at the nonprofit, the Pierce County Council is preparing to release nearly $20,000 to the group.

The council’s rules committee on Monday will consider a resolution releasing the money.

In November the council froze nearly $30,000 in funding for Centro Latino that was included in the 2009 budget. The move came in the wake of a lawsuit filed by Joy Gomez-Gonzalez, the group’s former director.

Gomez-Gonzalez claims she was wrongfully fired when she questioned improper behavior by a board member. She accuses board member David Almonte of using his position to secure a large contract for his furniture business and trying to hire a friend as a contractor on the renovation of Centro Latino’s Tacoma building.

Almonte denies the accusations. The lawsuit is scheduled for trial in November.

In freezing the money for Centro Latino, council members cited the need to ensure the nonprofit – which provides job training, youth mentoring and family services to the local Latino community – was using public funds wisely.

=> Read more!

It isn't often that a city takes a page from a celebutante's playbook, but Tacoma seems to be following Paris Hilton's lead for managing its social life.

Last year, Paris had her own reality TV show which set up a competition to be her new BFF -- that's Best Friend Forever.

Currently, the city of Tacoma has 11 best friends. These sister cities are scattered across the globe from Kokura, Japan to El Jadida, Morocco. But we're starting to get a little pickier about whom we're going to be palling around with.

"The Community and Economic Department proposes during 2009 to complete a policy review and recommend to Council a new ordinance that would define the responsibilities and procedures relating to the Sister City program," a recent entry from the City Manager's weekly report reads.

"As part of this effort, the application process and criteria for selecting and entering into any future Sister City relationships will also be presented for review by Council," it continues.

Read: 50 years since the program started, we're going to revamp the rules about exactly what it takes to be T-town's sista.

The Council's Economic Development subcommittee is scheduled to take the matter up on May 26 with a final ordinance appearing before the full Council in September.

As Paris would say, "That's hot."

Last week, I blogged about the very serious topic of improvements being made to the the chambers for the Tacoma City Council.

This was the meeting at which the correct pronunciation of the word "dais" was discussed, as well as certain "improvements" like James Bond devices and trapdoors.

Well, now you can listen to it. I edited the relevant parts down to under two minutes, so please excuse any jumps or non-sequiturs.

Original link to the mp3 follows the jump.

=> Read more!

I just got word that this afternoon's Tacoma City Council subcommittee meeting that was to take up both the park exclusion extensions and the park smoking ban has been canceled. Those items will likely be moved to the May 28th meeting.

Want to see more detail about the LeMay Automotive Museum design? Follow this link to see slides from the Power Point presentation given at the Tacoma City Council study session Tuesday. (It's in .pdf format.)

I'm still going over the 234-page performance audit of the Law Enforcement Support Agency, which takes 9-1-1 calls and does dispatching for much of Pierce County.

This is a diagram I found especially interesting. It shows responses from LESA staff to a survey question asking which agencies they like working with the most.

Lakewood Fire Comm topped the list with 22 percent picking it as No. 1. Tacoma Police and Fire got 7 percent each.

Beyond all the performance measures -- the cry and hew about staffing and funding, the stats on call volumes and overtime -- are the men and women who do the job, which is complex and stressful enough without all the additional pressures.

That's a story I'm planning to tell sometime in the next couple weeks. I'm going to be doing a "ride-along" to see what it's like next Thursday.

Current and ex- LESA staffers should feel free to contact me if they want to share their perspectives without having to worry that their name will appear in print and get them sideways with the bosses.

The King County Council will make its selection on Monday, and that person will serve until a replacement for Ron Sims is elected later this year.

Blue-Ribbon Committee recommends Royer and Triplett for appointment as King County Executive

King County Council will interview all four candidates on Monday and may make final appointment

A Blue-Ribbon Selection Committee empanelled by the King County Council tonight interviewed four candidates for King County Executive and recommended two for the short-term appointment -- former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer and interim County Executive and former Executive Chief of Staff Kurt Triplett.

Former County Councilmembers Steve Hammond and Louise Miller were also interviewed.

All four candidates will now appear next Monday at a special meeting of the Council's Committee-of-the-Whole:

=> Read more!

The Senate Republicans provided this look at authorship of bills that passed this legislative session and categorized them by whether the prime sponsor was a Democrat or a Republicans.

Republicans were held to single digits, from a percentage standpoint, they say.

Democrats held 62-36 majorities in the House and 31-18 in the Senate.

In some of my earlier posts, I have noted how the majority party runs roughshod over the minority party. And it doesn't matter which party is in charge. Both do it. And they'll keep doing it.

Anyway, the GOP says only 22 Senate bills that were sponsored by Republicans actually got passed. That's 8 percent of the total. And only 14 of the House bills sponsored by a Republican got passed. That's 4 percent of the total. (They did the math, not me.)

UPDATE: (3:05 p.m.) Upon further review: Here are new, revised numbers from the same source. GOP did slightly better than first blush.

Senate Passed 280 Bills
50 Prime Sponsored by Republicans - 17.8%
230 Prime Sponsored by Democrats - 82.2%

House passed 322 Bills
41 Prime Sponsored by Republicans - 12.7%
281 Prime Sponsored by Democrats - 87.3%

I guess that sends a message, doesn't it?

"The best protection against oil spills is solid prevention," said Dale Jensen, who manages Ecology's spill prevention, preparedness and response program. "Our concern extends far beyond the two gallons spilled. Washington state requires exacting care before and during marine fuel transfers. It's every vessel owner's business to know the plumbing on board, what to check, and the settings required for a tight, closed system."

Barge owner fined $16,500 over Duwamish spill

BELLEVUE – The Department of Ecology (Ecology) has fined Olympic Tug & Barge Co. (Olympic) $16,500 for failing to take measures to prevent an oil spill from a fuel barge in October, 2007 in Seattle.

A valve left open – with no procedures in place to check it – caused approximately two gallons of diesel fuel from the barge Bernie 112 to enter the East Waterway on Oct. 23, 2007. The barge was pumping fuel onto a cargo vessel at Terminal 18 on Harbor Island.

=> Read more!

There was a bill at the end of the just-finished legislative session that would have created this "aerospace competitive council," or something like that. But it died.

Didn't really need the bill anyway. So Gov. Chris Gregoire just signed an executive order creating the group.

I'm sure the business community would have preferred that she sign an executive order forbidding the Machinists or any other Boeing or aerospace worker union to strike ever, ever, ever again, and denying unemployment benefits for anyone ever laid off by Boeing. But that would have been overstepping her bounds by just a tad.

But they certainly would have made Washington more competitive with other states in the assembly of airplanes.

This order will have to do. (Note: the word "competitive" is gone now, too.)

Just as an aside, when Gregoire announced the introduction of the "advisory council" late in session, she was surrounded by more lawmakers than I've seen at any bill signing. I think there is an inverse correlation between the number of people who flank the governor and how insubstantial the action is. You know, more people, less substance.

Gov. Gregoire signs executive order creating aerospace council

RENTON – Gov. Chris Gregoire today signed an executive order creating the Washington Council on Aerospace. The council will oversee state efforts to ensure that Washington remains the leading location in the world in which to design and build airplanes.

=> Read more!

A 9-member substitute panel had to hear the case because Justice Richard Sanders obviously could not rule on his own appeal, and it might be awkward for his brethren and sistren to rule on it, too. All 8 of them bowed out of the case, which was on appeal from the state Court of Appeals.

Anyway, the Replacements, without the services of Sanders or Keanu Reeves, ruled against Sanders. We don't have to pay for his defense on the ethics charge because he wasn't acting in his capacity as a Supreme. But it was close, a 5-4 ruling.

This all stems from Sanders' visit to the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island and his ex parte conversations with some of the sex offenders who were committed there.

Here is a link to the majority decision, which was signed by 5 replacement judges, including three former homies from Pierce County, Stanley Worswick, Waldo Stone and Donald Thompson. They used to be Superior Court judges on the Pierce County bench.

Here is a link to one of the dissenting opinions.

Here's another dissenting opinion.

We'll have a more detailed story on our Web site from Curt Woodward of The Associated Press.

Here's what Woodward wrote after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his appeal:

Top U.S. court won't review justice's case
In a no-comment response, the U.S. Supreme Court says it won't look at the appeal of a Washington justice who was rebuked for visiting McNeil Island offenders.

By Curt Woodward; The Associated Press
Tuesday,October 2, 2007

=> Read more!

Gov. Gregoire to take bill action
Event Date: May 14
OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today will take action on several bills.
11 a.m.

Engrossed Substitute House Bill No. 1782, relating to encouraging early and consistent engagement of parents in children's dependency matters.

Engrossed House Bill No. 1824, relating to requiring the adoption of policies for the management of concussion and head injury in youth sports.

=> Read more!

This story appears in today's print edition of The News Tribune, but I like to post all my stories on the blog for a different audience.

It also gives me more space to publish. So, if you want to see what County Executive Pat McCarthy has to say, or look at the list of coalition members, scroll down below my story. (The list is a little ragged, but Microsoft Word doesn't always cut and past very well, so you're on your own figuring out which person is associated with which group or government.)

BY Joseph Turner
The News Tribune
Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed a transportation budget that elevates the freeway carpool lanes through Tacoma to the same status as five other so-called “mega projects” across the state, a status that gives the $1.5 billion Tacoma project a better chance of actually getting built.

The bill-signing took place in downtown Tacoma, and Mayor Bill Baarsma noted the significance of the locale.

“What a contrast of where we began and where we finished,” he said.

He was referring to the difference between the original transportation budget the governor proposed last December and the one she signed into law Wednesday afternoon. Her first budget delayed to death many key highway projects in Pierce County. The final one not only speeds up $130 million of carpool lane construction on Interstate 5, it lays out a 16-year funding plan to nearly finish the project.

For many other state projects, funding will run out by 2015.

Baarsma credited Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy with mobilizing the community behind the Pierce County legislative delegation to get most of what its lawmakers were promised when they voted in favor a gas tax increases in 2003 and 2005. A coalition of 105 business, labor and other groups and community leaders rallied to get funding for local projects restored in the budget passed by the Legislature.

=> Read more!

Children with the Art Naturally Day Camp from the Tacoma Nature Center drink the rain while learning about the cycle of life at Point Defiance Park, Wednesday August 20, 2008. (Darren Breen / The News Tribune)

To go with my story today about proposed extensions of park exclusions, after the jump is a full list of the crimes that could get you banned for 90 days or a year.

The photo above represents what's still OK behavior, however odd it looks.

=> Read more!

No time to examine this any further. I'll be paying some attention to the race to replace Ron Sims. But earlier today I covered the governor signing the transportation budget in Tacoma, so I'm spread a little thin today.

Friends of Susan Hutchison
www.susanhutchison.com

SUSAN HUTCHISON OUT-RAISING OPPONENTS
SINCE ANNOUNCING BID FOR COUNTY EXECUTIVE

Campaign Finance Report Filing Shows
Over $58,000 Raised in Only Two and a Half Weeks

SEATTLE—Campaign finance report documents filed with the Public Disclosure Commission on Monday show Hutchison has quickly caught up to her six opponents, surpassing all in the rate of fundraising since she entered the race for King County Executive.

“We are off-and-running with strong financial support from both Democrats and Republicans throughout King County,” said Hutchison. “We are very encouraged by the early momentum our campaign has generated.”

Since announcing her bid on April 8, Susan Hutchison has raised $58,280 in cash contributions– more dollars raised than any of her opponents during the same three-week period.

“The fact that we are out-raising candidates who have been in this race longer, most of whom are career politicians, sends a strong message that King County is looking for new leadership, new energy, and new direction,” said Hutchison.

Hutchison’s filing with the PDC covered all contributions and expenditures made between April 8 and April 30. Filings for three other County Executive candidates covered a period one-week longer than Hutchison due to her later entry into the race.

Link to PDC reports: http://www.pdc.wa.gov/qviewreports/candidates.aspx

Hutchison is currently Executive Director of the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences – a $100 million philanthropic foundation based in Seattle that provides grants to the arts, science and education programs – and was a former Emmy Award-winning anchor for KIRO-TV.

The Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has declined Assessor-Treasurer Dale Washam’s request to investigate wrongdoing related to skipped property inspections.

In a letter dated Monday (you can download a PDF copy here), Prosecuting Attorney Gerald Horne told Washam the matter does not warrant further investigation.

Horne is the latest public official to spurn Washam’s call to review the circumstances surrounding skipped property inspections in Pierce County. Previously, the state auditor, attorney general and Department of Revenue have declined to investigate.

For years Washam has claimed the assessor’s office skipped physical inspections of properties required by state law under former Assessor-Treasurer Ken Madsen. Washam won election to the office in November and announced his suspicions were true shortly after taking office.

Documents and interviews with current and former employees indicate Washam is right. And Madsen has admitted his office did not conduct “boots on the ground” inspections of every property. Instead Madsen said it relied on accepted statistical methods to assess property values for tax purposes.

Washam now claims the assessor’s office skipped inspections of more than 181,000 properties. He asked Horne to review his allegations that the office falsified various documents to make it appear the inspections had been conducted.

In rejecting Washam’s request, Horne cited a recent review by the county’s performance audit staff that found no reason to believe individual property owners were harmed by the skipped inspections. And he noted that Washam’s accusations failed to pass legal muster when he filed a recall petition against Madsen in 2005.

Republicans seem to have had a disproportionate share of health maladies since the start of the year.

Rep. Norm Johnson, R-Yakima, is the latest, although his was a "minor" problem, he said.

(I just met Johnson this session, and he offered to demonstrate he could kick, even if he wasn't the former Seattle Seahawks kicker.)

Rep. Johnson 'on the mend' after minor stomach procedure
Lawmaker resting comfortably in Yakima hospital

Rep. Norm Johnson says he's feeling well and "on the mend" after undergoing a minor procedure Tuesday to repair some stomach problems.

Johnson entered Yakima Regional Medical Center Monday after feeling ill.

"I spoke to the chamber of commerce on Monday and I felt fine. But later in the afternoon, I suddenly became nauseous. I had some friends take me to the hospital and the doctors discovered I had a lesion in my stomach. They did an endoscopy yesterday and repaired the lesion," said Johnson, R-Yakima. "It wasn't anything serious and the repair was successful. I feel much better and will be released from the hospital within the next day or so."

You can hear the gnashing of teeth at the County-City Building as Pierce County tries to address a projected $13 million revenue shortfall.

County Executive Pat McCarthy is considering several measures that are sure to be unpopular as she tries to balance the budget. Here’s more information about two of those measures.

Cuts to community groups. For years the county executive and council have doled out money to community groups, festivals and other pet projects. Council members say they use the money to target specific needs in their districts, like street lights, senior centers and youth programs.

The spending is lumped into a catch-all budget category called “miscellaneous current expense.” It also includes some mandatory spending like unemployment insurance and severance reserves.

Last year the county budgeted $6.1 million for miscellaneous current expenses. This year’s budget initially included $4.8 million. But the council cut that to $4.1 million as part of an initial round of budget cuts in March.

On Tuesday county budget director Pat Kenney told the council that McCarthy likely will propose eliminating most miscellaneous current expense spending in her 2010 budget. He said she will propose spending on “very, very, very few” outside programs next year.

Council members – who like spending money more than cutting budgets – greeted that news with silence.

Planning department fees. Kenny said McCarthy likely will propose a substantial increase in planning department fees next year. The fees are assessed for building permits, plan reviews and other department services.

=> Read more!

Overheard at last night's Tacoma City Council meeting:

"Matt couldn't throw very well, but he made up for it by being a slow runner."

State Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, says all the talk about partisan bickering is overstated. Behind the scenes and even out in public, Ds and Rs worked together on some things.

Here is Seaquist's piece at Seattlepi.com.

He has a few valid points. That said, most of the time the majority runs roughshod over the minority party. And Seaquist must be a centrist himself. They are the only ones who are any good at working with folks from "across the aisle," as they say down here. The others are way too extreme to get along much.

Seaquist, by the way, also has his own blog on the economy.

The ForehandedWA blog came from my attempt before the session started to try to engage my voters in the 26th and more generally people across the state in a ‘public strategy forum’ about what were certain to be huge public policy issues as we adapted to the recession. The legislative lawyers ruled that this could not be done inside the legislative framework --- too close to politicking – so I hired my usual webmaster in Gig Harbor to design the site.

It has evolved as a near-daily and enjoyable habit for me. I read widely anyway, this lets me capture day by day for myself the shape of what is happening is as this state-, country-, and world-changing recession unfolds and what implications that has for us, especially with state budgets. Now that the crash itself is less the news, I’m shifting a bit to tracking what is happening as our economy rearranges itself.

Tonight's Tacoma City Council meeting may have set a speed record for finishing in under half an hour.

Here's what happened:

*The Council approved a consent agenda including minutes from several subcommittees and plat approvals unanimously.

*No one spoke during the public comment period.

*They unanimously approved a $60,000 payout in a damage claim involving a crash between a citizen and a police car (wasn't on the printed agenda).

*They unanimously approved two contracts, one a $40,000 addition to the existing contract with Asphalt Patch Systems; the other a $121,000 two-year contract for security guard services at the Tacoma Municipal Buildings, a.k.a. City Hall.

First, let me say that I don't mean the photo to impugn in any way the quality of the service provided by the current security force. But in reading through this week's agenda packet I saw what was to me a sleeper issue -- one for which there was no discussion by the Council (at least at tonight's meeting; it may have been discussed at previous committee meetings or study sessions).

If you made it to page 152 of this week's 168-page agenda packet, you would have noticed the $121,000 security contract (which can be extended up to five years or $302,000) doubles the security presence at City Hall from 8 hours per day to 16 hours per day.

The services in and of themselves actually seem quite reasonable. If my math is correct, they work out to $14.50 per hour (which would presumably pay for the guard(s)' benefits, too). But it doesn't say why the city is looking to double security.

I plan to follow up on this with city officials later in the week.

=> Read more!

That's a joke, Jake. I don't want to offend the 4th graders who brought the issue to your attention, after all. I'm just using the same reference that others at the state capitol used to refer to Senate Bill 5071. That's the bill by Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, that declares the Olympic marmot the "endemic" mammal of Washington. (I think that means marmots are native to Washington, that they aren't carpetbaggers like so many other critters -- two-legged and four-legged.)

The governor signed the bill today. Orcas, the OTHER state mammals, no doubt are in tears.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 12, 2009
4th graders’ work pays off; Olympic marmot becomes state endemic mammal

OLYMPIA — An exercise in democracy came to fruition today when Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law a bill proposed by the fourth-grade students of Wedgwood Elementary School in Seattle.

The students had contacted Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, to propose a bill declaring the Olympic marmot the endemic mammal to Washington. In response, Jacobsen introduced Senate Bill 5071 and invited a group from the class of fourth graders (now fifth graders) to come testify in favor of the bill.

When the governor signed the bill into law, many of the students were in attendance.

“It was a thrilling day for the students, their families, and their school,” said Jacobsen. “No education is better than a hands-on education. It has been such a pleasure to work with these students as they navigated the legislative process.”

=> Read more!

He'd better. If he really has his "Ear to the Ground."

This is getting to be too much for me. This morning, Gov. Chris Gregoire announced her Twitter page (and other stuff). This afternoon, Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark announces the Department of Natural Resources blog (and other stuff).

Me, I'm just all atwitter. Actually, I'm suffering from information overload. I don't know what all to bookmark or NetVibes or twit or whatever...

State DNR launches ‘Ear to the Ground’ blog
Blog joins other social networking tools to help agency communicate with the public

OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today rolled out a new blog, “Ear to the Ground.” This offering is the latest ‘social networking’ feature added to the department’s Web site, www.dnr.wa.gov. The blog was named Ear to the Ground to recognize DNR’s management of more than 5.6 million acres of state trust lands.

The blog, along with social networking tools, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and MySpace, will help support the agency’s commitment to transparency and informing the public in how DNR makes its decisions and manages state lands.

=> Read more!

I'm dashing off to a City Council meeting, but thought I'd pass this along. This is a response from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to local elected leaders' questions concerning the privately-run detention center on the Tacoma Tideflats.

Attached, for your information, is a response from ICE Congressional Relations Acting Director Judy Rogers to concerns raised by Representatives Adam Smith, Jay Inslee and Jim McDermott, regarding allegations of improper detention practices at NWDC.  Several of these concerns have been identified and discussed at Roundtable meetings. The planned expansion currently under construction may exacerbate these concerns.

I will keep you informed about future developments.

Ruth Clapp
Constituent Services
Office of Congressman Adam Smith

(Photo: Mother's Day event at NWDC courtesy of Tim Smith)

It's not every day you get to post a news release written by your former boss. Today is that day for me.

Hunter George, who now works for Pierce County, is still making me work. Below, he puts forth the complaints from County Auditor Jan Shabro. Shabro contends the recording fee increase is just another "backdoor tax increase".

There are a lot of similar fee increases throughout the state budget. There's about $270 million worth of fee increases in the operating budget bill, House Bill 1244. Most of that is from tuition.

I don't think it counts the $80 million the Liquor Board is raising to replace money the Legislature took from that agency.

But there's lots more fee hikes in other bills. I'm still tracking them down.

One such bill, HB 2331, was signed into law today by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

That's the one that raises recording fees to raise money for homeless programs.

UPDATE: I would be remiss if I didn't also point out the fee increase also will raise, collectively, $32 million for local governments.

Here. Read Hunter's news release, the unabridged edition.

May 12, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Legislature and Gov. Chris Gregoire have dramatically increased the cost of recording fees for certain legal documents, a practice that Pierce County Auditor Jan Shabro described as "a backdoor tax increase" on the public.

Effective July 26, the surcharge for homeless and low-income assistance programs attached to document recording fees will jump from $10 to $30 -- a 200 percent increase. It's not the only fee associated with recording public documents, so it will now cost a total of $62 to record such documents as deeds, easements, liens and powers of attorney.

=> Read more!

At the end of today's noontime study session the Tacoma City Council got an update on pothole repairs. I had to duck out to type up an update on the LeMay Museum and get back for the 5 p.m. meeting, but city spokesman Rob McNair-Huff e-mailed me the info.

Here's the 411:

Inclement weather has slowed the pace of repairs. To offset, crews have worked four of the last five Saturdays.

Repairs have been completed on 44,084 square feet out of 101,185 square feet identified in a January report to the Council. (That's not quite 45 percent.)

Crews are finding additional potholes at each location they go to.

Estimated cost total cost of the repairs: $457,209.12

I thought Gov. Chris Gregoire might veto the provision in the bill that lays any cost overruns for the tunnel in the lap of downtown Seattle businesses that benefit from having the viaduct removed from the Seattle waterfront. But I'm told there was a deal to keep House Speaker Frank Chopp's language in the bill.

I'm also told that provision probably can't be enforced anyway, so it might as well stay in. Senate Bill 5768 says others have to pay for cost overruns, but when push comes to shove, the state will be signing to contract with whatever company does the work. I think everyone is hoping -- as DOT Secretary Paula Hammond promised -- that there will be no cost overruns.

The amendment gave some promise that taxpayers statewide would not have to pay for any cost overruns beyond the $2.8 billion the state is sorta committing. (The state budget says $2.4 billion, and there MIGHT be another $400 million from tolls. But who do you think will pay that $400 million if DOT decides not to put tolls on the tunnel? State taxpayers.)

I'm not sure what Chopp's motives are by putting the cost-overrun language in. Maybe he really is looking out for taxpayers across the state. Maybe he's afraid the viaduct replacement will suck up so much state money that there won't be enough left to pay for the Highway 520 project, which connects his Seattle district to King County's Eastside.

Alaskan Way is a $4.24 billion project. Highway 520 is at least a $4.65 billion project. If they both cost that much, how much money is left for project in the rest of the state.

By signing the bill, The Guv clears the way for DOT go out out an order a drill bit about the size of a three-story house.

Oh yeah, tolls aren't a done deal on the project. There's still another study to see how much money could be raised from tolls. The report is due next year.

Gov. Gregoire Signs SR 99 Bored Tunnel Bill

=> Read more!

Layoffs, fee hikes and an end to poll voting may be on the table as Pierce County struggles to close a $13 million budget gap in coming months.

Budget director Pat Kenney told the County Council this morning that across-the-board spending cuts of at least 1 percent in all departments also are under consideration as the county faces shrinking sales tax and other revenue.

Despite recent budget cuts, Kenney said the county faces an $8 million revenue shortfall this year in its $281 million general fund budget. And the county will need to find at least another $5 million in savings in 2010.

“You’re not going to make things balance next year without making some cuts,” Kenney told the council at a budget retreat. “They’re going to be painful and their going to be noticeable.”

In March the council cut spending and made other adjustments to plug an $8 million revenue shortfall.

The fallout from those cuts will be felt in coming months. Among other things, the planning department is closing its development center for nine days this year, the sheriff’s department may cut lake patrols this summer and the county is considering transferring parks to other local governments.

But as sales taxes, planning fees and other sources of income continue to slump, the county’s budget problems are getting worse.

Kenney said County Executive Pat McCarthy is considering several options to balance the budget:

• A 1 percent across-the-board cut in all departments would save $2.5 million.

• The county may save $1.5 million from state pension-rate changes.

• The county could save $1 million by postponing a renovation of a pod at the jail.

Kenney said the executive also may lower general fund contributions to some other funds (like those set aside for information technology or facilities needs).

And she’s considering laying off employees at the planning department, which has seen its workload reduced because of a slowdown in the construction industry. Kenney stressed that no final decisions about how to balance the budget have been made.

=> Read more!

Here are two quotes overheard before and during today's Tacoma City Council noon study session – taken completely out of context.

"You try to do things the way nature used to do it."

"You know I drug your predecessor up 19,000 feet."

Well, are ya, Brian?

That's the word on the street. Brian Ebersole, former Franklin Pierce librarian, former state Speaker of the House, former Tacoma mayor, former Bates Voc-Tech president and survivor of U-turn traffic accident, is rumored to be gearing up a campaign to run for a seat of the Port of Tacoma board of commissioners.

Another question, who's gonna run his resort in The Phillipines?

UPDATE: Our business folks got the confirmation way before I did.

It's nearly a month away, but the campaign kickoff for Rep. Tom Campbell's bid to become, well, Rep. Tom Campbell, is set for June 5.

It's $200 a head, or $350 per couple.

It will be held from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. Friday, June 5, at Pioneer Park Pavilion, 330 So. Meridian, Puyallup.

Campbell, R-Roy, announced during the just-finished legislative session that he's running for the 9th District Congressional seat now occupied by U.S. Rep. Adam Smith.

Of course, the election isn't until November 2010. But he's getting an early start because it takes a while to run all the way to Washington, D.C.

Here is a link to the TomCampbellForCongress page.

And here's the full invite.

One of my readers accused me of going off half-cocked with my blog post yesterday about how the Legislature ended up giving nursing homes more money after it became apparent there would be no tax referendum to restore budget cuts to nursing homes.

He said it was based on thin evidence. It was thin. Yesterday, I didn't yet have the other main component -- that is, how much money did the Legislature restore to the cuts it was going to make to hospitals?

Today, I do.

The final budget restored $36.5 million to the amount of money that was going to cut from state payments to hospitals for inpatient and outpatient, the biggest component.

When the House and Senate came out with their original budgets March 30-31, BOTH of them were going to cut hospital funding by $157.6 million in 2009-11. The final budget cut funding by only $121.1 million.

That's not a case of the two chambers having different amounts and then compromising on an amount somewhere in between the two. I suspect state budget-writers decided to lessen the blow to hospitals because there wasn't enough support to put a 0.3 percent sales tax hike on the ballot. That meant, there was no chance to raise $1.1 billion over 3 years. And that meant there was no way to buy back cuts to health care programs, mainly to hospitals and nursing homes. (If you'll recall, the hospitals and nursing homes, along with the Service Employees International Union locals 775 and 1199, were the driving forces behind the tax package. Well, and House Speaker Frank Chopp.)

But as my critical reader says, I'm just looking for conspiracies. And I am. One reason this is important is because I asked -- before the final budget came out and before the tax referendum went into the tax -- if the budget would be revised if there were no tax measure on the ballot. And key House leaders told me, "No."

And yet, it does appear the budget was redone to soften the blow to hospitals and nursing homes. That's my conspiracy theory and I'm sticking to it.

But Here's Adam Glickman's take on my last post (with his permission).

=> Read more!

The state Department of Corrections budget gives the clearest example of how a change in policy translates into cutting workers and thereby saving money.

A case in point is Senate Bill 5288. This is the measure that says many, many inmates won't be supervised as long once they are released from prison or jail and sent back out to communities.

It is prospective and retroactive. Add up the two and you have a two-year budget savings of $48 million and a reduction of 265 "full time equivalents" (aka "workers").

Those are mostly community corrections officers, the folks who keep an eye on offenders after they get out. (They formerly were known as "parole" officers).

Prison and supervision are growth industries, so not all of those 265 folks will be laid off. There will be some turnover in the ranks of CCOs, but chances are, many others will lose their jobs.

That's one of the assumptions in the state budget that Gov. Chris Gregoire is expected to sign next week.

The 2009-11 budget assumes the state Department of Corrections will save about $11 million over the next two years because more offenders will be on "home detention" instead of taking up space in a jail or prison.

Home detention usually means offenders wear an ankle bracelet with or without a GPS tracking feature and they have to pay a private company or agency something like $5 to $13 a day while they are being monitored.

The group of inmates we're talking about here are the ones who have served their prison (or jail) sentences and have been released to the community, but they still are under supervision by the state Department of Corrections.

If they violate terms of their release, they sometimes get sent to jail for 20 to 60 days. Some of them end up at the Monroe prison, but most are serving time in local jails. DOC pays the locals to house most of the "violators."

"The savings are based on the assumption that 25 percent of violators in jails will be sanctioned to home detention instead of jail," the budget footnote says.

By the way, the savings comes, in part, from DOC not having to pay local jails $65 to $70 a day to house violators. On the other hand, the budget says 11 fulltime workers will be hired for this beefed-up detention program.

Call me a fuddyduddy, but it's really hard for me to use the verb-noun "tweet" in connection with our governor. Seems undignified.

From The Guv's office:

Today we launched the Governor's Twitter page (http://twitter.com/GovGregoire.) Please sign up if you are interested in following the Governor and please post on your blogs. We should begin tweeting later today. We'll be launching an official Facebook page in the next week (there is a campaign Facebook site up now that hasn't been updated in some time).

Thanks -

Pearse

Pearse Edwards
Communications and External Affairs Director
Office of Governor Chris Gregoire
Olympia, WA 98504-0002

Here's a link to the governor's Twitter page.

Also included in last week's Tacoma City Manager's report was an end-of-the-year report on city complaints.

From October 2006, when the city's Conduct Complaint Management System went live, through the end of last year, there were 361 valid complaint conduct records.

Just over half were allegations of misconduct. Another 43 percent were categorized as "unsure" or "unspecified" type.

Overall, most complaints were not upheld. Of the total, 23 percent were "unfounded," 20 percent led to the person being "exhonerated" and another 6 percent were "not sustained."

By far, Tacoma Police had more complaints than any other department -- 53 percent. The next largest was public works with 14 percent of the total.

The Police Department received 192 complaints, 69 percent for misconduct. Three quarters of them were not upheld under one of the three categories above.

Follow this link above for the complete report with all the details.

This time, state tax collections are $41 million less that what was predicted back in March. This is for the period between April 11 and May 10.

Cumulative shortfall is $96 million for the past two months. Not good.

On the other hand, the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council says the economly is sending mixed messages, which is typical of the beginning of a recovery.

Here's the May 10 report.

Well, it must be a desperate situation because her office is asking for an exemption to the statewide hiring freeze that the Legislature renewed back in February.

Hal Spencer, former Associated Press reporter here at the state capital for many years, finally has retired for the 3rd or 4th time since leaving AP nine years ago. He left The Guv's office April 30. It's May 11. So, this truly is an emergency.

"It is crucial," said Pearse Edwards, the governor's communications director and main guy in charge of constituent something-or-others. "She's got 14 speeches between now and the 20th, not counting weekends."

The job pays about $63,000 a year, he said. (Hear that, my former P.I., Times, TNT, Olympian, TriCity colleagues? But you'd have to move down here to Olympia, which has a whole different ambience than Seattle.)

Here's the Hiring Freeze Exemption request.

So, who will be deciing whether to grant the governor's communications office an exemption to the hiring freeze? That woudl be the governor's budget office. "It's in a whole 'nother building," Edwards dead-panned.

UPDATE: Victor Moore, the guv's budget director, approved the exemption for the speechwriting job, BEFORE I EVEN FINISHED WRITING THE POST!

"It's up to the speechwriter to get basic information about the event (graduations, policy statements, keynote addresses) and prepare talking points or speeches for the governor," the job description says. "This position must be able to accurately research and reflect the governor's voice and policy issues into draft speeches in a timely manner so that the governor can review and edit them prior to an event."

(So, you can see there's at least four reasons why I'm not applying for the job.)

As for Hal, he'll turn up again somewhere, probably as a park ranger or something.

He claims, quite absurdly, that he's up for a "greeter" job at Wal-Mart, "except you have to be cheerful. That's going to be a challenge."

Just working my way through the 2009-11 operating budget (House Bill 1244) and I see there is $642,000 to operate the Veteran's Cemetery in Eastern Washington.

The feds are paying to build it. Washington's Department of Veteran's Affairs will run it.

DVA spokeswoman Heidi Audette said start of construction is probably a couple months away.

Part of the money for the cemetery operations comes from those military license plates you see on vehicles on the roadway -- Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Guard. There were 10,501 out there as of the end of March. Each plate owner pays $28 a year to DAV that goes toward the cemetery project.

The Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent is the veteran's cemetery on this side of the mountains. That's a federal cemetery. The Eastern Washington one will be a state run facility.

You have to read about 5 paragraphs down into the news release to find the real story.

DOL has suspended plans to close offices in some rural communities due to excessive driving distances. These communities include: Walla Walla, Poulsbo, Forks, Friday Harbor and Goldendale.

Many questioned the wisdom of closing so many Department of Licensing offices, especially in rural areas. The AP brought some light to this. Here's a link to The Associated Press story that ran back on April 11.

By the way, the "West Tacoma" office (which I think is really in University Place) is still slated for closure.

DEPARTMENT OF LICENSING
May 11, 2009 — For Immediate Release

DOL moves on driver licensing office consolidation plans

OLYMPIA—The Department of Licensing (DOL) is moving forward with plans to consolidate services in 25 Licensing Service Offices (LSOs) around the state.

DOL is working with rural communities to find ways to maintain a presence in their area, but at the same time save taxpayer’s dollars by sharing locations with other government agencies.

“We have not taken a cookie cutter approach to our office closures or service changes,” said DOL Director Liz Luce. “We recognize each location is unique and we are actively working with community leaders to continue to meet service demand while looking for ways to minimize costs.”

=> Read more!

Majority Democrats made a big deal about the "belt-tightening" bill they passed and sent to Gov. Chris Gregoire about halfway through the legislative session. House Bill 1694 was supposed to reduce the deficit by about $600 million -- cutting state spending by $300 million and using federal funds (instead of state money) to pay for another $300 million worth of stuff.

Turns out, budget-writers actually backtracked on their spending cuts for the current 2007-09 budget, restoring some of the much-ballyhooed cuts they made to nursing homes. They did so in the final budget, the one that The Guv is going to sign next week.

Here's the part that should make voters suspicious: Nursing homes got more money out of state budget-writers after it because obvious there would be no tax referendum to buy back the cuts they were going take in an earlier version of the state budgets.

Which begs the question: Was that first budget, the "people-will-die" budget, a contrivance? A budget designed to make it easier to sell to voters because lives would be at stake?

You be the judge. Here's what happened.

=> Read more!

As I reported in Sunday's roundup of what happened in the 2009 legislative session, unemployment checks are going up this week. There are two increases at work -- $45 a week from the state and $25 a week from Congress.

Plus, since it took state Employment Security awhile to set up its computers, there are some retro amounts in some checks. The state says 171,000 people are drawing unemployment checks this week, down from 200,000 in March.

Unemployment benefits rise as a result of stimulus packages

OLYMPIA – About $10 million a week will be pumped into Washington’s economy due to unemployment benefit increases that begin showing up in benefit payments today, according to Gov. Chris Gregoire.

“Surviving on unemployment is tough. This additional money will give our state’s workers a little extra to pay their bills while they look for a new job,” said Gregoire. “Our communities also will benefit, since most of the money will be spent at local businesses.”

Unemployment claimants will get two increases, courtesy of separate state and federal economic recovery legislation.

Gregoire and the state Legislature approved a temporary increase in unemployment benefits that applies only to Washington workers. It includes an increase in the minimum benefit amount – from $129 a week to $155 – plus an additional $45 for most unemployment claimants.

=> Read more!

Jason Mercier at the Washington Policy Center raises this question, indirectly, in his post from last week.

Here's the deal: Initiative 960 will be 2 years old when the Legislature reconvenes for a 60-day session in January 2010. That means lawmaker can more easily amend the voter-approved measure with a simple majority vote. And that means they could change I-960 to say that taxes can be raised by only a simple majority vote.

(It takes a two-thirds majority to change any part of an initiative during the first two years it is on the books. Thereafter, 50 percent, plus 1.)

Mercier raises that possibility, based on comments from Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle.

Here is a link to Mercier's post on Friday, which has the Kohl-Welles video snippet from her TVW appearance.

Keep in mind, Kohl-Welles is elected for life. She's in a safe Seattle district, so safe that she can sponsor bills to introduce a state income tax. So you can't take what she says as an indication of what her fellow Democrats might do.

You think Democrats would be any more likely to raise taxes on their own going into a November election? Hardly. They couldn't even get the votes in the House to put a tax proposal on the ballot this session. What if the economy gets worse? The jobless rate in Washington will be 10 percent by then. Will that matter?

About the only thing you can count on is that next session there will be lots of pressure on Democratic majorities (62-36 in the House; 31-18 in the Senate) to change I-960. And then?

Today we should get the May 10 update on state tax collections for the preceeding month. Stay tuned.

Tacoma City Councilman Jake Fey has announced his intention to run for the District 2 seat again.

Tacoma, WA, May 10, 2009 - On Wednesday, May 13 Jake Fey and his supporters will launch his re-election campaign for Tacoma City Council District 2.  The kick off event will be held at the Hub (located at 203 Tacoma Ave. South in the Stadium District) at 5:30 PM.  Featured speakers include neighborhood advocates and business leaders to illustrate the many accomplishments Jake Fey has led in his first four years on the Council.

Many questions remain about how the economic downturn will impact the City of Tacoma. How deep will the cuts have to be? How will city services change?

City Manager Eric Anderson on Friday released a 7-page memo answering City Council members' follow-up questions to an earlier economic report.

The very last one is good news for anyone who drives on city streets.

I touched on this briefly after the public hearing before the Tacoma City Council last week, but this was in the City Manager's report on Friday.

The city is going to receive $1.18 million in federal funds to help with homelessness or near-homelessness caused by the economic downturn. The money is to be divided up for different services including direct financial assistance and support services.

Local homeless service providers suggested the money might go further if the proposed allocations were flipped flopped and combined with local housing vouchers.

Here's what John Briehl, director of the city Human Rights & Human Services Department wrote to city manager Eric Anderson:

While there may be merit to this proposal, the details of the approach are not yet mature and the impact of such a change at this late date in the process may have unintended consequences. In the meantime, staff recommends that the allocations remain as proposed...

The plan is before the City Council this week in the form on a resolution to amend the Consolidated Plan Annual Action Plan.

The City Council meeting looks fairly light this week.

* There's a resolution to contract with Pierce County Security, Inc. for security guard services at the Municipal Building. It runs $120,697 for the initial two-year contract with three one-year renewal options.

* Another $40,000 contract with Asphalt Patch Systems Inc., an increase in the 2008 Sidewalk Maintenance program.

* They're also scheduled to finalize the plans for the $1.18 million in federal money for homelessness prevention and rapid re-housing, which was the subject of the public hearing last week.

* An a resolution authorizing application for a $2.17 million Department of Justice grant for crime-fighting efforts.

I talked to Washington Health Department Secretary Mary Selecky on Friday afternoon. (She took a few minutes away from dealing with swine flu stuff to talk about impending budget cuts.)

Legislative budget-writers are taking $22 million away from the Tobacco Prevention and Control program over the next two years. It used to get $52 million per biennium. In 2009-11 it will get $30 million.

So Selecky and Co. have to figure out how they can re-do a quit smoking help line, other stuff to keep teens from smoking. That's the main focus.

The budget language says the Health Department can't spending any money on TV ads over the next two years.

Her agency's budget situation got worse over that final weekend of the legislative session, she said. Lawmakers "swept" $6 million from the current 2007-09 budget cycle, which ends June 30, she said. That caught the agency off guard.

"Swept" is one of many words used down her to indicate "Our money was there, and now it's gone!"

I usually say "raided." Some say "grabbed."

There was a lot of sweeping, raiding and grabbing going on this session as the Legislature dealt with a $9 billion shortfall. I'm still adding up the carnage -- $777 million from the capital budget, $80 million from the liquor board, $22 million from the quit smoking account, $29 million from Auditor Brian Sonntag's performance audit fund. The list goes on.

More later.

Departments across the the City of Tacoma are tightening their belts due to the economic downturn.

So when the Hearing Examiner's Office announced plans to save more than $5,000 by canceling subscriptions, we wondered what they were giving up. No more Guns & Ammo? Hasta la vista Vibe? Au revoir Organic Hearing Examining?

The truth, as with most things bureaucratic, is far more boring.

Environmental Regulations of Land Use 	
$1,039

Wetland Law Regulations	
$873

Subdivision Law & Growth Management 	
$539

Sutherland Statutory Construction	
$2,358

Zoning & Planning Law Handbook	
$873

TOTAL SAVINGS (for 2009 and 2010)
$5,682

(Photo: Mannobhai)

The Society of Professional Journalists national ethics committee is calling foul on the Washington News Council for conducting an online poll on a complaint against KIRO TV.

The Washington Secretary of State had complained to the News Council, a self-appointed watchdog group, about KIRO's pieces on voter registration irregularities. KIRO declined to participate in a hearing. So the News Council posted an online poll, which turned out lopsided against KIRO.

"A hearing can be worthwhile if all parties voluntarily participate and work toward a common understanding," the SPJ said in a news release. "The committee strongly objects to having a public online vote, or virtual hearing, on journalism ethics.

“The news council is wrong to emulate the ‘American Idol’ model of voting for a ‘winner,’” said Andy Schotz, chairman of SPJ’s Ethics Committee. “Gimmickry is a major step backward if the council wants to appear professional and credible.”

Click here to see the results of the News Council's "virtual hearing." The full press release is below.

=> Read more!

Gov. Chris Gregoire is taking her bill-signing show on the road next week to sign a bunch of transportation-related bills. And a few others, too.

She's going to the Seattle Aquarium at 2 p.m. Tuesday to sign the Alaskan Way Viaduct Bill, Senate Bill 5768.

Later on, she'll sign a dozen other bills, including the newspaper tax break (HB 2122), tax breaks for solar and enviro stuff (SB 6170), document fees to pay for programs for the homeless (HB 2331), electric cars (HB 1481), Apple Health for Kids (HB 2128) and the Olympic varmint, er, marmot bill (SB 5071).

Early Wednesday afternoon, the Guv will be in Tacoma to sign the 2009-11 state transportation budget. That's at 2 p.m. at the Convention Center, 1500 Broadway. There's $5 billion worth of projects in the overall $7.5 billion budget, including Interstate 5 carpool lanes through Tacoma.

Later that afternoon, 4:30 p.m. she'll sign the Highway 520 bridge bill (HB 2211) in Grays Harbor. That's going to create a bunch of jobs down there because that's where most of the bridge pontoons will be built.

Looks like the Domestic Partnerships bill is on tap for a signing ceremony on Monday, May 18 in Seattle. (Don't know location, yet.) So, that will officially kick off the Referendum 71 campaign that seeks to overturn the expansion of gay rights in the bill.

And the state operating budget is supposed to be signed Tuesday May 19. I'll miss that one. I'm having two teeth pulled instead. It was a tough choice for me, but the tooth-pulling comes with Vicodin. The budget doesn't. (Although it probably should, given the amount of pain in it).

Gov. Gregoire’s Schedule May 11 through May 15, 2009

=> Read more!

A call from Tim Eyman prompted me to take another look at the compilation of bills that I posted on the blog over the last couple days, specifically, Senate Bill 5433.

That bill is awaiting action by Gov. Chris Gregoire. It would give locals governments some flexibility in how they can spend the sales tax money they already collect, hope to impose. The bill also would give the King County Council a new taxing option. The council, without a public vote, could raise property taxes by 7.5 cents per $1,000 in property values to raise money for Metro Transit. (I got that wrong before. I thought it required a public vote.)

As I recall, the county could raise $25 million to $30 million a year with the property tax. So, even though the council is complaining about not getting the wherewithal to impose a motor vehicle excise tax of 1 percent countywide to collect $120 million a year, it does get half of that with the property tax and the $20-per-vehicle license tab fee.

This is from my legislative roundup, which is on the blog and will run in print on Sunday.

Transit taxes: SB 5433 also would let transit agencies such as Pierce, King County Metro and Intercity imposed a $20 annual vehicle registration fee with a public vote -- Sound Transit could not -- and let the King County Council (without a public vote) raise property taxes by 7.5 cent per $1,000 in property values for transit.

Just think, Kopachuk could become "Joe Turner State Park".

I've lost track of what the Gig Harbor Peninsula community and the state Parks and Recreation Commission are doing about possibly mothballing Kopachuk state park. But Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center reminded me of it in his blog posting about the state budget.

Mercier is much further ahead of me in reading the state budget. His blog posting made mention of how State Parks is being encourage to turn over its parks to others who might want them -- counties, tribes, etc.

But the counties are looking to do the same thing, so maybe State Parks should be looking further down the line. "Jim King Jr. State Park?" You'd get to park free, but you have to go on police call at least once a day.

Maybe we can just give the Peace Arch to Canada. Ya think?

Here is a link to the center's blog.

The Secretary of State’s Office has named Pierce County elections manager Lori Augino the County Election Employee of the Year.

The award recognizes Augino’s work in 2008, a challenging year for county elections officials. They implemented the county’s new ranked choice voting system and the state’s new “top two” primary. They also oversaw regular general elections for state and federal offices amid historic voter turnout.

“Through it all, Lori maintained her cool, and showed her staff how to push forward,” Secretary of State Sam Reed said in announcing the award. “She has worked extremely long days, resolved significant challenges and maintained grace under fire.”

Augino has worked at the auditor's office since 1995 and has been elections manager since 2000. She received the award at a statewide conference Wednesday.

Here’s the full press release:

May 7, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed honored Lori Augino of the Pierce County Auditor's Office as the County Election Employee of the Year during a statewide conference on Wednesday, May 6.

Augino, who joined the Auditor's Office in 1995, has served as Pierce County's Election Manager since 2000.

"For many years, Lori has been a valuable resource for the elections community in our state. She has consistently provided constructive input on policy decisions, pending legislation, and proposed administrative rules," said Reed, who presented the inaugural award during the annual statewide Elections Conference, held at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound.

=> Read more!

Just in time for Bike to Work week next week, the City of Tacoma is rolling out a map of bike friendly streets.

“We’re encouraging people to bike to work that week,” said Diane Wiatr, city mobility coordinator and urban planner. “And certainly after that, too.”

About 42,000 employees work in the downtown area, she said, and the map is intended to help people find routes that aren’t too steep.

“Coming in it’s downhill, but getting out of town can be difficult,” she said. The map has chevrons indicating grade.

It was put together with the help of the Tacoma Wheelmen’s Bicycle Club, which has been promoting biking in Tacoma since 1888.

“They used to ride from here to Mt. Rainier,” Wiatr said. “It’s amazing because they were on these big clunkers. They didn’t even have a water bottle.”

Tacoma is also starting to design a “mobility master plan,” which means taking lofting urban planning concepts and asking, “What should we do on this particular street?”

The commuting map can be downloaded at PierceTrips.com or here on the News Tribune’s Political Buzz Blog.

On Saturday, a bike swap will be held on the University of Puget Sound’s campus from noon to 5 p.m. Vendors will have vintage bikes for sale and there will be opportunities to buy, sell and swap equipment.

“My daughters bike is too small,” Wiatr said. “Someone is going to be really happy to have it at a cheap price and I’m going to be really happy to have it out of my garage.”

Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer Dale Washam has

asked the county prosecuting attorney’s office to investigate allegations that the assessor’s office falsified records to cover up skipped property inspections under his predecessor, Ken Madsen.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Washam asked Prosecuting Attorney Gerald Horne to investigate the accusations that the office skipped inspections required by state law and falsified various documents to make it appear the inspections had been conducted. Among the documents: county tax records and progress reports submitted to the state Department of Revenue.

You can download a copy of the letter here or at the assessor’s web site.

Washam has claimed for years that the office under Madsen failed to conduct physical inspections of properties for tax assessment purposes. Washam won election to the office in November and in March announced that his suspicions were true. He now says the office may have skipped inspections of more than 181,000 properties from 2001 to 2008.

Madsen has said his office did not conduct “boots on the ground” inspections of every property, but used accepted statistical methods to assess property values. Madsen said the state Department of Revenue was aware of his practices, though the department has denied it knew the office was not physically inspecting properties.

Washam previously asked several state agencies to investigate the skipped inspections. Each declined. Now he’s asking the local prosecuting attorney to take a look.

=> Read more!

When I wrote this morning that I was going to keep updating this blog post with highlights and interesting tidbits, I lied. I'm just not going to have time today. So, as a peace offering, here's a copy of the report's executive summary and key findings.

My original post is now after the jump.

=> Read more!

This comes from King County:

Blue-Ribbon Committee to interview prospective King County Executive appointees on May 13

Panel to evaluate four nominees and make recommendations to the King County Council

Now that the U.S. Senate has formally confirmed King County Executive Ron Sims for a Cabinet-level post, a blue-ribbon panel will meet next week to assist the Metropolitan King County Council in the evaluation of four nominees for interim County Executive:

Wednesday, May 13
6:30 p.m.
Chinook Building, Room 123
401 Fifth Avenue, Seattle

The Blue-Ribbon Committee will meet with the candidates for Executive who received nominations from at three County Councilmembers. Those nominees are:

· Former County Councilmember Steve Hammond
· Former County Councilmember Louise Miller
· Former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer
· King County Executive Chief of Staff Kurt Triplett

When the office is officially vacated, the King County Council under the County Charter will appoint an executive to serve until the next general election in November. The Council created the Blue-Ribbon Committee to interview candidates and forward at least two recommendations. The committee is chaired by former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke, with bipartisan membership representing the economic, geographic and ethnic diversity of the county.

That 583 bills surpasses the previous record of 536 bills passed by the 1987 Legislature, which passed 11 more during a subsequent special session that same year. So 547 was the record.

Marty Brown, the governor's legislative liaison, is the source of that bit of legislative trivia and history. Brown, who also was budget director for former Gov. Gary Locke, Secretary of the Senate and holder of various other legislative jobs since the territorial days, knows all that stuff first-hand. (And he's still a few years younger than me.)

Here are some that cleared both the House and Senate, but still await action by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

PASSED LEGISLATURE; AWAIT ACTION BY GOVERNOR

Teachers pay raises: HB 2363 would suspend the cost of living raises that public school and some two-year college workers are automatically entitled to in 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. However, the bill also obliges the Legislature to make up for the estimated 4.2 percent raise that teachers are losing no later than the 2014-15 school year.

Fees for parks: HB 2339 would direct the state Department of Licensing on Sept. 1 to start collecting $5 from people when they register their vehicles unless owners “opt out” of that donation. If half of motorists pay up, no state parks will close. Otherwise, some are likely to be mothballed.

Alaskan Way Viaduct: SB 5768 would authorize the state to spend $2.4 billion to bore a 1.7-mile tunnel under downtown Seattle to replace the elevated structure, make Seattle property owners pay for any cost overruns beyond $2.8 billion and commission a study to see if tolls can raise $400 million of the total $4.24 billion project cost.

Toll 520 bridge: HB 2211 would allow the state to impose tolls on the Highway 520 bridge across Lake Washington as early as October 2010. Tolls would vary based on time of day and must be high enough to pay off $1.2 billion in loans for the estimated $4.65 billion project. No decision yet on whether to toll I-90 bridge, too.

Family leave: SB 6158 would delay until Oct. 1, 2012 payment of any benefits under a program that would give families $250 a week for up to five weeks to care for a newborn or adopted child.

=> Read more!

Nearly 600 bills were passed by the Legislature and two-thirds of them already have been signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire. The remainder will be signed -- or vetoed -- by May 19.

Here are some of the bills that I tracked this session. (I've included 2 bills that will be signed later today and 1 other that will be signed on Friday.)

GOVERNOR SIGNED INTO LAW

Bigger unemployment checks: HB 1906 will raise the minimum weekly benefit check to $200 and boost other payments by $45 a week across the board. Money from Congress will boost weekly benefits by an additional $25 for the rest of the year. Higher amounts will show up in checks this week.

Nalley Valley Viaduct: HB 1978, the 2007-09 supplemental transportation budget, includes $70 million to put back on schedule construction of the eastbound portion of the viaduct for 2011-13. The governor had delayed that project until 2013-15.

Hiring freeze: HB 1694 puts a partial freeze on all state hiring, but prison workers and some other groups of employees are exempt.

Car sales fee: HB 1939 allows auto dealers to triple the maximum fee they can charge their customers for processing sales paperwork, to $150 from $50. The fee falls back to $50 in 2014.

Vancouver-Portland transit: SB 5540 allows Clark County and Vancouver to create a high capacity transit taxing district similar to Sound Transit in Puget Sound and impose a sales tax of 0.9 percent to help pay for light-rail or buses over the Columbia River to Portland.

Tacoma Dome parking garage: SB 5045 will let Tacoma set up special taxing district, probably downtown and in Tacoma Dome district, to raise up to $500,000 a year for 25 years to pay for parking that will be displaced by the LeMay Car Museum. Bremerton and Auburn also have permission to get some state money, too.

=> Read more!

This just in from House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown:

May 7, 2009
Statement from House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown regarding special session:

“After a conversation today between Gov. Gregoire, Speaker Chopp and Majority Leader Brown, the three leaders decided against a special session.”

“The few issues left on the table in the education and corrections budgets can be taken up when the Legislature next convenes, and after future revenue forecasting provides a clearer picture of the lasting effect of the recession on our state.

“That being said, we stepped up to the challenge presented by what is generally considered to be the worst recession in 70 years. The Legislature approved three balanced biennial budgets, and key legislation that will affect the future of our education system, protect working families, position us toward a greener energy future, and help Washington businesses create jobs.”

Here is the reaction of Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt:

=> Read more!

I lost track of this issue during those final hectic days of the legislative session, but the 82,000-member Washington Education Association certainly didn't lose sight of a bill they wanted to take the sting out of their frozen salaries.

House Bill 2363 is the measure that actually suspends the cost-of-living adjustments that some 150,000 public school and two-year college workers are automatically entitled to in 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. Voter-approved Initiative 732 says they get pay raises pegged to the Consumer Price Index. By suspending I-732, the state saves about $380 million because the Legislature doesn't have to give teachers a 4.2 percent raise this fall or a slight raise in the fall of 2010.

However, the bill also obliges the Legislature to make up for that estimated 4.2 percent raise that teachers are losing no later than the 2014-15 school year.

You'll hear over and over down here at the state capital that one Legislature can't bind another Legislature to act on something. That's the reason given to discourage interest groups from even trying to exact a promise out of the Legislature. But the WEA doesn't believe that.

At the very least, they will force the 2013 or 2014 Legislature to remove that promise language from HB 2363.

Although legislative budget-writers claim they cut K-12 funding by only 2.6 percent, the WEA says the cuts actually are 7.3 percent if you count the lost pay raises and the skipped payments into their pension fund. The Legislature did use a lot of federal stimulus money to make up for some reduction in state funds.

I'm working on a roundup of what passed, what got signed into law, what got vetoed and what died or was killed in the 2009 legislative session.

And I realized there is no way all this stuff will fit into the print edition of our newspaper on Sunday, so I'm posting as many as I can on line.

I'll probably update this list over the next couple days.

UPDATE (11:46 a.m.): Since there will be no special session, I've added 4 bills to the "dead" list. Scroll to the end of the list.

FAILED
Tax referendum: HB 2377 would have increases the state sales tax to 6.8 percent from 6.5 percent to raise $1.1 billion over the next three years to “buy back” some cuts to nursing homes, hospitals and health care programs. A portion of the money would have been given to poor families. Passed by a House Committee but never came up for a vote in the House.

Millionaires income tax: SB 6147 would have imposed a 1 percent tax on single incomes over $500,000 and couple’s incomes over $1 million. It never received a public hearing. Other income tax bills were introduced or proposed by Sens. Lisa Brown and Rosa Franklin, but did not advance.

Enhanced 911 tax hike: HB 2029 would have raised the monthly telephone tax to support Enhanced 911 emergency telephone service to 95 cents from 70 cents but it failed to get a two-thirds majority needed to pass the House. A subsequent proposal would have asked voters to approve the increase at an August election, but it did not come up for a vote.

Oil tax: HB 1614 would have levied a $1.50-per-barrel tax to raise $115 million a year for prevention and cleanup of pollution from storm water runoff. Passed by House. Died in Senate.

=> Read more!

Gov. Chris Gregoire is scheduled to take action on a couple dozens bills this afternoon. Among them are two that I wrote about during the legislative session. SB 5391 will require tattoo artists and body piercing (artists?) to be licensed by July 1, 2010.

House Bill 1362 will let cities and counties designate certain areas for beefed-up enforcement of prostitution laws. For crimes committed in those areas, law officers are allowed to impound any vehicle involved in the act of prostitution, which means a "john" (customer) could have his (or her, that would be "jane", I guess) car impounded.

It would cost $500 to retrieve the vehicle.

Gov. Gregoire to take bill action
Event Date: May 7
OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire tomorrow will take action on several bills.

1:30 p.m. Gov. Gregoire to take bill action
Governor’s Conference Room
Legislative Building - 2nd floor
Olympia
Gregoire will take action on the following bills:

=> Read more!

Frankly, there's nothing I can do to write in an interesting way about an proposed amendment to Tacoma's interlocal agreement with LESA – the Law Enforcement Support Agency, which handles dispatching, records and other services for 15 local police departments.

So I'm not going to write about that directly. But I am going to tell you why it's important and where it fits into larger problems at LESA.

Mayor Bill Baarsma, who is also on LESA's Executive Board, said during a Government Performance and Finance Committee meeting Wednesday afternoon that LESA was clearly underfunded and understaffed compared to the level of service it is expected to provide.

LESA operators handle more than twice the volume of calls each year than the state average, a recent performance audit found. (More on that later, I just got a copy of the 234-page beast today and haven't had a chance to read it.) The agency had one round of layoffs in March and unless someone waves a magic wand, it looks like they might have more layoffs this summer. Which would only decrease the level of service they're able to provide.

Update: Here's a link to the handouts from yesterday's meeting, including a summary presented by LESA, figures on funding by agency and a copy of the proposed amendment language.

=> Read more!

I got this questionnaire from the Faith and Freedom folks, and I was struck by the Stuart Elway poll results, the one that said 59 percent of Washingtonians between 18 and 35 years old approve of gay marriage. That reflects nationwide sentiments.

Opponents of Senate Bill 5688, the bill that would give same-sex couples all the civil rights of heterosexual couples -- except marriage -- have launched an effort to repeal the measure once Gov. Chris Gregoire signs it into law, which she is expected to do soon.

The Faith and Freedom Network is alarmed by the high level of support for gay marriage among younger people and wants to see if they have enough public support to launch a campaign to change the minds of younger folks who "are not developing a biblical worldview."

Here are the questions.

1. Do you support the effort of Referendum 71 to protect marriage in Washington State?

2. If you replied "yes" on the previous question, how are you willing to support Referendum 71?
Financial
Circulate Petitions
Pray

3. In the recent Faith & Freedom Elway Survey of Washington State, we found that 59% of those surveyed between 18 - 35 years old approved of homosexual marriage and 39% did not approve.

These numbers are consistent nationally.

Clearly our youth are not developing a biblical worldview. Faith & Freedom is considering developing an ongoing resource program to help develop that worldview among our youth in the Northwest.

Would you financially support this ministry?

=> Read more!

The Washington State Liquor Control Board voted this morning to raise its "mark up" on the price for a bottle of booze from 39.2 percent of the wholesale cost to 51.9 percent of the wholesale cost.

The increase will take effect on Aug. 1 and will remain in effect at least through the end of the 2009-11 biennium, or June 30, 2011.

Liquor Board spokesman Brian Smith said only 2 of 3 liquor board members were present at the meeting in Lacey this morning, but the vote was unanimous.

The move was necessitated by the Legislature's taking nearly $80 million from the Liquor Board's revolving fund to help balance the state operating budget. The higher liquor prices are expected to replenish the fund, Smith said.

Board members decided for an across-the-board percentage increase rather than a flat $1.05-per-liter increase that had been proposed to the board, Smith said. That way, the increase will have a lesser impact on customers who purchase "value" liquor and a bigger impact on the high-end products, he said.

I've asked Smith to get back to me with a couple specific examples -- on Monarch Vodka and Cutty Sark Scotch -- just because the pricing for booze it so complicated -- for me, at least. I'll update this post when he gets back to me.

UPDATE: Cutty Sark Scotch (750 ml) would rise from $23.95 to $26, while Monarch Vodka (750 ml) would rise from $9.95 to $10.75. Monarch Vodka is the most popular product at state liquor stores.

In other news, the state budget authorizes the Liquor Board to open 5 more state-operated stores and to contract with private operators for 10 additional stores. The governor is expected to sign the budget May 18 or 19.

Smith said this upcoming year, many more liquor stores will be open on holidays, except for Christmas.

The Guaranteed Education Tuition Committee is meeting on campus at 1 p.m. Monday to set new prices for pre-paid tuition purchases.

Although Gov. Chris Gregoire has not yet signed the state budget, she is expected to approve the 14 and 7 percent tuition hikes authorized for four-year and two-year colleges, respectively, for each of the next two years.

So, the GET Committee no doubt will set rates that reflect those tuition increases.

GET Committee to meet in Olympia on May 11

OLYMPIA – The Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) Committee will review unit pricing assumptions and set next year’s unit price at a public meeting in Olympia on Monday, May 11.

Committee members will also hear an update on GET investments and approve the FY2010 budget.

As a 529 prepaid college tuition plan, the GET program allows Washington families to prepay for future college expenses. The state guarantees that a family buying one year of college tuition today (100 GET units) will have one year of college tuition in the future. The program encourages families to start saving for their child’s college education.

=> Read more!

So where might Pierce County Auditor Jan Shabro’s quest for cost savings eventually lead? Think ranked choice voting.

After Tuesday’s County Council vote rejecting her request to close the polls for budget reasons this year, Shabro said she has about $600,000 in her budget dedicated to implementing the system voters approved in 2006 and used for the first time in 2008.

In November voters will consider an amendment to the county charter repealing ranked choice voting. County officials say voter confusion about the system contributed to long lines at the polls last November. Ranked-choice voting supporters say the auditor’s office blamed the system for its own mistakes.

Even if voters repeal the system, it won’t help Shabro balance her budget this year. Her own job will be decided by ranked choice voting this November.

But Shabro said the repeal would save money next year, when the county budget may be in even worse shape.

Look for the cost savings to be an issue – and hotly debated – in the run-up to November’s vote.

Everything was going swimmingly at the Council of the Whole meeting at Tacoma City Hall Tuesday afternoon until the discussion turned to the subject of upcoming improvements to the Council Chambers.

The $30,000 job will move the podium from Siberia at the left side of the room to directly in front of the mayor. A new "pony wall" with three gates will divide the public from the electeds (and staff). The City Manager and City Attorney's seats will move onto an extended platform to the Council's right (from their perspective, the left from the audience's). And the council dais will be resurfaced with new plastic laminate.

Things started to unravel when Mayor Bill Baarsma pointed out that dais was misspelled on the plans.

This brought on a discussion of the proper pronunciation of the word.

"It's day-is," Baarsma said. Others said die-is. (Merriam-Webster says it can go either way: \ˈdā-əs, ÷ˈdī-\.)

The discussion went downhill from there.

=> Read more!

Here's a quick rundown of tonight's City Council meeting:

A consent agenda adopting various meeting minutes passed unanimously.

No one signed up to speak at public comment.

Three purchasing awards -- for chip seal rock, Ford automotive parts and improvements to the landfill's gas flare station -- were passed together unanimously.

Ordinances adopting pay raises for 32 police and fire employees, extending paid military leave from 15 days per year to 21 days and clarifying the application procedure for disability retirement each passed unanimously.

An ordinance to authorize the Board and Director of the Tacoma Employees' Retirement system to execute contracts was put off (date uncertain). Mayor bill Baarsma mentioned at a Committee of the Whole meeting earlier in the afternoon that some issues had been raised by lawyer-types about the phrasing of the ordinance.

=> Read more!

The Pierce County Council this afternoon rejected a call to scrap poll voting this year to save money.

By a unanimous vote, the council rejected Auditor Jan Shabro’s proposal to conduct the August primary and November general elections exclusively by mail.

The plan would have saved Shabro’s office nearly $144,000 at a time when the county is cutting costs to balance its budget.

But council members said they want Shabro to search elsewhere for budget savings, citing the popularity of poll voting with many of their constituents.

“Thousands of voters have said they want to go to the polls in Pierce County,” said Chairman Roger Bush, R-Graham. “It’s an investment in democracy as we’ve practiced it in Pierce County for 100 years.”

Like other county departments, the auditor’s office is scrambling to cut costs. The council recently approved $8 million in spending cuts and other budget adjustments. More are expected this summer as sales tax and other revenues plummet. And 2010 looks even worse.

Shabro said she was trying to save money while preserving jobs in her office. She already has cut more than $326,000 from her budget and is looking for ways to trim more.

Shabro proposed scrapping poll voting for this year only, arguing that turnout would be low in off-year elections.

She found some sympathy on the council. Councilman Dick Muri, R-Steilacoom, proposed meeting Shabro halfway by eliminating poll voting for the August primary but keeping the polls open for the November general election. That proposal would have saved the auditor about $72,000.

=> Read more!

The Washington State Liquor Control Board will meet Wednesday in Lacey to propose a $1.05-per-liter increase in the price of booze to replenish nearly $80 million the Legislature took from the board to balance the state budget.

Representatives of the liquor industry claim state lawmakers are forcing the Liquor Board to "raise taxes" because they couldn't come up with the two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate to raise taxes themselves.

But Legislature is cleverly circumventing provisions of Initiative 960, which requires a public vote or a two-thirds vote to raise taxes, said David Wojnar, vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

Wojnar called it a "stealth tax."

"Legislators aren’t pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes here – this is a tax," said Wojnar said. "By forcing the agency to raise prices on liquor, state legislators have craftily avoided leaving their own fingerprints on what is essentially a major tax hike.

"This stealth move violates the spirit of I-960 which would have required a two-thirds vote by the Legislature to enact a liquor tax increase," he said.

Brian Smith, liquor board spokesman, said Tuesday that Liquor Board members are moving quickly to replace the money the Legislature tranferred from the liquor board's revolving fund. The board notified suppliers of the proposed increase, which would take effect Aug. 1.

The $1.05 per liter increase would raise $78.6 million if it remained in effect until June 30, 2011, the end of the 2009-11 budget cycle, he said.

The Legislature took $60 million to help balance the state budget. The remaining $18.6 million would have gone to local governments.

Rep. Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the transfer from the liquor board account was necessary to balance the budget and help fill a $9 billion shortfall.

=> Read more!

For some, the words "regional transportation planning" are the public policy equivalent of melatonin. I'll admit I'm not much of a transportation wonk myself.

But Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma put its importance this way at a City Council study session this afternoon: By 2040, Tacoma is going to be the size of St. Louis.

Yowza.

His comment came as the Council watched a presentation by the Puget Sound Regional Council that laid out scenario for how we might grow and change transportation systems in the four-county region over the next 30 years.

I'm not going to recap the entire 40-slide PowerPoint presentation, but you can follow this link to a two-page overview of the proposals and there's plenty more at the PRSC's Web site.

Here are a couple of key ideas and interesting points that were raised in the presentation:

* Best case scenario, wait times are still going to go way up on freeways and arterials. But if we do nothing they're going to go way, way up.

* In the next 30 years, we're going to be adding the equivalent of Portland, Ore. to what we've already got.

* In order to better use freeways, we could see HOV lanes go from being for 2+ riders to 3+.

* In our region, transportation accounts for about half of the carbon emissions, so it will be a major front in the battle over climate change.

* Between 1970 and 2000, Pierce County had 11 percent of the new jobs in the area. Between 2000 and 2040 that's expected to grow to 15 percent. Councilman Mike Lonergan (right) pointed that out that's not a four percent increase -- that four percentage point increase is really a 36 percent increase. Which means we need to get busy growing our economy by something like 80,000 new jobs, he said.

The PSRC has come up with five alternative scenarios of how the region might proceed in a unified way. The various plans put different emphases on transit, system management, tolls (including one scenario that has tolls on arterial roads) and environmental protection.

There's clearly a lot more to the issue than I can tackle in a blog post. I'll try to get a copy of the full presentation e-mailed to me so I can add it to this post.

Update: As promised, here's the full presentation.

Tony Tortorice will become the new director of the state Department of Information Services. He starts July 1 at an annual salary of $147,000. He replaced Gary Robinson, who retired in January.

Gov. Gregoire announces appointment of new DIS director

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today named Tony Tortorice, a California Information Technology executive with more than 25 years of IT experience in both the private and public sectors, to head Washington’s Department of Information Services.

“Tony brings the unique background and wealth of experience required to be successful in this role,” Gregoire said. “Our state, like any other business, has to make technological advances if we’re going to be successful. I am confident that Tony’s strong technology experience will greatly benefit Washington as we develop strategies to streamline state government – which will better serve our communities while improving our bottom line.”

=> Read more!

Set wonk alert to condition three throughout the system.

Tacoma is holding a workshop and walking tour Thursday afternoon as it puts together some Complete Streets Design Guidelines. The public is invited to attend and participate.

In English: Tacoma is trying to make city streets appealing to more than just drivers. That means putting in sidewalks, bike lanes, turn lanes and so forth. (Think Bridgeport Way in University Place -- which is listed as an example on www.completestreets.org, the online HQ for the national movement.)

The improvements also include "green" features, such as trees (natch!) and rain gardens to capture and use storm water, said City of Tacoma planner Elliott Barnett.

Why are the principles behind complete streets a big deal? What good to they do besides getting urban planners' pheromones pumping?

According to the organization's Web site, the benefits are myriad:

* There's an economic benefit to property values and to shops from increased pedestrian traffic.
* The streets are safer for walkers and bikers.
* More walking and biking makes people healthier.
* It can ease traffic congestion -- "In Portland, Oregon, a complete streets approach has resulted in a 74 percent increase in bicycle commuting in the 1990s."
* Decreased car traffic means better air quality.
* And Complete Streets will bring about world peace.

(Ok, I made that last one up.)

Barnett puts it this way: just as mixed-use planning aims to make private property development more "livable," the Complete Streets approach does the same thing for public rights of way. So it's natural to apply it first in Tacoma's mixed use centers.

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Complete Streets in Tacoma can be found on the city Planning Department's Web site.

Here's the schedule for Thursday's events:

Meet at the Tacoma Municipal Building –
747 Market Street, Room 248, Tacoma

2:00 to 2:30 Introductions & Overview
2:30 to 4:00 Walking Tour
4:00 to 5:00 Workshop (Room 248)

(Photo: illustration from Oregon Department of Transportation, posted at CompleteStreets.org)

Well, that explains why we weren't called into a special session last weekend. A key player was otherwise engaged, so to speak.

Rep. Zack Hudgins, D-Newlywed, was married to Gabriela Quintana on Saturday.

No other details, although I should know a lot more. The press desk in the House is just beyond arm's length from the front-row seats of Hudgins and Larry Springer, D-Kirkland. I was sitting in front of him for weeks and yet Hudgins didn't mention a thing about his impending nuptials.

Maybe he was afraid we would go directly into special session and didn't want to jinx it.

Somehow local digito-instigator R.R. Anderson obtained this old photo of me for FeedTacoma.

I thought they had all been destroyed.

A public hearing will be held at tomorrow's Tacoma City Council meeting on the $1.8 $1.18 million the city will get from the feds for preventing homelessness.

The money will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing (which I'm sure a bureaucrat somewhere refers to as ARRAHPRRH).

The expectation is that the funds will go to people who have become homeless or who are about to become homeless due to the economic downturn.

The money could go toward temporary rent or utility assistance or to help with moving expenses to prevent homelessness. It could also go to re-house people living in shelters.

"None of the funds can be used to help persons facing foreclosure..." a says the memo from John Briehl, director of the Human Rights & Human Services Department to City Manager Eric Anderson.

Update: Follow this link to see a breakdown recommended for the funds -- $723,683 for homelessness prevention, $400,000 for rapid re-housing (and $59,141 in administrative costs).

Update 2: In response to the comments, here's what the money can be used for.

Financial assistance: Short-term rental assistance, security deposit, utility deposit, utility payment, moving costs, motel/hotel voucher.

Housing Relocation and Stabilization Services: Case management, outreach, housing search and placement, legal services, mediation, credit repair.

(Photo: Ed Yourdon)

Also released by the Tacoma City Manager's office this week: a list of "themes" that have come up at recent Neighborhood Council meetings.

The themes were identified by Management Fellows in the City Manager's office who are assigned as liaisons to each of the eight neighborhood groups.

The big ones for April 7 to April 28 were the mixed use center code changes and street repairs.

For concerns specific to each neighborhood, follow the link above.

Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson has started continued providing council members with a "heads up" on policy issues that will come before them.

In his weekly report last week, he attached this list for May and June.

Some of the highlights include:

*Mixed used centers -- the Planning Commission is scheduled to make its final decision on May 6. At the May 12 Council meeting, the council will vote to set a public hearing for June 9.

*Comprehensive Plan Amendments -- the Council is scheduled to hear the Planning Commission's recommendations at the June 9 study session.

Lots more detail if you follow the link above.

I assume Gov. Chris Gregoire is going to sign House Bill 1517, the labor of love for state Rep. Jeannie Darnielle, D-Tacoma, for the past 9 years.

But you never know. We'll find out at 4:30 today.

HB 1517 would restore the right to vote to offenders who have finished serving their prison sentences and who no longer are under community supervision by the state Department of Corrections. Current law says they also must pay all their fines, court costs and restitution to the victim before they can vote. Darneille's bill says they just have to be making progress on paying off those financial obligations to regain the right to vote.

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today will take action on several bills.
4:30 p.m. Gov. Gregoire to take bill action
Governor’s Conference Room
Legislative Building - 2nd floor
Olympia

Gregoire will take action on the following bills:

=> Read more!

David Ammons at Secretary of State Sam Reed's office just sent reporters a brief note, saying the referendum will be filed at noon today.

FYI: We’ve been notified that foes of the new domestic partner legislation will be filing a referendum today, Monday, at noon at the 520 Building, the state Elections headquarters at 520 Union near the Capitol in Oly. They will have until July 25 to gather 120,577 valid voter signatures to secure a place on the November 3 ballot. A yes vote on the referendum would be to sustain the Legislature; a no vote would overturn the law. The filing will temporarily suspend the new legislation, House Bill 5688, which was to take effect July 25, 90 days after adjournment of the Legislature. Governor Gregoire is expected to sign the measure soon.

As they do every year, members of the Youth Legislature are coming to the state capital on Wednesday for the start of a special session of their own. (This guarantees there will be no special session of the grown-up Legislature this week, if for no other reason than the grown-ups dont' want to be up-staged by the kids.)

The YMCA and 475 kids, some of whom are actually reporters who undoubtedly will be making the regular Press Corps look bad, will be here until midday Saturday.

(By the way, Youth Gov. Phil Gardner, who hails from Charlie Wright in University Place, is no relation to former Gov. Booth Gardner. I asked.)

Teens Planning Take Over of Capitol

YMCA Youth & Government Presents the 62nd session of the Youth Legislature,

OLYMPIA, Wa. – After the gavel smashes down in Olympia next week, it will be the state’s teenagers, not elected officials, cutting deals in the halls of the state legislature. The regular session has adjourned and a new generation of leaders is moving in; the YMCA’s 62nd Youth Legislature.

More than 475 youth delegates along with their advisors from 35 schools and youth delegations from across Washington will descend upon the state capitol from May 6th-May 9th proposing bills in House and Senate Chambers, debating current issues, and passing legislation that will become permanent record. Youth Legislature is part of the YMCA’s Youth & Government Program.

=> Read more!

A proposed contract with a husband-and-wife consulting team was cut in half by about 40 percent at the Tacoma City Council's request, according to an April 22 memo from city manager Eric Anderson.

The contract with Orion Partnership, which had been worth up to $321,000, was limited to $180,000. It will also now expire at the end of the year.

Anderson had defended the proposed contract before the council's Government Performance and Finance Committee saying that scaling it back or opening it up to bid could set back efforts to change the culture of city government.

"I'm very concerned we'll lose ground," he said, adding that council members hired him in 2005 to be a "change agent."

Council members said they had been happy with the work, but were concerned about the size of the contract, especially in light of the current economic turmoil.

Under its new scope:

*$55,000 will go for work with the Finance Department. "This will help the department go through changes toward customer service, collaboration and teamwork; it also includes joint work between the Finance and Information Technology departments to help build bridges within those departments," the memo says.

*The remaining $125,000 "will be used to pay for professional services throughout the organization." This will include designing leadership conferences and workshops as the city continues to work toward its goal of reducing crime by 50 percent.

"Working with the Orion Partnership, we will put together the kinds of efforts we need to address the safe goal, to renew the commitment of the organization and community toward that goal, and to bring greater effort to reduce the crime down to our goal," the memo says.

[You can read Jason Hagey's last story about Orion after the jump.]

=> Read more!

I don't quite know how to describe this latest work of Elizabeth Hummel, who entertained us with a Sine Die diddy after the 2008 session.

This one is a bit more stream of consciousness.

If I did this correctly, you'll find a link to Elizabeth's work here.

She is Rep. Zack Hudgins' legislative aide. Her co-conspirators are Brian Castillo and Mathew Jay. And the work is waterwitchcathedral.

As of today, I'm officially your fill-in Tacoma city [hall] reporter. Feel free to stop me if you see me at any of the city meetings. You can reach me by phone at 253-597-8872 or email ian.demsky@thenewstribune.com.

Here's the City Council Agenda for this week.

*There are several fairly standard looking purchasing resolutions.
*A final reading of the ordinance to raise pay for 32 police and fire employees.
*A final reading of a resolution to authorize the Board and director of the Tacoma Employees' Retirement System to execute contracts.
*There will also be a public hearing about amending the 2008-2009 Annual Action Plan of the Consolidated Plan (trying saying that three times fast) to include Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing program funds from the feds.

And, of course, everyone's favorite: Citizen's forum -- where anyone can share a piece of their mind.

As I figure out more of what I'll be looking at/into this week, I'll post updates to Political Buzz. If there are neighborhood issues you'd like us to look into, feel free to contact me.

President Barack Obama had nice things to say about his new secretary of commerce, former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, at a ceremonial swearing in today.

The president noted that Locke and Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius "were actually sworn in before today, but around here, we like to make sure we get it right. I had to do it twice, and so now we make everybody do it twice."

The actual swearing in was conducted by Vice President Joe Biden, disproving rumors that he had been put in a sound-proof quarantine chamber since those I'm-not-getting-on-a-germ-packed-plane comments.

Obama's comments from the White House transcript of the event:

Now, when I chose Gary Locke for my Commerce Secretary, I mentioned his own remarkable story. More than 100 years ago, Gary’s grandfather left China on a steamship bound for America, and found work as a domestic servant in Washington State. He raised a son – Gary’s father, Jimmy -- who would go on to fight in World War II, return home and open a grocery store, and later raise a family of his own.

=> Read more!

A judge dealt a blow today to a local Democratic Party official’s effort to invalidate the appointment of Jan Shabro as Pierce County auditor.

But the legal battle over the auditor’s post isn’t over. Local Democratic Party Chairman Nathe Lawver may appeal the judge’s ruling. And a second lawsuit over the appointment remains active.

Lawver recently sued Pierce County over the County Council’s January appointment of Shabro to replace Auditor Pat McCarthy, who resigned to become county executive. At issue is whether the council was required to pick a new auditor from among candidates recommended by the Democratic Party.

Under the county charter, it's the council's job to fill vacant elected offices. For partisan offices it must choose from three nominees submitted by the party of the person leaving the office.

In 2007 voters approved an amendment to the county charter making the auditor’s post nonpartisan. But the charter is silent on how to fill vacancies to nonpartisan positions.

Lawver claims that because McCarthy was twice elected as a Democrat, the post remains a partisan one for the purposes of appointing her replacement. So the party submitted nominees to the council under the partisan replacement rules.

The council ignored those rules, instead adopting its own process for replacing McCarthy and ultimately choosing Shabro, a Republican, to fill the post.

In a Pierce County Superior Court hearing today, attorneys for Lawver and the county argued over when the auditor’s office became nonpartisan for the purposes of replacing McCarthy.

=> Read more!

In its story on the possible retirement of David Souter from the U.S. Supreme Court, the New York Times ventures into heavy speculation on President Obama's first appointment.

No sources are listed but the reporters suggest that since Obama once praised former California Gov. Earl Warren's service on the Supreme Court that he might be looking at a politician rather than a legal expert.

"During the campaign, Mr. Obama spoke of his admiration of former Chief Justice Earl M. Warren, citing as a special virtue his practical political experience as a former governor of California. If Mr. Obama were to look to a political figure with a strong legal background, he could turn to an old friend, Deval Patrick, now the Massachusetts governor, Christine Gregoire, governor of Washington, or Jennifer M. Granholm, governor of Michigan."

Let the speculation begin.