There goes the cop-versus-cop race in the 8th Congressional District, where the incumbent is former King County Sheriff Dave Reichert. He now goes by "U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert."

Anyway, Rep. Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw (or Greenwater), former commander of the Black Diamond Police Department, called to say he won't be running for Congress this next time around. Apparently, others have tried to recruit him to take on Reichert.

Hurst said he's got a chairmanship in the state House of Representatives, so he's happy as a clam. He and his wife are off to Africa in two weeks to climb mountains.

So, breathe easy, Sheriff.

On the other hand, after state Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Mercer Island, realizes he doesn't really want to be King County executive, (losing is one path to reality) he may jump back into the congressional race. Methinks he might just be name-building right now, anyway.

Carol Moser is a Richland City Councilwoman who ran for the Legislature in District 8 in Benton County this past fall as a Democrat, but lost to Rep. Brad Klippert, who is a sheriff's deputy.

Carol Moser elected as State Transportation Commission Chair

OLYMPIA – Richland’s Carol Moser has been elected to serve as Chair of the Washington State Transportation Commission. Member Bob Distler, who is from the San Juan Islands, will serve as Vice-chair. Commission members elect new officers every year; their terms become effective on July 1.

Moser has been a member of the Transportation Commission since 2006. She brings a local government perspective to the Commission having served for 10 years on the Richland City Council. She has also served on a variety of transportation boards including the Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board, Board of Directors for the Association of Washington Cities, Ben-Franklin Transit Board of Directors, Benton-Franklin Council of Governments, and is currently Chair of the Governor’s State Aviation Planning Council.

Distler came to the Commission in 2005 with an economics background and a career spanning several areas of transportation management – marketing, planning, operations, and government and industry affairs. Since moving to Orcas Island in 1972, Distler’s volunteer efforts have focused on transportation and growth management issues involving Washington State Ferries and San Juan County.

The Washington State Transportation Commission is an independent state agency that provides a public forum for transportation policy development. It reviews and evaluates how the entire transportation system works across the state and issues the state’s 20-year Transportation Plan. As the State Tolling Authority, the Commission sets tolls for state highways and bridges and fares for Washington State Ferries. The seven-member board is comprised of private citizens who are appointed by the Governor for six-year terms.

I'm sure my Olympian colleagues will have more on this later, but this is the breaking news. Maybe I can come up with some examples of non-monetary gains by the union.

If you'll recall, the unions lost out on their 2 percent pay raises for each of the next 2 years after the governor's office said the state couldn't afford to pay for the contracts. So the union (after first suing, then dropping their lawsuit) went back to the bargaining table, essentially to say "Then what can you give us instead of money?"

This new deal gives them something else, but I don't know yet.

FROM: WASHINGTON FEDERATION OF STATE EMPLOYEES
CONTRACT COVERING 30,000 STATE EMPLOYEES RATIFIED

The re-negotiated contract covering 30,000 state employees has been ratified by General Government members of the Washington Federation of State Employees.

The vote was 3,884 to ratify and 369 to reject.

The contract takes effect July 1. It runs until June 30, 2011.

The WFSE/AFSCME General Government contract covers the largest single group of state employees. Contracts at several higher education campuses have also been ratified: Eastern Washington University, Everett Community College, Western Washington Univesity and UW Police Management. Mail-in ballots for 11 other community colleges, The Evergreen State College and Washington State University will be counted next. The University of Washington contract is in mediation.

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Our former political reporter Ken Vogel sends this along from his new employer, Politico.

It relates how an aide to U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott dealt with someone who inadvertently addressed her as Liz instead of the required Elizabeth.

I could go on but I don't want to spoil the full effect of the item here.

It looks like Centro Latino won’t get money from Pierce County any time soon.

On Tuesday the County Council narrowly rejected a measure that would have released nearly $20,000 to the nonprofit group, which provides job training and other services to the local Latino community.

In November the council froze nearly $30,000 in funding for Centro Latino that was included in the county’s 2009 budget. The move came in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit’s former director, who claimed she was wrongfully fired when she questioned improper behavior by a board member. The lawsuit is scheduled for trial in November.

In freezing the money, council members said they wanted to make sure it was spent wisely. Since then, county budget cuts have reduced the money set aside for Centro Latino to $19,259.

Last month it appeared the council was inclined to release the money. Centro Latino officials addressed the council’s rules committee and said the director’s accusations were unfounded. The committee approved a resolution releasing the money.

But yesterday a majority of the council voted against releasing the money.

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