Scott Noble was sentenced today. He resigned yesterday.

Rob McKenna
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF WASHINGTON
1125 Washington Street SE · PO Box 40100 · Olympia WA 98504-0100

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2009

Former King County Assessor sentenced to eight months for drunk driving crash

SEATTLE—Today in King County Superior Court, former King County Assessor Russell Scott Noble was sentenced to eight months in jail after pleading guilty to one count of felony vehicular assault in a drunken crash that injured him and two others on Jan. 18.

The standard sentencing range for this crime is three to nine months in jail. The Attorney General’s Office recommended the maximum.

“This sentence demonstrates that driving drunk is a serious crime that cannot be tolerated,” Attorney General Rob McKenna said. “Mr. Noble could have easily killed himself and the two victims in the other car due to his poor judgment. Today’s penalty reflects the seriousness of his crime and I hope it brings closure to both him and his victims.”

Noble resigned as assessor Thursday. Per state law governing elected officials convicted of felony crimes, Noble will not be eligible for public office in the future.

When I was out at Fort Nisqually a few weeks ago to see the new/old buildings (don't forget the dedication and celebration Saturday from 11 to 5), I was talking with park district historian Melissa McGinnis. The last time we'd worked together was when Wright Park was being renovated and the subject of missing items came up.

One is a water fountain dedicated to missionary Narcissa Whitman. It featured a Grecian figure holding water vessels. The cast iron statue disappeared in the 60s.

What other lost artifacts might be out there somewhere? I put together a list that will appear Sunday in the News Tribune and on thenewstribune.com. Some of the other items are the Fun Circus sign, the tribal petroglyph and the Fern Hill School cupola.

What would you add to the list?

This has been a busy Friday for Gov. Chris Gregoire, as far as announcements and appointments, etc.

Lorraine Lee of Federal Way is moving from the top job at the Washington Liquor Control Board (chairwoman) to top administrative law judge, one of Gregoire's "small cabinet" posts. The salary isn't small: $110,000 a year.

I think this is the job that my former next-door neighbor, Art Wang, once held.

Further down, you'll see a copy of an e-mail that Lee sent to a bunch of Liquor Board stakeholders. The Liquor Board is undergoing some changes, too. They didn't dodge the bullet, as the Fish and Wildlife Commission did.

Gov. Gregoire announces appointment of new administrative law judge

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today named Lorraine Lee as chief administrative law judge at the Washington State Office of Administrative Hearings.

“Lorraine’s career in both law and state government is extensive and distinguished,” Gregoire said. “This position requires an excellent grasp of the legal system as well as familiarity with state agencies. Lorraine’s experience as an attorney, public servant and manager makes her an exceptional fit for this position.”

=> Read more!

The Fish and Wildlife Commission has had vacancies for a long time. And this past session, there were proposals to either shrink or neuter the commission. Those failed.

There's still a vacancy at the top. The agency's executive director left, and it wasn't all his own idea.

There's at least one familiar name here: Rollie Schmitten. He used to be director of the Washington State Department of Fisheries. That was before it was combined with the Game Department.

Gov. Gregoire appoints members to Fish and Wildlife Commission

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced the appointments of David Jennings, Rollie Schmitten and Dr. Brad Smith to the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

“I am pleased to welcome these exceptional members to the Fish and Wildlife Commission,” Gregoire said. “I know each brings the specialized knowledge necessary to best protect our natural habitat and wildlife. I am also confident that these commissioners will work diligently to select the most qualified person to lead the department.”

=> Read more!

In fact, Pierce Transit got the lion's share of this latest batch of federal funding for mass transit projects in Washington. (That includes ferries, by the way.)

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., actually oversees a committee that is of some value to the state, given all of our transportation projects. She is chairwoman of the Senate Transportation and Housing Appropriations Subcommittee.

The money for Pierce Transit will pay for 6 buses and it appears there also will be some machinery to for the compressed natural gas, which is what the buses run on.

UPDATE: (2:08 p.m.) Lars Erickson at Pierce Transit sent me a note to correct a few things in my original post. First, PT is buying nine buses, not six. They will be deisel-electric buses, not compressed natural gas. Right now, PT's entire fleet on fixed bus routes -- 174 buses -- are natural gas. Read his e-mail below.

Hey Joe-

I wanted to touch base with you about your posting this morning regarding Senator Murray’s mass transit ARRA announcement. A couple of clarifications about PT’s portion.

We are actually not planning to procure Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses with ARRA funds. In fact, we are making an effort to diversify our fleet with nine diesel-electric hybrid buses (approx $5.4 million). As with CNG, diesel-electric hybrid buses also are considerable carbon emission reducers.

Approximately $1.6 million is for a CNG compressor and an emergency power generator for our operations base.

Finally, $4.4 million is for preventative maintenance.

Let me know if you have any questions about PT’s portion.

Thanks,
Lars

Here is Murray's news release:

=> Read more!

Yesterday I posted a copy of a new report on Pierce County Sheriff’s Department workload and staffing prepared by the County Council’s performance audit staff. Using budget, crime rate and other data, the report concluded the department’s staffing and workload weren’t out of line with other departments in Western Washington and in Pierce County. The report also recommended a more detailed analysis and said better performance measures are needed to determine if the sheriff’s department is using its resources efficiently.

I spoke with Sheriff Paul Pastor about it yesterday. He doesn’t

think much of the report.

“I’m really disappointed by the analysis,” Pastor said. “It seemed to me to be more focused on making a political point.”

When I asked the sheriff what political point he thought the report was trying to make, he backed away from that assertion. But he complained he didn’t get a copy of the report until the day it was released at a May 28 council committee hearing.

For years Pastor has said his department is understaffed and overworked. He cites a 2001 performance audit by an independent analyst that recommended the department hire 58 deputies to boost its patrol operations.

The new report found that staffing more than kept pace with the most serious crimes and calls for service from 2004 to 2008. But Pastor’s thinking goes like this: If you started with a 58-deputy “deficit” in 2001 and you’ve just been keeping up with demand since then, you still have a big deficit in the number of sheriff’s deputies needed to patrol the county and respond to calls.

Pastor said he wants to work with the council and performance auditors to ensure the department runs efficiently. He said he’s already devising new performance measures as he prepares his 2010 budget.

“I believe we are not as well resourced as we need to be,” the sheriff said. “That still means we should work very hard to do everything we can with every increment of resources we’re given.”