Embattled Federal Way Municipal Court Judge Michael Morgan has attracted a crowd of challengers in the August primary. This won't help his case: The King County Bar Association Judicial Screening Committee rated him "not qualified."

From the release:

Of the eight candidates running for two positions on Federal Way Municipal Court, the Honorable David Larson received a rating of “Exceptionally Well Qualified.” Rebecca Robertson, Renee Walls and Matthew York received ratings of “Well Qualified;” James Santucci was rated “Qualified;” the Honorable Michael Morgan and Williams Jarvis were deemed “Not Qualified.”

The full text is below:

=> Read more!

Tacoma City Councilman Jake Fey got back to me in an e-mail, addressing questions and speculation about why he was fundraising for his council position, even though he is unopposed for a second term.

A couple dozen people commented on my earlier post about the pace of fundraising for this year's City Council races. Some asserted there was something fishy about raising money for an unopposed position. Others pointed out that it's neither illegal nor unusual.

Here's what Jake had to say:

My campaign budget for this election is substantially lower than 4 years ago. From the time I announced for reelection I decided that I would not take this campaign and my reelection for granted and would communicate with voters in the 2nd District. I committed to a campaign manager and I plan to doorbell voters in order to make sure I stay in touch with residents of the district. To pay for a campaign manager and print a campaign piece costs money and I do not want to incur the kind of campaign debt I did last time. Election time is a good opportunity to stay in touch with the voters and hear from them about their concerns.

=> Read more!

It may not be the hottest issue on the ballot. But in November Fife voters will decide whether to join the Pierce County Library System.

The County Council on Tuesday voted to send the issue to the November ballot. The Fife City Council approved the measure in May.

Fife is the largest city in Pierce County without its own library system or library branch. If a majority of city voters agree, the county library system would open a 6,000-square-foot branch in Fife in 2011.

The move would require a property tax increase of 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed value beginning in January 2011. That’s $135 a year for the owner of a $300,000 home.

For more information, read this article by News Tribune reporter Steve Maynard.

Pierce County officials say consolidating code enforcement functions in the public works department will make it easier to deal with properties like this one.

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy’s pledge to consolidate and improve government services is getting a test run in the public works department.

Some code enforcement functions in the planning department have moved to public works. A planning department supervisor’s job has been eliminated, and the move is expected to save $143,000 annually.

Though they worked together, the code enforcement officers for public works and planning previously had different responsibilities. Public works folks (under the county’s Pierce County Responds program) generally addressed junk cars and some illegal dumping issues. The planning department officers dealt with zoning, building and other violations.

Now the two groups have been consolidated and cross-trained. The combined staff has six officers capable of responding to a range of violations.

County officials say the consolidation eliminates the need for two officers to visit a property with, for example, junk car and building setback violations. Violators now can deal with a single officer, instead of two.

Some enforcement efforts – like building inspections – remain in the planning department.

The consolidation of some code enforcement responsibilities is getting a trial run for the rest of the year. If it works McCarthy will ask the County Council to make it permanent in 2010.

In her campaign for county executive last fall, McCarthy pledged to improve customer service in county government.

“This consolidation is part of a larger effort by my office to make our code enforcement and permitting system more efficient,” McCarthy said in a press release announcing the move.

Read the full press release below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 28, 2009

County combines code enforcement programs

Pierce County is consolidating code enforcement functions in a pilot project to increase service, eliminate redundancy and achieve budget efficiencies.

Under an arrangement led by Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy’s office, code enforcement officers and support staff from the Public Works and Utilities department and the Planning and Land Services department will work as one team. The new program went into effect July 27.

=> Read more!

I gotta think Tim Eyman has good reason to bring this to light.

I sent Charles Hasse an e-mail, asking him why the parent organization for the Washington Education Association wants copies of the Initiative 1033 petitions.

Eyman is suggesting the NEA wants to publish all the names on line. Hence, the reference to Whosigned.org.

(Dave Ammons at Secretary of State office confirmed the exchange of e-mails between Hasse and SOS folks is authentic.)

UPDATE: (2:20 p.m.) Hasse called me right away. He said "it was a fairly routine request." The National Education Association, where he now works, routinely takes a closer look at ballot measures from around the country, looking for fraud or other improprieties in the collection of signatures on initiative, referendum and recall petitions.

Hasse was president of the Washington Education Assocation from 2001-07. He's been "ballot measure strategist" for the NEA for almost two years.

"I'm certainly not alleging anything," he said. "I hope he has nothing to hide." But "there may be some reforms" that could be made in Washington state in the initiative process, he said. The NEA takes an interest in any ballot measure that could affect its members, as I-1033 would by constraining overall tax collections. The NEA is particularly interested in any measure that has paid signature gatherers, he said.

"The industry is rife with fraud and forgery," he said. "We have the same interest as others do, that measures that are on the ballot belong there."

Here's what Eyman sent out earlier today, followed by an e-mail from one of his supporters to Hasse:

July 30, 2009

To: Our thousands of supporters throughout the state (cc'd to the media, house & senate members, and Governor)

=> Read more!

State elections officials will start counting and verifying the 138,000 signatures on Friday. Whether the measure gets onto the November ballot will be determined by the error rate: How many bad signatures are there?

The historic average is 18 percent invalid signatures. Referendum 71 petitioners turned in only 14 percent extras, so they might just miss the cutoff. Stay tuned.

Here's a link to Dave Ammons blog over at the Secretary of State's office.

May marked the end of the first year of operation for the High Occupancy Toll lanes on Highway 167 in South King County. That's 1 year out of a 4-year experiment to see whether the state can squeeze more use out of the highway by getting solo drivers to buy their way into the carpool lane when traffic is really heavy in the general purpose lanes.

The state Department of Transportation is declaring the first year a success. (Here is the 20-page report.) What do you drivers say?

According to the DOT, here are the highlights:

--More than 30,000 individual Good to Go! customers paid to drive the HOT lane.
--The average toll rate paid was about $1.
--The average number of daily tolled trips continues to increase monthly from 1,050 trips per weekday in May 2008 to 1,710 trips per weekday in April 2009.
--General purpose (GP) lane speeds increased 10 percent.
--GP lane volumes increased up to 4 percent.
--HOT lane volumes increased up to 3 percent.
--HOT lane traffic speeds increased up to 8 percent.
--Carpool and transit travel times maintained at HOV-only (pre-HOT) levels.
--The HOT lane does not appear to have any adverse impact on safety.

Carpools, buses, solo drivers saving time in HOT lane

First annual report shows HOT lane option still growing in popularity

KENT – More than 30,000 solo drivers paid an average toll of $1 to escape heavy traffic on State Route 167 and drive in the high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane during the pilot project’s first year.

=> Read more!

You'll note that 1,300 riders had to take a bus shuttle to get all the way to the airport because that final segment won't be open until December.

Here is a link to the Washington Policy Center's take on ridership. (It also appears in the comment section).

The center's points are well taken. The 12,000 "riders" probably is only 6,600 different "people." But I'm not going to get bent out of shape by that. I don't think Sound Transit was deliberately distorting the numbers. Rather, the agency was just writing in a language the average person could understand.

Strong ridership during first week of Link light rail service
Link proves popular option for special events

During its first week of regular service Central Link light rail carried an estimated average of 12,000 riders each weekday. Another estimated 16,900 riders took Link on Saturday and 15,100 on Sunday.

“We're encouraged by the large numbers of people who boarded light rail on opening weekend and have started using it every day," said Sound Transit Board Chair and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. "This is a new way to think about getting around our region and we know ridership will continue to increase as more people try the system and we expand the line to more communities."

Nationally, ridership on new light rail systems ramps up over time as more and more people find out about the service and give it a try. Weekday ridership during the first week was already more than halfway to the level Sound Transit projections show for the end of 2009.

=> Read more!

They made no endorsement in the 5th District council race, which has Beckie Summers Kirby, Joe Lonergan and John Miles. But they DID endorse incumbent Tacoma Councilman Jake Fey, who is running unopposed.

Wasn't that nice?

Pierce Conservation Voters and Sierra Club Tatoosh Group announce environmental endorsements for key Tacoma City races

Washington Conservation Voters

Tacoma – With primary ballots arriving in mailboxes this week, Pierce Conservation Voters and the Tatoosh Group of the Sierra Club (Pierce County) formally announced both organization’s Mayor and City Council endorsements. These endorsements provide voters with a clear sense of the best environmental candidate in each race.

“The environmental challenges facing Tacoma require strong champions on the Council,” said Pierce Conservation Board Chair Michael Garrity. “Together, our endorsements establish a clear environmental slate for voters in Tacoma,” said Bliss Moore, Sierra Club Tatoosh Group Chair. The organizations each evaluated these candidates separately and came to the same conclusions on who would best provide climate change leadership, promote transit options and protect open space.

=> Read more!

You have till Friday to file.

Pierce County Auditor Jan Shabro opened a special filing period today, July 29, for Bethel School Board director position number 3 and Fife School Board director position number 3.

Special filing periods are held when no candidates file during the regular filing period or if candidates later withdraw. In the Bethel and Fife cases, each race had only one candidate and that person withdrew.

This will be the third special filing period for the regular filing period held the first week of June.

It’s routine to have one special filing period for races that draw no candidates. However, Pierce County elections manager Lori Augino said this is the first time in 15 years she can recall a third one.

"You always have (them in) water districts. Rarely (a second one) happens in an even year," Augino said. "In an odd year, I’ve never seen two."

In the second filing period, June 24 to 26, a candidate for Orting City Council position 7 withdrew and a candidate for Fire District no. 10, in the Fife area, died, Shabro said.

To file, prospective candidates should go to the Pierce County Elections Center, 2501 S. 35th St., Suite C, in Tacoma, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today or Friday.

For more information, check the individual school district’s requirements for election and call the auditor’s office at 253-798-VOTE.

Our colleague at The Associated Press has this story....

By CURT WOODWARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TACOMA, Wash. -- A federal judge is halting the public release of petitions supporting a gay-partnership referendum.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle agreed to the temporary restraining order Wednesday, in a case that questions whether Washington's open-government laws could discourage free speech.

The case centers on Referendum 71, which would ask voters to approve or reject expanded partnership rights for gay couples.

The names of everyone who signed R-71 petitions are publicly available under state law, and a gay-rights group is planning to post all of the petition signers' names online.

But the R-71 campaign says that could lead to harassment. The state didn't oppose the restraining order, but it will defend the public records law in court.

Kelly Cunningham has been at the Special Commitment Center for 11 years. There are now almost 300 sex predators housed at the facility, and it's a growth industry. These are folks who have been civilly committed for treatment because authorities think they are likely to commit more sex crimes if they are released to the community.

New superintendent appointed for the DSHS
Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island

OLYMPIA – Following a nationwide search, Kelly Cunningham has been promoted to superintendent of the McNeil Island Special Commitment Center in the DSHS Health and Recovery Services Administration. He assumes the post on Aug. 1.

Cunningham has 11 years of experience in Washington state’s nationally-recognized SCC treatment program for civilly committed sex offenders, rising from front-line staff to key management positions.

=> Read more!

Sharon Foster will be chairwoman of the Washington State Liquor Control Board, although the chairmanship isn't the appointment plum that it used to be. It's a 60 percent board, so the pay is in the $50,000+ instead of $70,000+

Gov. Gregoire appointments of Sharon Foster as Liquor Control Board chair

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today appointed Sharon Foster of Olympia as new chair of the Washington State Liquor Control Board. Sharon will start on August 15, 2009.

“I am incredibly pleased that Sharon is taking on this leadership role at the Liquor Control Board,” said Gregoire. “I know that she will serve the people of Washington well from this position.”

=> Read more!

Ordinarily, the names of people who sign initiative and referendum petitions are a matter of public record, but opponents of the "everything but marriage" expansion of domestic partnership rights don't want their supporters' names splashed all over the internet.

Here's what Dave Ammons over at Secretary of State Sam Reed's office has to say about Referendum 71.

FYI: Protect Washington Families, the sponsors of Referendum 71, who hope to force a vote on the new “everything but marriage” domestic partnership expansion, are taking the state Elections Division to court to block release of the names of people who signed the petitions.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle is hearing the request for a temporary restraining order at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in Tacoma. The state will not resist the request, pending a full hearing on the merits of the case.

=> Read more!

When the Pierce County Council’s auditing staff came out with its recent report on workload and staffing in the sheriff’s department, the union representing deputies was not happy.

The report concluded that auditors needed more detailed performance measures and recommended a full review by an outside expert next year. But based on the information available, it drew some preliminary conclusions:

• Staffing more than kept pace with workload increases in the department from 2004 to 2008.

• Pierce County sheriff’s staffing and workload are similar to those in other county and city law enforcement agencies.

You can download the full report here.

Sheriff Paul Pastor for years has said the department is understaffed. When the report was released he said he was disappointed with the analysis and suggested it was designed more to make a political point than to fairly assess the department.

Cynthia Fajardo, president of the 319-member

Pierce County Sheriff’s Independent Guild, also is unhappy with the report.

In an interview last week, Fajardo said it was “extremely irresponsible of the auditors to release a report that was drastically incomplete, by their own admission.” She said publishing the report was a waste of taxpayer money.

Fajardo declined to comment on specific data used in the report, saying she preferred to wait until a full, independent assessment is done. She said she didn’t want to draw conclusions based on limited information.

“I’d be doing the same thing they did,” she said.

=> Read more!

A Washington, D.C., think tank thinks highly of two Puget Sound region efforts to capitalize on the federal economic stimulus package.

In a new report, the Brookings Institution is generally critical of the federal stimulus effort, calling it a rigid plan that stifles creativity. But it cites 11 projects nationwide as possible models for future metropolitan economic development.

Among them:

• Government and utility officials from four Puget Sound-area counties (including Pierce County) are trying to get federal funding for long-term energy sustainability measures like “smart” electric grids and electrified transportation. You can download a Brookings snapshot of the effort here.

• The Puget Sound Regional Council took a lead role in facilitating a regional approach to secure federal stimulus dollars for transportation and other projects. You can download the Brookings description of the effort here.

The Pierce County Council this afternoon will consider borrowing $24 million to keep key road projects on track at a time when the taxes that pay for them are lagging.

It’s the first part of a proposed two-year, $46 million borrowing plan that would benefit 16 road projects. Among them:

• Widening 176th Street East from two lanes to five lanes from Canyon Road to Gem Heights Drive. The county will bid the project this summer, and construction is expected to be finished in 2011.

• Widening 94th Avenue East from two lanes to five lanes from 116th Street East to 136th Street East. The project already is under construction and will be finished this fall.

• Widening Wollochet Drive Northwest from two lanes to up to five lanes from 40th Street Northwest to East Bay Drive Northwest. Construction would begin in 2011.

• Widening 176th from two lanes to five from Waller Road to 51st Avenue East. Construction would begin in 2011.

You can download a PDF copy of the full plan here.

The borrowing plan is a response to lagging real estate excise tax revenue. As recently as 2006, the county collected more than $7 million annually. That allowed the county to pay cash for road projects.

=> Read more!

The state Growth Management Act encourages cities to annex areas that have become densely populated so counties can focus on big picture issues.

County Council places Finn Hill, Kingsgate and North Juanita annexation vote on November ballot

Residents to decide whether to become part of city of Kirkland

Consistent with County policy calling for the annexation of urban unincorporated areas, the Metropolitan King County Council today placed a measure on the November general election ballot giving residents of the unincorporated communities of Finn Hill, Kingsgate and North Juanita the choice of annexation into the city of Kirkland.

“I have always believed in the rights of citizens to make decisions about their form of local government,” said Councilmember Jane Hague, who represents the area. “We will now watch eagerly to see what the voters decide.”

=> Read more!

This was 1 of 2 annexation proposals the King County Council put on the November ballot.

County Council places Panther Lake annexation vote on November ballot
Residents to decide whether to become part of city of Kent

Consistent with County policy calling for the annexation of urban unincorporated areas, the Metropolitan King County Council today placed a measure on the November general election ballot giving residents of the unincorporated community of Panther Lake the choice of annexation into the city of Kent.

=> Read more!

Sound Transit is unlikely to make major changes to the design of a Sounder commuter rail extension through Tacoma’s Dome District despite opposition from area businesses and residents.

That message came through clearly this morning at Freighthouse Square at a meeting about Sound Transit’s plans for the commuter rail segment from the Tacoma Dome to South M Street.

The agency plan relies largely on earthen berms to elevate the track as it rises to cross Pacific Avenue and climb a hill along South Tacoma Way. Opponents say the berm will divide the business district and prefer a “post and beam” support structure that would leave open space beneath the tracks.

“The City of Tacoma is letting Sound Transit come through and do it the way they want it, rather than the way that’s best for the City of Tacoma,” said Dan Fear, who lives in the First Creek neighborhood.

Sound Transit officials listened to those concerns and answered questions about the design today. But they say the berm design makes engineering and economic sense for a project that already is behind schedule and over budget.

And while members of the agency’s board of directors wouldn’t rule out small changes, they said they’re unlikely to order a full redesign.

“Will it be a whole different structural arrangement? I doubt that,” said Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy, a Sound Transit board member.

The design is just the latest controversy over the commuter rail segment, part of a larger extension of Sounder service to South Tacoma and Lakewood. The exact route from the Tacoma Dome to M Street prompted debate. So did the agency’s original plans to cross Pacific at street level.

Sound Transit ultimately decided to elevate the tracks over Pacific to address safety and aesthetic concerns. But that redesign came at a cost. The Tacoma-to-Lakewood project’s budget ballooned from $76 million to $151 million, and the agency is still at least $22 million short on money for the segment.

Agency officials say the “post and beam” alternative would cost another $4 million and would further delay the project, originally scheduled to be finished in 2001. Moving ahead with the current design – which relies mostly on berms but includes some post-and-beam support – would open commuter rail service to Lakewood in 2012.

Opponents fear focusing on the short-term budget and time constraints may have long-term consequences for the Dome District. Resident Jori Adkins said the berm will use land beside the track that otherwise could be used for future retail development.

“This can’t happen if we `berm out,’” Adkins said.

=> Read more!

County Council appoints Lynn Gering as King County Assessor

Action follows wishes of the family of Interim Assessor Rich Medved

Lynn Gering, the Chief Appraiser in the King County Assessor’s Office for the past 11 years, was unanimously appointed today by the Metropolitan King County Council and sworn in to serve as King County Assessor until the results of the November general election are certified.

=> Read more!

Manke has 30 days to appeal the fine - or pay it.

According to the state Department of Ecology, this isn't the first time that Manke has been in trouble with DOE. DOE says the fine is just its way of trying to get Manke's attention.

Manke Lumber has a history of compliance problems. Ecology inspections in 2005 and 2007 led to a $16,000 penalty and administrative order. Prior to that, the same facility was fined in 2002. Other Manke facilities elsewhere in the region have also been fined for stormwater permit problems.

Here's the full news release:

Manke Lumber in Tacoma fined for permit violations

OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) is penalizing Manke Lumber’s Tacoma mill $69,000 for ongoing stormwater management problems and failure to implement corrective actions outlined in a 2007 Ecology order. Along with the penalty, Ecology is issuing a new order directing Manke Lumber to fix problems without delay.

=> Read more!

Well, the County Council will select someone to fill in for the next few months, anyway. I'll update this post as news comes in. Council members probably are discussing it at this very moment.

NEWS ADVISORY

The Metropolitan King County Council is scheduled to act today on the appointment of a King County Assessor to serve until the results of the November election are certified. The Council is set to act at its morning session starting at 11:00 a.m. today.

The appointment will fill the vacancy left by the resignation of former Assessor Scott Noble on June 18.

This is the lawsuit in which a bunch of school districts are claiming that the state is not performing its "paramount duty" to fully fund basic education. It's what one staffer called "the really big, giant lawsuit."

It is the 3rd round in a series of similar lawsuits. So far, the Legislature seems to have won the opening rounds. Well, sorta. The Supremes have said the Legislature gets to define exactly what "basic" education is, but once it has that definition, it must fully fund it.

It's a lot easier to follow the rules if you get to set the rules, too.

Aug. 31 is the start date for this round of court action. Trial is expected to last 3 weeks.

Got this news release today from Network for Excellence in Washington Schools:

The public school finance lawsuit brought against the state by a coalition of school districts, statewide and local civic organizations, and education associations goes to trial on Aug. 31 in King County Superior Court. We are lining up advance one-on-one interviews/briefings for political and/or education reporters with Mike Blair, president of the Network for Excellence in Washington Schools (NEWS), either by telephone the week of August 10 or in person between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6, at the offices of Foster Pepper law firm at 1111 3rd Ave., Suite 3400, in downtown Seattle. Let me know if you’d like to arrange an interview.

Here is a link to the plaintiff's friends' page (NEWS).

Needless to say, whatever happens at the Superior Court level is bound to be appealed by the losing side all the way to the state Supreme Court. So, we're nowhere near a final resolution. Not sure there is a final resolution here.

It will be a three-week trial.

For the second time in recent months, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit contesting the appointment of Jan Shabro as Pierce County auditor.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Katherine M. Stolz earlier this month dismissed a lawsuit – filed by Gig Harbor resident Ron Lopp – that claimed the County Council had improperly appointed Shabro to the post in January.

The move follows the May dismissal of a similar lawsuit and appears to have ended the legal battle over Shabro’s appointment.

Shabro said the lawsuits have not distracted her from her work. Nonetheless, she added, “It’s just good to have them out of the way.”

The council selected Shabro to fill the vacancy left by former Auditor Pat McCarthy, who won election as county executive last November.

Lopp and Pierce County Democratic Party Chairman Nathe Lawver filed a lawsuit claiming the council’s procedure for replacing McCarthy violated state open meetings laws and the county charter.

Citing the need to replace McCarthy quickly, the council passed an emergency resolution establishing a citizens committee to review applicants and recommend three finalists to the council. Shabro was one of the finalists.

The lawsuit claimed no emergency existed and that the county charter does not provide for emergency resolutions. It claimed the council did not give adequate public notice of its actions and faulted the committee for failing to take public testimony on candidates.

=> Read more!

It's still early in the season, but candidates have been busy this summer raising money for Tacoma City Council contests. Already it's clear fundraising will surpass total contributions in the past two council election cycles, as reported to the Public Disclosure Commission.

At this rate, it may approach the 2001 election, when mayoral candidates Bill Baarsma and Harold Moss each raised more than $100,000. This year's activity is mostly driven by the open seats for mayor and the at-large position 6. Interestingly, with the exception of Marty Campbell, candidates in the three-person primary races for districts 4 and 5 haven't raised nearly as much. But because those are elected by district, rather than citywide, you can get away with less money and more doorbelling.

Here are the contributions standings as of today:

In my next installment of "follow the money," we'll take a look at where the contributions are coming from.

I missed this morning's meeting of GMAP (Government Management Accountability and Performance). It was at 8:30 a.m. and I guess I don't check the governor's Web site often enough.

But others were there.

Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Council has this post today.

It's worth reading. There are some good tidbits.

This just in from the National Conference of State Legislatures:

Our former governor, Gary Locke, who is now U.S. Commerce Secretary, will be the featured speaker tomorrow at the Legislative Summit in Philadelphia. He'll be talking about the "next steps" in the economic recovery plan to about 5,000 legislators and staffers.

Locke, as many of you know, used to be one of them. He was the consummate budget wonk when he was a legislator from Seattle.

State Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee, will be in the audience. Not sure how many other Washington state folks are there. I think the state House and Senate stopped paying for that kind of travel, although they would pay for registration. And some Washington legislators could be traveling on their own or with the help of another "sponsor."

White House Brings Message to State Legislators
Commerce Secretary to discuss trade, 2010 Census, smart grid

PHILADELPHIA – In just the first six months of the new administration, the White House has worked with state legislatures to address the most pressing issues affecting states—budget shortfalls, rising unemployment, increased Medicaid enrollment and a rise in welfare case loads. In February, President Barack Obama signed the sweeping $787 billion stimulus package that provided much-needed assistance to states.

Now, state lawmakers attending the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Legislative Summit in Philadelphia will hear an update on Thursday from Washington on the next steps for economic recovery from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke.

=> Read more!

The Pierce County Council has rejected a call to send a one-tenth of one percent sales tax increase to voters in November.

The advisory measure would have asked voters if the council should raise the sales tax for five years to support mental health and chemical dependency treatment programs. Council members agree those services are hurting.

“The needs don’t just disappear (in a recession),” said Councilman Tim Farrell, D-Tacoma. “Sometimes they get worse.”

But the measure failed on a 2-5 vote Tuesday. A majority of council members said mental health funding is the state's responsibility and now isn't the time to raise the local sales taxes beyond its current rate of 9.3 percent.

“I don’t know that it will ever be time to raise our sales tax more than 9.3 percent,” said Councilwoman Joyce McDonald, R-Puyallup.

Funding for mental health services has been a persistent problem in Pierce County. In 2007 the county ended its long-standing contract with the state to provide mental health services, citing inadequate state funding.

Earlier this year, the state chose a Minnesota firm to administer mental health services for about 15,000 Pierce County residents who couldn’t afford to pay for care. But with state budgets tight, advocates say mental health services are suffering.

=> Read more!

I'm not exactly sure how this e-mail new release showed up in my mail box, but here it is. JZ Knight, who channels 35,000-year-old warrior Ramtha out in Yelm, is going to auction off a bunch of stuff come September.

Not sure why. Maybe enrollment at the School of Enlightenment has been hurt by the recession and there aren't as many "Ramsters" as there used to be. Anyway, it looks as if Knight will be selling off a bunch of his old rugs and other stuff from the 17th Century, etc.

Here is a link to the Bonhams & Butterfield site. Click on events, scroll down to Sept. 27 and you'll see the auction of J.Z. Knight collection will be held in Los Angeles. I actually called the auction house to confirm the news release was legit.

And here is the news release I got yesterday.

The Collection of JZ Knight on Offer at Bonhams & Butterfields in September

Dear Journalists and Friends of the Firm,

Bonhams & Butterfields is pleased to announce the September 27, 2009 auction of The JZ Knight Collection. Amassed over a decade, the Collection will feature eclectic and unique examples of period furniture, decorative arts, carpets and paintings from the 17th through 20th centuries with a particular focus on European and American elegance.

=> Read more!

New rules designed to discourage boorish behavior by some boaters on Lake Tapps might be used to rein in parties on other Pierce County lakes in the future.

On Tuesday the County Council approved temporary rules prohibiting motorized vessels from anchoring, drifting or tying together in Fairweather Cove – also known as “Party Cove”– on Lake Tapps. The move was in response to years of complaints about noise, public urination, nudity and lewd behavior by some boaters in the cove.

The council vote was unanimous. And two council members suggested

that if the new rules are successful at Lake Tapps they could be used at other Pierce County lakes.

Councilwoman Barbara Gelman, D-Tacoma, said all council members have lakes in their districts with problem areas similar to Party Cove. Gelman, whose district includes Spanaway Lake, said the Lake Tapps rules are “sort of like a pilot project. She said she’s “almost positive” there will be requests for similar rules at other lakes.

Councilman Terry Lee, R-Gig Harbor, echoed those comment. He noted his district includes many miles of Puget Sound shoreline.

Stay tuned.

Lake Tapps’ “Party Cove” may need a new nickname after the Pierce County Council approved temporary rules designed to curb the rowdy behavior of some boaters there.

This afternoon the council unanimously approved rules prohibiting motorized vessels from anchoring, drifting or tying together in Fairweather Cove – also known as “Party Cove” – between Tacoma and Driftwood points. The move will essentially make the cove a “no parking” zone and will remain in effect until August 31, 2010.

The new rules were welcomed by Lake Tapps residents who told the council problems ranging from excessive noise to public urination and nudity are getting out of hand.

“If this kind of activity was going on in the street in front of your house, you wouldn’t tolerate it,” lake resident Len Zarelli told the council today.

But some boaters and lake residents said the county should target people violating existing laws against behavior like public urination. They say the new rules requiring boaters to keep moving will unnecessarily limit the activities of boaters on public waters.

“The lake is public property,” lake resident Dean Fuller told the council.

The new rules are the latest effort to address party problems at Lake Tapps.

=> Read more!

The creation of "green" jobs was all the rage over the past session.

There's a lot of flexibility in defining green. For instance, an electrician can be green, if he or she knows how to install solar panels.

There's much more detail on the issue at this link.

Here is a link to the Washington Policy Center posting.

Apparently, the K-9 units have been taught how to dial the cell phone number, then they follow the sound of the ringing and chew through the prison inmate's mattress until they find the phone. But the search dogs have to use Jitterbugs because their paws are too big to use the keypad on conventional cell phones.
(OK. Maybe not.)

MEDIA ADVISORY July 21, 2009

DOC to Host K-9 Demonstration for News Media to Show How Prisons Search for Contraband Cell Phones

OLYMPIA – Members of the news media are invited to a demonstration on July 30 at Monroe Correctional Complex to see how K-9 units have been trained to search for contraband cell phones in prisons.

The issue of contraband cell phones is in the news after Washington became one of more than two dozen states to petition the Federal Communications Commission to allow prisons to scramble cell-phone reception.

Inside an empty prison unit, two Department of Corrections K-9 officers will demonstrate how specially trained dogs search for cell phones. Officers and administrators will be available for interviews to explain why cell phones are dangerous to prison security and what the agency is doing to keep them out.

=> Read more!

Freshman state Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Friday Harbor, a former San Juan County commissioner, spent some time in the hospital.

Here's Sam Taylor's story in the Bellingham Herald.

Mark Lindquist

The Pierce County Democratic Party recently gave the County Council a list of three candidates it’s recommending to replace outgoing Prosecutor Gerald Horne, who is retiring at the end of August. But that doesn’t mean there’s real competition for the job. Deputy Prosecutor Mark Lindquist (right) appears to be a shoe-in.

State law and the county charter require the council to fill vacancies in partisan offices by choosing from among candidates submitted by the party of the person leaving the office. Horne is a Democrat, so the local party submitted three names in order of preference. All work in the prosecutor’s office:

• Lindquist, Horne’s chief criminal deputy prosecutor.

• Mary Robnett, supervisor of the special assault unit.

• Pat Hammond, supervisor of the misdemeanor domestic violence unit.

The council can select any of the candidates. But according to local Democratic Party Chairman Nathe Lawver, Robnett and Hammond – both Democratic Party precinct committee officers – support Lindquist for the job.

Asked if Robnett or Hammond would decline if the council offered them the job, Lawver said: “With Mark being the top pick, we hope that they stick with our recommendation. He will provide steady leadership to the offiice, and I think the council knows that. However, if another candidate is chosen, they do have the option to say no.”

The Republican-controlled council plans to interview the candidates before selecting a new prosecutor. But Councilman Dick Muri, R-Steilacoom, said Lindquist likely will get the appointment. Muri praised Lindquist, noting the prosecutor’s effort to address a backlog of cases in Superior Court.

Whoever the council appoints will be up for election in 2010.

Horne is stepping down after nine years as prosecutor.

Supporters of the "Everything but Marriage" act, which expanded the benefits of same-sex and other domestic partners, have mobilized as the campaign against the act closes in on a deadline for its referendum.

Referendum 71 supporters must turn in their signatures on Saturday. They have made an appointment with state election officials, but it's unknown whether they have the required 120,000 valid signatures.

Meanwhile, here's word from the group that would be campaigning to get voters to affirm what the Legislature and governor did during this past session.

(One of the seemingly quirky things about a referendum: You collect signatures to get it onto the ballot, then you want people to vote "No.")

People from All Walks of Life Stand Together to Protect Washington Families

Broad, statewide support to keep domestic partnership law from being repealed by Referendum 71

SEATTLE, Wash. – Washington Families Standing Together (WAFST) announced today that in just eight weeks, tens of thousands of individuals and more than 110 organizations have joined together to protect Washington families from the threat posed by the attempted repeal of the state’s domestic partnership law. Those opposed to domestic partnerships are trying to roll back the law by gathering signatures to put Referendum 71 on the November ballot. They have until July 25th to turn in the signatures. If Referendum 71 qualifies for the ballot, voters will have to vote to “approve” Referendum 71 in order to retain the law already passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor.

=> Read more!

“I am not advocating that the King County Council raise these taxes,” King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson says in her news release.

But she does want to put the increase on the ballot. So, ya think she wants voters to defeat it?

The word "veteran" appears very prominently in Patterson's news release. Being listed first might give one the impression that veterans are the primary beneficiaries of her tax increase proposal. But I'm guessing the stuff for veterans is a relatively small portion of the $45 million Patterson wants to spend each year. Vets have more appeal than "human services."

UPDATE(10 a.m. Tuesday): Al Sanders, who works for the County Council, e-mailed me a copy of the full proposed ordinance. It appears at the bottom of this post. It appears that 30 percent of the tax increase would be spent on veterans and the rest on other human services. So, I stand corrected on saying I suspected little money would be spent on vets.

Her news release says she wants to boost property taxes by 10 cent per $1,000 in valuation. And it's a six-year levy.

Patterson releases details of early renewal and
expansion of Veterans and Human Services Levy

Dedicated funding for public health would be added

=> Read more!

Pierce County Auditor candidate Julie Anderson called this morning to let us know that she discovered a couple of errors in one of her campaign fliers. (Due credit - Usually when we get such a call from a candidate, it's to point out a mistake in an opponent's campaign literature.)

Anderson was doorbelling down in University Place when she noticed the misstatements:

• The literature said she has been on the Tacoma City Council for nearly seven years. Actually, she came into office in 2004.

• The wording says she helped create the city's first ethics code. It should have said board of ethics.

"I pulled them back as fast as I could," after discovering the errors, she said. That meant having to scrap 50,000 items - about $4,000 worth of printing. About 250 to 300 fliers had already been distributed at her kickoff party and to some University Place voters.

Anderson calls the mistake a "big lesson" for her. "I just wasn't watching the editing process closely enough," she says. She acknowledges that paying close attention to details is an important attribute for a county auditor, who oversees elections, document recording and licensing. But when mistakes happen, she says, it's also important to disclose them and rectify them.

Our former colleague over at the state election HQ, Dave Ammons, sends us a heads-up about the status of Referendum 71. The folks who are trying to force a vote on the expansion of gay rights in Washington (in the hope voters will overturn what the Democratic majority in the Legislature and Gov. Chris Gregoire did this past spring) say they want to turn in their signatures on Saturday afternoon.

As Ammons notes, we don't know yet whether they have enough to win a spot on the ballot. Saturday is the deadline for collecting 120,000-plus valid signatures.

FYI: Sponsors of Referendum 71, the challenge to the “everything but marriage” domestic partnership bill, SB5688, have requested an appointment for 2 p.m. Saturday to bring in their petitions. They did not mention how many signatures they have in hand as of now, or how many they expect to bring in. To secure a ballot spot will require 120,577 valid voter signatures (4 percent of last year’s vote for governor). Election officials suggest referendum sponsors also submit a 25 percent pad to offset any invalid signatures – or about 150,000 total.

http://blogs.secstate.wa.gov/FromOurCorner/index.php/2009/07/r-71-sponsors-plan-saturday-signature-turn-in/

=> Read more!

Rep. Mark Ericks, D-Bothell, who is vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has been nominated to become U.S. Marshal in Western Washington.

Ericks was Bothell police chief.

When the Republicans were in charge of the White House, then-state Rep. Eric Robertson, R-Buckley, got that same job. Robertson was a Washington State Patrol captain at the time.

UPDATE: (12:20 p.m.) Just got a "correction" on Eric's current job from a certain City Council candidate who is in the same line of work so he ought to know.

Joe,
Eric is the Administrator for Valley Regional Fire Authority. The fire department is the combination of Auburn, Pacific and Algona into a regional fire authority.

Keven Rojecki
Legislative Liaison
Washington State Council of Fire Fighters
1069 Adams Street Southeast
Olympia, WA 98501

Caroline Robertson, an Olympia lobbyist and wife of Eric, probably will call me to fill me in.

Here is Jerry Cornfield's story in The (Everett) Herald. Jerry reported it first in Sunday's paper.

9th Congressional District candidate James Postma is having a town hall meeting tomorrow (Saturday) in the south meeting room at the Puyallup Public Library, 324 S. Meridian. It runs from noon to 2:00 p.m.

Postma is one of at least three Republicans hoping to unseat Rep. Adam Smith. Also running are state Rep. Tom Campbell and Pierce County Councilman Dick Muri.

Campaign Web site.

Hmmm. Never noticed before that the King County GOP picnic had different sponsors. If you'll recall, Tom Stewart, the former "sugar daddy" for local Republicans, used to host this annual event as his Vashon Island digs.

(I actually shook hands with then-presidential candidate, former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, at one such picnic, many years ago, before Dole started doing those erectile dysfunction commercials.)

(He also(?) suffered from electile dysfunction.)

Anyway, Stewart moved his corporate headquarters for Food Services of America to Arizona or Nevada or something, allegedly to protest Washington's "death tax." (That's how some of the local Republicans characterized it.) That meant most of his top executives were moving, too.

I always wondered if all of them were planning to die soon. I mean, the estate tax doesn't hit you or your family until after you're dead. Then again, I guess we never know when our number is up. Maybe they were moving "just in case."

2009 KCGOP Picnic
Sponsored by King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn

The King County Republican Party is proud to announce its 2009 KCGOP Picnic sponsored by King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn - 9th CCD. This annual event will be held at Homestead Park on Mercer Island from 11:00am to 3:00pm on Saturday, August 8th.

=> Read more!

Labor unions are still upset about how they were treated by the Democrat-controlled Legislature this last time around, so they no longer will give blindly to legislative leadership committees.

I missed the original announcement about the creation of the DIME (Don't Invest in More Excuses) political action committee. But Tom Geiger over the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 sent out a news release that said UFCW and the Machinists are buying into the concept.

"The DIME PAC is a way for unions to be able to control how and where our political contributions are spent. Up until now we have often given money to the Democratic Party’s various political funds, and then the Party leadership has determined who gets it or how it should be spent. It has proven to be a failed model."

Pretty strong language for the labor folks.

Here's some background on the DIME PAC, courtesy of the Seattlepi.com post on Monday.

It will be interesting to see how all this works out for the 2010 legislative races.

UFCW 21 and Machinists 751 issue statement on new DIME PAC

7/17/09
From: Dave Schmitz, President UFCW 21,
Larry Brown, Legislative & Political Director Aerospace Machinists 751

UFCW 21 and the Machinist Union are strong believers in the recently announced change in how we in the labor movement in our state will act in future elections. The DIME PAC is a way for unions to be able to control how and where our political contributions are spent. Up until now we have often given money to the Democratic Party’s various political funds, and then the Party leadership has determined who gets it or how it should be spent. It has proven to be a failed model.

=> Read more!

Just as the Tacoma council was finally approaching a vote on it's long-awaited changes to its mixed-use-centers zoning, council members offered amendments that will delay a vote.

The most significant change is from Councilman Jake Fey. It will spread new height limits through out the 17 mixed use centers. The planning commission had suggested the maximum heights – ranging from 65 feet to 85 feet depending on the neighborhood – to just the core of the districts. That was most-often the half blocks abutting the main arterials.

Supporters say this will further encourage more-dense development in these business districts such as Proctor, Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, 6th Avenue and South Tacoma Way. Opponents fear it will further damage the single-family neighborhoods that surround most of the districts.

Here is the notice from the city, explaining the changes and explaining how the public can comment.

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy in inviting politicians and neighbors to a meeting July 27 to talk about Sound Transit's plans in Tacoma's Dome District.

More specifically, she is creating a forum in which neighbors can raise doubts about the transit agency's plans for putting Sounder tracks on an earthen berm rather than on an elevated structure.

Dome District residents and others think the berm will place a wall between the upper dome district and the lower dome district. Sound Transit thinks the current plan is the most affordable way of getting trains from Freighthouse Square to existing tracks on the south side of Pacific Avenue.

Those trains will then travel to stations in South Tacoma and Lakewood, hopefully by 2012.

Neighbors think Sound Transit and the city of Tacoma has stopped listening to their concerns. McCarthy, a member of the Sound Transit board, and wants staff to make a presentation on existing plans and then listen to concerns. The meeting will include a walk of the proposed route.

It will begin at 9 a.m. in the meeting room of Freighthouse Square.

Here is the pdf of the meeting invitation.

Austin Jenkins of Northwest Public Radio put in a request for public records on travel to see how the "ban" was working.

The Guv's original ban expired, then the Legislature imposed its own travel ban for a while, but that one expired June 30. Exceptions were allowed for critical stuff.

Now, state agency travel is limited by their lower budgets: If they think they can afford it, they do.)

Here is Austin's piece.

This morning's Seattle Times carried this story about Sen. Maria Cantwell's inquiry into the case of Ernesto Gamboa, a Salvadoran national who is being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at its Tideflats jail.

Gamboa is no ordinary illegal immigrant.

Ernesto Gamboa had worked undercover with law enforcement on major national and international drug investigations that resulted in more than 90 federal convictions. All along, he'd hoped his work as an informant might earn him a kind of legal status the federal government extends to illegal immigrants who assist law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting crimes.

But ICE arrested the 43-year-old last week for being in the country illegally. Cantwell plans to discuss the case with an ICE official.

"At this point she plans to raise the point: Did the government make some mistakes; could we take another look at his case?" said Cantwell spokeswoman Ciaran Clayton.

Here's an earlier Times story on Gamboa.

Well, so are most people. But Eric Anderson just signed a contract extension with the city that ties his next raise to national economic statistics.

In March, Anderson asked to forgo a raise recommended by a compensation review of the city's non-union employees. In Anderson's case the raise would have amounted to 14.5 percent over two years.

Given the recession and the city's uncertain budget situation, it would be better “fiscally and symbolically” to not accept a pay hike for the moment, Anderson said at the time.

Most of the city's 940-some unrepresented workers ended up getting pay increases, averaging about 8 percent.

Anderson, too, will get a pay raise, but only when the economy turns around.

Here's the language in a resolution passed 9-0 Tuesday night by the Tacoma City Council.

"... under this agreement, the City Manager's salary will remain at its current rate of $200,449.60, annually, until such time that the National Bureau of Economic Research announces two consecutive quarters of growth..."

The NBER is the quasi-official entity that – among other things – determines when economic recessions and economic recoveries occur. Often that declaration comes well after the change in economic conditions has begun.

What happens when we get two consecutive quarters of growth?

"... should this growth be announced, the City Manager's salary shall be adjusted to the market rate as determined by Ordinance 27775, passed December 16,2008, at step 6A of the salary range, effective the first day of the following quarter..."

For those of you who don't have your city salary range handy, that's $235,372.80. For now, Anderson continues to make $200,450 a year.

Just got a call from Jamie Swift, one of the spokesmen for the state Department of Transportation in Pierce County. He said later today, DOT will announce that a contract has been awarded to build carpool lanes on Interstate 5 between the Port of Tacoma interchange and the King County line.

This is the project that will use most of the $70 million in federal economic stimulus money for transportation projects in Pierce County. It was one of those projects that was pretty much "shovel ready" because the state DOT was going to use state funds to do this project this biennium. As it works out, federal money will pay for this project and the state funds for this project will be shifted to the second half of the Nalley Valley Viaduct project.

That project was facing a two-year delay -- until the 2013-15 time frame -- under the governor's budget proposal. But after we got assurance of the federal funds, the eastbound Nalley Valley project was put back on the Legislature's schedule. It will be done in 2011-13.

Also, the way contractors have been competing for projects, I'm expecting the DOT to announce that the bid for the I-5 carpool was well below the DOT engineers' estimate.

UPDATE: (3:10 p.m.) Here is the DOT news release. Tri-State's bid amount of $31,095,383.05 is about 25 percent below estimated cost, continuing a trend directly linked to tough economic times.

=> Read more!

A sampling of the signatures that Tim Eyman turned in on Initiative 1033 petitions shows the measure has more than enough valid signatures and will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Secretary of State Sam Reed's office issued a news release to that effect a few minutes ago.

Eyman claims it sets a record for its relative low level of invalid signatures. It might be a record for Eyman's many ballot measure petitions, but state election officials can't confirm it's a record for all initiatives.

Scroll down below the "More" to read Eyman's take on things, which includes useful explanation of some parts of his ballot measure.

Election ’09: Eyman’s Initiative 1033 cleared for November ballot

OLYMPIA…Secretary of State Sam Reed announced Wednesday that Initiative 1033, Tim Eyman’s measure dealing with revenue limits and property tax relief, has enough valid signatures to qualify for a spot on the statewide ballot in November.

=> Read more!

At least not yet.

At an informal briefing Monday with statehouse reporters, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Washington state does not appear to be in line for so-called Race to the Top money from the federal government.

"If you want to be eligible for Race to the Top you have to meet the criteria and I'm not sure we meet the criteria," Gregoire said.

The special pot of stimulus funds – up to $4.5 billion – will go to states that take steps to reform their education systems. Federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan wants states to set high standards and having testing in place to measure them, improve low-performing schools, make sure each classroom has a good teacher and have data-collection systems in place to track student performance.

Seems simple. But each touches on issues that have been battlegrounds between teachers unions and reformers. Improving low-performing schools might lead to changing staff. Assuring quality teachers in each classroom might involve firing low-quality teachers, evaluating teacher performance and offering merit pay to reward the best teachers.

Even collecting data has been opposed by some union leaders because they fear it will be used to punish teachers who have students that fail.

Duncan also thinks states should have some charter schools – public schools that operate independently of most state and local controls. Washington in one of a handful of states that ban charter schools.

Gregoire said Washington might be in line for the second round of funding next year. But that would require changes to be passed during the 2010 legislative session.

"We'll know more when they come out with the criteria," Gregoire said, something she expects in the fall.

Okay, so the lack of bad news now qualifies as good news. But we take what we can get.

During an informal briefing with capital reporters Monday, Gov. Chris Gregoire said state tax collections for June were right on forecast. Yes, they were abysmal – much lower than past years. But they were what state economists expected them to be.

How is that good news? Because as the recession has advanced, those collection reports have been well below what budget managers expected. And if you get enough of those in a row and you have budget problems.

And it just might mean that the recession has bottomed out in Washington state, or at least that the official forecast as presented by state economist Arun Raha has finally gotten pessimistic enough

Gregoire's budget chief Victor Moore said it is the first time in over a year that a monthly tax collections report was on target.

Moore said that Raha expressed "some joy in seeing lines going sideways," as opposed to downward, quickly.

Gregoire said there are still worries, namely that commercial real estate defaults may be increasing and exposing smaller state banks to problems they avoided in the housing crash.

"We are by no means out of the woods," Gregoire said. "September will be a very telling forecast."

When I say "down," I mean they were only $2 million lower than the projections. And that's a huge improvement over the past few months, when tax collections were $50-$100 million less than the forecast.

This is for the tax collection period from June 11 to July 10. The report from the Office of Economic and Revenue Forecast just came out today.

Considering that the Washington Department of Revenue collects between $1 billion (with a "b") and $1.5 billion every month, $2 million (with an "m") is chump change.

And apparently there was up uptick in the real estate market.

The City of Federal Way has released a more complete copy of an investigative report into whether Municipal Court Judge Michael Morgan operated a hostile workplace.

We went all the way to the state Supreme Court recently to win release of the report. We feel voters are entitled to see it, especially as Morgan pursues reelection this year. To see a copy of the original, redacted version released by the city, click here. To see our story about the report, click here.

The more complete report goes into much greater detail about comments that Morgan allegedly made to court staff about his former colleague, Judge Colleen Hartl.

It's easy to see why Federal Way took its time before releasing the extra material. The things Morgan allegedly said about Hartl are unflattering and salacious. We have decided not to write a story about them or post them to our Web site.

The new information might be of interest to voters as they consider Morgan's reelection. But we had to weigh that public interest against the potential of doing further damage to the reputation of Hartl by publishing unsubstantiated claims. Hartl is no longer a public figure and isn't running for elected office.

Even so, we are happy to have spent the time and money to secure the full report as a public document. You can make a request in person at City Hall, 33325 Eighth Ave South, or you can e-mail city clerk Carol McNeilly at carol.mcneilly@cityoffederalway.com.

An electronic copy is free; a printed copy will cost 15 cents per page.

Saying she wants to concentrate on her run for Pierce County Auditor, Julie Anderson said today was her last day as a senior policy adviser for the state Department of Commerce. She has held the job since March of 2007.

“When I filed for candidacy, I knew this would be a tough race. I didn’t want to work full-time as a state employee and run a serious campaign simultaneously,” Anderson said in a statement issued by her campaign. “I resigned to protect the integrity of State government and to show that I am serious about this campaign.”

She said she and her supervisor had discussed taking a leave of absence or furlough but decided it was best for her to resign.
Anderson said she hoped the resignation would head off questions of impropriety and allow her to concentrate on her campaign.

Tacoma council positions are part time and most members have other jobs. Anderson is currently the deputy mayor, a position selected by other members of the council.

Adam Wilson of The Olympian and Rich Roesler of the (Spokane) Spokesman Review announced this week they are taking other jobs.

Adam is going to write speeches for the governor; Rich is going to handle communications for the insurance commissioner. I suspect both are getting hefty pay raises.

I can't fault them in the least. The newspaper industry is going through some pretty bad throes and both Adam and Rich have taken pay and benefit cuts that they don't deserve. And they have young families.

I'm not going to rattle off all the others who have left the statehouse beat in just the past year, but that list is longer than the list of those of us who are left.

The most worrisome aspect of the ongoing erosion of the state capitol press corps is that YOU are losing your future watchdogs. Both of these guys are in the early to middle years of their careers. They're the "best and brightest."

Their respective newspapers say they will be replaced. But there is a lot of institutional knowledge that each of their replacements will have to gain. And that will take time.

By my count, we are down to 7 reporters, not enough to cover all the bases -- not in baseball, not in state government.

Here is Rich's goodbye. And here is Adam's.

And just to punctuate the issue, here's another job opening in state government: Gov. Chris Gregoire needs a press secretary. It pays $75,000 to $80,000 a year.

ORGANIZATION: Washington State Office of the Governor
POSITION: Press Secretary
SALARY RANGE: $75,000 per year
CLOSING DATE: July 12

=> Read more!

They're calling it a "Republican Resurgence Rally" and Michael Steele will the special guest.

Steele is a former lieutenant governor of Maryland and the first African-American to lead the national GOP. The rally begins at 6 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue Hotel, 900 Bellevue Way NE. Admission is $25.

Also speaking will be state Attorney General Rob McKenna, state Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt and state party chairman Luke Esser.

For $500, attendees get into a a VIP reception and photo opportunity with Steele, beginning at 5 p.m.

Watch Esser's invitation.

Last week we posted an item reporting that Tim Eyman appeared to have turned in enough signatures to get his tax-limiting I-1033 on the November ballot.

Over the next several days, Gig Harbor Councilman Derek Young and initiative sponsor Eyman engaged in a debate in the comment section of the post.

Young begins the comments and responds to a few other readers. He then poses a question to Eyman who replys and the debate is on.

Here is the exchange:

=> Read more!

The Pierce County Council voted today to send some advice to County Executive Pat McCarthy regarding next year's budget – don't cut sheriff's deputies, don't spend any more from the savings account, keep the polls open, don't reduce county lobbying efforts and keep fee increases at inflation or less.

This isn't the usual line-item-by-line item resolution. The council decided that given the troubled budget times, it should allow the executive flexibility in dealing with changing economics. The county has already altered its current spending plan twice, voting on March 31 and June 16 to close seperate $8 million funding gaps.

“We recognize that the executive’s budget staff will need flexibility in how they address the challenges of next year, since economic conditions could rapidly change,” Council Chairman Roger Bush said in a prepared statement. “What doesn’t change is our Charter-mandated duty to appropriate revenue and adopt a budget that delivers the core services that our county’s taxpayers expect.”

McCarthy will send her budget to the council by September 22 and the council will likely adopt a final budget before Thanksgiving.

A copy of the resolution can be found here.

OK. Actually, it will be a "Thanks for Working for Nothin' BBQ," a way for Gov. Chris Gregoire to show her appreciation for the work done by her own Economic Stimulus Czar, Dick Thompson, whose six-figure salary ($000,000) really didn't show the proper degree of thanks for his volunteerism.

(Dick told me today he has retired once again -- this time from volunteerism -- and has turned over his duties to someone in the Guv's budget office.)

Washington state got about $6-$10 billion out of the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package -- that is, if you count all the money for the Bonneville Power Administration and Hanford. (State government will get about $4 billion in K-12, Medicaid and transpo funding over the next two years.)

Anyway, Thompson, former Seattle deputy-mayor-chamber-president-Boeing-guy Bob Watt and Craig Cole will be feted by the Guv on July 28. (Craig Cole is a UW Regent and Bellingham businessman.)

All three of them helped out the Guv in some manner. Watt helped the governor find and screen some agency (cabinet) directors. And Cole worked on some economic roundtables.

Anyway, we're now in the second round of scrambling for federal stimulus funds, the round in which we must compete with other states and actually apply for grants, etc.

Did anyone else notice the reference to state Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, in Monday's story by Kits (aka, Kathleen) Merryman about the retirement of "Lua" Pritchard as executive director of the Korean Women's Association?

Darneille will be filling in for the next few months as interim director while a head-hunting firm finds a permanent executive director to take over from Pritchard, who was at the helm for 13 years.

Darneille said for the past three "interims" (that's the time between legislative sessions), she's been working for Liz Heath at the The Nonprofit Center, for which her 27th Legislative District constituents are very grateful.

The interim director gig is just her most recent. But Darneille lives in the nonprofit sector. She was at the Pierce County Aids Foundation for several years.

Oh, btw, the Nonprofit Center will be 10 years old on July 29. Check out their Web site.

City Club of Tacoma is hosting an event for the 7 candidates for Port of Tacoma Commission, and the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County will moderate the event.

It will run from 12:15 to 1:15 a week from Wednesday at the Landmark Convention Center in Tacoma.

Tacoma, WA – July 7, 2009 - The Port of Tacoma is experiencing a decrease in container cargo and serious budget shortfalls which have led to layoffs; a controversial solution which has heightened discussion about the management of this South Puget Sound economic engine. The Port Commission sets Port policy and direction, approves all major expenditures, and appoints the executive leadership of the Port.

The seven candidates running for three positions on the commission have been invited (five have confirmed at press time) to participate in a candidate forum, to be moderated by the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County. Elected at large by the voters of Pierce County, this is your opportunity to hear and assess the candidate’s positions, perspectives, and qualifications. Candidates will also take audience questions.

=> Read more!

The on-line publication Crosscut has carved out a nice niche in its coverage of historic preservation – often an afterthought in other Seattle publications. Today, Knute Berger uses examples of successes in Seattle and a big failure in Tacoma to write about the difficulty in saving sacred places.

A link to the article is here.

As Berger notes, I wrote last week about efforts to learn from Tacoma's past mistakes. But churches face problems other historic buildings don't.

The state Supreme Court ruled that government can't enforce preservation laws against churches because it would interfere with their worship rights. Tax-exempt churches don't need tax benefits that have helped other historic buildings. At the same time, church-state separation policies make it difficult to use government money to help preserve religious buildings.

Berger notes that a conference on the topic will be held in Seattle Sept. 12 featuring Robert Jaeger of the Philadelphia-based Partners for Sacred Places.

Here are two images of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church, first before (by Drew Perine) and then during demolition (by Bruce Kellman).

Marty Campbell, candidate for Postition No. 4 on the Tacoma City Council, will hold a fundraiser from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at The HUB on Tacoma Avenue South.

The Campbell Campaign is in full swing and gearing up for the primary! Ballots will be sent beginning July 31st.

Marty recently added the endorsement of the Black Collective & International Longshoreman's and Warehousemen's Union Local #23 to over 200 endorsers that believe he has the proven leadership and experience we need on City Council.

You are invited to show your support for Marty at his upcoming event:

=> Read more!

One of the many things I missed while on vacation last week was Fuse Washington's announcement of its "Sizzle-Fizzle Awards 2009."

I give them high marks for cleverness and higher marks for paying attention to during the 105-day legislative session that ended in late April, albeit through their Seattle-centric lens.

Agree or disagree with Fuse, the organization's values most certainly show through their choices for praise and condemnation. If Fuse were a person, s/he would be a tree-hugging Leninist who rides a bus, even though s/he can afford a hybrid (and may have one parked between the Lexus and VW bug in a three-car garage.)

Here's a link to the full list of "Sizzle and Fizzle" awards.

They call it Sound Foundations PAC and hope that it will become a source of support for Pierce County candidates, both Republican and non partisan.

The PAC was formed by Deryl McCarty, Bob Lawrence, Carol Cain and Dave Morell.

"Seems like we're all basically Republicans but all of us wanted an avenue to support (non-partisan) candidates as well as any others we might like to help get elected," Cain wrote when I asked her to give some background.

"As you are well aware it seems Pierce County is always taking a back seat to King – this PAC is focused entirely on Pierce County candidates," she wrote. "As Republicans we are certainly tired of driving to King County to spend lot of money there and not keeping any of it for Pierce County candidates.

To help get it off the ground, backers are bringing Judge Andrew Napolitano to Tacoma for a fundraising event August 28. Napolitano is a legal and constitutional commentator for Fox News Channel and has a radio show for Fox as well.

Napolitano, a former New Jersey judge, is the author of "The Constitution in Exile: How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land" and "A Nation of Sheep."

The event will be a reception and dinner followed by a town hall meeting. Both will be at the Courtyard by Marriott. Ticket information is available here.

Eagle-eyed Ian Morrison, Gov. Chris Gregoire's liaison guy in Pierce County, alerted Political Buzz that there is a 253 connection for Sean Parnell, who will be sworn in as Alaska's new governor July 26.

Here's his bio.

Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell arrived in Alaska in 1973 at the age of 10. He inherited his love of our vast state from his father, Pat Parnell, who decided to move his wife and two sons to Alaska after being stationed at Fort Richardson. Sean graduated from East Anchorage High School in 1980, going on to earn a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pacific Lutheran University, as well as a doctorate of jurisprudence from University of Puget Sound School of Law (now known as Seattle University School of Law). He has been an attorney since 1987 and is admitted to practice in Alaska and Washington, D.C. Like his father before him, Sean owned his own business for many years, a small law practice located in downtown Anchorage.

Sean's father, Pat, served Alaska honorably as an Anchorage Assembly Member and as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives, modeling ethical political leadership for both his sons and birthing a dream in his eldest. Sean pursued his childhood dream, and in 1992 he was elected to the Alaska State House of Representatives. While serving in the House, Sean was active as a member of the House Finance Committee and chaired numerous budget subcommittees. After serving two terms in the House, Sean ran for, and won, a seat in the Alaska State Senate in 1996. In the Senate, Sean was a dynamic leader who served on the Senate Finance Committee during his first two years, and he later co-chaired the Senate's Finance Committee during a financially difficult time in our state's history. Oil was at $9 per barrel, state revenues were down dramatically, and Sean lead the way with his Caucus in cutting the budget while maintaining priorities like education, public safety, and transportation. He was also a member of the Energy Council.

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Joe Turner is on vacation this week. So here's our colleague Brad Shannon's take on Initiative Day at the Secretary of State's office in Olympia.

It was a full house at the University of Puget Sound rotunda Wednesday night for the second debate in the Tacoma mayor's race. The CityClub was the sponsor and the League of Women Voters was the moderator.

No fireworks on the cusp of the Fourth of July. But it is starting to become clear how the candidates are positioning themselves for the one-on-one race to replace term-limited incumbent Bill Baarsma.

City Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland repeated speaks of her experience in the private sector, non-profit sector and as an elected official – with emphasis on the elected official part. Sure, she has just two years on the council but that's two years more than Jim Merritt who has never held public office.

But that forces Strickland to defend nearly all policies and decisions made by the city including the large pay raises given many workers and the proposal to ask voters for money to repair streets and roads. In a year when voters seem uneasy over the economy, that has its perils.

Merritt pounces on it, using Strickland as a foil for his message that city hall isn't listening to the voters. While many are losing their jobs and absorbing pay cuts, the council gives raises. Rather than talk to voters first about what to do about roads, the city creates a top-down solution.

But Merritt has his own problems when he seems to overpromise what a mayor can do. Under the city charter, the mayor is part of the legislative branch – a council member with a gavel. The council hires a city manager who is the chief executive of the city.

But Merritt referenced "my administration" and even complained that the city manager was overstepping his bounds by developing policy such as the proposed downtown parking plan. In Merritt's worldview – or perhaps cityview – the mayor should be doing that and the manager should carry out the work.

That might work under a strong-mayor form of government but not so well in the council-manager form Tacoma has.

At first Alex Hays didn't think the e-mail was out of the ordinary. Given that Hays will manage the campaign to approve three amendments to the Pierce County Charter, he expects to get questions about the measures such as this:

Mr. Hays,

I recently heard from a friend that you were going to be the campaign manager for the efforts in favor of Pierce County Charter Amendments 1, 2, & 3. I was wondering if you could provide me with more information on the amendments. I know they have to do with term limits, moving county elections to odd years, and ranked choice voting, but which one does what? Do you guys have a website yet? Where would I go about donating if I decide I agree with your positions?

Scott Mateyka
Tacoma, WA

But then Hays noticed that the message signed by Scott Mateyka came from the e-mail account of Erik Connell. A little web search found an Erik Connell who should probably know a bit about ranked choice voting. He is a "democracy fellow" with FairVote, the leading national advocate of ranked choice voting.

And Connell was described as a University of Puget Sound graduate whose focus at FairVote is instant runoff voting.

"In the coming weeks you’ll see that these guys will say anything to preserve their experiment," Hays wrote of IRV advocates.

I sent an e-mail to Connell and asked if the Scott Mateyka e-mail, in fact, came from him. If so, why hadn't he identified himself as an advocate for IRV?

Here's what he wrote:

Yes, that was me. I just was curious as to what was going on with the opposition and came up with this approach spur of the moment. Kind of boneheaded, I realize. I certainly didn't mean to be underhanded, but just to get answers to some elementary questions.

He then offered to brief me on the virtues of IRV and the No on 3 campaign.

I guess this all means he isn't going to be donating to Hays' campaign.

Don't panic, but a glitch in the state's liquor distribution system is leaving store shelves bare just in time for the Fourth of July holiday, this morning's Seattle Times reports. State officials blame a problem with a new software system for the backlog of orders. (The bureaucratic equivalent of "the dog ate my homework.")

"For us, the timing is really brutal," said Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Restaurant Association, who said some restaurants have been unable to get key ingredients for their most popular cocktails. "For a small-margin industry like ours, where every sale counts, that's an issue."

Dozens of "temporarily out of stock" signs dot the shelves of some state liquor stores, and store managers say they're not sure when their complete product line will again be available.

There is a bit of good news for those of us who imbibe: For the first time, state-run liquor stores will be open on the Fourth of July - a product of the budget crisis.

Here's a link to the full story.

A public records request made by Timothy Smith – a spokesman for the local Bill of Rights Defense Committee, which has been fighting the expansion (and existence) of the Northwest Detention Center on the Tideflats – shook loose several years worth of Homeland Security meeting minutes from the Tacoma Police Department.

The .pdf file is 256-pages long and too big to post here. And, honestly, I only read through the last 50 pages or so, which cover 2007 and 2008.

The meeting minutes note various events and situations that caught the interest of the cops. What they don't say is what they did with that information – a subject for another reporter (as this is my last day at the paper).

Take this entry from September 2007:

"On September 18, there was a derogatory article published on the Seattle Indymedia website that summarized some of the complaint findings against TPD personnel stemming from the Port of Tacoma protests. The article mentions that in each case, the police were exonerated.

The article listed the phone number to TPD Internal Affairs and the e-mail address of City Manager Eric Anderson, so citizens can 'let them know how happy you are that we have a rubber stamp committee to oversee the police and approve of everything they do!' '...tell [Eric Anderson] how proud you are to live in a city where the police can get away with anything.'"

Maybe I'm paranoid (or not paranoid enough), but last time I checked it was still legal to write (non-threatening) derogatory statements about the police and their internal affairs process on a Web site; to republish the phone number of a subsection of a local government agency (253-591-5283 – according to CityofTacoma.org); and to send e-mails to the city manager expressing your grievances or disagreements (and/or encouraging others to do so).

Maybe Tacoma Police were simply making note of the article, but again, it begs the question: to what end.

More excerpts after the jump.

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