Dave Ammons at SecState's office sends an update on petition signature checks for Referendum 71. He notes the error rate is still fairly low, with a couple percentage points as a buffer.

I put in bold face the reason for the bad signatures: Most simply are not registered to vote. A lesson to be learned there.

FYI: State Election workers, on the second day of checking signatures for Referendum 71, have now processed over 11,000 names, and the campaign's error rate continues at a low 12.31 percent level.

As of close of business Monday, 11,502 signatures have been checked, and 10,087 have been accepted and 1,415 have been rejected, mostly because the person does not show up on the voter rolls. Teresa Glidden, supervisor of the initiatives and referendum desk, notes that the error rate will vary somewhat from day to day. The petitions are checked in no particular order and a future batch may have a better or worse error rate.

The important number to remember is that referendum sponsors need 120,577 valid signatures to earn a place on the November ballot. That is equal to 4 percent of the total vote for governor last fall. Sponsors submitted 137,689 signatures on July 25.

R-71 sponsors are seeking a statewide public vote this fall on Washington's new "everything but marriage" law that expands rights and privileges of state-registered domestic partners so that they are equal to those of opposite-gender married couples.

The bill, Senate Bill 5688, ordinarily would have taken effect July 26, but is on hold while the referendum sponsored by foes is pending. The signature-by-signature check began last Friday.

Two groups, WhoSigned.org and the Washington Coalition for Open Government, have requested copies of the petitions, but the sponsors have a federal court order blocking the Secretary of State from releasing the public records until a full hearing is held on Sept. 3 in Tacoma.

David Ammons
Communications Director
Office of Secretary of State

The Associated Press has an interesting story on the first cut of possible targets by the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee.

To make the list of 70, a district has to have elected a Democrat by less than 55 percent of the vote or given John McCain a majority in the 2008 election.

Oregon offers three such targets, California two and Idaho one. And Washington? Zero.

And what if Democrats use the same criteria to develop their target list? They'd focus on the 8th Congressional District where Barack Obama won with 56 percent of the vote but incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert won with 53 percent.

But we probably don't need statistics to know Reichert will be targeted again, even though Democrats have not won the seat since it was created following the 1980 census.

It is interesting that David Wu and Peter DeFazio are among the targets in Oregon. Wu received 71.5 percent of the vote and DeFazio 82.34 percent. Neither had a GOP opponent in the general election, of course. But that suggests an even higher mountain to climb for the GOP.

Here's a cool map that shows 2008 results.

Here's the AP story

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Cindy Zehnder, chief of staff for Gov. Chris Gregoire for the past two years, just called to say she is stepping down from that job.

(Actually, she called me 50 minutes ago, but she said the news was embargoed until 12:30 p.m. today because she and The Guv are going to announce it to Gregoire's cabinet at their meeting during the lunch hour.)

Zehnder said she and the governor are talking about the possibility of moving elsewhere in Gregoire's administration, so she might not be going far.

If you recall, former DSHS Secretary Robin Arnold-Williams moved from that post to the head of Gregoire's policy shop not too long ago.

UPDATE: Here's what her boss had to say:

Gregoire’s statement on chief of staff departure

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today released the following statement on Cindy Zehnder leaving as chief of staff:
“It is bittersweet to hear of Cindy’s announcement to pursue other opportunities. Her gracious strength is something I admire and will greatly miss. In her tenure as chief of staff, she has supported me and led this team through two very difficult legislative sessions, multiple natural emergencies, and a deluge of every day matters that required constant diligence.
“Given these accomplishments and around the clock commitment, I understand now is the time for change. I wish Cindy extraordinary happiness in her next endeavor.”

I think Zehnder was in the top echelon of cabinet salaries at about $163,000, although hers was not a cabinet post, per se.

Zehnder used to be president of Television Washington. I found the original news release that announced her appointment to the chief of staff job, which appears below.

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Christopher Liu sent an e-mail to inform others of his decision to leave the agency, and it was kindly forwarded to the TNT.

Liu's salary in April 2008 was $120,000 or so. Still is, according to The Guv's budget office. (The state salary schedule that usually comes out on Jan. 31 of odd-numbered years still is under production at the governor's budget office. And I'm trying to get it so we can post it on our Web page.)

To all,
The start of the fiscal year is often a time to reflect back as well as look ahead. With that in mind, I’d like to draw your attention to the amazing work this Lottery team has done in just the short time since I’ve been lucky enough to join the agency. I have set very high goals and the Lottery team has worked hard—together--to accomplish those goals, which include strengthening our relationship with retailers to provide the best possible business advice and make a case for other local businesses which may be interested in selling lottery products. We’ve diligently worked to grow relationships with the Legislature.

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