In an e-mail to supporters, Faith and Freedom Network president Gary Randall, said Secretary of State Sam Reed is succumbing to pressure by the "homosexual lobby" and speeding up the verification of signatures on Referendum 71.

That speed up, Randall said, is causing the error rate – the percentage of invalid signatures – to rise artificially.

"The hurry-up plan was put in place as the homosexual lobby discovered that the faster the checkers checked, the more names were discarded as not valid," Randall said. He said Reed has expressed bias against social issues and the bad effect they have on success by Republican candidates.

"The liberal culture of Olympia and the Secretary's office for the most part is, I believe, a factor and very well may be the deciding factor on whether R-71 makes the ballot," Randall said.

Backers of the referendum, which seeks to repeal recently expanded gay partnership rights, submitted 137, 689 signatures. And while they only need 120,577 valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot, every referendum campaign has signatures of people who aren't registered voter, whose signature doesn't match what is on file or who signed more than once. If there are too many invalid signatures – at least 17,113 – the measure won't make the ballot.

UPDATE: The Secretary of State's office sent this in response to my request for reaction:

"The Elections Division is pushing back, strongly defending their process as free of bias for either side, and asserting that checkers are using great care and diligence in checking each and every signature – checking and even double-checking and triple-checking in some cases to make sure the process is as fair and even-handed as possible. The check is taking an entire month."

Here is the link to the secretary of state's blog, which includes more detail about the signature verification process.

Here is Randall's e-mail:

=> Read more!

Among general government workers in Washington, Joe Dear ranked second with a salary of $223,110. Dear was executive director of the state Investment Board until his departure in March.

And you'll understand why he left when you see the salary he got from CalPERS, the California state pension fund. His base salary jumped to $475,000 a year, but there were provisions in Dear's contract with California that could boost his total annual pay to about $800,000.

Even at that, he still makes less than a decent college football coach. Go figure.

Speaking of which, here is thecontract for UW football coach Steve Sarkisian. His base salary is only $300,000 so he didn't make the Top 10 anywhere. But as you can see, his total compensation is about $1.25 million or so. And it grows in future years.

TOP 10 SALARIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
1. Elson Floyd, president, Washington State University: $625,000.
2. Mark Emmert, president, University of Washington: $620,004.
3. Johnese M. Spisso, vice president, University of Washington: $$515,196.
4. Bill Doba, former WSU head football coach: $494,960.
5. Don Miller, non-tenured UW professor: $466,548
6. Lorenzo Romar, UW basketball coach: $412,020.
7. Phyllis Wise, UW Provost: $409,896.
8. Nick Vedder, non-tenured UW professor: $375,000.
9. Bruce Ferguson, UW assistant vice president-provost: $373,632
10. Ruth Mahan, UW director: $370,272.

Here is a link to my earlier post, with all kinds of other stuff about state salaries.

TOP 10 SALARIES IN GENERAL GOVERNMENT
1. Gary Bruebaker, chief investment officer, Investment Board: $300,132.
2. Joe Dear, executive director, Investment Board: $223,110.
3. Steven Draper, William Kennett, Philip Paroian, Thomas Ruggels, all senior investment officers, Investment Board: $220,764.
4. Diana Will, senior investment officer, Investment Board: $194,244.
5. Asha Singh, superintendent, Department of Social and Health Services: $182,784.
6. Theresa Whitmarsh, senior investment officer, Investment Board: $181,056.
7. G.S. Hammond, clinical program administrator, Department of Corrections: $174,780.
8. Matt Smith, State Actuary: $173,856.
9. Kamaljit Floura, medical assistant superintendent, Social and Health Services: $173,280.
10. Gary Franklin, medical director, Department of Labor and Industries: $172,764.

Maybe all this is of interest only to education insiders but there's more today on Washington state's potential for scoring more education stimulus money from the Obama Administration.

In addition to the cash already doled out, the administration set aside $5.3 billion worth of carrots to states that start reforming their schools. The feds want new data systems to measure student progress, systems to make sure each classroom has a competent teacher trained in the subject matter, adoption of high standards and a plan to turn around the lowest performing schools. Obama also wants states to offer charter schools as an option to traditional schools.

A complex set of application criteria is coming out of Washington, D.C. and education officials are trying gauge whether their states will make the cut.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said earlier in the summer that Washington hasn't done enough yet to be eligible. While passage of House Bill 2261 was a good start, much of the reform work is yet to be done.

Then the League of Education Voters issued a report saying the state has done plenty toward reforms and should apply. That caused state Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn to issue a statement saying that he has always intended to apply for money.

Here's his statement:

From: Randy I. Dorn, State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Re: Race to the Top money

A recent editorial by The Everett Herald as well as a report by the League of Education Voters might have created some confusion that I want to clear up.

Washington will be applying for Race to the Top money.
The exact requirements needed to receive the money have yet to be announced. But, as I’ve said many times before, we are confident about our chances based on what we’ve heard from the U.S. Department of Education.

While Washington voters have said no to charter schools, this state features many schools that are similar to the charter school philosophy, such as Aviation High School in Des Moines and the Tacoma School of The Arts. We have a system in National Board Certification that is more popular every year and rewards teachers for additional work. Our new data system tracks students by year and by class, our standards are top-notch and our assessment system is one just a dozen fully approved by the federal government.

Second, there is no penalty for applying. We’ve been told that all applications will be reviewed carefully, and applicants will be informed of where they fell short if they don’t receive money in the first round.

The application is due in the fall. When we have more details, we’ll make them available to you.

The lane closures will allow crews to re-stripe the lanes in preparation for work on the carpool lane project between the Port of Tacoma Road and the King County line.

I-5 reduced to one lane in Fife for HOV widening project

FIFE – If your Saturday night plans include traveling north on I-5 from Tacoma to Seattle, be ready for backups or, better yet, adjust your plans.

Crews on the I-5 HOV widening project through Fife begin closing lanes at 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22. By 11 p.m., a triple-lane closure will be in place, leaving just the inside lane open to traffic.

There will be workers and equipment on the freeway, so please stay alert and drive cautiously through the work zone.

Crews plan to begin reopening lanes by 8 a.m. Sunday, and have all four lanes open to traffic by 10 a.m. Sunday.

=> Read more!

Look it up. Technically, it's Elson Floyd, president of Washington State University. But I don't have much confidence in the figures that the state is putting out because I can't tell how much the salary numbers have been "massaged."

Floyd's annual pay was $725,000 a year ago, but he gave back $100,000, so now it's $625,000. (On the other hand, he had gotten a $125,000 pay raise in August 2008, so he gave back most, but not all, of it.)

Floyd's "base pay" is $625,000, but for total compensation, University of Washington president Mark Emmert tops $900,000 and UW football coach Steve Sarkisian gets more than $1 million, altogether.

The report is supposed to be the "base salary" for state workers as of January of this year. So a lot of the "other compensation" has been omitted. Here's a link to Frequently Asked Questions about the salary stuff.

UW Husky coach Steve Sarkisian is on the College List at No. 37 with a $300,000 salary. But that doesn't count all the TV and radio shows and his living quarters, etc.

Wazzu is paying 2 football coaches this year. Bill Doba gets $494,960 because he still has a year left on his contract, said OFM spokesman Glenn Kuper. Paul Wulff, the new coach, appears to be making $287,496 a year, if you add both elements of his salary in the database. He wasn't even listed in the Top 100. But he undoubtedly would be if all of his compensation were included.

Here are the Top 100 for higher education workers and for everybody else in state government.

Below is a story written by The Associated Press back in November 2008, when Floyd and UW president Mark Emmert turned down pay raises for 2009. You'll notice that Emmert's pay was about $905,000 then, yet he's on the books in January 2009 at only $620,004. That figure doesn't include his car allowance for the year or his $250,000 a year in deferred compensation.

Here is a link to the Office of Financial Management site and its very, very tardy report on state worker salaries. (The report usually comes out Jan. 31 in odd-numbered years. But this year, the governor's budget office spent no less than SEVEN months verifying all the salary information because they didn't want to embarrass any state worker by overstating his or her salary.)

University presidents take less pay
Washington State University's president takes a $100,000 salary cut and University of Washington's president forgoes a raise.

By Donna Gordon Blankinship; The Associated Press

Saturday,November 22, 2008
Edition: SOUTH SOUND, Section: Front Page, Page A01
A few days after a national report on the salaries of college presidents showed the leaders of the University of Washington and Washington State University are among the best paid in the nation, both men announced they would be taking voluntary pay cuts.

=> Read more!

Fresh off his first townhall meeting on the health care reform issue, U.S. Rep. Brian Baird will conduct four more sessions throughout the 3rd Congressional District.

The Vancouver Democrat's second meeting is tonight in Longview and will have a townhall in Olympia (Tumwater, actually) on August 31. That meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and be held at the Minnaert Center for the Arts at South Puget Sound Community College.

Baird's townhall schedule, with directions, is here.

Here is the Oregonian's story – with some video – on last night's Vancouver event.

The 2nd and 29th District Republican Club will be hosting two candidates, vying for positions on the Port of Tacoma Commission. The Port of Tacoma is an independent municipal corporation that operates under state-enabling legislation and handles more than $36 billion in annual trade.

Don Meyer, current Executive Director of Foss Waterway Development Authority, and Dick Marzano, who is seeking re-election, will be discussing the responsiblities of a commissioner and why they are qualified to ask for your vote in November.

We hope you will join us Sept. 2, 2009 at 7:00 pm (6:30 pm social time), at Week's Dryer's Fellowship Hall, 220 134th St. S., Tacoma (Parkland). For information, contact Amy Cruver at amyann56@hotmail.com.

Please be sure to mark your calendar for Oct. 7th to hear from Luke Esser, the Chair of the Washington State Republican Party, as well as to celebrate our 59th birthday.

Early morning returns show Marty Campbell still has a substantial lead in the Tacoma District 4 City Council race. Roxanne Murphy remains in second place, with Susanne Marten a close third.

The latest results show Campbell with 58 percent of the vote, Murphy with 23 percent and Marten with 19 percent.

The Pierce County Auditor’s Office will release more results at 5 p.m. today.