He'd better. If he really has his "Ear to the Ground."

This is getting to be too much for me. This morning, Gov. Chris Gregoire announced her Twitter page (and other stuff). This afternoon, Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark announces the Department of Natural Resources blog (and other stuff).

Me, I'm just all atwitter. Actually, I'm suffering from information overload. I don't know what all to bookmark or NetVibes or twit or whatever...

State DNR launches ‘Ear to the Ground’ blog
Blog joins other social networking tools to help agency communicate with the public

OLYMPIA – The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today rolled out a new blog, “Ear to the Ground.” This offering is the latest ‘social networking’ feature added to the department’s Web site, www.dnr.wa.gov. The blog was named Ear to the Ground to recognize DNR’s management of more than 5.6 million acres of state trust lands.

The blog, along with social networking tools, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and MySpace, will help support the agency’s commitment to transparency and informing the public in how DNR makes its decisions and manages state lands.

=> Read more!

Buyouts are getting increasingly commonplace in the newspaper industry. Trust me. We're going through our third round of layoffs and buyouts at Tne News Tribune.

But there doesn't appear to be much latitude for state agencies to basically pay their workers to go away sooner than they otherwise would. For several years, state agencies have had authority to pay workers as much as $25,000 as an incentive to retire. But that program is aimed at workers who already are 1 year past their "normal" retirement date.

Many of those workers are hanging around, partly because they don't want to pay full freight for health care coverage, which is really pricey because the state has a great medical plan. It costs about $800 a month if you have to pay the full cost. (Workers pay 12 percent of their premiums today; the state pays 88 percent.)

Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark wants some help, and he wants it in a hurry. He points out that another drawback to the current "buyout" plan is that agencies must recover the costs during the same biennium. That is, if you pay a $50,000-a-year employee $25,000 to go away, you have to leave the job open for at least six months, as long as it would take to realize a $25,000 savings from a lower payroll.

Goldmark says there isn't time for him to recoup that money since there are only 3-plus months left in the 2007-09 biennium. (It ends June 30.)

=> Read more!

Moving state Fish and Wildlife enforcement officers into the Washington State Patrol is one of the government efficiencies now under consideration by Gov. Chris Gregoire’s administration.

And the recreational and wildlife groups reportedly are none too happy about the proposal.

Bruce Bjork, chief of the enforcement program for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the agency is concerned its mission will change too much, and game officers might find themselves writing a lot of traffic citation like state troopers.

“There’s a little concern that our focus of fish and wildlife enforcement might end up getting diminished over the years,” Bjork said. “I’m not saying it would. But that’s certainly a concern. We actually limit the amount of time (now) for traffic enforcement, by policy.”

The main mission of the State Patrol is traffic enforcement on the state highway and freeway system, although the Patrol also has commercial vehicle inspections, auto theft details and organized crime detectives.
The commission board and its interim director also object to the proposed merger, Bjork said.

“But we also realize that we’re not the policy makers, so whatever the governor and the Legislature decide to we’ll make it work,” he added.

Ed Owens, who represents about 75 hunting and fishing groups to the Legislature, said the wildlife community is unanimous in its opposition to the governor's proposal.

Only Oregon and Alaska have their wildlife officers as part of the state police force, Owens said. After a similar consolidation took place in Oregon, he said, "they had wildlife officers writing speeding tickets."

Rich Simms of Mukilteo, president of the Wild Steelhead Coaltion, said he has no strong feelings one way or the other, as long as enforcement of poaching and other wildlife laws remains a priority for the State Patrol.

“We don’t have enough enforcement as it is,” Simms said. “There’s frustration in the angling community about not getting response from the poaching hotline or after-the-fact responses.”

The governor confirmed at Monday’s news conference that she has her cabinet members talking to each other about such a consolidation, and that they also have examined whether to include park rangers and detective in the state Department of Natural Resources.

Robin Arnold-Williams, the head of the governor’s policy staff now chief architect of Gregoire’s government restructuring, said after the news conference a bill to merge the wildlife agents into the State Patrol would be introduced later this legislative session.

=> Read more!

Just before he left office, former state Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland (former Tacoma mayor) signed a settlement and lease agreement with Taylor Shellfish for the harvest of geoducks on state lands.

New Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark says he isn't going to sign it. It's basically a do-over.

Taylor Shellfish is getting fined for harvesting geoducks from state lands without and lease and the company is now getting the lease they should have gotten in the first place, said Goldmark spokesman Aaron Toso.

"The lease and the settlement are separate issues," Toso said "But they were tied together (in Sutherland's deal) and the public didn't have a voice in the lease."

The deal that Sutherland signed imposed a $630,000 fine on the shellfish company for harvesting geoducks and oysters from Totten Inlet. It gave the company 5 years to pay off the fine.

It also gave Taylor Shellfish Farms a 10-year lease to 10 acres of state tidelands for about 11 percent of the value of its geoduck harvest and 15 percent of its oyster harvest, plus a fee of about $11,500 a year.

Here's the whole deal.

Goldmark said he will meet with company officials on Monday.

Also, just before he left office, Sutherland signed a 30-year lease for gravel removal from the Maury Island. Goldmark's staff is still reviewing that agreement.

OLYMPIA – Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark today announced that he will not sign a lease with Taylor Shellfish with terms as negotiated by the previous commissioner. The terms had been set in a settlement addressing the company’s trespass on state aquatic lands in Totten Inlet.

=> Read more!

Rep. Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, has introduced a couple bills that stem largely from what former Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland did late last year.

He gave a 30-year state lease to a mining company for a project on Maury Island -- after he lost the election, but before he left office. That really ticked off the locals.

This is after the fact, but.....read on.

Rep. Nelson introduces two new laws to protect the environment

January 27, 2009

OLYMPIA -- The controversy swirling around a local gravel mine has led Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) to write two proposed laws, both aimed at protecting the environment from damage.

House Bill 1708 would establish new protections for the aquifer on Maury Island and require that any large mine cease operations if there is damage to the island’s aquifer, which is the sole source of drinking water for residents of the island.

=> Read more!

I seriously expected to read news accounts of legislators and state officials being trampled to death by each other in the stampede to appear before the state Salary Commission and beg them "Please, don't give us a raise!"

The announcements were coming in such quick succession that I couldn't keep up....the governor, Republican lawmakers, Democratic lawmakers, new state treasurer Jim McIntire. House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, rather than risk reinjuring her aching neck, avoided the fray. She wrote a letter.

And then, of course, I saw what Randy Dorn had to say. (If anyone can figure out what he was saying, would you please tell me?)

It sounded as if he really, really, really wanted to get paid more but couldn't come right out and say that because everyone else was being so, well, self-sacrificing. So instead, he started building a case for a humongous raise in 2011 and 2012. (See, if you're a state employee, your retirement is based on your highest two years of pay in your final five years of work.)

There's still time, Randy. All you have to do is hang on for two years, get a pay raise for the final two years of your term after the economy improves, and you can accomplish through legitimate work what you couldn't do through special legislation.

Here's what Brad Shannon wrote in his story about the salary commission vote. And here's what Brad wrote about Dorn's appearance.

There will be public hearings through May, then a final decision by the commission.

And here's the story I wrote last year about Dorn trying to boost his pension by about $90,000 a year.

Questions on candidate pension
A candidate for state schools superintendent tried for two years to get lawmakers to boost his pension. He says costs cited by the state were exaggerated.

=> Read more!

An alert reader (lobbyist Jim King) pointed out that Auditor Brian Sonntag gets to fill in for Gov. Chris Gregoire this weekend because all the people ahead of him are out of state this weekend.

The Washington constitution lays out the order of succession of who takes over as governor in the event of "disablility" of the real governor (I guess being out of state counts as a disability.)

1. Lt. Gov. Brad Owen (but he's leaving Friday).
2. Secretary of State Sam Reed (he's in Oregon for the weekend).
3. Treasurer Mike Murphy (he's out of state now and isn't back until Jan. 6.
4. Auditor Brian Sonntag (Bingo! He's a homebody for the holidays.)

After that it would have been Attorney General Rob McKenna, Schools Superintendent Terry Bergeson and, finally, Lands Commissioner Doug Sutherland.

So, the governor wasn't scraping the bottom of the barrel for her temporary replacement. She scraped the middle.

Here is my earlier post about Sonntag filling in for the guv this weekend.

Interestingly, it includes state Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, who will advise Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark, and Sen.-elect Kevin Ranker, a Democrat who also is a San Juan County Commissioner, for the moment, anyway. Ranker is Goldmark's aquatics adviser.

And in case you wondered what happened to Gov. Chris Gregoire's campaign press secretary after she won reelection, Aaron Toso is on Goldmark's transition team, too.

Goldmark announces transition plans

Public Lands Commissioner-elect taps statewide leaders for transition team

Olympia – Public Lands Commissioner-elect Peter Goldmark today announced members of his transition team. These leaders will help him usher in a new vision of environmental sustainability and economic opportunity on our state’s lands.

=> Read more!

Secretary of State Sam Reed today certified the results of the Nov. 4 general election.

We set a record for turnout and number of ballots cast, 3,071,587.

The 84.61 percent turnout of registered voters was record and a couple counties had a turnout higher than 91 percent.

Reed certifies Washington’s record election turnout

Secretary of State Sam Reed has certified Washington state’s 2008 General Election results, capping a watershed election year that included a hotly contested presidential primary, the first-ever Top 2 Primary, and a record voter turnout in November. Governor Chris Gregoire also certified the vote tally on three statewide initiatives.

=> Read more!

This is the group that will set salaries for all the statewide elected officials -- governor, attorney general, etc. -- Supreme Court judges and legislators.

The new salaries probably will take effect on Sept. 1, 2009 and Sept. 1, 2010.

Right now, the governor's salary is $166,891. Legislators make $42,106.

The 2009 meeting schedule has been set for setting the salaries for Washington State’s elected officials.

The meetings are as follows:

January 20 and 21 (Tuesday / Wednesday) -- 9 am Olympia Phoenix Inn

February 17 (Tuesday) -- 6 pm Vancouver Downtown Hilton

March 17 (Tuesday) -- 6 pm Bellingham Best Western Lakeway Inn

April 23 (Thursday) -- 6 pm Richland Red Lion Hotel

May 19 (Tuesday) -- 9 am Tacoma Downtown Courtyard

une date TBD --Phone Conference Call will Originate in Olympia

Please visit our website at www.salaries.wa.gov for additional information.

Terry Bergeson just called to say she'd decided to concede the state Superintendent of Public Instruction race to challenger Randy Dorn.

Bergeson, a former Tacoma schools teacher and counselor and onetime president of the Washington Education Association, said she called Dorn after seeing the latest vote count. She now trails 51.25 percent to 48.75 percent.

"All my pals have said, 'Wait it out, wait it out,' " she said. "But those numbers are not getting better."

She pledged full cooperation with Dorn and to begin working on a transition plan to "give him a head start."

"It's a hard one for me," said the three-term schools chief of the loss. "These have been the best years of my professional life."

And now The Associated Press is calling Peter Goldmark in the hotly contested race for state lands commissioner. He ousts two-term incumbent Doug Sutherland, the former Pierce County executive and Tacoma mayor.

From the AP:

After more than two days of vote-counting, the Okanogan rancher and molecular biologist built an insurmountable lead against the two-term incumbent, 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent.

Sutherland declined to concede, saying “There’s a lot of counties where we have pretty strong support that have to be counted.”

Goldmark won with the backing of environmentalists and had support of more than 62 percent of voters in King County.

Pierce County posted more results at 7:20 p.m. Here's a look at notable races:

Congress
8th District
Dave Reichert, R 85,852 51%
Darcy Burner, D 83,985 49%

Governor
Christine Gregoire, D 989,804 54%
Dino Rossi, R 857,314 46%

State superintendent of public instruction
Teresa Bergeson 774,993 49%
Randy Dorn 809,179 51%

State lands commissioner
Doug Sutherland, R 859,736 49%
Peter Goldmark, D 880,274 51%

State treasurer
Allan Martin, R 833,319 48%
Jim McIntire, D 896,215 52%

Sound Transit
Prop. 1 - mass transit expansion
Approved 337,957 58%
Rejected 242,577 42%

City of Lakewood
Prop. 1 - casino ban
Yes 3,838 38%
No 6,184 62%

City of Tacoma
Prop. No. 1 - term limits
Yes 16,224 50%
No 15,987 50%

Pierce County Council
District 3
Bruce Lachney, D 11,154 49%
Roger Bush, R 11,596 51%

Legislature
2nd Legislative District, Senate
Marilyn Rasmussen, D 16,090 50%
Randi Becker, R 16,215 50%

25th District, House position 1
Bruce Dammeier, R 13,345 51%
Rob Cerqui, D 12,582 49%

26th District, House position 1
Jan Angel, R 18,657 52%
Kim Abel, D 17,382 48%