Even without newly elected officials on the Spokane City Council, power appears to be shifting in the New Year. One year after the council removed Nancy McLaughlin from the board overseeing the Spokane Transit Authority, the Spokane City Council voted to reappoint McLaughlin -- the…
State Supreme Court Justice Tom Chambers congratulates Mike Baumgartner after swearing him in Monday. OLYMPIA -- With much less drama than Senator-elect Nick Harper's swearing in, Sen. Mike Baumgartner of Spokane's 6th District took the oath of office on the opening day of the session
OLYMPIA -- An initial effort to keep a Snohomish County senator-elect from being seated in the Senate failed Monday afternoon as a parliamentary procedure failed on a 23-18 vote. Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, tried to keep all newly-elected senators from being sworn in while the…
OLYMPIA -- Washington's Legislature is staring up its engines today with all 49 senators and 98 representatives getting sworn in. The anticipated skirmish over Nick Harper taking his Senate seat in Snohomish County's 38th District won't come up for a while, as each newly elected…
Curt Fackler, former Spokane County Republican chairman, is joining the race for the state GOP chairmanship. Current chair Luke Esser wants to keep the job and at least two others from western Washington are interested. In a letter sent out today, Fackler questions the effectiveness…
OLYMPIA -- Washington's 105-day legislative session formally gets underway at noon, with the official and officious opening ceremonies in each chamber. It's the time for swearing in. Simple swearing to come later. One potential glitch in the Senate involves the swearing in of Nick Harper…
The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.
