Spin control: ‘Supermajority’ ads mix apples, oranges

A mailer from the folks backing state ballot measure 4204 must echo in the mind of any parent of a grade-schooler when it describes the process for passing school levies as “totally unfair.” The front of the “People for our Public Schools” ad features a grimacing youngster next to the assertion one sees on television at about every commercial break, that it is harder to pass a school levy than it is to build a jail.

On TV, they like to add “or a sports stadium.”

“No fair” might work for logic from a freckle-faced grade schooler like the one on the mailer, but when he gets a little older and studies logic in school, he might learn that the comparison between school levies and those other projects is apples to oranges.

School levies require a 60 percent approval because they are collected with a tax on property. The others involve other ways of raising money.

Spokane’s current jail wasn’t built with a property tax, or any other levy on the local populace. The Legislature gave the county about $20 million back in the early 1980s; if the county had tried to build the jail itself, it probably would have needed a bond issue and a 60 percent approval.

Spokane hasn’t built a stadium in decades, but it did replace the old Coliseum with the new Arena back in the 1990s. Those with long memories might recall that the first plan was a bond issue, to be repaid by property tax levy, which required a 60 percent approval. It failed.

Then there was a plan to institute a citywide Business and Occupation Tax, which only needed a 50 percent approval. It failed too. Finally there was a plan for a slight increase in the sales tax, which would be coupled with money from a lodging tax. It only needed 50 percent, and it passed.

So it’s not the thing you want to do, Skippy, but how you want to do it that determines whether it’s a simple majority or a super majority.

There’s a good argument to be made for the tyranny of the minority in changing this requirement. There’s also a good argument to be made that if schools make a strong case for how they spend their money, they’ll get far more than 60 percent.

Catch the governor

Gov. Chris Gregoire will be in Spokane Valley on Tuesday night for a town hall meeting at University High School. Someone asked if this is a campaign event that should be listed below, and if one were to ask the state Republicans, they’d probably say “Definitely.”

Now that Dino Rossi has officially jumped into the race – and the body politic is no doubt as shocked as Capt. Renaud in “Casablanca” that he did – almost anything that either of them does might be considered campaigning. But considering it’s been scheduled for a while, it’s probably no more and no less campaigning than Rossi’s peregrinations around the state for Forward Washington.

In any case, Spin Control cares less about that than the fact that the town hall meeting is on Halloween Eve. One day later, and Gregoire might have shown up in costume. Her staff says Gregoire and husband Mike have picked out their costumes for Wednesday’s trick or treating, and they will be …

Penguins. As in “Happy Feet,” the animated movie that was a hit with kids this summer.

The governor in a penguin suit would definitely pack the U-Hi gym.

But if you want to be there to see Gregoire in her standard issue governor’s duds, you might want to register online at www.governor.wa. gov/townhall/spokane/default.asp.

Catch the Candidates

Mayoral and council candidates may have debated each other to a standstill last week. There are currently no debates, forums or joint appearances on the schedule.

But for those still wanting to see candidates before they mark their ballots, here are some prerecorded options:

Rerun of mayoral debate sponsored by The Spokesman-Review, KXLY-TV and the League of Women Voters, tonight at 8 p.m. and Monday at noon on TVW.

City Cable 5 will rerun the League of Women Voters candidates’ forums at 1 p.m. Wednesday and 4 p.m. Saturday; it will show the league’s ballot issues forum at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The Chase Youth Commission candidates forum will be rerun at 10 a.m. Wednesday, 9 p.m. Friday.

KSPS-TV has their election specials for Spokane mayor and City Council online at www.ksps.org/local/ 2007Elections.htm.

Comcast has interviews with mayoral, council president and council candidates available in its On Demand section.