Latest from The Spokesman-Review

• Spin Control: Same old budget battle story

  May 12, 2013 in City on Page B8 OLYMPIA – The Legislature returns to town Monday in search of a compromise on a two-year operating budget that keeps the state in the black, uses relatively few accounting gimmicks, …

• Spin Control: GOP rhetoric can’t derail Democrats’ tax loophole closer

  April 28, 2013 in City on Page B3 OLYMPIA – There is an axiom in legislating, that when you have the votes to pass something, you shut up and cast them. When you don’t have the votes, you … 5

• Spin Control: Cutoff threat creates drama in Legislature

  April 21, 2013 in City on Page B7 OLYMPIA – The Legislature has a variety of deadlines designed to winnow the thousands of bills introduced in any given session to a few hundred that actually require everyone to …

• Spin Control: LaHood unable to bridge partisan divide

  April 14, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – When a federal Cabinet secretary stopped by the Capitol last week, trying to prod the Legislature into action on a big multistate project, he got a warm welcome … 2

• Kitchen-table analogy oversimplifies budgetary process

  March 31, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – It is a rare day during the session when some legislator doesn’t offer the folksy wisdom that the state should just balance its budget like the folks back … 1

• Spin Control: Gardner’s humor always helped him

  March 24, 2013 in City on Page B2 Booth Gardner seemed an unlikely choice for governor when he first hit the campaign trail as “Booth Who?” in 1984. The Pierce County executive and former legislator wasn’t a complete …

• Spin Control: Clearing the brush on what’s bipartisan

  March 17, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – As the Legislature passed a key deadline last week, the “bi” word was thrown around quite a bit. Bipartisan. The problem was that bipartisan seems to mean different …

• Spin Control: Late-session inanity comes from both sides

  March 10, 2013 in City on Page B3 OLYMPIA – As the Legislature passed the halfway mark in the 2013 session last week, some members started to show signs of too much time in the damp, gray environs …

• Spin Control: Explaining Hanford takes pivot to hoops

  March 3, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – As most of official Olympia stared at their computers Thursday morning awaiting the state Supremes’ decision on tax supermajorities, a handful of legislators got a briefing on something … 3

• Spin Control: Gun legislation facing uncertain Capitol future

  February 24, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – The massacre of first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut may result in some major national gun-control legislation this year. Too soon to tell. But it …

• Spin Control: Naming rights could bring money

  February 17, 2013 in City on Page B3 OLYMPIA – Legislators are considering – not too seriously, it seems – a plan to allow the state to sell the naming rights to its many roads, bridges, tunnels, buildings …

• Spin Control: Abortion bill’s absence frustrates open debate

  February 10, 2013 in City on Page B3 OLYMPIA – The claim by “coalition” senators that their regime ushers in an era of more open debate managed to stub its toe last week on one of the Legislature’s … 5

• Spin Control: Wet behind the ears on poll tax claim

  February 3, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – A wise old pol once explained why changing the election system is difficult: The people who must agree to make the change all got their jobs through the … 2

• Spin Control: Lobbying season kicks off in Olympia

  January 27, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – There may be things for which the Spokane area reasonably envies other communities around the state, but lobbying the Legislature for a list of collective hopes and dreams …

• Spin Control: Inslee, GOP hardly exchanging bouquets in early jousting

  January 20, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – The start of a new Legislature with a new administration is much given over to pomp and ceremony, so it wasn’t too surprising that most of the players …

• Spin Control: Area’s delegation sees dropoff in experience

  January 13, 2013 in City on Page B2 OLYMPIA – When the Legislature opens Monday, Spokane will be in a demonstrably different position than in recent years. The years of experience among the area’s delegation will be almost … 4

• Spin Control: No decision yet on I-502 rally dust-up

  January 6, 2013 in City on Page B10 OLYMPIA – Elections are designed to place a punctuation mark on political disputes. Sometimes it’s a period; other times, it’s more of comma, pausing to allow one to take a … 3

• Spin Control: Test your Christmas trivia knowledge

  December 23, 2012 in City on Page B2 Once again, in the spirit of peace on Earth to men and women of good will, Spin Control avoids political commentary so close to Christmas. This year our holiday wish …

• Spin Control: Coalition majority might not be so great

  December 16, 2012 in City on Page B3 OLYMPIA – To hear supporters tell it, a new power-sharing coalition in the state Senate could usher in a Legislative session of compromise and moderation, with a positive response to … 2

• Spin Control: Secessionists miss mark wide right

  November 25, 2012 in City on Page B2 After spending the Apple Cup as a Cougar fan in the midst of Huskies, it strikes me that would-be secessionists could learn a lot from the annual intrastate rivalry. That’s … 8

• Spin Control: Waiting for election results doesn’t harm anyone

  November 18, 2012 in City on Page B2 A familiar post-election refrain, as predictable as swallows returning to Capistrano or Cougar fans pinning their Apple Cup hopes on bad weather in Pullman, sounded last week. The amount of … 5

• Spin Control: Santa Claus has a platform, and it’s kids

  November 4, 2012 in City on Page B2 The voice on the other end of the phone was deep and mellifluous. “Jim, it’s Santa Claus.” Being a reporter of many years, that did not throw me, because I … 2

• Spin Control: Ranting donor’s cash still hard to give up

  October 28, 2012 in City on Page B2 Several court decisions make clear that political contributions are protected political speech, so in most cases donors are free to make them. Missing from all the discussions about the kinds …

• Spin Control: Times political ads might not be money well spent

  October 21, 2012 in City on Page B3 OLYMPIA – The biggest news in the state’s political campaigns last week probably was not made by a politician or group working for or against a ballot measure. Instead, it … 1

• Spin Control: McKenna’s dance moves could wrap up the nerd vote

  October 14, 2012 in City on Page B3 The first rule of campaigning in 2012 should be: Think twice before you do something. There’s always a video camera around. This might be something the staff of gubernatorial candidate …

• Spin Control: Governor’s race drawing loads of out-of-state money

  October 7, 2012 in City on Page B3 OLYMPIA – Close races usually mean big spending, and Washington’s gubernatorial race is no exception. Along with candidates Rob McKenna and Jay Inslee, who have a combined total of $18 …

• Spin Control: Cantwell agrees to first debate with Baumgartner

  September 16, 2012 in City on Page B3 U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell will debate her Republican challenger, state Sen. Mike Baumgartner, at least once this fall. The Cantwell campaign announced last week it has agreed to an Oct. … 1

• Spin Control: McLaughlin flap puts originality, or lack of it, in spotlight

  September 9, 2012 in City on Page B7 One of the first things a candidate does these days, after announcing he or she wants to do good things for the good people of this good community, is get … 11

• Spin Control: Judge dismantles Seattle woman’s ‘birther’ claims

  September 2, 2012 in City on Page B3 OLYMPIA – It’s Labor Day weekend, the traditional start of serious campaigning, so one can assume the silly season for politics is either over or nearly so. Before the clock … 14

• Spin Control: Once-in-a-lifetime vote is a quadrennial event

  August 26, 2012 in City on Page B3 If you haven’t heard this yet, you will soon. A politician will proclaim this the Most Important Election in your lifetime. Or in a generation. Or since World War II. … 1

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