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Eye On Olympia archive for Jan. 1, 2008

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2008

Sen. Weinstein: Back to asbestos...

State Sen Brian Weinstein, who says he'll step down when his term ends in December, has taken a job as senior counsel with the Seattle law firm Bergman and Frockt. The company specializes in asbestos- and consumer-protection cases.A University of Texas law school graduate, Weinstein…

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Gas? Expensive. Why? Tune in tomorrow...

Attorney General Rob McKenna will tomorrow release the results of a year-long investigation into Washington fuel prices.A Powerpoint presentation will be posted here tomorrow afternoon.The last time the AG's office did a study like this (1991), much of the answer boiled down to...market forces. Here's…

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TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2008

More specifics on Rossi transportation plan...

Saying that key transportation chokepoints are "a foot on the air hose of the Washington economy," Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi's 30-year, $15 billion plan includes:·Hwy 520, Evergreen Floating Bridge·Widening of I-405, Renton to Bellevue·US 2 Corridor improvements·SR 9 Corridor improvements·Hwy 167 extension and improvements·Widening…

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MONDAY, APRIL 14, 2008

Rossi hits the road...

And now back to work.Gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi will be making the rounds of the state tomorrow and Wednesday, touting what he would do to relieve traffic congestion and kickstart projects like the North Spokane Corridor.He has stops planned in Bellevue, Sultan and Spokane. (Spokane:…

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Idaho GOP sues to close the state's primaries...

For years, I've wondered why Washington's pick-a-party primary was constantly referred to as "Montana-style," rather than "Idaho-style." Idaho's closer, after all, and both have open primaries in which a person is free to pick the party whose primary they wish to vote in. That's what…

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Brown on panel with Dalai Lama...

The Dalai Lama is in Seattle for five days, as part of a "Seeds of Compassion" event that's drawing tens of thousands of people.Today, he's joining state Senate Majority Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, Costco's Jeff Brotman, King County Executive Ron Sims and others in an afternoon…

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FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008

THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2008


GOP tries to bus-t Gregoire; her campaign scoffs...

The state GOP sounded the klaxons this afternoon, noting that Gov. Chris Gregoire's biodiesel campaign bus has...Oregon license plates. They included photos, which my colleague Jim Camden will soon post here."Gov. Gregoire has been making it harder and harder for businesses to survive here in…

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Carder files against state Rep. Wood

Undeterred by her 33 percent showing against Democratic state Rep. Alex Wood two years ago, Spokane Republican Laura Carder has filed campaign paperwork for a rematch.She said she'd really like to see someone challenge state Sen. Lisa Brown, who's running for re-election in the same…

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TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2008


More from campaign trail: Rossi v. Gregoire preview...

The battle lines in the governor's race seem pretty clearly drawn already. More from today's paper:Gregoire criticized Rossi, who launched his own campaign months ago, as a doom-and-gloom naysayer “who does nothing but criticize and promote fear across the state.”Rossi fired back, saying that Gregoire…

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FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 2008

Ladenburg/McKenna campaign preview

LegalNewsLine has a good overview of the race for Attorney General, in which Pierce County executive John Ladenburg, a Democrat, is aiming to oust Republican incumbent Rob McKenna.Among their differences: whether to unionize support staff in the AG's office. Ladenburg also says he supports a…

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THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2008

Seattle proposes disposable bag fee...

As a way to discourage the waste spawned by hundreds of millions of plastic and paper bags, the Seattle Times reports today that city officials are proposing making stores charge customers 20 cents for each disposable bag. Customers would be encouraged to bring their own…

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2008


Crosscut and Chopp...

Crosscut's David Brewster has a good piece today about House Speaker Frank Chopp, a behind-the-scenes dealmaker who has amassed a large Democratic majority while wielding tremendous clout over what bills move and what don't in Olympia. He describes Chopp as:a veteran poverty warrior from Fremont…

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TUESDAY, APRIL 1, 2008

What's in it for you...

After using her veto pen to slice off about $15 million (sorry about that $500k for the wastewater treatment plant, Airway Heights), Gov. Chris Gregoire today approved a $291 million supplemental operating budget that leaves $850 million in savings.Here's a handy list that includes some…

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MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2008

Short takes and breaking news from the Washington Legislature and the state capital.



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