In a statehouse where competing interests clash for a limited amount of state cash and legislative time, Spokane-area business groups, universities, city and county officials and community groups have painstakingly learned a key lesson in recent years: it helps to be singing in chorus.Nearly 80…
Bruce Eldredge, the departing longtime CEO of the Eastern Washignton State Historical Society (better known for its Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane) got some kudos from the state Senate this morning.After 7 years with the society and museum, Eldredge is moving to…
Saying that a quirk of state law allows bloodthirsty dog owners to sic their animals on foxes and coyotes -- even in pens -- Rep. Hans Dunshee is sponsoring a bill to make it a crime if an owner "directs, commands or facilitates a canine…
And so it begins.If anyone had any doubts that the looming election won't heavily overshadow this year's legislative session, look at last night.For most of an hour, Gov. Chris Gregoire touted her three years in office and a series of Democrat-led initiatives and reforms: a…
Runner-up for poet laureate: UW lobbyist ("state relations director) Randy Hodgins, with these lines in a recent blog post:So let’s have a final systems check. Shoes are polished, tie is straight (for now), shirt tucked in and two pens clipped inside the coat pocket. Time…
Democrats, not surprisingly, were underwhelmed. In a statement sent out to reporters minutes after Rossi's streaming-video "Real State of the State" speech, state Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz called it an: "online gimmick which offered zero substance or even variation from his tired stump speech…
A day before Gov. Chris Gregoire gives here state-of-the-state speech to the assembled House and Senate tomorrow night, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is giving his version via the Internet.Rossi's calling it the "Real" state of the state address. It will be webcast at 6…
Ballot measures are blossoming this year, with more than two dozen potential initiatives to the people filed so far.Among them, of course, are former Gov. Booth Gardner's death-with-dignity assisted suicide measure and Tim Eyman's anti-traffic-congestion proposal.Less known so far is the proposal by Steilacoom's Michael…
Just in time for today's start of the 2008 legislative session: Our video (with help from expert tour guide Tony Aitken) tour of the Washington state capitol. In it, you'll learn why there are 42 steps to the building, why the House and Senate seats…
Former Gov. Booth Gardner returned to the statehouse Wednesday, again facing a bank of news cameras for what he called his "last campaign": a battle to allow terminally ill people to have a doctor's help in ending their own lives.Gardner, diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in…
This morning, former Gov. Booth Gardner is slated to file a "Washington Death With Dignity Initiative" patterned on Oregon's decade-old assisted-suicide program. Gardner is struggling with Parkinson's disease.If proponents gather enough signatures and voters approve the measure on the November ballot, mentally competent adults diagnosed…
One key thing that remains unsettled as lawmakers pack for a two month stay in Olympia: how to pay for the family leave program that would pay a $250-a-week stipend to help parents of new children stay home for a few weeks to bond with…
Former state Rep. John Serben confirmed last night that he's pulling out of the race to regain his former 6th Legislative District seat in the House of Representatives.After talking it over with his family, Serben said, he concluded that it's not the right time to…
In Lynnwood, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Monday plans to propose legislation allowing police to set up roadblocks to check drivers' sobriety, according to a brief media advisory sent out by her office.
Initiative pro Tim Eyman this morning filed his still-unnumbered 2008 ballot measure: a proposal based partly on the suggestions contained in a recent state performance audit of the Department of Transportation.What it would do:-Allow all motorists to use carpool lanes at "non-peak" times, which Eyman…
-Property tax foes are preparing an opening-day "Property Tax Tea Party" on the steps of the state capitol Jan. 14.-Initiative 960, approved by voters in November, requires extensive public notices of tax and fee proposals in Olympia, as well as the 10-year costs of them.…
Much as I hate to add to the echo chamber -- a political blogger writing about a political blogger taking shots at yet another political blogger who's defended by etc. -- conservative former newspaperman and Whacky Nation blogger Lou Guzzo blasted contemporary colleague David Postman…
Gov. Chris Gregoire, who endured a months-long standoff with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and others over how the replace Seattle's weakening Alaskan Way Viaduct, told Post-Intelligencer correspondent Chris McGann yesterday that one way or another, the state will knock the central part of the viaduct…