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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spin Control Jim Camden

MONDAY, MARCH 21, 2011


WA Lege Day 71: Corrections officers

OLYMPIA -- Corrections officers from around the state are in Olympia this morning to testify in support of a bill that would grant them collective bargaining rights for safety issues. Meanwhile, the governor is at the Monroe Corrections Facility announcing the results of the study…

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SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2011

So long, Sen. Bob McCaslin

The Senate debates a resolution honoring Bob McCaslin, courtesy of TVW Many years ago, when I’d written something he enjoyed about low voter turnout, Bob McCaslin sent me an oversized reproduction of an editorial cartoon that summed up his feelings on the topic. A disheveled,…

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FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 2011

THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2011

Gov. Chris Gregoire discusses the state's new revenue forecast on March 17, 2011. (Jim Camden/The Spokesman-Review)

Gregoire: Don't bring me budget gimmicks

OLYMPIA -- With the projected gap between income and expenses growing another $500 million to $5.1 billion, Gov. Chris Gregoire said the Legislature may be forced to eliminate popular programs they had hoped to merely trim. They aren't going to be able to raise taxes,…

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WA Lege Day 67: Economic day of reckoning

OLYMPIA -- Today is F-Day in Olympia, as in Forecast Day. Arun Raha, the state's chief economist, will issue his forecast of the amount of revenue the state can expect to collect in the 2011-13 biennium, which will guide budget writers in the Legislature for…

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2011

WA Lege Day 66: Marijuana bills

OLYMPIA – Legislators are spending some of their time on pot this week. Not smoking it, of course, but discussing it as both a potential revenue source, through outright legalization, and an administrative problem for the medical marijuana voters approved in 1998. A day before…

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Spokane social agencies: In survival mode

OLYMPIA -- Spokane social service agencies, facing budget cuts like anyone who gets some money from the state, hosted lunch for the Spokane-area legislators today and used an old Saturday Night Fever song to make their point: "Stayin Alive." Groups that work with street kids,…

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TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2011



WA Lege Day 65: GMA, surrogacy, cougars and gophers

OLYMPIA -- A heavy hearing day today for legislative committees, with animal issues in the morning for the House Agriculture Committee and domestic partnerships and growth management bills before the Senate Government Operations Committee after lunch. Two bills in Government Ops deal with a topic…

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MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011

SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2011

Status quo on initiative laws

Left in the legislative ash heap last week was a bill to revise rules for initiative campaigns by charging as much as $500 to file a ballot measure and putting stricter rules on people paid to gather signatures. Like previous attempts to change ballot measure…

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FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011



THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2011

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011

Who comes up with these acronyms?

The U.S. Senate is considering a new bill designed to help small breweries with a tax cut, which will in turn create jobs. Or so says a press release from Sen. Maria Cantwell, who is a co-sponsor of the legislation, along with Sen. Mike Crapo.…

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TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2011


Today's video: McMorris Rodgers on YouTube

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is among the House of Representatives most active social media-ists. This is her monthly YouTube video, which may be most notable for all the different places and different people the camera catches her smiling in or with as the background music…

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WA Lege Day 58: Back to the committees

OLYMPIA -- Having gorged on floor votes in the last few days, both chambers of the Legislature return to committee action to hear bills the other house sent them. It's an unusual mix of bills, including a bill on embalmers and another on disposition of…

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MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2011

Growth Management: Should counties be allowed out?

OLYMPIA – The state's environmental community is fighting a plan to allow four lightly populated Eastern Washington counties to opt out of the Growth Management Act. But in trying to generate opposition to the proposed change, the group Futurewise seriously overstated the impact that law…

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Jim Camden
Jim Camden joined The Spokesman-Review in 1981 and retired in 2021. He is currently the political and state government correspondent covering Washington state.

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