Editorial

As tea partiers rally outside the Spokane Convention Center this afternoon, there might be puerile pretenders in their midst hoping to spread embarrassment to the movement. Jason Levin, an Oregon technology consultant, has formed Crash The Tea Party. The idea is to dress in crazy costumes, carry crazy signs and utter crazy comments in the hopes that onlookers and the media mistake the pranksters for the real supporters.

The travails of troops over the past decade have been well-chronicled. Deployed to regions where unconventional warfare is conducted. Victims of “stop-loss” orders to extend tours of duty. A steady rise in the suicide rate. Increased need for mental health counseling. To this litany, we can now add high unemployment. Former combatants in Afghanistan and Iraq are experiencing increasing difficulty getting hired once they get back home. Part of that is due to the overall cratering of the economy, but the jobless rate for veterans in March was 14.7 percent, which is much higher than the national average of 9.7 percent. Nearly one in three veterans under the age of 24 is unemployed. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has leveled off for the rest of Americans.

Since 1980, traffic fatalities in Washington state have declined an average of almost 10 a year, to the point that 2009 was the most death-free year on state roads in more than half a century. That’s an enviable tribute to better engineering and design of vehicles and highways, plus attentive motorists and dutiful law enforcement. Still, 490 people died in crashes that year, and if statistics hold, 196 of them were due to speeding.

A keenly anticipated malicious harassment trial is scheduled to begin again in Coeur d’Alene next week, the first attempt having come to an abrupt halt over a prosecutorial misstep. Kootenai County 1st District Judge John Luster declared a mistrial on March 30, shortly after the trial of brothers Gino, William and Frank Tankovich got under way. The deputy prosecuting attorney played a tape of a neighbor’s 911 call, and the caller’s characterizations of what she was witnessing were presented to the jury in a way that constituted a legal error, Luster held. And that was that.

If you’re feeling hapless about federal government spending, here is one thing you can do about it: Fill out your census form and drop it in the mail. If you do so by the end of April, the government won’t have to dispatch as many workers to knock on doors to gather the information. As of Tuesday, Kootenai County (65 percent) and Spokane County (63 percent) are outpacing the national return rate of 60 percent. It costs the government 42 cents in postage for every reply, and if everyone responded that way, the U.S. Census Bureau says the government would save $1.5 billion. Washington state’s response rate in 2000 was 72 percent.

The head of Washington state’s public school system is logging a day in detention this week. That’s one way to look at the 24 hours in jail imposed on Randy Dorn for his drunken driving episode last month in rural Pierce County. Dorn, who pleaded guilty, is calling it a “teachable moment,” an apt phrase coming from the state superintendent of public instruction.

Before examining whether federal changes in student loans are a good idea, let’s survey the higher education landscape. Universities are raising tuition at a rapid rate, which threatens to put a college degree out of reach for many people from middle- and lower-income families. Students at Washington state’s four-year universities can expect to see increases of up to 14 percent in each of the next two years. Those at community and technical colleges will see 7 percent bumps.

In these lean times of local government budgeting, the need for cash infusions is universal. The least-painful revenue comes in the form of grants from state and federal government or charitable foundations and other nonprofit entities. The sums can be large. Last year, the state awarded Spokane County a $1.6 million grant to offset half the cost of buying 325 acres near Antoine Peak, south of Spokane Valley. The initial purchase was part of the Conservation Futures program.

It’s not a huge part of Washington state’s budget, but the survival of the Department of Printing after two years of draconian budget cutting shows just how difficult it can be to eradicate nonessential government services. The agency was founded in 1854, but it has outlived its usefulness as a core function of government. With the advent of the Internet, e-mail, desktop printers and scores of private printing businesses, its door ought to be shuttered and its equipment put up for sale.

Just when we thought the tortuous journey to a new generation of aerial refueling tankers was coming to an end, a new twist emerges. Northrop Grumman-EADS dropped out of the bidding early this month, saying the Pentagon’s guidelines and conditions favored the smaller plane Boeing was proposing. This left Boeing as the sole competitor, with a May 10 bidding deadline looming.

Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna caught a lot of people off guard Monday when he said he’ll take part in a multistate lawsuit challenging the federal health care reform legislation signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama. It was less surprising that a host of Democrats, led by Gov. Chris Gregoire, assailed Republican McKenna for the move. Many accused him, plausibly, of reaching out to tea party conservatives in case he runs for governor in 2012. Some likened him to politicians of the Deep South where anti-federal hostility has antebellum roots.

A hiker who stumbles over a cliff and plummets toward the ground may be relieved to see a tree in his path – not because the impact is going to be pleasant but because it won’t be with a rock. Likewise, Washingtonians need to understand that however the Legislature decides to balance its budget, it will hurt.

In the endless carrot vs. stick quandary, there was good news this week for those who favor carrots. As expected, the Spokane City Council approved a property tax exemption for Kendall Yards. The stick faction may not agree, but the decade-old program under which the tax exemption was authorized is a sound development strategy that has produced encouraging results. It’s especially appealing during difficult economic times that have put a damper on construction.

Because of the irreversible nature of the death penalty, there are seemingly endless ways for defense lawyers to delay the day of reckoning. First, there is the initial charge, trial, conviction and sentencing. Then there are appeals based on the conduct and facts of that trial. Following that is a habeas corpus appeal that challenges the conviction or sentence on constitutional grounds. Then federal courts may be asked to review the state’s handling of the constitutional issues. Beyond that, death row inmates can seek clemency from a state parole board.

Federal contracts, by nature, are hotly contested in communities where jobs and other substantial economic impact are at stake. It’s therefore imperative that agencies follow the procurement rules meticulously, and that decisions be based on the taxpayers’ best interests. That point may not be fully understood by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose selection of Newport, Ore., for its Pacific Marine Operations Center has been spanked by the Government Accountability Office and drawn added fire from a Senate subcommittee.

It almost always happens when the Washington Legislature goes into overtime – as it is doing this year. Public criticism focuses on lawmakers’ daily living allowance. Unable to finish their work within the allotted 60 days of the regular session, legislators will reconvene on Monday for a special session called by the governor. Each member, therefore, will continue to collect the $90 per diem that is intended to cover housing, meals and other living expenses incurred by citizen legislators when encamped in Olympia on the public’s business. With 147 lawmakers, it adds up to more than $13,000 a day.

The fact that Northrop Grumman and its European partner EADS have bowed out of the bidding for a new generation of tankers is certainly cause for rejoicing in Washington state. Barring a change of plans, a winner will be chosen in May, and Boeing is the only contestant. Boeing released a study on Wednesday showing the economic effects of landing the huge contract. The company paid for the study, so take the numbers with a grain of salt, but it says a Boeing deal should lead to the creation of an estimated 62,605 to 70,706 new American jobs, or 10 times the amount if Northrop had won. That’s because a lot of Northrop’s work would have been done overseas.

No phone calls, no texting while driving. If you do, you could get pulled over and hit with a $124 ticket. That’s what a Washington state Senate bill called for. And it easily passed. But late last week it was hit broadside by House members who would rather save dogma than lives.

Last September, when Idaho game officials opened the state’s first wolf hunting season, many conservationists feared a slaughter. Hardly.