Jim Camden

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Opinion >  Column

Spin Control: Ranked-choice voting – boost or bust for elections?

Sun., Feb. 21, 2021

There’s a common refrain from voters throughout the ages when looking at their choices – whether they are stepping into a polling booth or opening their mail-in ballot – that there’s a long list of candidates, with one or two they really like but who don’t have a chance of winning.

News >  Education

Lawmakers from both parties push for teachers to be vaccinated to open schools faster

Tue., Feb. 16, 2021

With the Centers for Disease Control suggesting new guidelines for reopening schools, lawmakers of both parties are calling on the state to revise its vaccine priorities to allow teachers got be vaccinated.

News >  ID Government

Civics lesson: Why some states have more members of the U.S. House than others

UPDATED: Sat., April 3, 2021

Each week, The Spokesman-Review is examining one question from the exam taken by immigrants trying to become United States citizens.

News >  WA Government

Making Spokane legislative districts more competitive will be difficult for redistricting commission

UPDATED: Mon., Feb. 15, 2021

When a special commission redraws the boundaries for Washington’s legislative districts this year, some residents will urge its members to make more of those 49 districts competitive for candidates of both parties. That will be difficult in the Spokane area.

Opinion >  Column

Spin Control: Not everything in the virtual session is a top priority for everyone

Sat., Feb. 13, 2021

When COVID-19 precautions forced the Legislature into a “virtual” session, several leaders contended that would result in fewer bills being introduced, heard and debated, with a focus on top priorities like the pandemic and the economy. That was clearly wishful thinking.

News >  WA Government

How the maps were made

UPDATED: Fri., Feb. 12, 2021

To show the relative strength of Republican and Democratic candidates in Spokane area precincts as the Washington Redistricting Commission begins its work redrawing legislative boundaries, The Spokesman-Review analyzed election results from last year and 2010, the statewide election before the last redistricting took place.

News >  WA Government

Senate panel OKs tougher penalties for threatening elections workers

UPDATED: Thu., Feb. 11, 2021

OLYMPIA – Harassing an elections worker in Washington could result in a five-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine, under a bill sent to the full state Senate Thursday.

News >  Education

Always important, teaching civics is seen as even more so now

UPDATED: Sun., Feb. 7, 2021

When talking about the importance of teaching Civics to Washington students, there seem to be two schools of thought. One is it has always been important. The other is that it has never been more important.

Opinion >  Column

Spin Control: New Freedom Caucus: Conservative agenda but a problem with numbers

Sun., Feb. 7, 2021

When people of like minds believe certain issues aren’t getting enough attention in the Legislature, they band together in a special group in an effort to push for them.

News

Requirement to teach ‘negative effects of communism’ sparks debate in state Senate

UPDATED: Mon., Feb. 1, 2021

Washington students would be required to learn about “the negative effects of communism” as part of their study of civics and history, under a bill that sparked some heated discussion in a Senate committee hearing Monday.

Opinion >  Column

Spin Control: As expected, Gadsden flag column generated some angry calls and emails

UPDATED: Mon., Feb. 1, 2021

News >  WA Government

Legislative ethics complaint against former Rep. Matt Shea dismissed

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 28, 2021

 A 2019 complaint against then-Rep. Matt Shea – which questioned the former lawmaker’s writings on the “Biblical Basis for War”and speeches to conservative groups –was dismissed recently by the Legislative Ethics Board because some allegations were beyond its jurisdiction and one was too late.

News >  WA Government

Commission starts work of redrawing district lines in Washington state

UPDATED: Sat., Jan. 30, 2021

OLYMPIA – Washington’s once-in-a-decade process of redrawing the boundaries for congressional and legislative boundaries gets underway today with the first official meeting of the state Redistricting Commission.

Opinion >  Column

Spin Control: New attempt at 51st state has about as much chance as old one

UPDATED: Sun., Jan. 24, 2021

Like a Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Terminator movie, the proposal to split Washington at the Cascade Crest and create a new state out of the eastern half has returned to the Legislature.

News >  Legal

Hayden company settles lawsuit over pandemic evictions in Airway Heights, Spokane Valley

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 19, 2021

A Hayden, Idaho, company has settled a lawsuit over alleged violation of Washington’s emergency orders against evicting tenants during the pandemic with an agreement to pay $50,000 and issue no more eviction notices that could violate that order.

News >  Nation/World

Coeur d’Alene’s Red Hot Mamas will perform in virtual inaugural parade

UPDATED: Tue., Jan. 19, 2021

The Red Hot Mamas were in the nation’s capital in 2001 and 2005 for the George W. Bush inaugurations. They’ve also performed at other big events, including three appearances in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade , the 2004 London New Year’s Day parade and parades for the Fiesta and Holiday Bowls.

Opinion >  Column

Spin Control: Why I’m putting away my Gadsden Flag after the Capitol riot

UPDATED: Mon., Jan. 18, 2021

For more than 11 years, a Gadsden Flag, a yellow banner with a coiled rattlesnake and the motto "Don't Tread on Me", hung on the wall of my office in the Olympia Press House. I'm packing it away.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Legislature could allow felons to vote while in community custody

UPDATED: Fri., Jan. 15, 2021

While Washington has some of the most liberal election laws in the nation when it comes to registering online and voting by mail, it has one provision that voting rights activists say ranks with some of the most restrictive states for banning one group of otherwise eligible residents.

News >  WA Government

Washington Legislature opened Monday with new COVID-19 protocols, heavy security around Capitol

UPDATED: Mon., Jan. 11, 2021

The 2021 Legislature meets for the first time Monday, despite safety concerns and strict pandemic protocols.

News >  WA Government

Spin Control: Virtual session should be easier to testify and no harder to track from home

Sun., Jan. 10, 2021

Although less than 10 months have passed since the Washington Legislature was in Olympia, when the 2021 session opens Monday almost nothing will be the same.

News >  Nation/World

Washington state lawmakers on both sides condemn violence at U.S. Capitol

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 6, 2021

The events that unfolded Wednesday shocked the country, leading many Washington lawmakers on both sides to quickly condemn the violence that led to a pause in the 2020 presidential election certification, an overtaken Capitol and one woman dead.

News >  Washington

Experts on U.S. Capitol riots: We’ve never seen this, either

UPDATED: Wed., Jan. 6, 2021

Historians and legal experts in the Inland Northwest described the events in the nation's capital on Wednesday as unprecedented.

News >  WA Government

These are the Washington laws changing in the new year

UPDATED: Thu., Jan. 7, 2021

Jan. 1 doesn't just mean you need a new calendar for a new year. It also means some new laws take effect that involve health insurance, businesses and motorists.

Opinion >  Column

Spin Control: Some awards to mark 2020’s political highs and lows

Sat., Jan. 2, 2021

Before slamming shut the book on 2020 – a year the numerical equivalent of perfect vision but which often made us wish we could close our eyes and keep them shut – Spin Control wants to keep with tradition and award some of the political and government highlights and lowpoints of 2020.

Opinion >  Column

Spin Control: The annual 12 Trivias of Christmas

UPDATED: Thu., Dec. 24, 2020

Each year, Spin Control takes a break from politics around Christmas, partly because if the wolf can lie down with the lamb, as the Prophet Isaiah said, liberal progressives can raise a glass with conservative populists and Valley Republicans can share fruitcake with Spokane Democrats. In masks and socially distanced, of course.