Public Periscope

So much for bipartisanship

The election is more than a month past, and one Republican stratagem - suggesting that Democratic Gov. Gary Locke is panting after a tax increase - has been pretty well discredited, considering that the GOP lost control of the state Senate and has to “share toys” in the state House. But that seems to have no effect on state Rep. Duane Sommers. … The 6th District Republican recently sent out a pre-session mailer titled “Republicans protecting taxpayers,” warning of an impending tax increase and a possible assault on the sacred Initiative 601 state spending limit. … Maybe the fact that Republicans are ready to nip at his ankles will keep Locke from even thinking about such things. Or maybe, as Locke pointed out in the fall when the GOP used similar rhetoric in the campaign, the state’s economy and budget surplus make such changes unnecessary. … One thing does separate Sommers’ current mailing from the stuff in the GOP brochures that apparently underwhelmed voters last fall. This one was funded by taxpayers.

Raises won’t be automatic

Spokane County’s nonunion managers will get raises this year that match the 2 percent cost-of-living increases going to union employees. But it could be the last time. … Starting next year, managers’ raises will be based on performance reviews, commissioners decided last week. Those with the best reviews will get what the unions get. Others will get less. … Commissioner Kate McCaslin wanted to make the change this year but was outvoted by John Roskelley and Phil Harris, who said a formal review policy isn’t yet in place. “Heaven forbid someone making $70,000 to $80,000 would have to get their 2 percent based on performance rather than just sitting in their chairs,” said McCaslin.

What’s in a name?

Eastern Washington University professor Grant Smith predicted 66 percent of the congressional winners in last month’s election. His secret? The soothing sound of a candidate’s name. … Smith, an onomastics expert and president-elect of the American Name Society, called the election correctly for two out of three of the 434 contested races in the U.S. Senate and House solely on the basis of the sound of candidates’ names. He says voters find single syllable and disruptive-sounding names such as “Rick White” less appealing than multisyllable names such as “Jay Inslee.” The name “Patty Murray” has softer appeal than “Linda Smith,” and so on. … However, the theory doesn’t always work. Brad Lyons has a softer name than George Nethercutt and Dan Williams has a softer name than Helen Chenoweth, yet both lost. … “Sometimes the best sound doesn’t win,” Grant Smith says, “but voters tend to be moved by reassuring sounds.”

The most reassuring name in American politics, Smith says, was Ronald Reagan. A close second - William Clinton.

Web site of the week

Washington state has revamped its Web site, so goodbye, Home Page Washington. Hello, Access Washington at http://access.wa.gov … Overall, it’s a better site, with clean graphics, plenty of links to government services and the state government cable TV service TVW, even a decent Washington state trivia quiz (we played three games and thought it was a little heavy on Western Washington trivia, but that’s a minor point). … It also serves as a repository for press releases from the various state agencies and legislative caucuses and features the winning numbers for lottery games.