Public Periscope
Help for wary donors
The holiday season is a busy time for more than just Santa, the elves and department store clerks. It’s also prime time for many charities hoping to catch donors who are generous or looking for tax deductions. But how to sort all the appeals? … The Washington secretary of state’s office offers help for the computer-literate, a Web site that allows you to check whether the charity is registered with the state - as all legitimate charities are … It also allows you to see how much a particular charity collected last year and, more importantly, how much of that money went to actual programs, rather than salaries or other “overhead.”
The site also has consumer advice for those trying to decide how to donate their dough. Find it at www.wa.gov/sec/charities.htm.
Could be better than Judge Judy
TVW, which is to this state what C-SPAN is to the other Washington, will spend 24 minutes tonight explaining how the state Supreme Court decided the case of Gardner vs. Loomis Armored Truck … That Spokane case consumed several years of real time when Kevin Gardner of Spokane sued Loomis after he lost his job as a cash-truck driver in 1994 for leaving the vehicle to help a woman threatened by a knife-wielding bank robber … The robber was disarmed and arrested. Gardner sued the company for damages after he was fired … The documentary tells how the court heard both sides and finally produced an 8-to-1 ruling in 1996 in favor of …
Find out who won by turning to Spokane Channel 5 at 11 p.m. Viewers in Cheney, Medical Lake, Deer Park and Fairfield have two viewings, at 7 and 11 p.m., on their local cable companies.
Just ask around
State Republican Chairman Dale Foreman came up with an interesting variation on an old campaign axiom last week. Anyone who’s watched politics for any length of time knows that a candidate behind in all the campaign polls will shake it off with a pat phrase: The only poll that counts is on Election Day … In an Associated Press interview last week, Foreman turned that on its ear in explaining how the GOP was still popular, even though it lost the U.S. Senate race, two congressional seats and control of the Legislature. Despite those election results, he said, “every survey continues to show that voters remain committed to Republican policies.”
Hey, Toto. Are there two places like home?
The legislative session is still about three weeks off, so we’re hoping by then that the PR staff for the House of Representatives can settle on the proper hometown for Republican Rep. Larry Sheahan. One notice of Sheahan’s appointment as co-chairman of the House Judiciary Committee lists him as being from south Spokane; another notice calls him a Rosalia Republican … We understand the confusion: Sheahan used to live in Rosalia and still practices law there. But he moved to a house south of Spokane this year. Doesn’t matter which one they want to list as his official residence, but they should only claim one.
Road warriors
The simmering feud between city and county officials over a proposed series of roads around the metropolitan area got momentarily hotter last week. Turning up the heat was Commissioner Phil Harris, who chastised two city department heads for removing two city employees from an advisory committee studying the proposal … City Planning Director Charlie Dotson and Transportation Director Bruce Steele removed the panel members without telling city elected officials. “Our staff would never do that,” said Harris … “You’d probably fire them,” replied City Councilman Jeff Colliton, in a not-so-subtle reference to County Public Works Director Dennis Scott, who was recently fired - albeit for very different reasons.
This sidebar appeared with the story: HOT TOPICS Thursday: Spokane County Commissioner Kate McCaslin will talk about county issues with south county residents at her quarterly town hall meeting. 6 p.m., Harvester Restaurant, Spangle.