Public Periscope
Why we put the big news at the top
Spokane County Treasurer Linda Wolverton took exception to the complaint from county library district director Mike Wirt that taxing districts hadn’t been warned that their tax money would be late this year. Were too, said Wolverton, producing the March treasurer’s report mailed to all taxing districts. … She’s right. There at the bottom of the back of the two-page report are three sentences warning about the delay. They’re under stories about the department getting a new safe, collecting dog and cat license fees and remodeling its offices. … Wirt sent Wolverton an apology for his misstatement and gently suggested she consider sending a memo the next time there’s budget-busting news.
Check your facts, gentlemen
Score Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, and the Eastern Washington Term Limits Action Committee even at minus-one for their ability to get their figures right. … Down in Pomeroy, Wash., last Tuesday, Nethercutt was talking about the possibility that if he runs and wins another term (and if Republicans keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives), he just might be made a subcommittee chairman in 2001. That’s pretty quick, he noted. “With all respect to my predecessor, I don’t know when he became a chairman, but I would bet it took him 15 years,” Nethercutt said. … Don’t bet the rent, congressman. Tom Foley was a subcommittee chairman after only six years and was chairman of the full Agriculture Committee after 10.
Two days later, the term-limits folks held a news conference to register their pique with Nethercutt and challenged his contention that he is not a career politician. The group’s co-chairman, Michael Fagan, argued that Nethercutt is just such a creature, in part because he had been “chief of staff for a U.S. senator for approximately 20 years.” … Fagan said he got his facts from a Web site, but he’ll want to recheck it or find a new source. Nethercutt was a chief of staff for only about four years.
An idle musing
Whenever the Legislature, City Council or county commissioners mention they are thinking about the possibility of a chance of a consideration of raising the gasoline tax by a few cents to fix the roads, the conservative market-oriented research organizations inundate this newspaper with studies showing how bad that would be. It would decrease disposable income, they say, cut into individual savings, increase transportation costs for retailers, negatively impact the economy and yada yada yada. … Well, the price of gas has gone up as much as 30 cents in the past month - not because of taxes but because of what are being called “market pressures.” We’re still waiting to hear from the think tanks about how terrible this is for the economy. … Of course, if we raise gas taxes, that money would go to corrupt, inefficient, unresponsive government officials. The current increase is going to the benevolent, forward-thinking, enlightened Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
East Side representation
Think all state posts go to West Siders? Not so. … Clyde Anderson, a proponent of the Centennial Trail before it was popular, recently was named chairman of the Washington Parks and Recreation Commission. He’s the retired president and general manager of Inland Empire Paper Co. who joined the commission in 1994. Anderson and the other parks commission members face big challenges. Funding for the nearly 200 state parks always falls short.
Getting involved
Spokane County has openings on a variety of boards and commissions: the Construction Review Board, Board of Equalization, Spokane Regional Health District, Solid Waste Advisory Committee, Spokane City-County Landmarks Commission and Substance Abuse Advisory Board. Applications are due by April 16. Qualifications vary. Call 456-2265 for more information.