Public Periscope

Hot on the campaign trail

If elected state commissioner of public lands, Democrat Jim O’Donnell may have to deal with fires in state forests someday. But as a candidate, he already has felt the effects of this fire season. In July, his campaign coordinator, Bill Berrigan, had served just one day in that job before being called to be the state Department of Natural Resources spokesman on the Oroville fire, then was dispatched to Yakima to help train National Guard troops. … Campaign spokesman Tom Sayre was called by his old employer, the U.S. Forest Service, to help with the fire emergency in Missoula - and he’s still there. O’Donnell got a new campaign manager, Kendra Drummond, earlier this month - after helping fight fires for six days in central Oregon.

“The forest fires are a major topic of discussion in the campaign,” O’Donnell said in a statement. He didn’t say whether he meant among the voters or among his staff.

A very busy candidate

U.S. Senate candidate Deborah Senn apparently was taking no chance that reporters would think she was dogging it just because they couldn’t see her for big blocks of time during last week’s Democratic National Convention. Her campaign sent out a detailed list of places where Senn would be - and reporters couldn’t be. … For example, Senn’s schedule listed her at a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee breakfast on Monday morning, an EMILY’s List political action committee luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel at noon and a National Jewish Democratic Council reception midafternoon - all accompanied by the notation “NOT OPEN TO THE MEDIA.” Later in the week, Senn had invitations to a breakfast honoring U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Senate committee cocktail reception and a dinner honoring Gov. Gary Locke, all carrying the same warning. … But Senn was thoughtful enough to schedule plenty of media availability before and after.

Talk about a boring job

As part of Spokane’s transition to a strong-mayor form of government, someone has to go through the City Charter and replace the words “city manager” with the word “mayor.” According to city officials, there are 400 references to “city manager” in the charter. … That’s going to be a lot of searching and replacing with the old word processor. But it could be worse. The Spokesman-Review’s computer archive, which stores articles published in the newspaper since mid-1994, contains the words “city manager” 1,386 times. … Fortunately, there are no plans to go back and rewrite those stories.

Step up and speak up

Spokane city planning officials will hold “open mike night” on Wednesday so citizens can comment on the city’s proposed update of its comprehensive land-use plan. Got something to say? Stop by from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the City Council chambers on the lower level of City Hall. … “The idea is to let citizens comment on the draft plan in an informal format that’s designed to encourage people to work through the issues together,” the city’s Planning Department said in a statement. “Participants should expect a lively discussion, some give-and-take and a chance to take center stage.” … The land-use plan will guide growth and development within the city limits for the next 20 years. The council is expected to adopt a final version of the plan before the end of the year.