Across The Border
High-profile races in Washington state:
U.S. Senate
Maria Cantwell, Slade Gorton, Jeff Jared
Congress, 5th District
Greg Holmes, Tom Keefe, George Nethercutt
Governor
John Carlson, Gary Locke
State offices Attorney general, treasurer, auditor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, insurance commissioner, lands commissioner, Supreme Court
Initiatives 728, 729, 732
Initiative 728 would tap into existing state revenue streams to make more money available for school construction, teacher training, extended learning programs and reducing class size. The measure would not raise taxes; rather, it would leave more tax dollars with local school districts; dedicate unrestricted lottery proceeds to school construction; and commit state surplus funds - after the state’s emergency reserve fund is filled - to student achievement.
Initiative 729, known as the Charter Public Schools Initiative, would allow the creation of up to 80 independent, but publicly funded, schools over the next four years. The schools would be required to be sponsored by local school districts or state universities, but would operate as nonprofit organizations. The schools could not have a religious affiliation.
Initiative 732 would provide automatic, annual cost-of-living salary increases for all K-12 school employees and some two-year college employees. The raises would be independent of raises negotiated by bargaining units.
I-722
State Initiative 722 would limit increases in property tax assessments, limit increases in property taxes themselves, and roll back some tax increases passed in the last six months of 1999.
I-713
I-713 would outlaw steel-jawed leghold traps, neck snares and other body-gripping traps to capture animals for commerce in pelts or recreation. It would also ban two types of animal poison, only one of which is registered for use in the state.
Spokane County Commission
District 1: John Roskelley, Karl Wilkinson;
District 2: Bill Burke, Kate McCaslin
Liberty Lake incorporation
Voters in Liberty Lake will decide whether their suburban community should become a city. It would include land south of the Spokane River and north of Sprague Avenue in Liberty Lake. Backers hope neighborhoods around Liberty Lake itself would later annex to the new city.
Spokane mayor
John Powers, John Talbott
Spokane City Council president
Steve Corker, Rob Higgins
Spokane city Proposition 1: fluoride
Under Proposition 1, the city of Spokane would spend about $1 million to install equipment that would adjust the amount of fluoride in the water to a level that would prevent tooth decay. The proposition appears only on city ballots.