Buildup to minimum wage vote leaves issue murky

The Senate didn’t spend much time actually debating the minimum wage/estate tax bill before it was abandoned last Thursday evening, considering the huge buildup the bill got by political spinmeisters the whole week before.

That meant one of the murkiest issues about the minimum wage section of the bill was left up in the air. Would it really cut wages to Washington workers who get a large portion of their pay in tips?

Yes, it would, said the Congressional Budget Office. No, it won’t, said the U.S. Department of Labor. Yes, it could, said the state Department of Labor and Industries.

Sen. Maria Cantwell cited the impact on tips-dependent workers in her opposition to the bill.

That stoked the National Republican Senate Committee (those are the folks whose job it is to elect a Republican to replace her) to high dudgeon: “Cantwell was assured by the Majority Leader and the Department of Labor that tip workers would not be affected … and still she used that deception as her reason for voting against Washington’s workers,” the group said.

Maybe the Labor Department stuff was iffy, considering there were conflicting studies.

But doubt Majority Leader Bill Frist? The guy who’s coming to Spokane and Seattle this very month to campaign against her? The nerve of her.

The NRSC is demanding that people around the state make her explain her vote. Cantwell is kicking off a month of campaigning at union halls in Seattle and Spokane for service employees, who know a thing or two about tips.

So the topic may come up. Just not exactly in the manner the GOP group was hoping.

Yule-tidings in August

No matter whom we send to Washington, D.C., in this year’s elections, the candidates for the best envoy from the real Washington to the nation’s capital have already been hand-picked. Final cut to be made in early November, but not at the ballot box.

The U.S. Capitol Christmas tree will be cut from the Olympic National Forest this year, Gov. Chris Gregoire announced last week. The U.S. Forest Service has already scouted out some likely tannenbaums, and the Capitol Landscape Architect will make the final choice in November. No one’s leaking word on the specific trees until the axe falls.

Washington tree farmers will also send 65 smaller trees to decorate federal and congressional offices, and school kids will be asked to make some 3,000 ornaments for the Capitol tree, which is set up facing the Washington Monument on the building’s front lawn.

And yes, the governor’s press release specifically calls it a Christmas tree. So let’s not even think about repeating last year’s silly semantic argument.

Let me tell ya

Want to tell the federal government what you think about its cooperative conservation and environmental partnership programs? Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne will be in Spokane Wednesday morning to listen.

Catch Kempthorne at 9 a.m. at the Spokane Convention Center.

Catch the candidates

Monday: Campaign rally for Sen. Maria Canwell. 9:30 a.m. at SEIU Local 775, 601 W Maxwell.

Also: News conference on federal funding for senior citizen programs, by Congressional candidate Peter Goldmark. 11 a.m., Valley Meals on Wheels, 321 S. Dishman Mica Rd.

Wednesday: Democratic county commissioner candidates at the Inland Northwest Business Alliance luncheon. Noon, Europa Pizzeria, 125 S. Wall, $18 for lunch, (509) 455-3699.

Also: Local Democratic candidates at the party’s annual picnic and forum. 5 p.m., Franklin Park, $10 per adult for picnic dinner (kids free).

Aug. 13: Spokane County Democrats annual salmon feed. North Picnic Shelter, Riverfront Park, $35, (509) 324-8525.

Aug. 14: Fundraising lunch with Senate candidate Mike McGavick and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Noon, Doubletree Hotel, $100 per ticket, (509) 327-1459 for information.