Lawsuit challenges Obama’s birthplace

OLYMPIA – Don’t look for it to derail the inauguration next month, but people continue to try to stop the presidency of Barack Obama by questioning whether he is a “native born” American.

Thirteen Washington voters last week filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court trying to prevent Washington’s 11 Electoral College delegates from officially casting their votes for Obama on Dec. 15.

“… Our efforts to declare the ineligibility of the candidate Barack Hussein Obama for the office of President of the United States have been futile to date,” the 13 wrote, saying that they have no choice but to turn to the state’s highest court. They want a court order telling state election officials to “set aside” those Obama votes.

A superior court judge in King County rejected a similar challenge shortly before the election, and the U.S. Supreme Court this week dismissed without comment a nearly identical case filed in New Jersey.

In every case, the primary allegations are that Obama’s Hawaii birth certificate is fake, and that he was secretly born in Kenya. Another key contention is that as a child, he lost his U.S. citizenship while living briefly in Indonesia. (Similar allegations were raised about GOP candidate John McCain, who was born into a military family stationed in the Panama Canal Zone.

“The state’s position is that the secretary of state has neither the authority nor the requirement to investigate the candidates’ qualifications for president and vice president,” said Dave Ammons, spokesman for Washington’s top elections official, Secretary of State Sam Reed.

WSU Cougars feel the love

Speaking of people trying to derail things, a political version of the Apple Cup is under way as the University of Washington tries to convince lawmakers to contribute $150 million in Seattle-area tax dollars toward a $300 million overhaul of Husky Stadium.

This doesn’t sit well with some Washington State University alumni.

At a recent legislative hearing on UW’s proposal, the Seattle Times reported, Huskies booster Ron Crocket told critics that they were “fools” making “ludicrous” arguments.

Not to be outdone, state Sen. Ed Murray whose Seattle district includes the stadium, told the WSU alumni that they should be ashamed for “launching a provincial and parochial war.”

Some of the critics of UW’s bid say it has little to do with the longstanding football rivalry and more to do with a philosophical objection to using tax dollars for yet another public sports stadium. Cougar Mike Bernard in September blasted UW’s proposal as “just a brazen money grab.”

UW President Mark Emmert, meanwhile, dismissed the objections as “some dust getting thrown up.”

In an open letter to the school’s faculty senate, Emmert points out that boosters, high-end seats and other sources would pay for half the $300 million project. And in a weak economy, he suggests, the sensible thing to do is to spend the $150 million in local taxes on Husky Stadium.

From Emmert’s letter: “What we have is a public works project to renovate the state’s largest football stadium – creating thousands of jobs at a time when the construction industry badly needs the work – and the public dollars to help pay for the project are still years away.”

Stay tuned.

‘Trial Lawyers’ no more

The Washington State Trial Lawyers’ Association has given itself a new name: the “Washington State Association for Justice.”

“The new name best captures our mission,” President John Budlong said.

The group was founded in 1953 as the Washington chapter of the “National Association of Claimants Compensation Attorneys.” Perhaps not surprisingly, that was changed to the trial lawyers association name in 1967.

A farewell gesture

Only weeks before leaving office, Commissioner of Public Lands Doug Sutherland has signed a controversial 30-year lease that would allow a company to build a large dock to expand its gravel mining on Puget Sound’s Maury Island.

The annual rent for the state land under the dock: $1,500.

The long-running fight over mining, barges and the dock at Maury Island, an arm of Vashon Island, spilled over to the statehouse two years ago, where environmentalist lawmakers tried to halt the project. The dock, they argued, would be located in a critical piece of Puget Sound habitat: a local aquatic reserve.

Proponents, including Sen. Bob Morton, R-Kettle Falls, argued that the company had already spent millions of dollars in a lengthy permitting process from local, state and federal agencies.

Sutherland says the lease will require more long-term environmental protection “while allowing existing commercial activities.” The new dock would replace a crumbling old one, allowing the company to expand its gravel mining on the island.

The mining company, Northwest Aggregates, contributed to Sutherland’s campaign and to a political action committee that backed him for re-election. Sutherland lost the election to Okanogan County rancher Peter Goldmark

Goldmark, who will take office early next month, says he was deeply disappointed by Sutherland’s 11th-hour move. Goldmark, who during the campaign questioned whether the company or the state owns that gravel, called the timing of the decision “very troubling.”

“While I understand there is only one Lands Commissioner at a time, this decision does come after the voters of Washington sent a very clear message,” he said. And the lease fee of just $1,500, he said, “gives the impression that corporate interests are greater than the public interest.”