Well, we are less than a week away from the general election so I figured I’d better finish this preview or you will all have send your ballots in without reading these truly insightful comments.  In this election final preview, we will cover the two remaining ballot measures that we have not yet discussed —… Read More

Last Thursday, representatives from the four-year and two-year institutions attended the Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) meeting at WSU Vancouver to present their respective 2008 supplemental budget proposals.  As you may know, the University is asking Olympia for about $21 million additional state dollars on the operating side and about $19 million in additional capital budget support…. Read More

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer broke the story on their blog yesterday afternoon that Dino Rossi would announce this Thursday that he will run again for Governor in the 2008 general election.  I realize there isn’t a whole lot of drama about this since speculation he would run has been a regular feature of the political blogs… Read More

In part three of our 2007 election preview, let’s focus on Engrossed House Joint Resolution 4204 (EHJR 4204) the so-called “simple majority school levy” ballot measure. As you may know, the state Constitution gives school districts the authority to collect property tax revenues in excess of 1 percent of the assessed value of county property for… Read More

As expected, Rep. Joe McDermott (D-Seattle) has been appointed to the state Senate seat in the 34th District (West Seattle, Burien, Vashon Island) to replace Sen. Erik Poulsen.  McDermott, a graduate of the University of Washington Evans School of Public Affairs was chosen Monday by the Metropolitan King County Council to succeed Poulsen who left… Read More

I think I got “dissed,” but really, it’s ok.  Seattle Times reporter Ralph Thomas posted a story this afternoon about Governor Gregoire’s “Citizen Engagement Tour” which has been making the rounds through the state over the past couple of weeks. The story mentions that in response to criticism from some Republicans that the tour is really… Read More

It’s Friday again and time for the next review of an upcoming statewide ballot measure which will appear on the November 2007 election ballot. Today, we will review Engrossed Senate Joint Resolution 8206 — the so-called “Rainy Day Fund” ballot measure.  The state constitution currently does not require the state to maintain a budget reserve account although state… Read More

Barbara Baker has been tapped by House Speaker Frank Chopp to be the next Chief Clerk of the state House of Representatives.  Baker replaces Rich Nafiziger who left to become the staff director for the Senate Democratic Caucus.  Baker has worked for the House Democratic Caucus since 1996, serving a policy director for the past seven… Read More

Rep. David Buri, a Republican from Colfax who represents the 9th legislative district in southeastern Washington will resign his post on November 1st to become the government relations director for Eastern Washington University.  Buri replaces another former House of Representatives member Jeff Gombosky, who had served in the government relations post until leaving last year… Read More

The 2007 November general election is about one month away so I thought it might be a good idea to provide some focus on each of the statewide ballot measures that will be considered over the next several weeks.  We have already posted quite a bit about Initiative 960 which is sponsored by Tim Eyman and… Read More