As I was sitting last night in the Everett Events Center for a town hall meeting on the new UW North Puget Sound campus, I was struck by the steady parade of representatives from local businesses who came up to the microphone to describe their dire need for more college graduates in science, technology, engineering… Read More

One of the worst kept secrets in Olympia over the past couple of months is the persistent rumor that Dr. Chang Mook Sohn, the long-time head of the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council (which determines official general fund revenue projections) would run for state treasurer in 2008 when incumbant Mike Murphy steps down. Today,… Read More

You may recall that this summer, the Office of State Relations began publishing a quarterly report called Global Challenge State Update.  The purpose of the report is to provide interested parties with information on higher education fiscal and policy matters in those states which the UW is now being benchmarked against for both funding and accountability… Read More

Sorry to have neglected the blog this past week, but I’ve been on the road a lot and today and tomorrow are legislative assembly meetings in Olympia (more on that later). First, the bad news.  Spent last weekend in Los Angeles with an old friend from Sacramento days who is a big UCLA fan.  We went to the… Read More

Governor Gregoire announced this morning that current TVW President (and former UW Regent) Cindy Zehnder, will replace current chief of staff Tom Fitzsimmons who announced his resignation earlier this week.  Zehnder is a very familiar face in Olympia, having previously served as Chief Clerk in the House of Representatives and a deputy commissioner at the… Read More

The Governor’s office announced this afternoon that Tom Fitzsimmons, her chief of staff since taking office in January 2005 will step down.  Fitzsimmons has decided to resign his position after serving in the position for the past two and a half years. Fitzsimmons also served as Governor Gary Locke’s chief of staff for the last 18… Read More

The September 2007 revenue forecast for Washington State was released today in Olympia and general fund tax collections are projected to be $282 million higher than predicted this past June. Dr. Chang Mook Sohn, the state’s chief revenue forecaster, said that although economic and revenue growth is slowing, Washington State has yet to feel the… Read More

Governor Gregoire announced this past Monday the appointment of Boeing Commercial Airplanes President Scott Carson to the Washington State University (WSU) Board of Regents.  Carson, a Federal Way resident, graduated from WSU with a B.A. in Business Administration.  He received his M.B.A. from the University of Washington. Carson is President and Chief Executive Officer of… Read More

Some of you may already know that Carolyn Busch, the current chief of staff of the State Senate Democratic Caucus will be joining the UW Office of Planning and Budgeting on October 1 as a policy analyst, in part, to help support the Office of External Affairs including the Office of State Relations. This morning… Read More

Seattle Times chief political reporter David Postman reports in his blog this morning that the State Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a challenge to Tim Eyman’s latest anti-tax initiative.  The court ruled against the Service Employees International Union and Futurewise who had argued that Initiative 960 should be kept off the November 2007 general election… Read More