Newt is not going to quit. He is going to continue to try and hold his cool, not go off on someone or about some issue. He is as smart as any one of them, continues to talk of solid experienced realignment of our government...
Do we have to continue to talk about what's going on in the real world, the demands being placed on future generations of students, the drag on success created by 20th century education unions, the desire of most educators to do the right thing...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Guest Contributor WSW | 01.22.12
The Governors representatives seem to think that “adverse selection” means anything that allows healthy people to save money by selecting insurance coverage that recognizes their healthful status and offers them lower priced coverage. A...
SB 6369 simple states that where there are “gaps” in the evidence don't worry about it, just go ahead with the plan. In a world of DOE staff looking for every opportunity to prove their worth to certain constituencies this is a free pass.
Next, do we need a bill to modernize a statute? Probably, because...you guessed it, modern words for modern technology. Excuse the word functionality. The drafters and advocates must think that the state EPA actually works, you know, functions.
I've tried "Scout" for a few days. After waiting for my “scout” to recognize me as an “agent” by scanning my “targets” there is still no “distribution”. The folks at TVW were kind enough to return calls today and tell me they are not quite ready
We all should praise the courage and the work of the Washington Roundtable, Washington Stand for Children, the League of Education Voters,the Partnership for Learning, and a brave group of bi-partisan legislators for taking on the well funded alb...
So we here at Washington State Wire, standing for all things truthful and good, as a public service, volunteer to provide a centralized scheduling of press conferences.
As affiliations like the Roundtable refine their desires and positions as the session progresses their website strikes a strong, fundamental message. They are Keep(ing) It Simple Stupid. Stay tuned for more.
...but the reality is possession of pot will no more become legal after I-502's passage than will the city of Algona's resolution of war against Iran for closing the Strait of Hormuz. (I have no idea if Algona passed such a resolution, and it...
The legislature really did nothing, it will not cost them, yet! And the electorate will tolerate it even when their kids get 170 days of poor education instead of 180 while the administrators (all 295 of the it/them) sit in their offices and ch...
By: Jim Boldt, | Publisher, Washington State Wire | 12.12.11
As two of the guv's own pet concepts rightly take root deeper in our policy processes -- inclusion and transparency -- the legislative process gets slower, as in “honey at 40 degrees.” The special session should not have been called...
It's been a sad week. The legislature is looking at a skinny list of cuts as they blow through $3 grand a piece in per diem for their special session, the PDC caves to the chair of a political party, and the Browns lost to Pittsburgh tonight. As...
Super-Session: If the present special session (oh Lord that is bad term here) turns out to be as successful as the federal super-committee, maybe we could just call it the Super-Session.
If you go to Careers.Wa.Gov you can see all the state jobs available. And, you can pick by county, or how much you want to make, or what kind of job. Amazing isn't it? They've over spent by $2 billion, and they are still hiring.
If you know anything about eastern Washington you know places like these are full of all types of moderate to liberal folks who are dying to exercise one of the options which is to raise the local sales tax so they can drive into Wenatchee to w...
ESD 189 is up in northern Washington. It is the forum through which 35 superintendents of local school districts of five counties signed and forwarded a letter to local legislators suggesting that one way, among others, to solve the money shorta...
It was announced last night that a “progressive caucus” will be formed or has been formed, inside the D house and senate caucuses, and members of these caucuses will not support a cuts only budget. The guy behind me whispered, “Isn’t 95% of the...
Come on you folks at the AP, what is with the drama? This story ran in numerous print papers that failed to check it out, and King 5 picked it up and regurgitated it.
There is little evidence that mass produced formula provides anywhere near the remedy and nutrition human breast milk does. Yes, I have read a bit about it. You ought to take the time to look into a little.
And in Seattle where we thought they never met a tax they didn't like they told Mayor McBike to take a hike, or a ride, or go away. Hissoner's $60 car tab fee to pay for almost anything but roads for cars, went down in flames. This opens the doo...
...simple marijuana possession charges now account for fully half of all drug arrests in Washington". And there is a potential to raise $215 million in new tax revenue each year if Initiative 502 passes, among other things.
When I first ran for the legislature my opposition pushed some radio ads stating that “youth has no judgment” (seriously, I was 24). I told my Grandpa Harry about it and he just laughed. He said, “Jimmy (he called me Jimmy, I hated it) this mean...
Duh. Is there anyone out there who really thought the recession was over, that we would not continue to slip a little here and there, and have to tighten out belts even tighter?
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Guest Commentary WSW | 10.18.11
Amtrak currently loses about $54.50 per passenger nationwide. Some routes require a taxpayer subsidy of nearly $400 per ticket. Why shouldn’t taxpayers also pay people to fly? Locally Washington State ferries do the best job, recoveri...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | 10.13.11
When someone camps out in front of a building and won’t leave until the people inside give them more charity than they already do, that person isn’t a protester
News is news, and opinion is opinion. Contemporary messaging has blurred the lines, but they are still there.I guess The Daily Olympian blog post is some kind of hybrid, or it has crossed the line. As Shannon shares the obvious with us Friday a...
By: Melvin G, Ashton | Contributor to WSW | 10.2.11
But people are a spectrum of beliefs, and the political activities of business more accurately reflect that spectrum than the political activities of their opponents.
24 zip says it all. Pete Carroll could reach into a Christmas stocking, pull out a handful of manure and tell us all, “there's a pony in here somewhere, I just have to find it, give me a week.”
Former House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler wasn't eager for her members to learn one of the big secrets about Olympia -- the balanced-budget requirement is a myth.
"Oh my God, don't tell my members," she said. That was 2008.
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Guest Contribution WSW | 9.16.11
We all know that certain words or phrases rise and fall in popularity and usage, especially among politicians. “Stimulus” is out. “Job creation” is still in, but is wearing out its welcome. But the one I’m most interested in right now...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Sept. 9, 2011
Zarelli suggests a bipartisan super budget committee to get started now. It would have been nice if the bipartisan part had included a heads-up call to the D’s Ways and Means Chair.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | September 5, 2011
The majority party should lead and prove that we are in need of money for critical, baseline governmental services. They should work with the minority party to refine the list, and then ask for support from the minority for the two-thi...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | August 26, 2012
The new normal? It will be a place where you pay as you go, we acknowledge we have more healthcare than we can afford, more family members STILL living together, and part time jobs. It truly could be the death of the middle class as we k...
By: Jim Boldt |Washington State Wire | August 3, 2011
Like children waiting to be picked for a sandlot softball team or a date to a prom, Washington’s Farmers' Markets just got the word that some of them were “chosen” by the WSLCB. They are “allowed” to offer beer and wine tasting.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | July 29, 2011
I think we should appoint a transportation group made up of people who are real. Half of them would have to be employers and otherwise actually contribute to the gross domestic product of the state, the other half would have to be people w...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | July 25, 2011
So think for a minute. If you are reading this you hold yourself out as political, or participating in the political arena. (some of you can't get the distinction...anyway) What is it like to look down the barrel of a growing entitlement s...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Guest Contributor WSW | July 18, 2011
...it can’t really be said that the cheating was for the students’ benefit. Not only did the schools receive plenty of federal dollars thanks to their faked improvement, but superintendent Beverly Hall received more than $580,0...
By Melvin G. Ashton | Contributor WSW | July 12, 2011
As I was hitting the “Pay Now” button on the Department of Revenue’s website to hand over my monthly tithe, I happened to read the department’s motto at the top of the page: “Working together to fund Washington’s future.”
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 25, 2011
That causes me to take up the time of a human. That’s a no-no in today’s “no-customer-contact-profit-driven-world”. So first I try the 20th century 1-800 number, there goes twenty minutes.
By: Jim Boldt| Washington State Wire |June 9, 2011
Wouldn't it be nice if someone were tolerant of the citizen's freedom to choose when, where and what kind of booze to purchase? If only they knew the games that were being played.
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Guest Contributor to WSW | June 8th, 2011
HB 2078 was a tax increase in the form of a repealed tax break. It is the ticket to rejecting the voters that Lisa Brown didn't have last time. Oh how they fight to raise our taxes.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 7th, 2011
But believe me, if the general public knew the renewable resource initiative they adopted a few years ago locked them out of cheap renewable hydro power, there might be a day of reckoning for the grand subsidy program.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June tooth, 2011
Is Gregoire a French name? No, I missed that one. It's of Greek origin. Maybe after the French air show she could go to Greece too, and share her theories of economics. That would help the country with it's thriving public employee base...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 27, 2011
...let’s keep the main thing the main thing and not forget those who have given their lives so we can have the freedom to spend 135 days redistributing the state’s citizens' very precious wealth.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 23, 2011
I can’t recall a single incumbent who lost a reelection bid when their opponent reminded the voters, “he was part of the group that did not finish on time.” That doesn’t stick.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May one/one, two thousand one/one
1053 issue: “90 percent would vote same way!!!”...Is the roadkill dead? Has it been killed?...Looks like a watered down, do-nothing medical pot bill has been fired up again...Jay Manning is running for AG when McKenna m...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 9, 2011
For example, Kitsap county is about 40 miles long and a few miles wide. There is a full component of administrators, doing the same what-ever-they-do every eight miles. Nothing screams out for centralized admin like schools districts.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May, 3 2011
Now these ungodly mimics will go in the law book right between the butene cousins, diethylthiambutene, and his sister Ethel, as in ethylmethylthiambutene.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 1, 2011
...how long it would take the inner-lawyer of the Guv to burst forward and justify her caving-in to federal threats of harassment and arrest. She had a chance to defend a law, a will of the people of her state. She had a platform to more lou...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Contributor to WSW | May 1, 2011
I applaud those willing to face the slings and arrows of the believing masses. But I fear for those who are interested in more than simply talking about their beliefs. We may still have a right to freedom of speech, even if it is a lit...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Guest Contribution to WSW | April 26, 2011
Senator Rockefeller stated in a press conference that his caucus does not believe that the voting public really understood what they were voting for when they passed Initiative 1053 by a decisive 63.75% of the popular vote.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 22, 2011
At the end of the session when you stand on the fourth floor of the capitol, and you are all alone, when everyone is gone or on the third floor, groveling for the last vote they won’t get, it is very quiet.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 19, 2011
There is nothing compelling about the state monopoly of hard liquor sales other than tradition. They don't control, they don't market, and the local library has better hours.
By: Jim Boldt |Washington State Wire | April 12, 2011
Joe Fitzgibbon dumped in a bill the first of the Month. The 31st of March to be exact. Either you missed it, or no one cares, or it was an early April fools joke. Who is this Fitzgibbon guy?
By: Dr. I.C. Firewalls | Guest Column to WSW.com | April 6, 2011
Note: Irvine is a friend of mine. He sent this to me this morning and ask if I would post it for him. He is a retired professor of World Geography, and lives in northeast Washington with his two wives, three windmills and solar ...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Guest Columnist | April 5, 2011
Perhaps this is a way out of our budget crisis in Washington State – we could star in our own show about making decisions for people who don’t know what’s in their own best interest.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 3, 2011
Legislators need a twelve step program, and they need a good support group. If not, their denial will lead them to the nearest drug source and the chain of unrealistic action will not be broken.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 3, 2011
Jay and Linda's relationship grows from a casual “hi”, as the two scarred forty-something professionals deal with the traps of success and urban crush. His father's suicide, and her awkward previous marriage hang over them like a black fo...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | March 28th, 2011
When the offer on the table is real, policy arguments are just to help you explain the decision that you’ve already made. What would you do for $1.2 billion dollars?
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 23, 2011
If the outcome of the Democrats’ review and repeal of tax breaks is commensurate with their rhetoric, it will be confusing and just as lopsided as the present tax-break setup.
Blog posts, news stories, and town-hall meetings put fo...
By Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 16, 2011
After twenty years of being relegated as dangerous, weapon-harboring, infinite-waste-producing energy, nuclear power was starting to crawl out from under the rock.
By Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 11, 2011
A man from Shelton who uses a snake as a service animal traveled to Olympia on Tuesday to lobby against a bill that would narrow the definition of an aid animal. AND...Washington State is short on Republicans. Duh, you think?
By: Jim Boldt |Washington State Wire | March 11, 2011
As if local government does not have enough taxing authority already, now they may get to reimpose the good old MVET, and fuel taxes? and tolls? I've been in Arkansas, I've bumped over the county lines, real bumps.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 7, 2011
I have an idea. Pay the student, not the failing administrators. Offer each student who graduates either a few thousand cash or first year free tuition in a Washington institution of higher education. Signing bonus, kind of?
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | February 28, 2011
Washington State state-level public unions should step up to the plate and help out. Seriously help out. There are ways to creatively alter their existing contracts with the state and help share the misery of overexpenditure by the Leg...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | February 24, 2011
Sorry, folks, the guy's bad relationship with his parents did not kill the students, his lack of discipline and addiction to alcohol did not kill the kids. You tell the parents that their children are less dead because the driver is a ...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | February 21, 2011
Yes, I know, Congress has to get off its duff and tackle this very sticky issue, but unfortunately the metropolitan areas of the country keep electing folks who have forgotten that usually a lack of documents means…you guessed it, ILLE...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | February 17, 2011
Let's grow up. Let's be a state instead of a civil war. And let's see if Luke can help bridge the gap left by the vacation of a lot of the moderate, or mainstream or thinking R's. When I hear stuff like this I ask myself, “What would L...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | February 15, 2011
Anyway, somebody tell the school districts providing less for more is not the path out of this recession. When will government understand that we all have to do with less? And if you are going to provide less, let's put kids before fis...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | February 2, 2011
One of the flaws with Miloscia's bill, besides the fact that it has one sponsor and will never become law until... maybe 2050, is that it lacks a key player in the assessment process. Why not include the people actually regulated, or ta...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | January 26th 2011
Let's roll this up in a tight little package. With a hit of enforcement and pull of common sense, you can see why the money might not be in the bag, and what actually is bong, I mean wrong.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | January 19, 2011
Will the legislature license certain dealers who are explosive? And who will judge if a dealer is within reasonable bounds if and when they "explode". Is yelling OK? What about arm thrashing?
By Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | January 9, 2010
Sausage, Personal Property, Obfuscation, Posturing, Ties and Jackets?, No Cafeteria, Temporary Buildings and No Parking, Deficits or Overspending? Ah It's Time for Session, How Sweet
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | January 5, 2011
Ross Hunter says he is ready to look at all options and he knows all of them are not on the table yet. Where does he draw the line? He puts it simply: “I don’t want to live in Mississippi!”
By Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | December 25, 2010
All of a sudden this large, presumably winged humanoid shows up turning night into day. And, the first thing the winged-one says? “Hey guys don't freak, don't be afraid.” Right. Give me a break.
By: James Boldt | Washington State Wire | December 22, 2010
A new tax or tax increase may be referred to the ballot "by the legislature as other bills are enacted" Art. 2, sec. 1(b). Since tax bills now take 2/3's vote does this mean a tax referred to the ballot must pass the legislature by 2...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | December 18, 2010
I don’t mean the part about preventing harassment based on sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation. I mean good ole’ fashioned, give-me-your-lunch-money type bullying. The kind of economic shake down that any future entrepr...
By: Jim Boldt Washington State Wire | December 14, 2010
And the question is whether the new leadership and director of the BIAW will continue to be aggressive at defining the right side of the spectrum. Or, will the BIAW join the ranks of many local Chambers of Commerce and become nicer, ...
By Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | December 13, 2010
I didn't get a copy of the separate memo Jay Manning sent out to the regulated community. You know the folks who participate in the “pay for service” programs, the ones who are involved on the enterprise/business side of the ledger. You...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | December 8, 2010
Senator Zarelli's frustration level is squirting out between the lines of news reports and caucus blog posts. Do you blame him? The Republican leader on the budget committee is not an antagonizer or a right-wing twit. He encourages and ...
Can Gregoire make a deal with the Republicans? Should the Republicans make a deal with Gregoire? Given that there are enough Democrats in the Legislature who aren’t ready to take the buckshot mouthwash just yet, it looks like a special session to slash spending in the current budget cycle really d...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Dec. 6, 2010
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | December 2, 2010
Does time just haze reality, or did Jeannette Hayner really practice bi-partisan cooperation? You bet she did, and there's a lot to learn from the former leaders of the Legislature. And it's time to take notes!
By: Melvin G. Ashton |Washington State Wire | November 29, 2010
Today, we’re full to the gills with salmon, and now what’s the worry? My point is that we as an electorate seem uncomfortable with a proclamation of ‘Mission accomplished. When we should be celebrating our success, instead we ele...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | November 23, 2010
The legislature should appoint a select committee and get to the bottom of this rabbit's hole. Somewhere between the first Amendment and common sense rests a new information standard. Maybe we need shorter campaigns!
Worried about the economy of the Olympia area? The state Department of Printing does its part by hiring a lobbyist. Three cheers for the Department of Printing!
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Nov. 22, 2010
By Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | November 16, 2010
The Washington State Transportation Commission voted to increase ferry fees, I-1053 not a law until December 2, AG dragged into interpretation, My Oh My, why should they wait, what are we to do?
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | November 12, 2010
The 2/3's requirement will mandate that the R's and the D's learn to play together. If they do not, the budget for the 2011-2013 biennium will look like the normal insanity on a huge diet. Hunter and Gregoire need to admit that lopping...
Oh, happy day! The Puget Sound Partnership has accomplished its goal. And now that Congressman Norm Dicks' son has found another job, it's time to ask whether there is any other reason for the agency to exist.
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Nov. 12, 2010
The Republican Party in Washington state has a great chance to shape fiscal policy this coming session. Mr. Hewitt in particular has a strong platform from which to launch the research and proposals for fundamentally altering the spend-until-it's-gone-and-then-some mind set of the majority.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Nov. 3, 2010
The tunnel vision of watching the vote counts of candidates causes us to miss the real issue. This election altered the fiscal landscape in a drastic way. The message: no new taxes, and we don't like the ones you foisted on us las...
A rough estimate from various reports shows that somewhere in the neighborhood of $18-20 million may be spent on anti-tax (three initiatives) and pro-free enterprise (two initiatives) GOTV efforts in the last two weeks of this campaign.
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Oct. 27, 2010
A survey only progressives can believe: A public opinion survey conducted by a bunch of students at the U of W, under the direction of a public employee professor? How much do we handicap any answers regarding a partisan election or public funding issues?
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Oct. 26, 2010
Our recommendations for your vote, on this year’s ballot measures:
1053 – This measure reinstates a two-thirds vote requirement by the Legislature to increase taxes. Tax increases may also be referred to the public for a vote (as they always could). Also, this measure requires a supermajority...
By: The Editors | Washington State Wire | Oct. 20, 2010
I noticed when I watched the news about Nancy Pelosi’s low-key visit to the Seattle area last week that the only member of Congress standing with her was our own Jim McDermott. Allen Schauffler pointed out that Norm Dicks was on the reader board, but I didn’t see him in the news piece.
Senat...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Oct. 18, 2010
This is the story of Gardenville, a bucolic place where the fertile soil inspired so much gardening that it became a central part of the culture, a part of every resident’s identity. People grew enough fresh fruits and vegetables to make up about 70% of the local diet with their organic crops.
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Oct. 12, 2010
As the Olympian waddles onward defending everything regarding state government, public unions, taxes, and regulatory schemes, it wandered into a little story about the Skokomish River. I live about twenty miles north of the Skoke, as the locals call it. And for almost thirty years I have seen it, wa...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Oct. 8, 2010
There are a lot of arguments (not all true) being made about Initiative 1098 that relate to its macro effect on Washington – it will create a more stable tax base, it will slow growth of our economy, it will make life easier (or harder) on small businesses, and so on. But people tend to vote based ...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Oct. 7, 2010
You read them, I read them. All the bloggers and newsies writing about the disgust in America for Congress and its government in general. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out why voters go home and vote for incumbents.
What will it take for voters to demand a realistic approach to budge...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Oct. 7, 2010
The 22nd Legislative District is a Democratic stronghold. Brendan Williams emerged from a field of 5 Democrats in the 2004 primary to win handily in the general election over Republican Ann Burgman. And a similar frenzy of 6 Democrat hopefuls scrambled to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. Willia...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Sept. 23, 2010
Just to remind myself that I am addicted to most things politic, yesterday I watched part of the Joint Tax Avoidance Review Committee via TVW (thanks, Denny).
You have to be an addict to stay awake while Ross Hunter, Phil Rockefeller, Joe Zarelli and Ed Orcutt discuss and question each other ...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Sept. 21, 2010
Regardless of their subscriber base, hit count, or optimized aggregator collection, all information sources short of the leftist cabal in Seattle have called for, begged, and even yelled for the governor and the Legislature to step up to the plate and seriously, with integrity, fix this bleeding sta...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Sept. 20, 2010
I’m tired of it. True, there’s bad economic news everywhere you turn, but there are some silver linings as well if you look for them. But we tell our kids to be thankful for what they have. It’s time for the governor to adopt the same philosophy.
If you wish to be reminded of how good our...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Sept. 14, 2010
It’s a shame Washington citizens, and particularly voters, don’t take the time to look behind the curtain at think-tank reports. Do they actually know it is a word game, or cooked-up findings?
Yes, it comes from both sides. The conservative think tanks take a data set, twist the numbers, and ...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Sept. 3, 2010
It’s back to school time, and as a parent of children in our public school system, I’m shocked and dismayed by the “Not the WASL” test scores just released by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. And the most disturbing thing is not the performance of our kids, but the behavior and beliefs of ...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Sept. 2, 2010
1. The head of the Port of Seattle gave us all a moment of relief when he announced he would not accept a raise this year. He went home, sat down at the table and realized he could get by with his meager $334,000 a year. That of course is just the salary, the monthly nut. I feel better knowing he wo...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Aug. 25, 2010
We are all cognitive misers – that means our brains are lazy. We like things to follow a pattern, and we don’t like to spend time reviewing the data looking for the exception. So when we develop a ‘truth’, we tend to stick with it even when the data doesn’t support our lazy view of the world. ...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Aug. 25, 2010
O.K., boys and girls, what did we learn from this year’s primary election? I suppose that literally we learned who came in first, second, and third in a few political races, but that’s not really worth much in the long run. No, I mean to ask the question in the way a businessperson asks about less...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Aug. 24, 2010
OLYMPIA, Aug. 23--In a sharply-worded press release, issued in conjunction with a media briefing and a 10,000-page report, Washington Department of Ecology officials criticized the Legislature for failing to understand the difficulties they face in implementing the state’s latest environmental initi...
By: The Beet: Stuff That Could be True | Washington State Wire staff | Aug. 23, 2010
Here is what we can tell you about the general election in November. The ballots will be counted on November 2nd, and it will be raining. That’s it. We can be sure about the weather during the election, because folks will be voting over a three-week period, not just on the 2nd. It’s just that the ba...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Aug. 18, 2010
Our story yesterday about Lynn Kessler’s frustration over the squeeze being put on her party does not reflect a new emotion for state legislators. Years ago a group of pro-choice Republicans starting meeting and calling themselves “Mainstream Republicans”. Kessler’s comments to our reporter Erik Sm...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Aug. 17, 2010
At approximately 9:05 a.m. west coast savings time, a van of Republican party legislative leadership members overturned on the freeway exit near the office of Department of Information Services (DIS) for Washington State. The headquarters is the office of over two hundred underemployed, poorly manag...
By: The Beet: Stuff That Could be True | Washington State Wire Staff | Aug. 16, 2010
Editor's note, Jim Boldt: CapitolStuff.com welcomes all, even closely sane, opinions about the function, make-up, and nature of deliberative bodies. Sorry Harold, it's the noise of yes, a democracy. This editor sides with Dr. Hillsteat.
First, having known Jim Boldt for over 20 years I am su...
By: Dr. Harold Hillsteat | Guest Commentary | Washington State Wire
There is surprisingly little empirical data about mail ballot voting. Sure, there’s been plenty of research about increased participation. Like that’s a surprise. Anyone who breathes can get a ballot now, and the only barrier to voting seems to be possession of a postage stamp. Of course more people...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Aug. 12, 2010
The question is not just philosophical. Washington voters are being asked this question very directly in the form of Initiative 1053, which would require a 2/3 vote of the legislature in order to take certain actions, namely increasing taxes. Opponents say this is impure, that democracy is built o...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | Aug. 12, 2010
I can only tell you what is printed below is a truthful account of a discussion with a second-level manager at a major state agency. Of course, for reasons you will understand, I'm not going to tell you who it was, or which agency. And I just talked to the one. I didn't call others. But here's the s...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Aug. 6, 2010
1. Someone tell my old friend Joel Connelly of the e-PI that even though the GOP does use terms lacking the respect given in deep urban areas, a person who is in our country illegally is in fact a person who has, in the vernacular, broken the law, and thus, maybe not politely, but can be referred to...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | Aug. 3, 2010
If the money, more of it, again, doesn’t come from Congress to make our state budget whole, will the governor call a special session and when? As anyone who reads this blog knows, if she doesn’t call a special session, and if she wants to balance the fiscal hole, she has two options:
1. Cut...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | July 27, 2010
State government is clearly in a pickle. We don’t have enough money to continue doing the things that we’re currently committed to do. But that isn’t stopping some from proposing that we add more to our plate.
As legislators and advocates begin forming up their proposals for next year, the...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | July 26, 2010
As a former legislator, lobbyist and yes, school board member, I am fascinated by the use of money in formation of public policy. If you don't look at it as the new fourth leg of the stool, you could get sick to your stomach.
First, the hypocrisy: The leftist blogs out of Seattle start out th...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | July 23, 2010
I took a call on my cell phone yesterday while driving down the freeway, and rather than use my speakerphone option, I held the receiver to the side of my head. I know what you’re thinking, and it’s true. I’m a bad man.
But when I exited the freeway, a Pierce County Sheriff was behind me, a...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | July 19, 2010
Recent reports in Seattle’s news/blogs show us that 65 percent of people polled trust state run stores to sell booze “responsibly,” and 55 percent trust private owned stores. What? One hundred and twenty-one percent of total responses? Must be a smart group of folks. Actually, it is two questions, n...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | July 13, 2010
By revealing just how you’ve been duped, I may be branded a heretic and cast out of the temple, because the false god that I will cast down has been elevated to the top of our pantheon of economic deities.
The change was so subtle that it was...
By: By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | July 13, 2010
For well over 30 years I have watched the superior court judges of Thurston County uphold all things government, left, labor, and green. This week the Olympian newspaper reported that a brave superior court judge ruled against a pleading by largest state employee union seeking to halt work furlough...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | July 8, 2010
I love it when I hear something that suggests that my bad habits are actually good for me. For instance, research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine indicates that one to two units of alcohol consumption per day saves 15,000 lives a year, giving protection from coronary heart d...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | July 8, 2010
I confess. I missed it. Somewhere back there, probably while I was watching the Bush administration turn a bind eye toward billion-dollar stock brokerage firms and banks, and allowed people who had no business buying a house to buy one, the liberals re-branded themselves. Maybe it happened while Sea...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | July 6, 2010
We hear it all the time from the right – “Government should be run like a business!” I disagree.
Any business the size of our government would use its massive market power to quickly snuff out its competitors, and then begin expanding into new markets. Government has a monopoly on industria...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | July 3, 2010
The Washington Federation of State Employees, the largest union working for public workers in this state, is suing Washington state government (that's all of us, by the way) to stop the planned furloughs of its members. I guess that is the role of unions in this new world.
Oh, the claim uses ...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 29, 2010
There is something wrong in PUD-land. It's not apparent to the general public because, as has been the case for over 75 years, electricity from public utility districts is available at the nation's lowest prices, the domestic water is clean and flowing, the fiber-optic backbones are carrying our 21s...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 28, 2010
A blog post this week about the technological backwardness of certain mid-to-right political groups caught some people's attention. Some folks raised an interesting question. Remember, success has a thousand fathers and failure is born an orphan.
Who or what is responsible for the low-tech ap...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 25, 2010
Why don’t conservatives, Republicans, and right-to-middle folks in this state understand the impact of technology on politics? Seriously, it’s embarrassing.
On any given day, from any one of ten or more progressive groups, the emails fly, telling their story, their point of view, framing the...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 23, 2010
It’s so much easier to avoid getting addicted in the first place than it is to kick the habit.
Recently, the government in British Columbia changed their local tax structure in a way that made their Canadian citizens eligible for a tax break that has been on the books in Washington for almost...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | June 21, 2010
Washingtonians are a progressive lot, especially when it comes to environmental issues.
We started recycling in the dark ages when municipal landfills were still openly burning trash in unlined pits. In 2010, we’re into the 2nd or even 3rd generation of citizens who are committed to reducing...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | June 17, 2010
The pop tax ought to be repealed. Not just because it is one more new tax. The reason is transparency -- and believe it or not, fairness.
Remember that the pop industry was told that an amendment would be drafted to the tax bill that would handle the economic problems on the “little guys” in ...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 16, 2010
I’m reading the same state and national news and blog posts you are. Yes, they are full of stories about unhappy people of all stripes gearing up to challenge incumbents. And supposedly they are angry, or at least upset and lacking confidence in the status quo.
So where are they when the prim...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 14, 2010
I saw this question on a poster in a state office building, touting the Combined Fund Drive. I think it’s one of the most important questions I’ve considered in a very long time.
What it triggered for me were thoughts about HOW the world is...
By: Melvin G. Ashton | Washington State Wire | June 6, 2010
Almost every industry or business has come to the realization that customers, or people in general are now empowered and equipped to interact, collaborate and participate in decisions ranging from local soccer practice times to intentional events and actions. The tool is the Internet, the term is ch...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 5, 2010
Below is an actual email exchange between a retailer of “Nutrition Bars” and the state Department of Revenue. The question, of course, is application of the new “sin tax” – the sales tax on candy.
It's worth a read. The final determination is that “nutrition bars” are taxable if they have any...
By: By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 3, 2010
Prologue: We have learned that U.S. Senate candidates have been arrested for DUI. Our superintendent of public instruction was convicted of it. Elected officials face charges for assault, for drug use, even drug-selling. And now, finally, the Washington State Republican Party has decided it’s time t...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | June 2, 2010
Can there be anyone in Washington state who does not know of Dino Rossi? I mean, anyone who is breathing and votes.
If it there is any chance to put partisan politics aside, it would be interesting to drill into why Rossi's opponents are talking more about his real estate business than the i...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 27, 2010
I had to go to a wiki to find out what all the fuss was about this Race to The Top thingy. The education community calls it R3T. How cool.
Well, unfortunately, it is just what most of us thought. It's an application for school districts to apply for more borrowed money from China (oh, there I...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 24, 2010
First, you have showed us how un-smart you are. (You like that, kind of backward-PC, get it?) Let’s go over this again. THERE IS NO PRIVACY IN AMERICA ANYMORE. ALL GONE BYE-BYE, WHAT HASN’T BEEN STOLEN WE HAVE GIVEN AWAY. O.K.? Why don’t you read the “terms of ...
Yes, it will set you free. Yes, it has power beyond our understanding. If it is a lifestyle, it is a healthy one.
Its absence is a bomb waiting to go off. Void of truth, all communication comes to a surprising and dismantling end. What’s worse, the trust that supported any untrue communicati...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 21, 2010
Oh listen to them! All those reporters, bloggers and analysts. A couple of upsets in a couple of primaries, and all of the nation's incumbents are in peril. Really?
First – let's see how good-old, always-strong, common-sensed, John McCain does in his primary. It's down to a single-digit diffe...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 19, 2010
Probably in an interest to wrap something around his new book advertisement, Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussen Reports reported Sunday that one of his latest surveys found 51 percent of the people say America is the last best hope for mankind (his word).
But more intriguing is that 24 percent aren...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 17, 2010
There is a not-so-thin line between being vigilant in defense of copyright and trademarks, and being absolutely asinine. Saks Fifth Avenue is the latter – clearly.
Sometime over the last few weeks the giant multi-national retailer demanded that a one-off hair place in Olympia cease-and-desis...
Polling is fun. I’ve been part of a dozens of them, mostly statewide peek-a-boos at what is happening. Eventually, by education or experience, you come to understand what they really are. And that would be a list of answers to questions developed by people who spend a lifetime trying to ask question...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | May 7, 2010
The Supe (sic) of Public Instruction announced today that about “one in four” (that's 25 percent) students taking the math and reading tests will do so online.
DISCLOSURE: This blog supports doing away with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. It is in the constitution but ...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 30, 2010
We here at Capitol Stuff have been thinking about this move by Chris Hurst. He announced last week that he is going to become, or file for office as an “Indpendent Democrat.” Just what does that mean?
The News Tribune story (that’s the Tacoma paper) reports that Hurst will still “support Spea...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 28, 2010
When you read that the U.S. Supreme Court is taking up a case about whether the names of people who sign an initiative petition should be made public information, and then read the Morning News Tribune’s column about the Public Disclosure Commission looking into whether J.T. Wilcox has to disclose t...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 22, 2010
Where does the real action on issues take place in the state of Washington? Is the Legislature, as a participant in the state’s public policy, really serving up sustainable ideas and solutions?
At least 54 initiatives have been announced since the beginning of the year. I hope the pace slows,...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 20, 2010
This is an easy, short and sad blog post to put up today. The Legislature digressed below the mean, put a patch on the hole, put a spin on the problem, and left town. Oh yes, some of them worked long hours to save our state, to use their phrases. The fact is, if you step back and look, they actually...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 14, 2010
In this world of social networking and sharing of information sometimes people just throw stuff up… because they feel they have to?
Representative Jeff Morris shared critical new information about the “go home” tax proposal on his twitter site. The members of the traditional news establishmen...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 9, 2010
Choppsters win the pool! Of the fifty people who participated in my legal, virtual tax pool, 47 chose Chopp and the House on the question of, “who wins the sales tax battle?”
Now we get to ask why? Did the guv get Chopp and Lisa in a meeting room, all alone, Persian carpets, high-back chairs...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 8, 2010
I had to write this yesterday and wait until this morning to read it again and post it. Why? Because I could not believe the issue is real and that we actually have to remind the Democrats about their core values.
A tax increase on beer? Is there anything more American, more blue-collar, more...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 7, 2010
Rasmussen Surveys reports today that 38 percent of American voters are more likely to be involved in campaigns in 2010 than 2008. This means money and time. Right!
Don’t you love surveys? You get asked questions like, “Are you going to be a good American, and actually vote this fall?”
...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 6, 2010
The beauty of a non-exclusive (or is that inclusive?), diverse group of guys getting together for coffee is that if everyone keeps it civil, you get to talk to a non-exclusive, diverse group of guys. Because they feel a sense of fairness in the room. (Diverse? Well, as diverse as a group of men-only...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | April 2, 2010
You've all heard the phrases – “The House will vote for anything.” “The Senate will prevail because it is the Senate.”
Those days are over, at least for now. Most people, for various reasons, will put their money on House Speaker Frank Chopp for bringing forth the more politically defensible ...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 30, 2010
Unless you are all tangled up in the federal healthcare issue, there was little going on in the political world this week. At least little that seemed good:
Randy Dorn got busted for driving while drunk – or to be technical about this, it is alleged he was drunk. He blew a .11 and he needs to...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 26, 2010
Bloggers get it wrong sometimes. And evidently I have. Maybe it's because I am a product of public schools, or took the wrong courses, or the three businesses I have started and successfully operated in the last 40 years were just lucky flukes. Whatever the reason, I must say I guess I misunderstand...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 20, 2010
Did I mention it was raining and snowing out here? The last three days have been winter, winter, early spring. And I’ve been down south, so no one at Friday coffee cares much. We are just starting to see the rich folks in Lilliwaup, returning from their villas and condos on the shores of exotic Mexi...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 12, 2010
The Washington State Senate took a baby step in the right direction yesterday when it showed the courage to at least discuss an income tax. For those in attendance, or virtually attending, we heard the same old crap. Yes, our state’s sales tax is regressive; yes, our constitution probably requires a...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 5, 2010
As the House Democrats roll out their economically-counterintuitive tax increase in the middle of a the great recession, it could be praised by advocates as a simple little tax. There is nothing much complicated or new about it. The proposed substitute bill for HB 3191 raises a lot of money, and fro...
By: Jim Boldt | Washington State Wire | March 2, 2010
During the push of getting a budget out, the legislators need to go outside and walk around the lake. I did decades ago as a member of the budget committee. I did it to think about what an old-timer had told me. He was a very conservative Democratic old-timer from Eastern Washington. I was young and...
It is evident that the Legislature has chosen to bypass its once-in-a-century opportunity to reboot the entire state-government machine. The same alleged citizen-tolerance for tax and fee increases they assume exists is the same political environment that would have accepted real cutbacks, consolida...
Not a cloud in the sky this morning. I need to mention we had our first inquiry from a woman about joining our all-male (not by design) coffee group. When I told her who the regulars are she said, “With that group, I'll think it over.” I start with this, and one other point, so you know we are equal...
Where is it? Where's the bottom of the barrel, the end of the tunnel, the point at which Washington's moderates, or even a few liberals say, “enough is enough?” Fortunately for the children of the state most of the school funding ballot measures passed last week. It would be nice if they were actual...
1. Washington citizens went to the polls yesterday. Well, that's not exactly true. They mailed in their ballots over a three-week period, and in most cases decided to renew or impose new property taxes for the kids. Most of them don't know that over 80 percent of each school district's budget is H...
Holy K-12 education, Batman! I thought this would be a fun Friday coffee meeting. We move out here to Lilliwaup to kind of get away from things. A local tavern – well, the only tavern – has a quote on the bottom of its menu; “XXXXX Saloon, conveniently located in the middle of nowhere.”
Last week a fair number of newspapers reported on the guv’s campaign violation – soliciting funds for Denny Heck, candidate for Congress in the Third District, in the middle of our current legislative session.
Basically her campaign committee (like it is some arms-length foreign operation) ...
It was a nice day Friday morning. We had a good turnout for coffee. I should remind anyone reading this that yes, this is rural America, and yes, this coffee klatch is a generational thing. It is a men's coffee klatch, and most of the guys are retired. Of course no women have asked to join us. Frank...
The people of the state of Washington have to feel good about their Legislature. There is so much hard work and money that goes into getting bills introduced, and even scheduled for a hearing. Think about it – the staff time, the room rental.
The reason the citizens should feel good is that ...
I normally don’t go in for the listings in news stories about the crazy ideas that well-intended legislators have drafted and introduce as legislation. But Sen. Adam Kline, Democrat of Seattle (where else?), has introduced SB 5960. The bill’s short title is “an act requiring law enforcement officer...
Forget what the people say – the Legislature knows better. Just watch what it does this session.
A group of energy, resource and alternative-energy types have been meeting forever about changing the renewable-energy initiative, Initiative 937. That piece of work, passed by the people in 2006,...
Putting aside Joel Connelly’s unconscious and habitual defense of all things ingrown, I was a little embarrassed by the report that the governor remarked that Tim Eyman should run for office. He’d be a caucus of one, and his head-on with Olympia reality would surely produce an instant resignation, o...
1. This story isn't supposed to be about politics, but it is. It was on a back page in the Olympian. Real Estate section maybe. Probably most people read it and wondered, “how does the east Olympia area maintain its property values, when the rest of the state is just starting to come back from 20 pe...
For the first time in the decades I have been conducting, organizing, reading, and contracting for public opinion surveys in Washington, I am seeing environmental concerns, and green attitudes slipping down to a fourth or fifth-place ranking in the “most important” category.
It’s not an address, but soon probably will be a website address: FirstandBlog.com.
Last Tuesday, while America sloshed through a post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s week, our federal government another stupid step along its path toward incompetence.
I took the week off from the grueling task of blogging, but could not resist sharing the pearls of wisdom from downtown Lilliwaup. The day after Christmas provided us a skinny turnout, but Harry was there. It was good to see Grandpa Harry.
Harry is actually not my legal grandfather. He is ...
Three events have begun to shape the external debate about tax increases in Washington state. Unfortunately, but predictably, none will contribute to a constructive, intelligent debate our state’s repulsively regressive tax structure. A tax scheme that is based on industries that either don’t exist,...
Let me start by reminding everyone that the governor's and the Office of Financial Management’s websites announce that 70 percent of the state budget is “protected.” In other words, this is mandated spending, or “untouchable.” If you look closer the figure actually gets gray somewhere around 50 or 6...
We have it from really unreliable sources that the Clintons are upset and offended by the Washington state governor’s refusal to take Arkansas parolees. In a carefully prepared statement from the Clintons, both shared their pain. They added that they have not been so emotionally disturbed since they...
Rumors are swirling about the state Capitol right now that the state’s $2.6 billion shortfall is going to get bigger – perhaps as high as $3 billion by next week.
Now, this is just a rumor, of course. The whole thing sort of staggers the imagination. How could anything go wrong that hasn’t go...
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Dec. 2, 2010
I’ve read it as many times as you: “Seventy percent of the Washington state budget is obligated to entitlements and mandates.” What mandates? I’m still hunting. I know they are there. Elected officials would not lie about important matters like this. I mean, constituents are involved.
What’s left of the mainstream media has been doing a good job of saying the same thing over and over in the last few days. The left-leaning group moans on about how taxes have to be increased to fill in the revenue hole of this endless recession. Those in the middle have actually asked what the “c...
The Seattle PI.com had yet another story yesterday about the nature of Washington state’s tax structure. Discussion of taxes, and tax increases, and the closing of tax loopholes is the ultimate “inside baseball” game right now, as the Guv and the legislative leadership look down the barrel of a $2.5...
Posted below are “examples” of ways to cut $1.7 billion from the state budget, from a caucus blog. I think it originally came from a Powerpoint presentation released a couple of weeks ago by the Office of Financial Management. (Right now OFM is warning fiscal players that they better get ready for...
Confession: Every morning I scan about ten regional blogs, all allegedly covering politics, in some form or fashion.
I thought it was interesting that the Senate Republican Caucus blog, or website, whatever they call it, has not has a posting since November 5th. I guess I should add that eve...
If you’ve ever been a Boy Scout, you’ve probably played that game around the campfire where someone whispers something in someone else’s ear, and then he whispers it to the next guy, and by the time the whisper makes the full circle it makes absolutely no sense whatever. It’s supposed to teach you a...
Plenty of folks seem to be writing off Tim Eyman these days, after the spectacular flop of Initiative 1033 in last week’s election. Somehow, in the middle of a recession, he managed to lose with an initiative that would roll back taxes and keep them low for at least the next few years. Kind of aston...
If you have not read the Seattle Times story about Washington labor withholding “support” (meaning campaign contributions) from Democrats in upcoming elections if they do not support pro-labor issues in the 2010 legislative sessions – you better.
There’s an interesting piece in Monday’s New York Times about a group in Texas that is trying to do what we’re doing here at Washington State Wire – launch a website that covers statewide politics. The difference is that there’s nothing scrappy about the “Texas Tribune.” Its managers have gone th...
The counts from last Tuesday’s vote clearly show that the west side of the state is distinctively different from the east (duh!), and the same goes for King County, or Seattle’s impact on Western Washington politics. By the way, we have to call last Tuesday “vote counting day”—it’s not election day ...
I’ve been teased a little about my election-night headline – “Republicans win a critical state House seat.” How could it be critical? It wasn’t as if the vote in the 16th Legislative District changed anything. Democrats still have an overwhelming majority in the state House, and they can d...
Here's one you have to read to believe, from the Port Orchard Independent. Seems a man dressed as a gorilla has been beaten up by his girlfriend. Doesn't say much for the primates.
It's never OK when a law enforcement officer is shot and killed. Never. Two officers, one in training, doing their job. A car pulls up so close the patrol car door can not be opened.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 4, 2012
A decision by a Democratic chairwoman to kill a pair of high-profile education bills has triggered an all-but-unheard-of standoff in a Senate committee and a backroom blowup among the Senate Democrats. And it demonstrates this year, as last, that the moderate Roadkill Dems hold all the cards.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 3, 2012
Gov. Christine Gregoire’s proposal for a $1.50 tax on oil-by-the-barrel to pay for road construction and environmental projects is looking like it has a dead battery, as three key senators say the governor’s plan just isn’t clicking. Meanwhile, a pair of influential House lawmakers have introduced a constitutional amendment that would block the green lobby's efforts to tax "Big Oil" once and for all.
By: Erik Smith | Washington State Wire | Feb. 3, 2012
House Republicans show what they mean when they say "Fund Education First," unveilling a partial budget plan that deals only with K-12 education. Everything else can come later. Democrats say it's no way to write a budget.
Newt is not going to quit. He is going to continue to try and hold his cool, not go off on someone or about some issue. He is as smart as any one of them, continues to talk of solid experienced realignment of our government...
Do we have to continue to talk about what's going on in the real world, the demands being placed on future generations of students, the drag on success created by 20th century education unions, the desire of most educators to do the right thing, and the current lack of courage by Washington's elected to step up?
SB 6369 simple states that where there are “gaps” in the evidence don't worry about it, just go ahead with the plan. In a world of DOE staff looking for every opportunity to prove their worth to certain constituencies this is a free pass.
Next, do we need a bill to modernize a statute? Probably, because...you guessed it, modern words for modern technology. Excuse the word functionality. The drafters and advocates must think that the state EPA actually works, you know, functions.
A bill working its way through the Legislature has triggered something of a bizarro world in Olympia, with liberals lambasting a government takeover of health care and two of the state's most powerful unions fighting each other.
About 47,000 Medicaid patients in Clark County are about to be thrust into turmoil -- as will the health care plan that has served them for 18 years -- if the state Health Care Authority has its way.
A federal judge is expected to rule this month whether Washington state can require pharmacies to sell the Plan B contraceptive, even if the druggists object on religious grounds.
Whereas inadequate medical care accounts for 10% of premature deaths in the United States, behavioral patterns, social circumstances, and environmental exposures have a far greater effect, accounting for roughly 60% of deaths.
A report released today by the actuarial firm Milliman Inc. said the new tax in 2014 will cost the Medicaid program between $36.5 billion and $41.9 billion over 10 years. At least $13 billion will be borne by states.
"Open enrollment has to be ready to go by Oct. 1, 2013, so in January of 2013 we have to submit our products and rates for [state] approval," said Alissa Fox, senior vice president of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
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