The Seattle Times: Ed cetera

Costly lesson on open government

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:37:03 PST

The state Department of Social and Health Services has agreed to pay more than $500,000 for failing to turn over public records requested by the public. It is an expensive but important lesson about the perils of flouting open records laws.

DSHS admits it withheld records requested by two women and a teenage girl suing the state claiming they were physically and sexually abused by their foster father. Agency officials say the requests were not intentionally ignored, blaming instead faulty records-request tracking systems and inadequately trained staff.

The agency that probably spends more on litigation and settlements to victims than any other governmental arm just learned another expensive lesson.

Whoa followed by wow on Initiative 1033

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:17:04 PST

One of the more underplayed stories of Election 2009 concerns Tim Eyman's latest government-slamming initiative and the voting in several Washington counties where he used to be king.
Click on this handy Secretary of State map showing where Eyman's initiative 1033 passed and where it failed throughout the state.
Many counties in Eastern Washington have changed dramatically over the years in relationship to Eyman and his proposals.
As recently as 2005, many Eastern Washington counties were with Eyman, voting to repeal a gas tax increase that pays for new roads and bridges. Click on this list to see how many counties went along that year. In the beginning of the Eyman era, with Initiative 695, those counties were solidly in his camp. The initiative failed.
But times are different. Last year, Eyman's goofy transportation measure went down in 38 out of 39 counties. The loyalty is waning.
Our favorite professional initiative operative has already said he will be back next year with another initiative because.... well..... because...
He should do so knowing more people in more and more counties are tired of watching the same play with Eyman as the protagonist.

Civil Disagreement: Are Southerners the last group we can poke at?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:13:07 PST

Civil disagreements, with Lynne Varner and Bruce Ramsey of the Seattle Times editorial board, is a weekly feature of the Ed Cetera blog. Here Lynne gets annoyed about the disparagement of Southerners, and Bruce doesn't.

Lynne Varner, left, and Bruce Ramsey

Lynne Varner: Bruce, enough already! One more joke about a Southern airplane mechanic who dips snuff, has a lazy hound dog and couldn't build a plane if his life depended on it and I'll scream.

Okay I'm back. My throat is a little sore, but I digress. Puget Sounders are an educated, tolerant lot and I know most don't really believe people from the South are stupid or inbred. So it is a little too convenient to invoke those stereotypes when we're angry.

I know what you're thinking Bruce. We can't make fun of minority groups, gays or people who are overweight. Jokes on the elderly come off as mean; people who make fun of kids are bullies. So who's left? No one. Just as it should be.

Bruce Ramsey: C'mon, Lynne. These people took the second Boeing 787 production line from us. Wasn't that mean? If they wanted to be nice they would have taken the Viaduct instead, or maybe the Pierce County Board of Public Health. They took our airplane line. So we tell a few jokes about their moonshine and their snoozing dogs. These are people who eat boiled peanuts. Let's not be too nice to them, at least not yet.

Central Area rejects Mary Bass

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:01:03 PST

Voters rejected Seattle School Boardmember Mary Bass's bid for a third term.

Bass faced an uphill battle to convince voters that after eight quiet and generally lackluster years she could push and bring about substantive policy changes in another term.

With inadequate state funding of education and mounting federal pressure for academic results, every school in Seattle is under pressure But Bass's 5th District faces enormous challenges to improve struggling schools such as Madrona K-8 and broaden access to excellent programs at schools like Washington MIddle School.

The challenge for winner Kay Smith-Blum is to gain a rapid read of the city's most diverse community, understand and prioritize its educational needs and go to work building the kinds of relationships and political support needed to effect change in the schools she represents. The need to build trust and support among political colleagues was something Bass often overlooked. A board member with a good working relationship with colleagues and staffers can often effect change with a phone call. Others see their legislative initiatives voted down time and again.

it will be interesting to see how quickly Betty Patu makes the shift from a longtime school employee with limited perspective and experience to a policy maker. Her answers on issues as different as education funding and alternative schools shows a steep learning curve.

Boardmember Michael DeBell ran unopposed and for him, Election Day, was a cakewalk.

Initiative 1033's fatal flaw

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:55:03 PST

Tim Eyman's latest effort to mess with government, Initiative 1033, seems to have gone down in flames. He really went too far this time -- or maybe too close to home.

It's one thing when Eyman's initiatives take on the great big nebulous state government and the governor, whoever that may be, and their big-spending undisciplined ways. The perpetrators seem far away from voters.

But Eyman's initiative reached beyond state government and deep into local courthouses and city halls, close enough for many people in small towns to see very clearlythat Eyman's usual one-size-fits-all approach was not going to fit their communities, not at all.

Not even Gov. Chris Gregoire's thinking outloud about how to raise revenues gave Eyman's fire-and-brimstone pitch any fuel.

Eyman was hurt when county and city officials, and their organizations, came out swinging and who could talk directly to their constituents at the local coffee shop, the farmers co-op or on the campaign trail. Many conservatives who tend to support Eyman's initiatives bucked the tide too.

The Secretary of State's map of which counties went for this snake oil makes it clear that more conservative areas of the state weren't buying.

In a press release for Permanent Defense, which opposes I-1033 and many of Eyman's efforts, Andrew Villeneuve, Northwest Progressive Institute Executive Director, said:

"Tough times have already forced local governments there down to bare bones. Initiative 1033 would have gutted what was left. Fortunately, Washingtonians have said no to greed and yes to a sustainable future, sparing our communites from a devastating blow."

Good thing. I'm not holding my breath but I hope this is the last we hear of Tim Eyman for a while.

Boeing left us singing the blues (again)

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:59:03 PST

In my column, I offer a glimpse into how the public is coping with the mixed messages about the economy. There are strong arguments for a positive outlook as barious parts of the economy stop contracting and start growing again.

This story offers a broad but quick snapshot. This website compiles most, if not all, economic indicators and is worth a peruse. Allison Butcher, director of public affairs for the Master Builders Association makes a good point: until people feel secure about employment, that is until the unemployment rate dips way below its current high, no amount of rosy-tinged reports of leading economic indicators will make them feel confident.

This white paper on socio-economic beliefs and how they are shaped by recessions helped shape my thinking as I interviewed Don Gerend, a member of the Sammamish City Council and Rep. Reuven Carlyle, a Democratic member of the state Legislature. A generation separates the two men, yet their outlook on this economic downturn was largely the same.

I didn't have room in my column to mention this but Rep. Carlyle brought up something I want to hear echoed by other lawmakers, particularly Democrats: making Washington a more business friendly state. Yes, Washington has an entreprenurial spirt and an educated populace, but some of its rules and policies can drive small business owners crazy. For example, dealing with different counties and their different licensing rules and B&O tax reporting requirements. Carlyle wants to untangle the thicket of rules and reporting requirements. He should go for it.

1 dog = 1 Land Cruiser = 5.6 cats

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:36:03 PST

A medium-sized dog has twice the carbon footprint as a Toyota Land Cruiser, according to a New Zealand study conducted by environmentalists. The comparison is in terms of land: how much it takes to feed the dog versus feeding the truck. I assume it is an alcohol-powered truck. I don’t know if the study considered the packaging the food came in. It did not concern the emissions of the truck, or, indeed, of the dog.