In my spare time last week, I made phone calls on behalf of my school district’s levy campaign. I would rather scrub toilets than phone voters, but I powered through it because I know how serious the consequences would be if my school district’s levy and bond measures were to [...]
With the economy still struggling, unemployment increasing, and a continued strain on social services dealing with budget constraints while demand for services skyrockets, the Economic Opportunity Institute recently released a report on the status of working families in Washington in 2009. Some background from the report: Compounding the economic [...]
Readers, here's something to be cheery about as the holiday season gets into full swing: One of the greatest civil rights victories in Washington's history - the expansion of our domestic partnerships law - is, as of today, finally on our books following the certification of the 2009 general election. [...]
This evening the Washington Environmental Priorities Coalition - a combined effort of more than two dozen leading environmental groups based in the Evergreen State - announced its agenda for the 2010 legislative session.
The agenda, made public in advance at the end of every year, typically consists of [...]
Not content to take a Christmas break from hawking bad ideas, initiative profiteer Tim Eyman has told The Associated Press that his 2010 initiative will be a redux of his 2007 measure, Initiative 960, which narrowly passed statewide two years ago and imposed unconstitutional limits on the Legislature's ability [...]
Earlier today, Washington's two United States Senators appeared on the floor of the Senate to remember and honor the four officers who were killed on Sunday in an appalling act of destruction.
Murray, who spoke first, repeatedly called the slayings senseless, and noted that they came on the [...]
Earlier this evening, in a major primetime speech at the United States Military Academy at West Point, President Barack Obama officially announced his decision to temporarily escalate the occupation of Afghanistan, and, unlike his predecessor, managed to defend his rationale for doing so without resorting to sloganeering.
This is really funny (well, sort of...) Via the Seattle Weekly: According to a "Safe Browsing" advisory from the search giant, Eyman's site [don't click, for the love of humanity!], is "listed as suspicious" and "may harm your computer."
It seems that destroying our state's tax base, abolishing' [...]
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) plans to make it harder for Wall Street to gamble with the public’s money. As the House of Representatives wraps up work on its financial reform bill, the Senate is crawling ahead with its own measure. Not too impressed with the House bill, Cantwell and [...]
This is horrible... just horrible... Four local police officers were killed this morning at a Parkland-area coffee shop, and dozens of investigators backed by search dogs and a helicopter were hunting for their killer.
Witnesses described the killer as a black man, 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-9, in his 20s [...]
Yesterday, as we were going around the Thanksgiving day table sharing what each of us was thankful for, after listing friends, family, and a roof over our heads, I had to add that I'm thankful that debate has finally begun on the Senate's health care bill.
Today we take the opportunity to reflect on all the blessings that are ours, and gather with family and friends to be nourished by good food and drink. Even though times are tough, and we have so much work to do to reduce suffering in America, [...]
Nearly ten months after Ron Sims announced he was resigning as King County Executive to become the Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, his successor, Dow Constantine, has finally taken office.
In a simple, cheery ceremony at Daniels Recital Hall (which he helped to save from destruction) [...]
The life-giving, ever-present rain that falls on Western Washington also has a dark side. Every time it rains, the Puget Sound gets an unhealthy drink of oil, fertilizer, pesticides, and animal wastes. Unhealthy levels of water pollution have made our region noncompliant with the federal Clean Water Act, and have [...]
One of the things I like to do to take a break from politics (at least during autumn) is watch cross country meets. The sport runs in the family; my father is the head coach of the cross country program at Redmond High School, and my brother and sister have [...]
It's nice to see Senate Democrats finally voting in unison for a change: The Senate voted on Saturday to begin full debate on major health care legislation, propelling President Obama’s top domestic initiative over a crucial, preliminary hurdle in a formidable display of muscle-flexing by the Democratic majority.Don't expect' [...]
Great news for rail fans: Tomorrow Amtrak Cascades will begin stopping at Stanwood in Snohomish County on its way to and from Seattle or Vancouver, British Columbia. The town and nearby Camano Island have been without passenger rail service for decades, but that travesty will end tomorrow morning with the [...]
It looks like the Governor Gregoire that we know and love - the courageous governor who's not afraid to stand up to Tim Eyman and conservative editorial writers - it looks like that governor, at long last, is finally back in action.
Minutes ago, at Senator Jeanine Kohl-Welles' [...]
A few months after confirming its intention to turn its "Chrome" browser into an operating system, search giant Google has taken the wraps off its product plans, eliciting breathless coverage from tech blogs and traditional media outlets.
The basic gist is this: Google ois slapping its name, logo, and [...]
Earlier tonight, a packed house attended Sound Transit's fourth East Link workshop, held in at City Hall in downtown Bellevue, where residents were invited to submit comments about Sound Transit's plans for the voter approved project.
Throughout the presentation, we were given an overview of the different ideas. The [...]
Tomorrow, the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council is due to release its latest revenue forecast, which is expected to show that the state's budget shortfall will reach a staggering $2.5 billion.
Governor Chris Gregoire and legislators have been preparing for the 2010 session under the assumption [...]
Yesterday, George Washington University released an analysis of what's going to happen in the health care industry as a result of the Stupak/Pitts amendment to the Affordable Health Care for America bill (H.R. 3962).
The GWU report nicely summarizes the language of the amendment: The amendment bans federal [...]
Vice President Al Gore is back in our beautiful corner of the country this week to talk about his new book Our Choice, which is a sequel to An Inconvenient Truth, although Gore wrote The Assault on Reason in between.
Our Choice focuses on solutions to the climate [...]
We've just heard from several members of the State Route 520 workgroup that they've finally settled on an option to rebuild the highway from Interstate 5 to the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge across Lake Washington.
By a vote of 10-2, the workgroup (comprised of lawmakers representing neighborhoods on [...]
I wasn't going to say anything about the Link light rail train that derailed earlier today, but I feel compelled to after seeing the Seattle Times put the news front and center at the top of their website earlier this afternoon.
In 1985, Microsoft released the first retail version of its wildly successful Windows operating system. You probably can’t remember life before MS Windows, but this was actually the same year that Washington state last updated its high school graduation requirements. A lot has changed since then.
Longtime readers of the NPI Advocate know that we're big fans of Firefox, the free software browser by Mozilla. One of the reasons we think it's the best browser out there is the incredibly rich and useful add-ons that are available to extend Firefox and make it infinitely more powerful.' [...]
One of the consequences of the 2009 elections that hasn't been widely discussed is the forthcoming changes to the Sound Transit Board of Directors, which will look somewhat different next year with the departure of several current boardmembers and the addition of several new ones.
KCTS 9 has just announced that it will be airing the first in-depth post-election interview with newly elected Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn a week from today.
KCTS Connects host Enrique Cerna will be asking McGinn about who he plans to tap for key administrative positions like Deputy Mayor [...]
This morning, flanked by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and King County Executive-elect Dow Constantine, Senator Patty Murray announced that Sound Transit will inaugurate service on Airport Link on Saturday, December 19th at 10 AM.
After sixteen years on the air, KVI's The Kirby Wilbur Show is no more, according to our good friend Michael Hood at blatherWatch, who writes: The Seattle early morning earscape has again felt a seismic shift: With the typical Fisher aplomb, Kirby Wilbur has been fired from KVI, the' [...]
Organized labor knows that money is too tight to spend on would-be Democrats. Despite holding a majority in both chambers of the state legislature, plus the governor’s office, Democratic lawmakers so severely disappointed labor groups during the 2009 legislative session that the groups have either stopped or significantly reduced their [...]
Wow, talk about an early Christmas present: Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, plans to announce Wednesday that he is leaving the network, two network employees said.
A CNN executive confirmed that Mr. Dobbs will announce his resignation [...]
Today we pause to thank the many brave men and women who have valiantly served our country in the armed forces, defending this great nation so that the rest of us may go about our lives freely and peacefully.
We at NPI are especially grateful for the service [...]
Representative Alan Grayson made a whole bunch of waves last month--good ones--by finally telling it like it is about the Republicans position on health care reform. Don't get sick, and if you do, die quickly.
Blunt. Honest. Refreshing.
The response was predictable. Indignation and outrage from those whose' [...]
Great move, Dow! Via news release: King County Executive Elect Dow Constantine announced today that his former primary rival, State Sen. Fred Jarrett of Mercer Island, will join his administration in the critical role of Deputy Executive, the highest ranking staff position in the incoming administration.
Yet another county has joined the NO on Initiative 1033 camp.
This week, it's Okanogan, where Initiative 1033 had previously been passing by just a handful of votes, and which we predicted was the most likely candidate to switch sides. Today, it finally happened, as Okanogan's Auditor posted new [...]
We called it last Friday... today, everybody else is acknowledging that Mike McGinn has prevailed in the contest for Mayor of Seattle. McGinn's rival Joe Mallahan, who also advanced from the August primary election, conceded gracefully at a press conference earlier this evening in Seattle, wishing McGinn the best as' [...]
When was the last time you bought a piece of clothing that was made in America? You'd have to look long and hard before finding any these days, yet it wasn’t long ago that we all wore clothing made in the U.S.A. In 1995, half of America’s clothing was made' [...]
Editor's Note: Readers, we hope you'll join us in giving a warm welcome to our newest staff member, Dorsol Plants. Dorsol is a veteran who recently ran for Seattle City Council Position 4. He made a strong showing for a first time candidate, coming in only a few percentage points [...]
Earlier tonight, by a vote of 220-215, the House passed H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, the first significant health care reform in decades.
Representative Ahn "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana was the only Republican to vote in favor of the legislation. An astounding thirty [...]
Looks like it's time to say hello to the next Mayor of Seattle: Mike McGinn.
The race has finally changed from "too close to call" to "it looks like we have a winner." In the afternoon returns reported by King County Elections around 4:30 PM, McGinn doubled his lead' [...]
Another day, another milestone for NO on Initiative 1033.
A day after Pierce County flipped to the light side, following in the lead of Benton County, which had done the same the day before, NO on I-1033's total percentage of the vote statewide has reached fifty seven percent. If' [...]
Via email from Governor Chris Gregoire's office: I am extremely pleased that voters have approved Referendum 71. I signed the original bill and believe it is the right policy for our great state. Washington state has a history of fighting to ensure everyone – mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters' [...]
A little less than forty eight hours after Election Night, Pierce County has finally flipped and joined most of the rest of the State of Washington in saying NO to Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033. Pierce gained notoriety last year for being the only county to (narrowly) support Tim' [...]
Not much movement in the numbers today from King County Elections in the Seattle mayor's race. Mike McGinn increased his lead over Joe Mallahan, but only very slightly. In fact, Mallahan's total percentage of the vote is also higher than it was yesterday too. (This is possible because the percentage [...]
Grave news this afternoon: The Army says seven people were killed and 20 wounded in a pair of shootings at the Fort Hood Army base in Killeen, according to the Associated Press.
An Army spokesman at the Pentagon says the shootings began about 1:30 p.m. Thursday at a [...]
Despite criticisms of the program, the Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved an extension and expansion of the popular homebuyer tax credit. Since January, the tax credit has given first time homebuyers with incomes of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples an $8,000 tax break. The House approved the bill [...]
A stunning turn of events tonight: After giving Initiative 1033 its support in early returns, Benton County has done an about face and joined the NO on Initiative 1033 column. As of this evening, voters there were very narrowly rejecting Tim Eyman's anti-government scheme, 50.07% to 49.93%.
We've gotten word that Susan Hutchison has conceded the race for Executive to Dow Constantine. Obviously, not earth-shattering news, as Dow declared victory last night, and the trends looked great for him.
Hutchison has not updated her website, Twitter feed, or Facebook page with the news that she' [...]
King County has just updated its election results to include new returns tabulated today. It's mostly good news: Referendum 71 continues to enjoy widespread support and Initiative 1033 continues to face widespread opposition.
Our next King County Executive, Dow Constantine, is holding steady with more than 57% of [...]
While we're waiting for King County to post its numbers later this afternoon, here's some data to chew over courtesy of the Washington Poll about the fate of Referendum 71, which as of last night's results, is leading narrowly.
The Washington Poll, which is sponsored by the University' [...]
Referendum 71, which would same-sex domestic partnerships many of the rights currently available to married couples, is leading with 51% of the voters approving and 49% rejecting the Referendum. That is at the state level.
It is a different story in King County, where R 71 is carrying a [...]
Governor Chris Gregoire has released a statement (via email to NPI) on the overwhelming defeat of Tim Eyman's most destructive initiative ever: I am pleased that the voters appear to have rejected Initiative 1033. Voters understood that this misguided proposal would have precluded our ability to recover from these extraordinarily [...]
Redmond city council member and fellow progressive Kim Allen has a large lead over her opponent, Sally J. Chen, in early returns from King County Elections. Allen is winning with 61.9% of the vote. If she should keep her lead, Allen will serve her second term on the council.
Pierce county is going for Inititative 1033, but just barely:
Yes - 50.32% No - 49.68%
The statewide totals, now including heavily populated Pierce county and Yakima county, have changed just a bit but are still a substantial defeat for Tim Eyman:
Hello everyone! I'm here at Dow Constantine's Election Night party and it is rocking. The first (and only results for tonight) from King County put Dow at 57% and Susan Hutchison at 43%. People are ecstatic! Cheering of "Dow Now" are rampant through the packed ballroom at the Edgewater Hotel. [...]
If you take a look at the Washington state elections map, you'll see a large swath of green down the center of the state indicating approval of Initiative 1033, with yellow (that's our color) flanking it on both sides.
Most Puget Sound countes except for Mason county are' [...]
Spokane is rejecting Tim Eyman's latest bad idea. Current results from Spokane County are 43% in favor and 57% against the initiative. This important swing county has looked at the damage this measure would do to its already beleaguered governments and said ,"No."
The news was good early on from Maine on Question 1: Early returns showed a close contest, as had been forecast. With 70 of 608 precincts reporting, the gay-marriage side had 53 percent to 47 percent for the other side.
For our Western Washington readers who aren't out watching results come in while partaking in election night festivities, here is an alphabetical guide to when you can expect election results to be reported in your county (click on the links for results as they are reported):
Here's a little something to whet the appetites of those anxiously awaiting election results tonight who are not otherwise engaged in get out the vote efforts (and if you aren't, you better have at least contacted your closest friends and relatives and reminded them about the election).
In less than twelve hours, it'll be curtains for the 2009 general election as the deadline passes to get ballots to drop sites. Those who are planning to mail in their ballots should get to the Post Office several hours in advance of 8 PM to' [...]
In just twenty four hours, the 2009 general election will come to a close. The most important thing on this year's ballot is Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033, which would, if passed, devastate our economy and make it impossible for us to ever climb out of the Great Recession. For those [...]
To balance their budgets, cities could cut money from public libraries, but doing so would affect people from every corner of the city, and would cause more money to be spent elsewhere. Is it worth the cost?
As I mentioned last Monday, the Seattle Public Library has been [...]
As longtime readers know, we often take the trouble to remind the traditional press that Tim Eyman's campaigns are not grassroots. Anyone who carefully tracks Eyman, as we do, can see for this for themselves, because Eyman depends on one rich guy for the vast bulk of the cash he [...]
Last year we in King County experienced the last election we may ever have at the polls, as we have only held vote by mail elections this year. I was fortunate enough be involved in to what turned out to be an unnecessary part of the process.
The trick or treaters are certainly out in force tonight (well, at least in Redmond!) Fortunately, I've got plenty of candy to hand out, when I'm not making phone calls in support of NO on Initiative 1033 and Approve Referendum 71.
Here's a quick Halloween roundup: There was a [...]
Pity the poor commuters in the Bay Area this week. The Oakland Bay Bridge, which carries about a quarter million cars per day, is closed. An emergency repair put in place this past Labor Day weekend failed, dropping a couple of tons of steel down on the bridge deck. [...]
"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries."
- Anne Herbert
Washington State's libraries are hurting. The Great Recession - coupled with the voters' frequent unwillingness to exempt libraries from the draconian limits imposed by [...]
Have any plans for Halloween? How about helping get out the vote?
The Washington Bus is back this year with Trick or Vote, the coolest way to make a difference in this fall's election and have a lot of fun at the same time. Last year, hundreds of volunteers [...]
With Election Night 2009 now less than a hundred and twenty hours away, campaigns are starting to release information about where their parties are going to be. The following is the list we've compiled from announcements collected today. We'll update the list as we get more announcements.
How appropriate... a couple days before Halloween, two Oregon unions representing thousands of teachers are going after Oregon's zombie version of Tim Eyman (Bill Sizemore) who just keeps coming back to mess with Oregon no matter how hard he falls. Sizemore bought his way onto the ballot four times last' [...]
When we have money to invest, we want to put it somewhere that will give us high returns on our dollar. Our government should be looking at its investments in the same way. An excellent place for investment is our very young children, who pay big dividends to society and [...]
Today Canonical - the company that sponsors the development of the world's most popular GNU/Linux distribution, Ubuntu - is taking the wraps off of the latest version, 9.10, codenamed "Karmic Koala".
Karmic is said to be the most polished version of Ubuntu ever created. [...]
November 3rd sure doesn't look so far away anymore.
After a long summer and a busy autumn, the deadline for turning in ballots is coming up fast, and the campaign against Tim Eyman'sInitiative 1033 is entering its final days. The coalition has launched a new television [...]
So the big news today is that Boeing has decided to put its second 787 Dreamliner production line in Charleston, South Carolina instead of Everett, Washington.
Cue a legion of right wing commenters coming out of the woodwork to gloat that it's all the fault of the International Association [...]
Sorry about the name calling in the title, but... what a jerk!
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told reporters today that he would in fact filibuster any health care bill he doesn't agree with--and right now, he doesn't agree with the public option proposal making its way through the [...]
Longtime readers know that we at NPI are not very fond of polls. We like to say the only real poll that matters is on Election Day. But there is one poll out there that we do put more stock in than others, and that's the Washington Poll. Conducted by [...]
It's no secret that Tim Eyman's latest scheme to wreck government and destabilize budgets (Initiative 1033) is a complicated mess that's difficult to understand. The initiative is marketed as a property tax cut, but in reality it doesn't cut property taxes... it redirects sales taxes and other revenue [...]
The poor economy has hit Washington’s city services hard, and Seattle’s public libraries could also feel the blow. The city of Seattle must cut $72 million dollars out of its budget in order to fix a large revenue shortfall, and its public libraries are one of the likely [...]
Editor's Note: Welcome to the third installment of a special series chronicling religious opposition to Tim Eyman'sInitiative 1033.
On Wednesday morning, four leaders representing different faiths came together to urge the people of Washington State to reject Initiative 1033 because it is not in keeping with' [...]
Congratulations are in order today to one of our region's biggest employers.
Microsoft (which, like NPI, calls Redmond home) today released the next version of its Windows operating system, which dominates the desktop market worldwide. Its simple name, Windows 7, is symbolic of all the work Microsoft invested into [...]
Susan Hutchison wants to be the next King County executive, but she doesn’t want King County voters to know who she is.
And in a largely Democratic county (70% voted for Obama in 2008), her charade could mean that some voters will assume her “nonpartisan” label means that [...]
Editor's Note: Welcome to the second installment of a special series chronicling religious opposition to Tim Eyman'sInitiative 1033.
On Wednesday morning, four leaders representing different faiths came together to urge the people of Washington State to reject Initiative 1033 because it is not in keeping with [...]
Editor's Note: Welcome to the first installment of a special series chronicling religious opposition to Tim Eyman'sInitiative 1033.
This morning, four leaders representing different faiths came together to urge the people of Washington State to reject Initiative 1033 because it is not in keeping with the [...]
The Daily Astorian, Clatsop County's newspaper of record, published a great editorial today urging Washingtonians to vote down I-1033: Oregon's southern neighbor has become a textbook example of how not to operate state finances. Now our northern neighbor is wading into the same quicksand.