Viva La Cola!

Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

x close
The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Threatening Payback

Morning Fizz   May 17, 2010 at 8:15 am Morning Fizz

1. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA, 1) had a testy standoff with a global warming critic at a recent House Energy Independence & Global Warming Committee hearing. Inslee nails the the critic for misrepresenting himself as a “Lord” in the British Parliament and the “Lord” strikes back accusing scientists of regurgitating green propaganda as part of a liberal research grant complex.

Watch it:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RPX4zFeMGw&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

2. Despite the fact that Washington state’s proposal to get $250 million in federal Race to the Top education money from the Obama administration falls short on some Obama goals like standardized teacher evaluations and charter schools, Gov. Chris Gregoire had a clever strategy: She was lining up local district buy-in to impress the feds with the fact that our state’s plan could actually work.

Easier said than done: The Tacoma News Tribune reported last week that only 34 percent of the state’s school districts have signed on.

The Seattle teachers union votes this week which could add Seattle, whose school board has already signed on, to the list.

3. Lefty State Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-49, Vancouver), running for the open seat in the 3rd U.S. Congressional District,  scored the sole endorsement of the Washington State Labor Council this weekend. The Council, the state’s AFL-CIO affiliate which represents hundreds of local unions statewide, will now put its campaign and doorbelling muscle behind Pridemore over his Democratic rival, Denny Heck. Heck, the founder of TVW and a former aide to Booth Gardner, had widely been considered the frontrunner by the Democratic establishment in the race.

In the hot race between three Democrats in the 34th District, WSLC co-endorsed Joe Fitzgibbon and Marcee Stone over Mike Heavey.

Our report from this weekends’ WSCL endorsement meeting is here.

It’s also worth noting who didn’t get the WSLC’s endorsement. The WSLC’s relationship with the Democratic leadership has corroded over the last two sessions in Olympia, particularly this past session when state employees got hit by furloughs and, in labor’s opinion, were threatened by the so-called “Roadkill Caucus,” a crew of “corporate Democrats” who led efforts to kill unemployment insurance expansion,  privatize liquor (which threatens union jobs), whittle down state employee health benefits, and increase the regressive sales tax.

The WSLC has actually been threatening payback ever since last year when Democratic leadership killed the workers’ privacy act—legislation to end captive meetings where management browbeats employees about the downside of unionization.

So, while liberal Democrats who are in tough elections like state Reps. Tami Green (D-28 ) Geoff Simpson (D-47), and Roger Goodman (D-45) got the nod from the WSLC this weekend—several Democrats, also in tough races, like Roadkill state Sen. Chris Marr (D-6) and Sens. Rodney Tom (D-48) and Claudia Kauffman (D-47) did not.

Several Seattle-area Democrats—House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-43), Reps. Jamie Pedersen (D-43), Reuven Carlyle (D-36) and Sen. Ed Murray (D-43) also failed to get WSCL’s endorsement. It’s only a symbolic gesture because legislators like Chopp aren’t being challenged, but the WSLC did endorse other unopposed Seattle Democrats like liberals Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-34) and Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Wells (D-36.)

We’ve posted the full list below the fold.

WSLC Endorsements:

Congressional Candidates:

§     U.S. Senate — Patty Murray

§     CD-01 — Jay Inslee

§     CD-02 — Rick Larsen

§     CD-03 – Craig Pridemore

§     CD-04 – Jay Clough

§     CD-06 — Norm Dicks

§     CD-07 — Jim McDermott

§     CD-08 – Suzan DelBene

§     CD-09 — Adam Smith

Statewide Candidates:

§     Supreme Court – Charlie Wiggins

§     Supreme Court – Barbara Madsen

§     State Court of Appeals Div. 2, Pos. 2 – Michael Spearman

Ballot Measures:

§     OPPOSE Initiative 1053 — Tim Eyman’s 2/3 supermajority requirement on budget issues

§     OPPOSE Initiative 1082 — Workers’ comp privatization

§     SUPPORT Initiative 1098 — High-earners’ income tax

§     SUPPORT Ref. 52 — Jobs Act of 2010 (Schools & Jobs)

§     OPPOSE ANY initiative to privatize state liquor stores

§     OPPOSE ANY initiative to repeal any part of the 2010 revenue package

Legislative Candidates:

LD-01
House Pos. 1 — Derek Stanford
House Pos. 2 — Luis Moscoso

LD-02
House 1 — Bruce Lachney
House 2 — Tom Campbell

LD-03
House 1 — Andrew Billig
House 2 — Timm Ormsby

LD-05
House 2 — Dean Willard

LD-11
House 1 — Zack Hudgins
House 2 — Bob Hasegawa

LD-17
House 2 — Monica Stonier

LD-18
House 1 — Dennis Kampe

LD-20
House 1 — Corinne Tobeck

LD-21
House 1 — Mary Helen Roberts
House 2 — Marco Liias

LD-22
House 1 — Chris Reykdal
House 2 — Sam Hunt

LD-23
House 1 — Sherry Appleton

LD-24
House 1 — Kevin Van De Wege

LD-25
House 1 — John Thompson

LD-26
House 1 — Sumner Schoenike

LD-28
House 1 — OPPOSE Steve O’Ban
House 2 — Tami Green

LD-29
House 1 — Connie Ladenburg
Senate — Steve Conway

LD-30
House 1 — Mark Miloscia
House 2 — Carol Gregory

LD-31
House 1 — Peggy Levesque

LD-32
House 1 — Cindy Ryu
Senate — Maralyn Chase

LD-33
House 2 — Dave Upthegrove
Senate — Karen Keiser

LD-34
House 2 — Marcee Stone and Joe Fitzgibbon (dual endorsement)
Senate — Sharon Nelson

LD-36
House 2 — Mary Lou Dickerson
Senate — Jeanne Kohl-Welles

LD-38
House 1 — John McCoy
House 2 — Mike Sells

LD-42
House 1 — Al Jensen
Senate — Patrick Jerns

LD-44
House 1 — Hans Dunshee
Senate — Lillian Kaufer

LD-45
House 1 — Roger Goodman

LD-46
House 1 — Scott White
House 2 — Phyllis Kenney

LD-47
House 1 — Geoff Simpson
House 2 — Pat Sullivan

LD-49
House 2 — Jim Moeller


  • Mikos

    Just a note. The News Tribune's numbers on the number of districts signing on to RTTT. Roughly 155 have signed on; that's about two-thirds of all school children. This still falls short of Gregoire's goal of 75% of districts.

  • http://www.joeszilagyi.com/ Joe Szilagyi

    'and the “Lord” strikes bike'

    Inslee got biked? That sounds dirty.

  • elaineinballard

    Would someone please run against Reuven Carlyle, please?

  • elaineinballard

    Would someone please run against Reuven Carlyle, please?

  • kurisu

    Why don't you?

  • David Kelley

    I know there is never enough space to cover everything, but how about a mention for Lillian Kaufer? She just beat out Steve Hobbs, an incumbent and the leader of the Roadkill Caucus, for the WSLC endorsement.
    (Full disclosure: I am Lillian's campaign manager)

  • elaineinballard

    Not my thing. But I'd volunteer to support the right person.

  • Democratic Dino

    You should do it Elaine. Instead of debates, you and Reuven could do a side by side blog.

  • Democratic Dino

    You should do it Elaine. Instead of debates, you and Reuven could do a side by side blog.

  • elaineinballard

    I'd win that contest, if it was based solely on brevity of blog posts!

  • Democratic Dino

    And/or overall number of blog posts. ;-)

  • Scuba Steve

    Why wasn't Tina Orwall in the 33rd LD endorsed? Anyone know?

  • N8

    Funny that Jay Inslee uses the same tactics to try to discredit this guy as non-climate change believers try to use to discredit climate change.

    Jay, are you an authoritative figure on British titles? And you what is this, you didn't even bring one (not even one) with you before trying to discredit this witness's title? I find that impressive, or unimpressive, depending on how you look at it.

  • http://ithoughtathink.blogspot.com Ryan
  • Trevor

    FYI a new group, the Community Coalition for Law Enforcement Accountability, will be holding a press conference on Tuesday, May 18, at 11:00 am at City Hall on the 7th Floor.

  • Starx

    Full disclousre: Lillian Kaufer is running on a small business platform but ran her business into bankruptcy and was dragged into court by the State as recently as 2006 for failure to pay business taxes.

    She made her bones as an anti Wal Mart activist but her 2005 business bankruptcy documents list over $7,000 in WalMart debt…at the same time she was calling on her neighbors to avoid the big box giant.

    Worse yet, she'll lie to anybody and deny the aforementioned facts. It's all public record though, and whether it's Josh or Jerry Cornfield or someone else this will all come out and a lot of early endorsers will be left holding the bag.

    There's a reason why Kaufer didn't get the nomination of the party, and there's a reason why she lost in 2006.