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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.

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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.

Rep. Adam Smith Blasted by ABC News

Politics, That Washington   May 25, 2010 at 3:32 pm Josh Feit

Central Puget Sound Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA, 9) came under fire on ABC News last week.

Watch the video here.

Smith is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, which voted to fund a second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35—a project the DOD itself says it doesn’t need.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is asking President Obama to veto any defense budget that includes the excess funding.

The $3 billion contract would go to GE.

I checked to see if GE is a big contributor to Smith and found, instead, that Lockheed Martin ($6,000)—the contractor for the first F-35 project, which is against the GE “boondoggle,” is among Smith’s top 10 contributors.

GE has kicked in $2,500 this cycle.




  • http://spifflines.blogspot.com/ John Bailo

    2nd engine? Where would you put it:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-35_Lightning_II

    The fuselage is the (single) engine!

  • keep clam

    The idea is not to have two engines on the same airplane — it's to have two different companies building engines that are compatible with the same plane. The argument for is that having two vendors providing similar engines would in theory keep prices down and quality up (competition).

  • Josh Feit

    Altho, as the DOD says in the ABC clip: Only in DC does competition mean every contractor gets a contract.

  • Anc

    What a waste. Reminds me of the Crusader and Future Combat Systems (which had over 500 subcontractors in over 40 states) which even though the military doesn't want it, keeps getting more and more funding.

    Congress should get to set an amount for the defense budget, not dictate where the money goes. That is best determined by professionals, not politicians.