The PI picks the top news stories of 2010. I pick the most overlooked stories.
The PI.com has posted its choices for the top political news stories of the year. They list: Mike McGinn (including how he framed the tunnel debate); devastated budgets; Patty Murray; the Census; state initiatives; and King County vs. the GOP.
Not so sure about “the Census” —the resulting 10th CD will be more of a 2011 story—and while King County has definitely thwarted the GOP (“fallow ground for the GOP” the PI says), the “few state legislative victories” they acknowledge were actually significant. Of the four state senate seats the Republicans picked up this year (they whittled away a 31-18 Democratic advantage to a 27-22 advantage), three of the them were in in King County, where Republicans ousted two liberals. The story here is that moderate Republicans seized the day in Washington State (as opposed to Tea Partiers). Oh, and the PI seems to forget all about U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA, 8). Yes, there’s some Pierce County in there, but Reichert primarily represents King and its Microsoft burbs.
As an addendum to the PI’s list, here’s what I’d say are a few of the most underrerported political stories of the year:
1. Why did US Rep. Brian Baird retire? (Baird, 54, was clearly angry and disaffected, and we tried to give some of his parting shots some press—nay on the Dream Act, yes to tax cuts for the wealthy, did not vote on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal.) But beyond a Wall Street Journal interview with Baird (where the outgoing rep trashes Speaker of the House US Rep. Nancy Pelosi for being “authoritarian” and promoting “groupthink”), his sudden departure went largely unexplored by the local press.
2. Campaign finance violations. Democratic consulting firm Moxie Media and the Tea-Party-funding-Koch-Brothers-corporate-roots group, Americans for Prosperity Washington, played fast and lose with state campaign finance rules this year. Both stories (the AFPW story went largely unnoticed while the Moxie story got some attention, but deserved a ton more) dovetailed with the national Citizens United story. (In January, the US Supreme Court ruled that limits on corporate donations to political groups was unconstitutional.)
The Moxie and AFPW stories could give Washington State AG Rob McKenna a chance to challenge Citizens United. We’ll see if the supposedly nonpartisan Republican AG McKenna takes that opportunity. Lacking more widespread coverage, the impetus may not be there.
3. Dow Constantine’s successful first year. Getting every county union, including the sheriff’s deputies’ union and the hardboiled transit union, to agree to wage concessions, first-year King County Executive Dow Constantine (with former GOP state senator Fred Jarrett at his side as deputy), has emerged as a formidable leader. I think this is the successful first chapter of a 2012 run for governor.
