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By Camden Swita at 3:31 pm

2010 Election, Politics, This Washington Things were looking bleak earlier this week for the signature-gathering campaign for I-1068, which would have legalized marijuana in Washington state. Today, it’s official: Douglas Hiatt, a lawyer for medical marijuana patients and spokesman for the I-1068 campaign, told the Associated Press they failed to gather the approximately 240,000 signatures necessary to make the November [...] read more →

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By Camden Swita at 11:48 am

2010 Election, This Washington EDITOR'S NOTE: THIS FEATURE ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED WEDNESDAY. In a local version of the Left's affront to Democratic U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, the Washington State Labor Council has endorsed Snohomish progressive Lilian Kaufer in her campaign against Dem incumbent state Sen. Steve Hobbs. read more →

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By Camden Swita at 5:54 pm

Politics Our daily roundup of what other blogs are covering. Today, we check in—as usual—with Jordan Schrader at the TNT. We also go to the Seattle Times for the story of the day (which we missed for some reason): The Washington Federation of State Employees is suing the state. read more →

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By Camden Swita at 5:45 pm

Politics Our daily roundup: A new statewide budget process, strike three for Medicaid funding, and why a Palin endorsement might hurt Republican candidates. read more →

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By Camden Swita at 12:38 pm

2010 Election, Politics, This Washington State Sen. Eric Oemig—one of the first Democrats elected from Seattle's Eastside burbs when the Democrats stole the turf from the Republicans in the mid-2000s—is now on the front lines as the GOP gears up to win it back in 2010. read more →

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By Camden Swita at 6:11 pm

Politics Our daily roundup of what the other political blogs are writing about. Today, the PI's Strange Bedfellows and The Seattle Times' Politics Northwest keep us up to date on all the initiatives. read more →

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By Camden Swita at 1:00 pm

Politics, This Washington The Building Industry Association of Washington’s (BIAW) effort to delay implementation of Washington State’s revised energy code, which sets minimum requirements for energy efficiencies in the building industry, set to take effect July 1, has prevailed. The BIAW had filed a lawsuit asking a federal court in Tacoma for an injunction against the impending revision [...] read more →

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By Camden Swita at 1:12 pm

Politics, This Washington The new state revenue forecast is out, and it should send chills down the spines of Washington State Democrats. The Economic and Revenue Forecast Council now projects that state revenue will be down $203 million between 2010 and 2011, meaning that the “ending fund balance” legislators left in their budget for emergencies is now down [...] read more →

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By Camden Swita at 11:14 am

This Washington The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion today to dismiss the constitutional challenge to Congress’ health care reform bill, which 19 Attorneys General including Washington’s Rob McKenna, are working on. McKenna had this to say about the motion: “The Justice Department’s motion today demonstrates that the federal government views this lawsuit as a serious [...] read more →

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By Camden Swita at 5:44 pm

Politics 1. Governor Gregoire took a trip to the north country to visit the deep bore tunnel in Vancouver, B.C., reports Jim Camden on the Spokesman Review’s Spin Control blog. “The Washington delegation is seeking to learn firsthand about the multi-billion dollar transportation mega-project and what lessons can be learned as the state moves forward with [...] read more →

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By Camden Swita at 4:21 pm

2010 Election, Politics, This Washington Today the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment to H.R. 4213—the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010—that would have tacked on a six-month extension to the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) funding, $480 million of which state Democrats depended on when they wrote their budget last session. FMAP is a percent of [...] read more →

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By Camden Swita at 12:59 pm

2010 Election, That Washington Near the end of March, I interviewed Clint Didier. I’d never heard of the candidate for U.S. Sen. Patty Murray’s seat; it’s likely nobody had, really. This was before he was the Tea Party star, although he’d been running since September 2009. He’s since met with Sarah Palin and, as we reported yesterday, the National [...] read more →

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