June 15, 2010
By Camden Swita at 5:02 pm
1. Over the weekend, Erik Smith at the Washington State Wire noticed that the I-1100 signature gathering table at a Costco had suddenly disappeared. He did some reporting; across the state, all the tables at Costco (which has donated $535,000 to the measure) were gone. Could this mean that I-1100, one of two measures to [...] read more →
By Camden Swita at 12:38 pm
GOP challenger Dino Rossi has gained ground on incumbent U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) over the past six weeks according to the latest Elway poll. According to an earlier Elway poll, Rossi trailed Murray 34 percent to 51 percent at the beginning of May, but now trails by just 7 points—40 percent to 47 percent. read more →
June 14, 2010
By Camden Swita at 6:08 pm
1. Jim Brunner over at the Seattle Times‘ Politics Northwest blog has a piece about longtime reporter Robert Mak’s return to KING TV after a controversial (and brief) stint in Mayor Greg Nickels’ office. Mak caused a stir in 2008 when sold out and left KING, where he’d been for 16 years, to work as [...] read more →
June 11, 2010
By Camden Swita at 6:03 pm
1. The Columbian’s Political Beat blog reports that a Tea Party group called We the People Vancouver has sent word to Clint Didier—the state’s premier Tea Party candidate for U.S. Sen. Patty Murray’s (WA-03) seat—and Dino Rossi, the Republican establishment’s pick—asking both candidates to debate, or at least respond to the same questions in the [...] read more →
June 10, 2010
By Camden Swita at 6:02 pm
1. On SeattlePI.com’s Strange Bedfellows blog, Chris Grygiel reports on a poll by SurveyUSA about the new law that makes texting while driving a primary offense in Washington. Only 60 percent of those who responded to the poll said they’ll obey the law. 2. The West Seattle Blog reports on a new contender for King [...] read more →
By Camden Swita at 4:48 pm
British Columbia, Canada, has a new tax system that’s going to impact Seattle. B.C. is switching from a provincial sales tax to a value-added tax, which is similar to a sales tax except that it’s levied on the estimated value added to a product at each stage in its manufacture and distribution. That means folks [...] read more →
June 9, 2010
By Camden Swita at 6:16 pm
1. Northwest News Network’s Austin Jenkins—on his “The Washington Ledge” blog—found out just how important the new candy and pop taxes are to the industry: The American Beverage Association has poured more than $1 million into the campaign for Initiative 1107, which would roll back all those taxes. 2. Emily Heffter, writing on the Seattle [...] read more →
By Camden Swita at 6:00 pm
This was originally posted yesterday. Governor Gregoire caved to the building industry’s concerns that Washington State’s revised energy code, which sets minimum requirements for energy efficiencies in the building industry and is set to take effect July 1, would negatively impact their ability to sell and build new houses. As we reported last week, the [...] read more →
By Camden Swita at 5:09 pm
Proponents of Initiative 1100, which would virtually eliminate the state’s role in liquor distribution and sales, were rebuffed, in large part, by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Thomas McPhee this afternoon. read more →
By Camden Swita at 12:21 pm
Chris Grygiel over at SeattlePI.com’s Strange Bedfellows has a big update on our scoop about Costco last week. (We had reported that the Costco was getting behind one of the two competing liquor sale privatization initiatives in Washington with a $350,000 check. Costco wrote the check to Initiative 1100, which would virtually wipe the state [...] read more →
June 8, 2010
By Camden Swita at 6:15 pm
1. Chris Grygiel of SeattlePI.com’s Strange Bedfellows re-blogs a post by political numbers nerd Nate Silver. Silver gives a nod to SurveyUSA, a robopolling firm out of New Jersey that’s prominent in these parts for the polls it does with KING-5, calling it a “strong polling firm” and claiming that “no company has done more to [...] read more →
By Camden Swita at 5:14 pm
This was originally posted at 2 pm today. Today, the U.S. Senate will consider completely removing the economic liability cap for oil companies responsible for a spill. The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act (BOBPA?), which would have raised that cap from $75 million to $10 billion, was proposed in early May after the spill and [...] read more →
