Archives for September 2005

Speaking of elections, I’m a touch confused by (un)Sound Politics apparent dismay that (gasp!) a candidate for office is counting ballots in Pierce County. Aren’t these the same folks who vehemently argue that King County should have an elected auditor?

Um… I’m not particularly passionate about this issue one way or the other, but I’ve never quite understood the argument that the only way to take politics out of the elections department is to elect the guy running it. And… uh… doesn’t Stefan’s latest dig argue against having candidates working in the elections office?

Unless, of course, the unsound folk simply support an elected auditor because it would be perceived as a slap in the face of Ron Sims? Nah… that would be cynical.

Well, I’m guessing some people are awfully disappointed by the latest round of numbers just released by King County Records & Elections in the District 1 Council race: Bob Ferguson now leads Carolyn Edmonds by 1070 votes, 13212 to 12142.

Of course, Edmonds and her supporters are disappointed. But even more disappointed are some righty provocateurs who had hoped beyond hope that this race might fall within the .5% margin that triggers an automatic recount… throwing a monkey wrench into KCRE’s operations, and creating fertile ground for rehashing old news about old elections.

Oh well. I guess we’ll all just have to settle for talking about the issues.

I’m oddly flattered. I just got off the phone with an executive at a very prominent Seattle-area business, who called to urge me to drop my “stupid little stunt” seeking an injunction to shut down the Alaska Way Viaduct, the 520 bridge, and other dangerous roads. “Executive X” warned that should my lawsuit succeed, the region would lose thousands of jobs, and cost companies like his millions. I replied that no court would issue such an injunction without overwhelming evidence that these structures present an imminent danger, and thus stunt or not, a successful lawsuit would be a great public service.

He was unimpressed, and needless to say, he declined to contribute to my legal offense fund.

Actually, I think he was just feeling me out, trying to get a sense of whether I am serious about pursuing a lawsuit, and whether or not I have the legal or financial resources lined up to follow through. (I am serious, but no, I don’t yet have the resources.)

In any case, it was a brief call, and the conversation quickly turned to Dino Rossi. Executive X told me that both he and his company contributed to the Rossi campaign because they felt that he would be more sensitive to the needs of the business community, and was less likely to play politics on important issues (I had to suppress a giggle on that latter point), but… that Rossi could not be assured of similar support come 2008. He said that he had few complaints with Gov. Gregoire’s performance thus far, and that many in the business community would take a wait and see attitude. He also expressed extreme disappointment that Rossi had allowed himself to be used to promote Initiative 912.

Executive X would not say if he has had any private conversations with Rossi about the transportation improvement package, and the initiative that would repeal it. While he believes Rossi is “aware” of the strong position his and other companies have taken in opposition to I-912, he’s not sure that Rossi “fully appreciates the potential political ramifications.” He wouldn’t elaborate on what those ramifications might be.

This was not a friendly conversation; he told me that my blog was “irresponsible” and “dangerous”, and that he feared that my efforts opposing I-912 were counterproductive… that I should leave the No campaign to the “professionals.” (Like I haven’t heard that before.) He also expressed doubt that I would keep my promise to protect his anonymity, and thus refused to provide many details.

Personally, I just think he was having a bad Monday morning.

But he made one thing absolutely clear: defeating I-912 is a big deal to him and other members of the business community… a big enough deal that he bothered to take a couple minutes out of his busy schedule to call up and complain to an irresponsible, dangerous, untrustworthy blogger like me.

So the question I have for Executive X and other business leaders is: “Where’s Rossi?”

It looks like the Boeing strike is over:

The company gave in to union demands on issues that had triggered the strike more than three weeks ago and which had shut down Boeing’s jetliner production in the Puget Sound area at a critical time, just as Boeing was cranking up to meet growing demand by customers for new jets.

Apparently, former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, a Boeing consultant, helped broker the deal.

Anyway… good news for the machinists, good news for Boeing, and good news for the whole region.

I sure do enjoy teasing the Seattle Times editorial board, but apart from their pandering to publisher Frank Blethen’s obsession with repealing the estate tax, I really do respect their right to use their op/ed pages to promote candidates and causes I generally find wrongheaded, selfish or downright silly. I mean… it’s not like they’re out shooting dogs or something.

And occasionally I even learn something useful. For example, take today’s column by editorial board member James Vesely on a recent Elway poll exploring community attitudes on the Eastside.

In “Resident Opinions About Life on the Eastside,” Elway discovered the top four reasons people gave for high satisfaction with where they live: parks and recreation

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I hate to steal a page from the Karl Rove playbook, but King County executive wannabe David Irons is a flip-flopper. Take for example his “stance” on Southwest Airlines’ controversial proposal to move to Boeing Field.

If elected, he wrote earlier this month to Boeing Field neighbors who don’t want more airplanes flying over their homes, “I will put a stop to this ridiculous proposal.”

On Monday, he wrote in an e-mail to a supporter of the Southwest proposal that if the airline paid for road improvements, “I am open to this concept.”

Flippity.

Irons, a county councilman, said yesterday he has been consistent on the issue. He’s willing to consider a Southwest operation at Boeing Field, but only if it pays for road improvements

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Eeewww… what’s that smell? Oh… must be the comment thread.

With another 1775 ballots counted today, Carolyn Edmonds has jumped ahead of Bob Ferguson by 79 votes, 10443 to 10364. FYI, we’re back in automatic recount territory.

You wouldn’t know it from looking at the Seattle Monorail Project’s website, but apparently, the Monorail is dead:

The City Council today yanked its support for the Seattle Monorail, dealing a blow that council members declared would kill the embattled transit project.

In a unanimous vote, the nine-member council passed a resolution saying the city will deny street-use permits for the monorail’s proposed 14-mile Green Line.

A unanimous vote.

While the pragmatist in me agrees with the Council’s decision, I can’t help but feel wistful for what might have been. The Monorail was a bold, outrageous and exciting dream, and as columnist Danny Westneat poignantly observes in today’s Seattle Times: “Cities would wither without dreamers.”

And so rather than mourn the death of the Monorail, I’ve decided to celebrate the imagination and passion of the dreamers who envisioned it, by proposing a truly unique elevated transit vision of my own: The Seattle Rollercoaster Project.

Of course, it will take a couple hundred million dollars to determine the final route and design, but I’m guessing existing elevations would surely support a gravity-powered track along the West Seattle to downtown portion of the SMP’s proposed Green Line… and unlike the Monorail, the SRP would rely on a tried and true rail technology that has been widely used in thousands of locations for over 100 years.

Still, all transit technologies have their plusses and minuses. On the plus side, the SRP could potentially speed passengers from West Seattle to the downtown waterfront in under a minute… depending on the number of loop-the-loops and hair-raising, hairpin turns. On the minus side, the return trip back up the long, rickety, chain-driven ramp could take well over an hour, and the open-air cars aren’t well suited towards our rainy clime. (And of course, the biggest drawback is that you have to be taller than Mickey to ride.)

But in a city where voters have four times approved an elevated rail system based on Disneyland technology, why not just choose the most popular amusement park ride of them all? I’ve never seen anybody zig-zag through a 45-minute line with two, screaming, sugar-jacked kids in tow, just to ride a city bus… but a rollercoaster would virtually guarantee ridership, even under the worst conditions. Indeed, no transportation alternative is more likely to coax Seattlites out of their precious cars and onto public transit than the SRP.

But why stop there when we can truly turn Seattle into the most magical place on earth? We could recreate the pioneer days of the original “Skid Row” by building a giant flume ride down Yesler! And don’t tear down that Viaduct, when with few modifications we could transform it into a frighteningly realistic knockoff of the “Earthquake” ride at Universal Studios!

Yes, all it takes to solve our region’s transportation needs is a little imagination and a dream.

Or, barring that… I suppose we could settle for a coherent, multi-modal regional strategy, and a boring transportation package that tediously prioritizes fixing and replacing the decaying infrastructure we already have.

Still, that rollercoaster sure would be fun.

As disappointing as last November’s elections were for progressives nationwide, the 2004 election season wasn’t all gloom and doom. The emerging grassroots fundraising prowess of organizations like MoveOn promises to put progressive candidates and causes on a competitive — if not equal — financial footing, while the sudden and growing dominance of the progressive blogosphere shows signs of undermining the institutional advantage enjoyed by the right-wing media echo chamber. Together, both these developments bode well for our ability to clearly communicate the progressive message in future campaigns.

But when we look back a decade from now, I’m guessing that the day Progressive Majority set up shop in Washington state will stand out as the most significant recent development in state and local politics.

Some people may find it hard to get excited about the mundane task of recruiting, training and supporting new candidates for “down ballot” races, but these oft overlooked local offices are the minor leagues from which future political all-stars will arise. If we want to eventually take back Congress and shift the nation towards a progressive agenda, then we need to establish progressive majorities at the local level, throughout the state, where we can develop and nurture new leadership for the 21st century. This is PM’s nuts-and-bolts’ mission… and it is one it is executing exceedingly well.

In an email yesterday, PM’s Washington State Director, Dean Nielsen touts the organization’s impressive success in Tuesday’s primary. Out of over 100 recruitment meetings, PM winnowed their 2005 endorsements to 20 key races… and of the 9 candidates appearing on the primary ballot, 8 will move on to the general election.

Dave Somers for Snohomish County Council faced a spirited Democratic primary between himself and Steven Hobbs, a 33-year-old veteran who was supported by some of the more centrist Democratic leaders. Somers defeated Hobbs 64% to 35%.

Fred Chang for Port Orchard City Council was the largest vote getter in this three-way primary, garnering 48% against the former mayor and an incumbent.

Liz Loomis is in a tough race for re-election to the Snohomish City Council. While she received the most votes, 46%, in a three-way primary, she will be running against a fellow council member who gave up his safe seat to run against her.

Lawrence Molloy for Seattle Port Commission came in second place in the three way primary, even though he did not spend any money on voter contact, choosing instead to save it for the general election versus conservative Jack Creighton III, the son of the former Weyerhauser CEO.

Pete Coates, who heads the Seattle/King County Building and Construction Trades Council, lost his five way primary for Seattle Port Commission.

Rockey Marshall appears to have made it through his 7-way primary for Yakima City Council with nearly 20% of the vote. The most conservative candidate garnered nearly 43% of the vote; however, he was the only conservative in the race. Progressive Majority members played a key role in this race by funding Rockey’s GOTV program that appears to have put him over the top.

Michelle Sandoval, running for re-election to the Port Townsend City Council against two competitors, received 46% and will advance to the general.

Judy Woods will face off against conservative former State Rep. Suzette Cooke for Kent Mayor. She pulled more votes than two incumbent Kent City Council members, Bruce White and Les Thomas, who were also running for the seat.

Helen McGovern received a majority of the votes in her race for Lakewood City Council. She faces Lisa Ikeda, a member of a conservative anti-tax group, in the general election.

All these candidates need your support in the November election, as does PM for it’s tireless efforts to change the face of Washington politics, one candidate at a time.

Last night I projected that Carolyn Edmonds would take the lead over Bob Ferguson once today’s batch of absentee ballots were counted. Um… man am I glad I added the following caveat:

Still, in Ferguson’s favor, projections like this turned out to be a complete and utter load of crap during the first count in last November’s gubernatorial race.

As it turned out, Ferguson expanded his lead to 134 votes, taking a 9583 to 9449 advantage. Oops.

I have been researching the engineering reports on the Alaska Way Viaduct, the 520 floating bridge, and other fast deteriorating bridges and structures in WA state… and the more I learn, the more frightened I get. It will not require a major earthquake or other natural disaster to bring down some of these structures: one of our run-of-the-mill, winter wind storms could easily sink the 520 bridge, while the Viaduct is slowly toppling over onto the waterfront, all on its lonesome. And yet, one of the typically smug taunts I routinely get from I-912 proponents whenever I raise these issues is, “If it’s so dangerous, why is it still open to traffic?”

Hmm.

And so I would like to make an appeal to any attorneys in my audience, or other concerned citizens willing to contribute materially or financially, to join me in suing WSDOT and other responsible public agencies to immediately shut down the Viaduct, the 520 bridge and other structures that present an imminent danger to public safety. Really.

I suppose there are some in this region who simply do not believe that these structures are unsafe, or who are willing to gamble that “the big one” won’t strike during their lifetime, or at least, when they or their loved ones are traversing one of these hazardous roads. It is human nature to procrastinate in the face of possible, yet uncertain, deadly disasters (hence, New Orleans inadequate levees.) But how many voters are willing to cancel or delay the state transportation improvement package when faced with the imminent threat of adding an hour or more to their daily commute… each way?

If the Viaduct closes, it will not only spill traffic onto the surface streets, but onto an already congested I-5… which will in turn push traffic onto the even more congested I-405. And if the 520 bridge closes, I-90 will crawl to a virtual standstill for much of the day. Close them both at the same time, and… well… good luck to those regularly commuting across or around Lake Washington.

Don’t get me wrong; this is not just some Machiavellian ploy. These roads really are that unsafe, and if the only alternative is inaction, we would be doing a public service by shutting them down. But in the weeks leading up to the vote on I-912, something needs to be done to drive home to voters the truly dangerous state of our decaying infrastructure… and I’m not afraid to be the one cutting the reality check.

No doubt a successful lawsuit would deliver a huge blow to our regional economy, but I have talked to several elected officials who would privately welcome somebody taking such a politically untenable action. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina our collective paralysis is unconscionable, and anybody who understands the engineering reports understands the moral imperative to act now.

The 520 bridge is brittle and crumbling, its pontoons springing leaks faster than they can be patched up. The Viaduct’s columns rest on unstable soil, and no amount of reinforcement can keep it from falling over. These and other structures are public hazards that need to be replaced immediately, or removed entirely… and I intend to make my case in a court of law.

I have neither the legal training nor the financial resources to pursue this on my own, so if you can substantially contribute money or legal expertise, or know of others who can, please drop me an email. I hope to file suit by early October, and if I can generate enough interest to proceed, I will open a “legal offense fund” so that others may contribute according to their means.

Of course, none of this would be necessary if Republican “leaders” like Dino Rossi would take a responsible, public stance on this dire issue, persuading their core constituents to vote no on the foolishly obstructionist I-912. But barring such an uncharacteristic fit of candor, I will be forced to follow the only lead Rossi has ever given the people of this state, and turn to the courts to achieve an objective I might not be able win at the polls.

A SurveyUSA poll commissioned by KING-TV has some interesting numbers about several of the state-wide initiatives on the November ballot:

		Yes	No	Undecided
	I-912	52%	41%	7%
	I-901	67%	32%	1%
	I-900	45%	48%	6%

I-912 would repeal the state transportation improvement package, I-901 would ban smoking in public buildings and vehicles, and I-900 is Tim Eyman’s superfluous performance audits initiative. Of course, everybody expects I-901 to pass by a large margin, but I was pleasantly surprised by the relative weakness of both I-912 and I-900.

That I-912 is only polling at 52% just 7 weeks out from the election proves that this incredibly short-sighted initiative is beatable, and should encourage opponents to spend whatever is necessary to defeat it. Anybody who still thinks I-912 is a sure thing, is kidding themselves. Voters may not like higher taxes, but the more they understand what they’ll lose by passing the initiative, the less attractive it looks.

As for the over-reaching I-900, it looks like Eyman’s comeback initiative may fall short after all… a particularly amusing prospect considering it’s drawn no organized opposition. I think it is quite possible that the reference to the sales tax in the ballot title might actually confuse voters into thinking this is a tax increase… thus hoisting Timmy on his own anti-tax petard. I’d say the closeness of this poll would portend an election night drama… that is, if anybody actually cared about I-900 besides me and Timmy.

In any case, I’m liking these numbers.

King County Elections just posted an update, including a batch of late arriving absentee ballots, and Carolyn Edmonds has closed the gap on Bob Ferguson to a mere 25 votes. Ferguson now leads 8093 (49.97%) to 8068 (49.81%).

The county received 27,000 absentee ballots today, and these numbers represent all the ballots they had on hand. According to Elections spokesperson Bobbie Egan, they will continue to receive ballots through next Tuesday, so it is “impossible to determine” how many might be outstanding. Edmonds did substantially better amongst absentee voters than at the polls, so it is still possible she could take the lead some time over the next week.

UPDATE:
I think I misunderstood Bobbie. From the KCRE website:

King County Elections today counted 53,068 additional ballots […] Ballots counted through today include those received through Election Day.

I think that means that today’s update does not include the 27,000 ballots received today. Assuming the rest of the absentee ballots break similarly to those already counted, Edmonds will likely win by a margin that should survive a recount.

UPDATE, UPDATE:
I just did a little math, and it turns out that Edmonds continued to garner 54% of the late absentees counted today, just as she had with the early absentees counted on election night. Since there’s no reason to suspect that these trends will reverse themselves, it looks like Edmonds is headed to victory.

The 3515 new votes added to this afternoon’s tally represent about 6.6% of the 53,068 total new ballots countywide. Thus, extrapolating from previous returns, Edmonds would open up about a 120-vote margin on the strength of the 27,000 absentees that arrived today. It now seems likely that she’ll win by a large enough margin to avoid an automatic recount.

Still, in Ferguson’s favor, projections like this turned out to be a complete and utter load of crap during the first count in last November’s gubernatorial race.

From: Reed, Sam [Sec. of State]
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 200511:03 AM
To: Logan, Dean
Cc: [County Auditors]
Subject: King County Election Goes Well

Dean —

Congratulations on a very smooth election. Based on the calls I received alone, I know you were in a pressure cooker being scrutinized, analyzed and second-guessed throughout the election. It’s very impressive how well you and your crew executed it.

With a few minor glitches here and there around the state, the election went well everywhere. What a relief! It reafirms what exceptional leadership we have in the County Auditors’ offices throughout the state.

Onward and upward!

— Sam