Archives for February 2009

A number of the players who were heavily invested in last year’s gubernatorial rematch between Gov. Chris Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi subscribe to the notion that the beginning of the end for Rossi, who had appeared to have closed the gap on Gregoire in September polling, was the night he said, during a debate hosted by the Association of Washington Business in Blaine, that he was open to considering a scaling back of the minimum wage for teenagers in Washington state.

Two weeks later the Rossi campaign suffered an embarrassing setback when Kittitas County Republican Party Chair Matt Manweller, a CWU political science professor, unleashed a tirade outside of an Ellensburg campaign rally, calling supporters of Washington state’s minimum wage “dumber than a post.”

Well, even without their guy Rossi in the governor’s mansion, the good politicians of Central Washington aren’t giving up on it.

State Rep. Mike Armstrong (R-Wenatchee) introduced a bill today that would allow state employers to pay 15 year olds 85% of the Federal minimum wage. Today that wage is $6.55, which would make the Armstrong’s proposed 15-year old wage $5.57.

Washington state’s current minimum wage is $8.55, making this would-be $3.00 decrease even steeper than the $1.50 proposed by Rossi last fall.

“When I was a teenager, I worked in the orchards around Wenatchee picking apples, cherries and other fruit,” Armstrong said in a press release, recalling the halcyon days of the early 1970s. “A training wage would help to further expand these opportunities for your young people and be a savings to farmers struggling to pay for harvest and stay in business.”

In other words, think of the children!

The bill was referred to the House Commerce and Labor Commmittee, where one can assume it will die a slow death. Committee chair Rep. Steve Conway (D-Tacoma), whose House website lists his top legislative priority as “family wage jobs”, did not return a call seeking comment about the bill’s fate.

Ironically, this was only one of two bills introduced today regarding 15 year olds, whose political stock is at an all-time high on this Groundhog’s Day. Sen Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle) brought a bill to the Senate floor that would ban children under the age of 16 from hunting in Washington state without adult accompaniment.

Poor kids.

If the Democrats get their way, they won’t be able to work or hunt. How will they ever feed their families? Good thing they can still get their contraceptives without much hassle, right?

For those of us who really like Ron Sims, yet were dreading the prospect of a campaign for a fourth term as King County Executive, his announcement today that he has accepted the number two position at the Department of Housing and Urban Development is a welcome relief.

Fourth terms are difficult for executives to win at all levels of government, as voters and the media tend to grow weary of their executives in a way we don’t seem to grow weary of legislators. It would have been a difficult campaign, and he might have lost, and I’m not sure Ron’s heart was really in it in the first place.  And so this plum position at HUD—overseeing the day-to-day operations of a department with a $39 billion budget and 8,500 employees—is exactly the kind of graceful exit Ron deserves, and for which many of his friends and supporters had hoped.

So congratulations Ron.  (And congratulations to Publicola for sticking with this scoop even while Sims’ office vehemently denied it.)

UPDATE:
From the HUD press release :

"Ron’s track record as an innovative leader with an exciting vision for the future of our nation’s communities make him the perfect Deputy Secretary candidate as we tackle the nation’s housing crisis amidst the biggest economic downturn in decades," said HUD Secretary, Shaun Donovan. "His experience at the helm of a large urban government provides a critical perspective and his collaborative approach to problem-solving has prepared him to effectively lead HUD’s operations as the agency charts a new aggressive course."

[…] "I am thrilled and honored that Ron has agreed to be considered for this role," added Donovan. "He is the perfect person to help HUD return to national leadership on metropolitan planning. Together, we will work with President Obama to ensure HUD is doing all it can to help the nation’s communities recover from today’s economic realities and to better position them for the future."

Pan B is not an abortifacient, even if that inconvenient fact destroys the entire premise of Joe Connelly’s column this morning. While it’s great fun to attack liberals for hypocrisy, it’s actually more fun if it’s actually true.

If I were a pharmacist I would, as a matter of conscience, require men getting erectile dysfunction medications to present a marriage license and an affidavit from their wife acknowledging approval. That would pretty much stop this endless, phony controversy, which at its core represents the desire of religious extremists to subjugate women. If contraception is so evil, why are medically created erections so damn holy? Huh?

This is an excellent example of how regulations need to be written in a practical, careful and balanced manner, since there can be severe medical consequences if a woman is wrong about when intercourse happened or is lying about it. Pharmacists are not doling out chicklets back there, so it might be wise to avoid “make them give it out or else” regulations as well.

We’re supposed to be at the end of the attacks on science, but guess not. It has been cold this winter, so there’s another column that could be written.

Last week’s contest was won by wes.in.wa in only 16 minutes. It was Middlesbrough, UK (link here). Here’s this week’s, good luck!

Not a surprise, but The Columbian confirms that some people got telephone calls warning them to take their money out of the about-to-fail Bank of Clark County, and some didn’t. And it’s legal!

Insider calling did occur. According to one contractor with $500,000 on deposit at the bank, he was alerted by a telephone tipster to get his money out of the bank two days in advance of the Jan. 16 closure. “Thank God,” he said, “or I wouldn’t now be in business.”

According to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. documents, customers pulled an estimated $28 million out of Bank of Clark County as word got around that the bank was circling the drain.

Others weren’t so lucky to get the advance notice.

At least one retired senior is wondering when or if she will get back $160,000 in uninsured deposits with the bank.

So the bidness guys and gals made sure their buddies were warned. The hoi polloi who had deposits over the insurance limit, well, we’re sorry.

Let me emphasize that, according to The Columbian, this was all legal. Apparently bankers can go around tipping off their friends, no problem. Neat system we have.

And politicians wonder why people get up in arms. Maybe someone at that big domed thing in Olympia would like to look into all this? I know life isn’t always fair, but little old ladies losing their money while contractors get theirs just doesn’t seem right.

I hope everyone enjoys the game today.

As HA/JOA expands here to incorporate different subjects into its offering, sports will certainly be part of that. We’re already working on setting up a Sounders blog, but we want to hear about what else to cover. If you have any interest in being a sports blogger with us, drop me an email (linked on my name above).