I think as the campaign season kicks into swing, I’m going to ask candidates for various offices questions. But I’d like to hear from the folks here. So far, I can think of some things I’d like to ask Seattle, King County, and Port candidates. If pressed, I could probably reasonably ask some things of some people running for mayor in some of the ring cities and some of the bigger cities in the area, or Seattle School board. But it’s an odd year, so nothing statewide. And I don’t know what local issues exist outside of the Puget Sound area.

Basically, while I have preferences that I’ll probably express pretty strongly about some of those positions between now and November, I want to ask questions that are more openended and to ask all of the candidates the same questions. So I’d email, say, 3-5 questions to each candidate per position and post them unedited here in some predetermined order on a predetermined date.

So is there anything you’d like a semi-popular Washington State political blog to ask of anyone?

Here are basically what I have so far, I’ve kept them vague for the most part so far so people can flesh out ideas in the comments without me saying here’s the question ahead of time:

Seattle City Council:

• Something about the Viaduct, probably cost overruns
• Something about police, preferably including accountability and safety
• Something about faster Internet across the city
• What is the city’s role in education and public transportation given how important they are to the city, but that other agencies are tasked with them?

King County

• Something about Metro service
• Something about services in general since the voters rejected Proposition 1 last year

Port of Seattle

• Something about how people run on reform, but it doesn’t seem like much has been done.
• How can the Port create jobs in the region?
• How can the Port reduce pollution/greenhouse gases, etc.
• Something about parks*

[Read more…]

– A tale of 2 headlines (h/t).

– Decent health care for the middle class is a feature of health care reform.

– Who could have predicted?

– Does anyone know where in Seattle you can catch the Women’s World Cup?

– Taste of Tacoma

Since Dow Constantine’s proposal to add a modest car tab fee to pay for buses is freaking some folks out (see, for example the comments to the linked article), I’m going to state the obvious: Many of the people (and many families) who own a car also use the bus system. We’ll hear a lot of the war on cars bullshit as this issue progresses.

But, there is no war on cars. Me riding the bus instead of taking my car makes the road a little less crowded than it would otherwise be. I don’t take the bus to unclog the roads, I take them because they’re convenient. Having a bus system helps me and everyone else on the road.

When I was growing up in the fairly close in suburbs there was a great freedom to be able to get on the bus. It meant I could go into the city any time I wanted. And it meant I was out of my parents’ hair for a few hours. While the 307 wasn’t the most convenient route (there was a long layover at the Northgate transit station, and it wasn’t particularly direct) it got me into the city long before I started driving, and my parents didn’t have to act as taxi drivers.

Also, plenty of people who drive most of the time take the bus occasionally, and it’s a nice thing to have. The last time my dad, who drives regularly, and I went to the Mariners’ game, he took the bus in. Saved the hassle of finding parking and fighting the rush hour traffic downtown.

The point of these examples isn’t that they’re comprehensive data, and it isn’t even to support the plan necessarily (I haven’t studied it enough, but like it in theory). The point is that the divide between “drivers” and “bus riders” is pretty artificial.

– Doctors still support Obama’s health care reform.

– Today in the GOP not being racist. (h/t)

– Oceans are “at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history” (h/t)

– McKenna’s record of reducing government.

– The Dawn space ship is going passed one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt.

I’m a fan of Publicola, but they’ve fallen into the same trap as much of the rest of the Seattle media on the McGinn and the tunnel. From a piece about Peter Hahn signing the Environmental Impact Statement for the tunnel (I assume by Josh, but it’s the Afternoon Jolt, so it doesn’t have a name attached, and he and Erica do the same thing).

The move could signify that McGinn’s administration has decided to back off (for now, anyway) from its single-minded opposition to the controversial project. The McGinn administration, mindful perhaps of polling that has linked his bad numbers to his nonstop focus on the tunnel, has been notably quiet about the tunnel these days. This even-keeled move will definitely draw applause from McGinn’s establishment opponents who consider him an obstructionist.

First off, you think McGinn’s establishment opponents give a fuck about policy? Nobody gives him credit for being bold on the Youth and Family initiative. Nobody thanks him for filling potholes quickly. Nobody gives him credit for a budget that didn’t cut social services. Despite the fact that he salted the roads during the snow storm like his establishment opponents demanded (and I think it’s bad policy, but it is clearly the position of Seattle insiders) he doesn’t get credit. So, no, I don’t think anyone will care that this time instead of asking for and being given more time by the state DOT that this time his people just signed it when their concerns were met.

But to the main point, McGinn has always been able to walk and chew gum (see the paragraph above, for examples of other things he does, and it doesn’t even get into the things that the establishment is against, but that deserve more coverage). He’s never been single minded about the tunnel. He’s always talked about other things. I’m sorry, but it’s been the media, including Publicola, who who see McGinn only through one highway project instead of through his budget and other policies.

Perhaps that’s why he has to stop talking about it. Because we have media who can’t stop talking about how much they’re over talking about the Viaduct replacement. The rap on him has always been that he’s a 1 issue candidate or a 1 issue mayor. But that’s never been the case. He’s always been able to chew gum and walk at the same time. He just needs an audience that won’t obsess about the gum thing.

No politics, just some great writing:

– A very sad story.

– When my dad and I were hustlers.

– Joe Posnanski on the death, and life, of Clarence Clemons.

– Lindy West’s Guide to Life for the Recent Graduates

– Even if you’ve read Eli Sanders’ Slog pieces about the trial of the South Park rapes and murder, it’s worth reading this whole article (although, damn, it’s a difficult read).

Nothing too egregious about this press release from Senator Joseph Zarelli about the budget forecast being tighter than we’d thought, but this was a bit off.

I would have been more comfortable leaving an even larger amount in reserve, but reaching this new budget agreement required a number of compromises, and the size of the ending fund balance was one. Our side figured the June forecast would be down significantly, just like the March forecast was, which is why we insisted on policy reforms that will save money going forward, and made sure this new budget was the first one since 1997 to spend less than anticipated revenue.

If he was that interested in having a larger reserve, he might have considered raising taxes. Yes, there was a 2/3 requirement, but if the chief Republican budget negotiator in the state senate had decided to push for higher taxes, it would have done a lot. So it seems like the things that made him most comfortable were (a) passing a budget since it was a special session, and all the legislators just wanted to go home already, (b) no tax increases, (c) having a reserve. Although (a) and (b) may not be in that order.

Sorry, I’m still writing about Anthony Weiner. His personal life isn’t of concern to me, nor is the fact that he lied about his personal life, but harassing women concerns me greatly. There is another side to Nick’s piece that I linked to in the open thread that “female members of the House Democratic leadership, as well as the female members of the rank-and-file, are actually personally upset” with his conduct. Namely, Democrats are the party of everyone gets a seat at the table, and as such we have more women in leadership and the rank and file, so more of our leadership and rank and file have got harassing nonsense at work or, for participating in politics, and are less likely to forgive it.

I’ve been thinking about what isn’t a good excuse for such behavior. So here’s a partial list of things that aren’t a good excuses for sending nude pictures of yourself or other harassing email/tweets/Facebook messages without consent:

• It’s the Internet, what do you expect?
• Other people cheat
• Other people are doing/have done something worse
• It was a joke
• Don’t you have a sense of humor
• It’s not a big deal
• He’s a good Congressman
• One of them was a Porn Star, so it’s OK
• Come on
• He’s taking on corporate crime, and that’s worse
• You’re playing into the hands of the GOP
• You’re playing into the hands of Breitbart
• You’re playing into the hands of corporate crooks

– What Nick said (except to add that it doesn’t have to be women who were offended).

– We really need universal single payer.

– I want a Democratic Party primary for governor and I want Jay Inslee to win it (probably, but I want that primary to be sure). It looks like it’ll be one or the other.

– Can we at least put disclosure on Citizens United now?

– Goodbye Point.

– This story about international cricket was really long and way too Boston centric, but I enjoyed it.

– What the fuck?

A helpful primer from a fellow driver who was on his bike this morning and observed worse than usual behavior from the cars on the road:

First, look to your left behind the steering wheel. Do you see a stick? OK, good. If you pull that stick up a bit, it will indicate that you are turning right. If you press it down, you’ll show the world that you’re turning left. Use it.

Also, I know I recently wrote about when bicyclists can ride through a red light, so take this with a grain of salt. If you’re in a car and there’s a red, you probably shouldn’t go through it. Especially, if I’m on a bike going through the green, there are pedestrians in the crosswalk, and you’re just going to have to wait in line for the onramp anyway.

Finally, some roads have a yellow stripe down the middle. This lets people know that cars will drive in both directions down this road. Keep to the right. No, your right. YOUR FUCKING RIGHT!

I’m glad that Senators Murray and Cantwell are among the senators pushing for a draw down of troops from Afghanistan. It’s past time we got serious about getting out. Bin Laden is dead. I’m not sure what good we’re doing there any more.

This is to say nothing of the money we’ve sunk and the lives lost there. So, yes, it’s very good to see Democrats pushing a Democratic president on this.

And yet, with Libya it’s not a lot of mainstream Democrats. Any time Kucinich gets to take the lead on something it’s because there aren’t a lot of other Democrats lined up. While I understand that unlike Iraq, the humanitarian mission isn’t total bullshit, Congressional approval ought to come before the bombs start falling. And that’s a principal that Democrats should stand for no matter who is in the White House. So even though I have nothing but contempt for the people who turned a blind eye when Bush was doing worse, I still hope they succeed in stopping our involvement in Libya.

– Cool bus shelter for a great man.

– If you want to scare an English person, tell them their health care might become more American.

– Fuse does the arrhythmic on McKenna’s education plan (h/t, Howie on Facebook).

– Pretty horrible effects of having busy highways and a port in your neighborhood. I’m glad the port is mitigating some of the worst of it.

– Kill Rockstars’ spring cleaning sale.

From CNN Money (h/t) more about the increased costs of college.

The numbers confirm what most middle class families already know — college is becoming so expensive, it’s starting to hold them back.

The crux of the problem: Tuition and fees at public universities, according to the College Board, have surged almost 130% over the last 20 years — while middle class incomes have stagnated.

And for better or for worse, a college education is becoming more and more a stepping stone to the middle class in this country. As we’ve moved the factories and other lower skill middle class jobs out of the country, there is a greater and greater premium on post high school education. If we’re no longer going to have a manufacturing economy, the least we can do is to prepare the next generation for the economy we will have.

Of course, there’s so much more to an education than just job training. Hopefully, people come out of college more well rounded and better thinkers, the kind of people we need around the state. Maybe some will create the next industry, maybe someone will find a passion they never had before but maybe some will just be better able to help their kids with homework or become smarter, more well rounded, more engaged citizens. The state shouldn’t short change itself of that, either.

The Washington State reporter shield law that Rob McKenna supported was written in a way that excluded us dirty fucking hippie bloggers. As Goldy explained at the time:

Like those hoity-toity salaried reporters, I often get tips and quotes from sources who choose to remain anonymous, and I don’t see why I should have to go to jail to protect their confidence, when, say Chris McGann wouldn’t? (And I will protect my sources, with or without a shield law, because that’s what journalists do.)

Well, things change. And now Goldy, formerly excluded by the law has its protection.

It’s an odd idea that candidates for public office (let alone an open government champion) should get to pick and choose which professional journalists get to attend their press conferences—and yes, that paycheck I get from The Stranger makes me a professional journalist as defined in McKenna’s own reporter shield law, so suck it up.

And the definitions still seem unworkable. For instance, so long as Goldy is being paid by The Stranger, he’ll have the force of law behind any sources he protects. If The Stranger doesn’t want his services any more and he comes back here, he may have to go to jail to protect sources. If he somehow makes enough money from ads and donations that he can pay the rest of the front pagers, and we break a story with anonymous sources, then I think the protection will apply to us, even as they still don’t apply to him.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the shield law we have is certainly better than no shield law. It works for most anonymously sourced news as newspaper, TV, and other “professional” outlets still dominate coverage, especially original coverage of the type that has the most anonymous sourcing. But as a country and as a state we’re moving (however slowly) away from that model. And the people who need the shield the most are the ones who don’t have it.

Eventually, a reporter who doesn’t fall under the statute’s protection is going to have to chose between prison and giving up their source. On principal, I’d chose prison, but it would be hard to justify to my family and to my employer. News is news, and while we amateurs tend to be more partisan and more over the place in terms of quality, we deserve the same protections as the paid media. The law is fairly new, but it’s already time for an upgrade.

– The deadline for the College Bound program is coming up (h/t).

– I’d still rather have higher taxes, especially on the wealthy, but facts are facts.

– Rob McKenna For Governor.

– Strike up the band, baby. It’s our chance to see who the GOP field has to pander to (also, what a great sidebar).

– Of Course.

– I didn’t know what a globular cluster was before reading this post.