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The folks at the Stranger have briefly rescued me from the Siberian gulag that is Slog (little known fact: “Slog” is a contraction of “Siberian” and “gulag”), giving me temporary refuge in their print edition. The result: this week’s feature story, “Dave Reichert’s Brain,” in which I take a slightly different whack at the three-term congressman’s head:

Seven years before whacking himself in the head with a tree branch, Dave Reichert was on the fast track to the governor’s mansion.

This was in 2003, nearly two decades since a Republican had occupied the residence, and in the silver-haired sheriff from King County, GOP muckety-mucks were convinced they had found their savior. Brawny and photogenic, with the kind of common-folk touch that could only come from being… well… very, very common, the self-proclaimed made-for-TV “hero” of the Green River Killer case would be the Republican party’s best shot at the governorship in years.

But at a meet and greet with the state House Republican Caucus, the Reichert Express quickly jumped off the rails. While the hair and the biceps were as dazzling as promised, once Reichert opened his mouth, it quickly became apparent that the candidate was not. Rambling and incoherent, unknowledgeable and unprepared, Reichert was so bad at answering even the softest of softball questions that he had his fellow Republicans literally shaking their heads in disbelief.

Then-Republican state representative Rodney Tom, now a Democratic state senator, recalls listening to Reichert in stunned silence on a caucus room couch with two colleagues when one of them leaned in and whispered, “If he’s running for governor, the three of us should run too.”

According to another caucus member present at the meeting, Reichert had walked into the room the presumptive Republican nominee for governor, but by the time he walked out, talk had already turned to recruiting eventual two-time loser Dino Rossi. And the rest is history.

[…] This depiction of Reichert as unstudied, confused, and bafflingly incoherent—if not, you know, kind of stupid—these are all testimonials from his fellow Republicans! So when longtime Reichert observers started speculating that his recent head injury may have resulted in permanent brain damage, the first question I had to ask myself was: “How would you know?”

Stupid or brain damaged? Read the whole thing, and then decide for yourself.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IurlK7bpn1w[/youtube]

Before the Seattle Times endorsed Republican Steve Litzow for his alleged ability “to reach across the political aisle in an increasingly partisan atmosphere in Olympia,” they might have wanted to take a closer look at how well Litzow did interacting with the person sitting right next to him on the putatively nonpartisan Mercer Island City Council. And in strident opposition to improving safety at a dangerous crosswalk, no less.

As the ad above says, it’s hard to reach across party lines when you’re yelling.

I actually drive by the intersection of Merrimount Dr. and Island Crest Way several times a week, as does Litzow, I presume, as our children attend the same middle school, and Island Crest is the main thoroughfare to and from. And from what I’ve seen, I sure has hell wouldn’t want to be a pedestrian in that crosswalk, so it’s hard to understand why Litzow would so angrily oppose the proposed improvement.

And yet he not only voted against the proposal, after it passed without his support he cut a deal with other politicians to pull the project’s funding.

19 days later, another child was hit by a car in the intersection.

So if that’s your idea of “fiscal conservatism,” I guess you should vote for Litzow. Otherwise, I strongly urge 41st LD voters to reelect State Sen. Randy Gordon.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR1edS78s9U[/youtube]

This is exactly the sorta ad I wish Darcy Burner had been able to run during the final weeks of the 2006 and 2008 campaigns. But she couldn’t.

Why? More on Slog.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8VMcRqtdSI&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

For years I’ve been suggesting that the way to win an income tax in Washington state was to borrow a page from Tim Eyman, and run against Olympia. You know, a message something along the lines of: “We don’t have an income tax, because they won’t give us an income tax…” emphasizing how the fat cats benefit from the current tax structure, while our legislators kowtow to their wealthy benefactors’ wishes.

So it’s good to see that message finally being tested, if timidly.

This poll from Marist makes eight consecutive polls in which Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) has the lead over Dino Rossi (R), even if her 48% to 47% lead is smallish.

I do a more detailed analysis of the poll, and an analysis using all nine October polls, at Hominid Views.

Man, after all this number crunching and writing…I needs me a drink!

It’s Tuesday following the ballot drop…making it a great opportunity to enjoy and evening of politics under the influence. Please join us at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning at about 8:00 pm. Stop by earlier for dinner.

Not in Seattle? There is a good chance you live near one of the 249 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

The city of Tacoma has decided to crack down on its medical marijuana dispensaries. There’s an ongoing debate about the legality of dispensaries in this state, and Chris Legeros explains it well right here:

The city’s claim, detailed in a letter sent out to the co-ops last week, is that the co-ops are acting illegally by dispensing marijuana to more than one person. The city claims that under state law, a designated provider of medical marijuana can only help one patient at any one time.

“…In these businesses, that’s not the case; it’s a business supplying it to many patients,” said Rob McNair-Huff a city spokesman.

But Jay Berneburg, a lawyer for The C.O.B.R.A. Medical Group, one of the co-ops targeted by the city, has disputed that claim and said the co-op is complying with both the letter and the intent of the law.

Every patient who comes in to C.O.B.R.A. signs a form designating C.O.B.R.A. as their provider, Berneburg said. After receiving their marijuana, the patients immediately sign the form again, removing C.O.B.R.A. as their provider.

“And that means the designated provider who can only be a designated provider to any one person at a time is now available to be somebody else’s designated provider,” Berneburg said.

Dispensaries around the state have been relying on this creative interpretation of the law in order to operate, but after a review, Tacoma warned eight such establishments in the city that they’re breaking the law and will be shut down. In response, there’s a rally planned this evening outside the Tacoma City Council meeting. I’m planning to head down there shortly and might update this post later with additional info and/or photos.

UPDATE: There are about 100 protestors here, along with some news media. I spoke briefly with James Lucas from Tacoma Cross, a dispensary that opened in April and is under threat of shutdown.

His employees are here wearing their corporate logoed shirts. Lucas tells me that he’s licensed with the city to operate his business and he pays all federal, state and local taxes required of any business.

UPDATE 2: There are now roughly 200-250 protestors here and it appears that their presence has made a difference. Douglas Hiatt and other patient representatives just came out of the Tacoma Municipal Building and it appears that the city will allow the dispensaries to continue to operate until the legislature has an opportunity to fix the law in the next session.

[Read more…]

Washington state voters are, seemingly, under a polling blitzkrieg. Today another poll is released in the race between Sen. Patty Murray (D) and real estate salesman turned foreclosure opportunity seminar motivational speaker Dino Rossi (R).

This poll comes from Public Policy Polling (PPP) and shows Murray leading Rossi 49% to 47%. The poll was taken from 14th to the 16th of October on a sample of 1,873 likely Washington voters. The margin of error is 2.3%.

PPP makes an interesting observation about the race (emphasis added):

There’s a pretty strong argument that the Washington Senate race is the most stable in the country: PPP finds Patty Murray leading Dino Rossi 49-47, basically identical to our July poll of the race that found her ahead 49-46.

The reason for the stability is that voters know these candidates, they know what they think of them, and nothing they’ve heard during this campaign has changed those opinions in one direction or the other. In July Murray’s approval rating was 46/45. Now it’s 47/48. In July Rossi’s favorability was 43/48. Now it’s 44/49.

Compare this with yesterday’s Rasmussen lede (emphasis added):

Democratic incumbent Patty Murray is barely ahead of Republican challenger Dino Rossi now as the lead seesaws again in Washington’s neck-and-neck U.S. Senate race.

The fact is, Murray has now led in the last seven of the eight polls taken in October with margins from +1 to +13 and with an (unweighted) average of just over +5%. Take a look at the entire polling history:

Note to pollsters and reporters…that meme about how close and back-and-forth this race is? Yeah…that last’s month meme based on a tiny blip in the data.

Note: The graph in the first version of this post included a poll by DSCC. I’ve reposted the graph without that poll.

Update: At Hominid Views I do some statistical analysis of the poll and further examine the differences between robopolls and live-interview polls in this race.

Vote No on I-1100… that’s what urge the readers at Slog while joyfully spanking my colleagues at the Stranger for daring to urge otherwise.

See, not all alcoholics are as harmless and lovable as the car-less barflies at theStranger, whose most abusive booze-fueled behavior is mostly targeted at the English language. Alcohol is the most widely abused drug available. It is the most devastating to families, and the most costly to businesses and government. And it is also by far the most deadly.

Anyway, it’s fun and it’s pointed. So read the whole thing.

Last month I wrote about Attorney General Rob McKenna’s cynical effort to reinterpret Washington’s voter-approved minimum wage statute, so as to avoid an increase this year. And as predicted, this week L&I announced that it would ignore McKenna’s opinion, by raising the minimum wage another 12 cents an hour.

Labor & Industries spokeswoman Kim Contris said the state ultimately made the decision to raise the rate “based on how we believe a court would interpret the law.”

“We really wanted to correctly implement the law,” she said. “We recognize there could be confusion and additional cost if we made a mistake and the court overturned the decision.”

That’s right, the state ignored its own attorney’s opinion because they were concerned about the legal cost of following it. Huh. Perhaps the state should fire its attorney?

No doubt there are policy arguments to make in favor of keeping the minimum wage flat during a time of slow job growth and high unemployment — for example, the stupid, arrogant and profoundly anti-worker arguments made by the Columbian — but the problem for McKenna is that the legal arguments just weren’t there. The law is clear: L&I is instructed to adjust the minimum wage “by increasing the current year’s minimum wage rate by the rate of inflation,” and since inflation went up this year, however slightly, so will the minimum wage.

To ignore the plain meaning of the word “by” in the service of fabulating alternative formulas may be creative lawyering, but as L&I rightly determined, it wasn’t likely to hold up in court. Which in the end, not only calls into question McKenna’s abilities as an attorney, but as a politician as well.

I guess I was too busy paying attention to real stuff today to notice that Rasmussen dumped a new poll in Washington’s U.S. Senate race:  Sen. Patty Murray 49%, Dino Rossi 46%.

That’s the exact same margin by which Rasmussen had Rossi leading less than two weeks ago.

Whatever that means.

Update (Darryl): I take a closer look at the poll here.

2006 was a bad year for Camas Washington, with over 300 workers losing their jobs at the local Georgia-Pacific mill, shortly after the company was acquired by Koch Industries. But while the region is still suffering from the “Koch-izing” of Georgia-Pacific, at least one Camas resident owes the far-right-wing Koch brothers a huge debt of gratitude, if not something more specific: Republican congressional hopeful Jaime Herrera.

The latest campaign finance reports are in, and it turns out the Kochs are spending big to buy Herrera a job in the other Washington, contributing $5,000 directly to her campaign, and spending at least another $282,000 through their “Americans for Prosperity” front group, attacking her Democratic opponent, Denny Heck. It is the ultimate insult to WA-03 voters; first the New York-based Kochs make millions closing local mills and outsourcing jobs, and now they’re spending a portion of their profits to purchase themselves another congresswoman.

You know… the free market at work.

So are WA-03 voters going to let a couple of New York City billionaires buy their congressional seat? Do they really believe that Herrera won’t be beholden to the Koch’s anti-Social-Security/anti-regulatory/pro-outsourcing agenda? Only if the local media continues to fail to inform voters about what Herrera and her backers really stand for.

Annoying as they can be, I sometimes find my spam mail amusing, mostly due to their attempts to personalize them, based on my domain name. And, well, this one just made me chuckle.

So, only a week after the Seattle Times lauds Democratic challenger Suzan DelBene for her nuanced and knowledgeable stance on reviving the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act — a subject that came up at their joint editorial board interview — you’d think Republican incumbent Rep. Dave Reichert would at least be able to bullshit an answer on the issue.

Um… nope. In fact, at a candidate forum in Newcastle this weekend, Reichert said he doesn’t even know what Glass-Steagall is.

I don’t know what’s more insulting, the suggestion that Reichert is brain-damaged, or the insistance that he’s not.

More snark at Slog.