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The Seattle Times editorializes this morning, once again defending the initiative process status quo, and quite frankly its arguments are a stinking pile of shit so weak and unsupportable that they are forced to resort to the lowest of rhetorical lows… the anecdote.

In attacking efforts to impose some degree of accountability onto the process, the Times attempts to strike an emotional chord by propagandistically rising to the defense of the poor, embattled signature gatherer:

Jaye Anderson, testified about what it’s like. She said, “I’ve been spat on. I’ve had French fries thrown at me. I’ve had people following me to my car.” There are, she said, “a lot of weirdos out there.”

Like many signature gatherers, she is in her 60s, and not physically imposing. She has reason not to put her home address on the petitions, which are public documents.

Oh, boo-hoo.

I’ve had people call me up in the middle of the night threatening to come to my house and “beat the commie crap” out of me. I’ve had scores of anti-semitic comments and emails joyfully telling me that when “the Sweep” comes they want to be the first at my door, or laughing that I can have all my fancy words, “but we own all the guns.” I’ve had a load of horse manure dumped on my sidewalk, and the car tabs repeatedly scraped off my license plate in what I suppose is intended to be an ironic gesture. I’ve been falsely and maliciously reported to authorities for soliciting sex from minors online. I’ve received death threats.

As a blogger and journalist (yes, journalist) I’m at least as integral a part of our democratic process as an itinerate signature gatherer, and yet I don’t see the Times demanding that the state protect my anonymity.

Yes, initiative petitions are public records. Everybody and anybody who signs a petition is potentially putting their name and address out there for all to see. And the signature gatherer should be no different.

What the Times doesn’t tell its readers is that there have been documented cases of signature fraud throughout the nation, and that the only way to track down the perpetrators is to have them identify themselves on the petition. The Times wouldn’t protect the rights of poll workers and elections officials to remain anonymous (at least I hope they wouldn’t,) so why should they protect the anonymity of signature gatherers? Everybody who participates in the electoral process can be identified in the public record… except for the migrant, piecemeal workers who collect the bulk of our signatures. What sense is there in that?

There is nothing inviolate about the statutes currently governing the initiative process — which I should remind the Times were written by, you know, legislators — the same sort of legislators the Times now mocks and excoriates for attempting to update our laws to meet the demands of modern times. But then, I have trouble taking the Times’ holier-than-thou grandstanding seriously. Personally, I can’t help but wonder if it’s just another one of their occasional bouts of faux populism intended to cover up and facilitate (and perhaps, make themselves feel better about) the corporatist agenda their op/ed page routinely promulgates.

I love to talk policy, and that can get kinda wonky, but tonight on “The David Goldstein Show” I’ve got a couple of issues guaranteed to a raise few hackles… including a few of my own. So tune in to the fireworks from 7PM to 10PM on Newsradio 710-KIRO, and give me and my guests a call.

7PM: Is the WA State Legislature the proper place to debate presidential impeachment? State Sen. Eric Oemig (D-Kirkland) thinks so, and he joins me for the hour to talk about why he introduced SJM 8016, “Requesting an impeachment investigation into actions by President Bush and Vice President Cheney.” Is Sen. Oemig’s Joint Memorial a goofy waste of the Senate’s time, or a bold effort to hold the White House accountable?

8PM: Is it time to elect our Elections Director? It was my coverage of the contested 2004 gubernatorial election that first made HA a must-read blog — an election whose problems I believe were grossly exaggerated by Republicans and the mainstream media. Now with the much anticipated Gregoire-Rossi rematch coming into focus, former state Rep. Toby Nixon is rekindling the controversy by filing an initiative that would make the King County Elections Director and elected officer. Oy. I like Toby — for a Republican — which should make disagreeing with him all the more fun.

9PM: Did you watch the Oscars? I didn’t. (Because I was, um, on the air talking about politics and stuff.) So give me a call and fill me in on what happened.

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

James Vesely, the Seattle Times columnist who referred to Darcy Burner as “Miss Bruner” several times during the Reichert-Burner debate he moderated last fall, comes to some odd conclusions in his Sunday column:

Winners: Anti-incumbents; legislators who see Seattle as losing some of its power; Dino Rossi; eager challengers to City Council members; King County Executive Ron Sims, who is working on a surface and tolling plan; and maybe the Port of Seattle by staying out of this mess.

I’m not sure which incumbents Vesely is talking about. David Della, a rebuild supporter, is the biggest target in this fall’s city elections. With every single Democratic legislative district declining to endorse a Viaduct rebuild, Della will have to clam up about his support of a big freeway on the waterfront.

Dino Rossi doesn’t seem to understand the basic parameters of the debate. Why Vesley makes him a winner is astounding. The Seattle Times seems to be going out of it’s way to make the irrelevant former senator relevant again.

Then there’s this:

The most passionate, emotional voice for the tunnel is Peter Steinbrueck’s; the calmest and most logical against a tunnel is Nick Licata’s. Go figure.

That’s weird. I was standing 10 feet away from Peter at a Friends of Seattle event when he bashed the hell out of th tunnel. You see, Peter’s for the “surface plus transit” option.

On the biography page of his legislative website, state Rep. Glenn Anderson (R-Fall City) proudly notes his “active” participation in Encompass (formally Children’s Services of Snoqualmie Valley), an organization whose stated mission is to “value” and “nurture” children and families.

Hmm. Perhaps I’m missing something, but I’m wondering how one nurtures children by protecting the use of products that strangle them?

A few days ago the state House passed by a 95 to 1 margin HB 1256, “Preventing serious injury and strangulation from window blind cords or other significant safety hazards in child care settings,” and Rep. Anderson cast the lone vote in opposition.

Since 1991, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has received 174 reports of strangulation involving cords on window blinds, including the December 2005 strangulation death of Jaclyn Frank, an eighteen-month old baby girl from Washington State, who got caught in the cords of a blind near her crib at a residential day care home. According to the House Bill Analysis, HB 1256 would update the safety standards at child care facilities:

The prohibition of the use of window blinds or other window coverings with pull cords or inner cords capable of forming a loop and posing a risk of strangulation to young children is added to the minimum safety requirements for child care licensing.

The bill would be known as the Jaclyn Frank Act.

I’ve emailed Rep. Anderson asking him to explain his vote, and I’ll post an update as soon as I hear back.

I’m rested, I’m tanned and I’m back. Okay, I’m kinda jet-lagged, and I’m my usual pasty-white self. But I am back, and I’m talking politics as unusual again tonight on “The David Goldstein Show” from 7PM to 10PM on Newsradio 710-KIRO. I like to go with the flow, so things could change, but here’s what I have lined up for tonight’s show:

7PM: What’s up (or down) with the Viaduct? Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels joins me at the top of the hour to talk about the latest developments in the ongoing debate over how to replace the Alaska Way Viaduct. Is WSDOT trying to bury tunnel? We’ll ask the mayor.

8PM: TBA

9PM: Did you ever get a really big break? And what did you do with it? The man who gave me my break at 710-KIRO is moving on, and I can’t thank him enough. I want to hear from you on how a big break might have changed your life, and give you the opportunity to thank your benefactor. (Or maybe, I’ll just rant about a bunch of stuff.)

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

While sitting on the tarmac in Atlanta, I learned that yesterday was Program Director Tom Clendening’s last day at 710-KIRO.

I suppose you don’t bring in a new program director to leave the programming unchanged, so I have no idea what the future might hold for me at the station, but whatever happens I’ll remain eternally grateful to Tom for giving me the extraordinary opportunity I’ve had so far.

In truth, my brief radio career has been rather charmed. One generally doesn’t break into this business at a 50,000 watt legacy station in a major market. Most aspiring hosts work their way up from small stations in smaller markets, or through various on- and off-air jobs at larger stations. But understanding that a local news/talk audience is best served by hosts who are passionate and informed about local issues, Tom occasionally took a chance trying out raw, local talent like me.

If I have a long career in radio I’ll always have Tom to thank for giving me my start, and… well… if I don’t, then I’ll still have Tom to thank for the amazing run I’ve had. All one can ask for in life is the opportunity to succeed or fail on one’s own, and that’s what Tom gave me.

So thank you, Tom. I hope you land on your feet.

“This is not a pipe” -Belgian Surrealist René Magritte

“This report was not a report” -American Surrealist Holly Armstrong

I read this comment by “shoephone” at Washblog:

I was disappointed that Will produced a photo that presumes much and explains nothing. I’ll wait for the facts on what’s actually IN the study. Or file folder. Or pretty white and yellow binder.

I want to explain the binder in the photo, and exactly what is in it. First, this is from Mike Lindblom’s excellent story in the Seattle Times:

A previously unreleased report shows that when the state’s Alaskan Way Viaduct project team examined a four-lane-tunnel concept in January, the group thought the tunnel could handle the expected traffic.

Since then, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) reversed course, concluding Feb. 13 that the option nicknamed “Tunnel Lite” — in which cars would use the shoulders as exit-only lanes at peak times — would be unsafe. Gov. Christine Gregoire promptly declared she would only support a $2.8 billion six-lane elevated highway.

Staffers in the pro-tunnel administration of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels say they’re outraged the DOT didn’t mention the 50-page report during weeks of intense public debate. A state DOT administrator called the report relatively insignificant and said the issues it covers have been aired in public.

The fifty page report mentioned in the article is, in fact, an executive summary of the eight hundred and fifty page report prepared by Parsons Brinckerhoff, well-known engineering firm.

WashDOT calls that 850 page report “relatively insignificant,” or a “glorified file memo.” That report, which approved of the Hybrid Tunnel, was ignored four weeks later when Governor Gregoire announced the Hybrid Tunnel wouldn’t work.

That’s the report in the binder. WashDOT flip flopped, and now they’re trying to hide it.

The Smith Tower is hands-down the most appealing structure ever built in downtown Seattle, or in Washington state. It stands in sharp contrast to the Columbia Center just a few blocks away. One terra cotta, one black glass. Smith Tower isn’t doing too well on the commercial market, however.

Smith Tower has struggled a bit to attract and retain business tenants as more modern office towers emerged in recent decades.

“The building itself was never ideally suited to a modern, commercial office-type tenant,” said Kevin Daniels, president of Nitze-Stagen, a private commercial-property investment firm.

The floor space in the upper stories is too small — just 2,000 square feet — and the spaces on the lower levels are either too cut up or too big.

Smith Tower’s occupancy rate was up to 90 percent last year, from 75 percent a decade earlier. But that could reverse itself with the reported departure of two of its largest tenants.

Perhaps my favorite reason to see Smith go residential:

Matthew Gardner, principal in the Seattle-based land-use economics firm Gardner Johnson, said Smith Tower’s conversion “could be incredible.”

“The building itself is iconic, so it does make sense to go down this road.”

Gardner also said the switch would benefit Pioneer Square by bringing more residents into the neighborhood.

Nice.

Some NASCAR guys were in Olympia today, and one unleashed this… gem. Analyst Darrell Waltrip on why the track can’t be built without public money:

“You know what, it’s math. My two and your two makes five. … With your help and with our help, everybody works together, this is a win-win. And it is a win-win in a much faster pace and a win-win with everyone involved.”

For $145 million, state taxpayers can help build a track that’ll be used twice a year.

UPDATE:
Well, if Waltrip thinks that two plus two makes five, perhaps we should spend that $145 million on math education? [–Goldy]

According to Holly Armstrong, spokeswoman for the governor, this:

is NOT a report. Then what is it? An eight hundred and fifty page piece of brainstorming?

According to David Dye (WS-DOT’s urban corridor guy), this:

is a “glorified file memo.” Sure, right.

I wonder if Seattle’s legislators, many of whom signed a letter saying they do not support WS-DOT’s ‘rebuild’ option, are going hold somebody accountable over this ignored study.

Oops… I mean “glorified file memo.”

In my earlier post, I referred to a study done by WS-DOT that showed the Hybrid tunnel to be feasible. That study, done January 8th through 12th, was incorrectly described as being just fifty (50) pages long. This is not correct. The study WS-DOT ignored is in fact…

Eight hundred and fifty pages long.

If you had a binder of that size sitting on your desk that told you the Hybrid Tunnel was workable and safe, how could you forget it existed?

You may remember Initiative 831, written by Goldy, that declared Tim Eyman a horse’s ass. In the end, the initiative had enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, but Goldy’s efforts were thwarted by a meddling Attorney General by the name of Christine Gregoire. She felt that this brilliant initiative was not suitable initiative material (“frivolous,” I think she called it).

Huh? Is there is some kind of truth in anatomical attribution principle that is only known by law students at Gonzaga University? Too bad…by many accounts this was the single best initiative offered since the Rosellini administration.

So you can imagine my surprise and delight today when I learned that…

[o]n a 90-3 vote, with five lawmakers excused, a measure designating the Pacific chorus frog as the state amphibian. “I have not heard from the newt or salamander lobbies,” said bill sponsor, Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, before passage of the bill, which now heads to the Senate.

Hmm… Pacific chorus frog is the common name for Pseudacris regilla, meaning something like splendidly dishonest locust, which, if you think about it, sounds an awful lot like Tim Eyman. On the other hand, calling Eyman a lying locust is an insult to locusts and other agents of plagues, rusts and pestilences everywhere. I mean, locusts don’t steal money from donors and then lie their supraanal plate off about it, do they?

This House measure got me to thinking that, perhaps, Goldy’s initiative would have succeeded if, instead of declaring Eyman to be the body part of an animal, he had declared Tim Eyman an official state organism—the whole organism. That’s not frivolous, is it? I’m thinking maybe the official state Myxogastria (i.e. slime mould). Or how ’bout the official state Spirogyra (pond scum)? I can’t decide.

In this era of scientific enlightenment, all life forms have equal value. So think of it as an initiative to celebrate biodiversity. I think even the new Attorney General could get behind it.

CORRECTION:
I-831 had about 60,000 signatures by the time the AG obtained an injunction — pretty impressive for a joke initiative with no money or organization. It still would have been a long shot, but had we managed to qualify it for the ballot, I’m pretty sure the measure would have passed. [–Goldy]