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It looks like the “family values” party may have another gay-sex scandal on it’s hands, and this time its local:

An alleged extortion attempt involving a state lawmaker and a reputed male prostitute is under investigation by Spokane police.

Details surrounding the case remained sketchy Sunday, but authorities confirmed that it involves two-term state Rep. Richard Curtis, a Republican from the small southwest Washington town of La Center, and that there was some type of confrontation last week at Davenport Tower. The identity of the alleged extortionist was unavailable, though police confirm he is a reputed prostitute.

[…] Elected to the state House of Representatives in 2004, Curtis has voted like a fiscal and social conservative. This spring, he voted against domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples. Last year, he opposed a gay rights bill that banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Of course, nobody wants to jump to conclusions when somebody’s reputation is at stake, but I find this tidbit particularly intriguing:

State GOP lawmakers were in Spokane Wednesday through Friday for a retreat to discuss the upcoming legislative session, said Rep. Mike Armstrong, R-Wenatchee.

He said most who attended the meeting stayed at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park. He said he visited with Curtis “a number of times” at the Red Lion and assumed he was staying there too.

“I didn’t know of anyone who stayed at the Davenport,” Armstrong said. “My first thought is that it must be a mistake.”

That was Armstrong’s “first thought,” but the phrasing kinda implies that there might be a second. I’m guessing we’re going to be hearing a lot more about this story over the coming weeks.

Following up on our speculation about a refresh of Macbooks for Leopard, MacRumors reports there may be an announcement as early as tomorrow. It looks like Apple held off coupling an announcement with the Leopard rollout, figuring they could sell a bunch of soon-to-be-outmoded Macs to the hordes seeking the new OS. Including around 200 who stood in line outside the U District’s Mac Store, aided by University Village’s Apple store being closed for renovation. The Mac Store folks parked their van outside the U Village Apple store to help usher Leopard buyers over to their outlet. Not that Apple stores were hurting: Buyers also lined up for nearly two hours outside Alderwood Mall and Bel-Square stores, as we reported.

Meanwhile, Ars Technica tosses its colonoscopy of Leopard into the ring. So far no real huge gotchas, although little annoyances are starting to surface (3-D being foremost).

Why give Apple so much attention in Microsoft country? As any local Mac user knows, there’s a huge disconnect between the 9-out-of-10 computers running Windows stat, and what we see around us. If you’re not on a corporate network requiring Windows, or your machine is not supplied to you by an employer, chances are much higher you’re using a Mac. Among my circle, here in Seattle, the stat is darn near reversed. And as Apple’s recent blowout quarter revealed, the Windows switch game is still going strong. From The New York Times story:

“One of the company’s strongest indications that it will see continued growth is its report that more than 50 percent of those who purchased Macintosh computers in its chain of 197 stores during the quarter were first-time Mac buyers.”

Sometimes it’s damn hard to pick the day’s top story, but this morning, not so much. Baseball is still “America’s pastime,” even if football is the big money sport, and while the Super Bowl may be the single biggest TV event of the year, the World Series is by far the more iconic event. So when the Boston Red Sox sweep the Series for the second time in four years, that’s big news, especially in Boston. But, um, still… it’s only a baseball game…

Armed with broom sticks and prepared for a sweep, confident members of Red Sox nation descended on Coors Field tonight predicting a historic victory for their beloved Boston team.

Their sweep dreams came true.

The Red Sox have swept a Series for the second time in four seasons and it had grown men ready to cry even before the game’s first pitch.

And I cried the day Bush was declared president, so I respect men who aren’t afraid to show their sensitive side. As for Denver fans…

The Rockies’ magical season died on Sunday night, forever frozen within reach of a goal that seemed laughable when the players arrived in Tucson seven months ago. Four games, four losses. A paradise and championship lost.

Ugh. Gag me with a spoon.

Still, I suppose if it had been the Phillies Mariners in the series, I might wax equally poetic. And maybe next year it will be the Mariners, if they can get themselves a little of this. Or perhaps, this.

Speaking of drugs, California Gov. Arnold Shwarzenegger tells GQ magazine that marijuana is not one:

Schwarzenegger told the British edition of GQ magazine that he had not taken drugs, even though the former bodybuilder and Hollywood star has acknowledged using marijuana in the 1970s and was shown smoking a joint in the 1977 documentary “Pumping Iron.”

“That is not a drug. It’s a leaf,” Schwarzenegger told GQ.

And at just over a billion dollars a year, marijuana is also Washington state’s number two cash crop, coming in just behind our state’s more famous $1.15 billion apple harvest. That makes WA the number five pot-growing state in the nation. Just imagine if it were legal and taxed, how many millions marijuana would bring into government coffers instead of the millions we spend arresting, trying, and incarcerating growers? And just imagine the suffering that could be relieved if medical marijuana patients were allowed to actually grow and buy marijuana, as well as merely possess it? Perhaps it would even make the ailing J.P. Patches a happy clown again?

Suffering from “blood cancer,” J.P. Patches could use a little weed

And speaking of getting high, things are looking up for at Harrington WA, new home of the National UFO Reporting Center. May they have as much success as the Bigfoot Field Research Center (and yes… there really is a Bigfoot Field Research Center,) which may have finally found conclusive evidence of sasquatch, deep in the woods of Pennsylvania. Or maybe it was a “skinny, mangy bear.” Whatever.

As David Horowitz and his legions of victim-card-playing chickenhawks at various American universities bitch and moan about how no one cares how often they have nightmares about terrorists, here’s a roundup of recent news reports from around the globe:

Gaza

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the U.S. is planning to send senior officials to examine Israel’s complaints that the smuggling of arms, equipment and persons from Egypt into the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip, continues.

Rice said that the smuggling activities are a grave concern and reiterated what she told her Egyptian counterpart Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit two weeks ago about the need to do more, and “urgently.”

The Bush administration is concerned about the continued flow of arms into Gaza and is under constant pressure from Israel and its friends in Congress, calling on the administration to do more to convince Egypt to prevent the smuggling.

At least in public, Egypt is refusing to accept responsibility for the smuggling. American officials who will visit the area will try to determine the goings-on on both sides of the border.

Lebanon

Lebanese troops opened fire Thursday on Israeli warplanes flying low over southern Lebanon, but no hits were reported, Lebanese officials said.

Soldiers opened up with machine guns and light anti-aircraft weapons mounted on armored vehicles at two planes that flew by just east of Marjayoun town near the border at midmorning, a Lebanese security official said.

An army statement issued later in the day said “the Lebanese army’s ground antiaircraft guns confronted the hostile Israeli aircraft during its violation of Lebanese airspace over the regions of Marjayoun and Bint Jbeil, forcing it to leave over the town of Alma Chaab in the direction of the occupied lands.”

Lebanon, like most Arab countries, does not recognize the State of Israel.

Syria

Syria has razed a suspected nuclear reactor building that was bombed by Israeli aircraft, according to nuclear experts.

Using commercial satellite images, the Institute for Science and International Security said there were signs of a hasty clean-up of the site that was attacked last month.

“Dismantling and removing the building at such a rapid pace dramatically complicates any inspection of the facilities and suggests that Syria may be trying to hide what was there,” ISIS said on its website.

Turkey

Turkey today demanded the extradition of all Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq as its air force carried out further strikes on militant hideouts in the area.

The call by the Turkish deputy prime minister, Cemil Cicek, came after a meeting with the Iraqi defence minister in an attempt to defuse the rising conflict over the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) fighters, who are operating from bases in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.

Iraq

The Iraqi government remains determined to expel the Blackwater USA security company and is searching for legal remedies to overturn an American-imposed decree that exempts all foreign bodyguards from prosecution under local laws, officials said Wednesday.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government accepted the findings of an Iraqi investigative committee that determined Blackwater guards, without provocation, killed 17 Iraqis last month in Nisoor Square in western Baghdad.

Iraqi investigators declared that Blackwater should be expelled and $8 million should be paid as compensation for each victim. The officials said the Cabinet decided Tuesday to establish a committee to find ways to repeal a 2004 directive issued by L. Paul Bremer, chief of the former U.S. occupation government in Iraq. The order placed private security companies outside Iraqi law.

Saudi Arabia

Oil roared past $90, setting a record Thursday, as tight inventories and fresh signs that OPEC would shrug off calls for additional oil from big consumer nations sent prices up nearly 4%.

U.S. crude settled up $3.36 at $90.46 a barrel after striking an intraday record of $90.60. The rise added to Wednesday’s gain of nearly $2.

Energy officials from OPEC nations Venezuela and Algeria said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would not boost output when it meets informally in Saudi Arabia next month.

Iran

THE big chill between the US and Iran has deepened, with the White House imposing its toughest sanctions in almost three decades on the rogue nation amid concerns the countries are headed for war.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have slapped sweeping new financial penalties on Iran in a bid to force it to stop enriching uranium and curb its terrorist activities.

However some US allies are concerned the White House is starting to build a case for war against Iran.

Critics see parallels in the rhetoric the Bush Administration is using against Iran with comments it made about Iraq in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Baghdad.

Russia

Tensions between Russia and the West over sanctions against Iran will be laid bare today as President Vladimir Putin attends a summit with EU leaders in Portugal.

The Russian leader described supporters of tough policies as “mad people wielding razor blades” after the US imposed economic sanctions on the Islamic republic yesterday in an attempt to curb its nuclear programme.

Mr Putin, who is at the summit to discuss disputed trade issues with the EU, is expected to make further comments on Iran this afternoon after a senior American diplomat suggested that Russia was “aiding and abetting” the Iranian military.

Nicholas Burns, US Assistant Secretary of State, said that Russia should stop selling weapons to Iran, and China should stop investing in the Middle Eastern state. “They’re now the number one trade partner with Iran,” he told the BBC. “It’s very difficult for countries to say we’re striking out on our own when they’ve got their own policies on the military side, aiding and abetting the Iraninan government in strengthening its own military.”

Pakistan

A suicide bomber has attacked a truck carrying troops in Pakistan, killing at least 20 people and wounding 34.

The blast happened in Mingora, the main town in the north-western district of Swat where 2,500 paramilitary troops were deployed this week to fight supporters of a militant cleric.

The blast set off an explosion of ammunition carried inside a military truck, triggering bullet fire.

Most of the casualties were soldiers, but some bystanders were also hit. Some nearby shops, restaurants and cars were damaged.

Afghanistan

Gordon Brown yesterday amplified Nato calls for more combat troops in Afghanistan to spread a burden currently being borne by UK, US and Canadian forces, but the chief of defence staff warned that the country’s problems could only be resolved by political, not military, means.

Echoing concerns expressed by General Dan McNeill, commander of the Nato-led international force in the country, the prime minister called for greater “burden-sharing” in Afghanistan. Speaking after talks in London with President Hamid Karzai, he added: “We are all determined that Afghanistan should never become a failed state again, and to support the democracy that’s been created in that country.”

United States

With Democrats and Republicans on the hill sparring over the costs and lengths of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Adm. Michael Mullen said that the current levels on defense spending—about 4 percent of the GNP—will not likely be enough to meet the U.S. military’s future needs.

He noted that the current level of defense spending–in percentage of the GNP– is less than even during the Gulf War. The Bush administration has requested $481.7 billion for the defense budget in fiscal 2008 and over $190 billion more to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There’s definitely a lot to be scared about in this world. No one is arguing that. Conflicts across the Middle East are getting worse right now and many of them truly ring the alarm bells. But while fear is a perfectly natural and healthy human emotion, it’s a pretty shitty mechanism for making sound decisions. When fear becomes an obstacle to using a rational approach to these problems, we end up only advocating solutions that do nothing more than compound the problems that make us scared in the first place. This is why we’ve ended up where we’re at in the Middle East. Out of fear, we convinced ourselves that Saddam Hussein was a much greater threat to us and his neighbors than he really was. We convinced ourselves that the Islamic radicalism that led to 9/11 is a much larger movement than it really was. Today, we still convince ourselves that if we leave Iraq, the “terrorists” will rejoice and follow us back home. And we continue to fear that merely talking to Iran and Syria makes us weak, even as it remains one of the key prerequisites for allowing us to fix the mess we’ve created on their doorstep. All of these fears are irrational, and all of them hinder our efforts to bring freedom and stability to the region.

During the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon used what he referred to as the “Madman theory”:

At the core of Nixon’s notions was a diplomacy-supporting stratagem he called the Madman Theory, or, as he and Bob Haldeman described it, “the principle of the threat of excessive force.” Nixon was convinced that his power would be enhanced if his opponents thought he might use excessive force, even nuclear force. That, coupled with his reputation for ruthlessness, he believed, would suggest that he was dangerously unpredictable. The Madman Theory undergirded not only his policy toward North Vietnam but also toward other adversaries, including the Soviet Union.

Nixon’s theory never actually worked to achieve its intended goals – to bring a quick end to the Vietnam War and to preserve the South Vietnamese government. The strategy was based upon the belief that using fear would change the Soviet outlook and get them to act in ways they otherwise would not. But it failed. The problem with the Madman Theory is that it requires your adversary to be someone who allows fear to alter their worldview and keep them from acting rationally. And the Soviet government at that time did not allow that to happen.

Today, we have a growing conflict with Iran where both sides are trying out Nixon’s Madman Theory. The Bush Administration continues to threaten military action against a country of 65 million people, and the Iranian President tries his best to play the part of the unpredictable nutjob who would nuke Israel to bring about the apocalypse (even though he doesn’t even have the power to do that). Both sides think they can get what they want by being seen as a threat. The question is which side will allow the fear from the other side to force them into a stupid decision.

If David Horowitz gets what he wants out of his silly self-promotion spectacle this week, and the Bush Administration listens to people like Bill Kristol and Norman Podhoretz, the losers in this pointless stare-down will be us.

Oh, man… it’s not so easy doing this morning news headline thing, when some of the most tempting news stories aren’t really news after all.

Take for example, Dino Rossi’s “long-expected” campaign kickoff. The Seattle P-I headline trumpets “Rossi back on the campaign trail.” But was he ever off it? Um… no. As the Seattle Times points out, “the overarching theme of Rossi’s hourlong speech was retreaded from his 2004 campaign”… you know the same retreaded speech he’s been giving throughout the state for the past year or so.

So not exactly news, unless, of course, you’re Postman: “I have to admit to thinking the chances were 50-50.” Uh-huh.

Know what else isn’t news? Rossi’s campaign theme, which includes (SURPRISE!) cutting taxes!

“[Gov. Gregoire] has since raised taxes on gas, many families who have lost loved ones, and in other sectors.”

Sure, you betcha… voters are gonna be awfully damn pissed off about those gas and estate taxes that they, um, you know… overwhelmingly approved at the polls.

Yeah, it’s not gonna be so easy for Rossi in 2008 because this time around I’m guessing reporters are actually going to ask him actual questions about where he actually stands on actual issues. Like SCHIP. The US House just passed the Children’s Health Insurance Program a second time, though not by a large enough margin to override a second promised presidential veto. In an email to supporters today, Gov. Chris Gregoire makes no bones about where she stands on extending health care to over 4 million children, and defending WA’s gains against President Bush’s “draconian measures.”

Let me be crystal clear about one thing regarding these threats from George W. Bush and the Republicans: I won’t back down.

Earlier this month, I joined with a group of fellow governors to fight back against this irresponsible Bush policy in the federal courts. And I will continue to work closely with the members of our delegation in Washington, DC to make sure we deliver for the children of our state.

As your governor, I have fought for and expanded health care access to an additional 84,000 children – and here in Washington we are on track to provide access to health care for every single child in Washington by 2010.

This fight over children’s health care represents a fundamental difference in values that will define the choice in the upcoming election. George W. Bush and the Republicans’ priorities put them squarely outside the mainstream in our state.

We’re doing right by Washington’s children, and as governor I won’t back down.

I guess this is what Rossi means when he talks about Gregoire being “the governor for the government, not the governor for the people,” because you know… children aren’t people. (Unless they’re fetuses.)

When a governor speaks this boldly and this bluntly, that’s news, whereas the fact that the moon is big and fishing is catching on as a college sport, is not. Also not in the news today is NBA commissioner David Stern criticizing Seattle as heartless for not throwing half a billion dollars at the Sonics’ Oklahoma City owners, nor Bush leading us inexorably toward war with Iran. Whereas very, very rich people spending enormous sums of money on luxury travel, well, that always deserves a front page story. Who knew?

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Come join us for some hoppy ale and hopped up conversation.

All candidates are welcome. We’ll just be sure to call you a cab.

Not in Seattle? Liberals will also be drinking tonight in the Tri-Cities. A full listing of Washington’s thirteen Drinking Liberally chapters is available here.

Larry Mitchell
Redmond Prosecutor
P.O. Box 97010
Redmond, WA 98073-9710
c/o City Clerk
Cc: King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office

Dear Mr. Mitchell,

Is the City of Redmond picking up the tab by prosecuting Jane Hague for drunk driving?

I asked this question of someone who works in the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office and he thought perhaps so—that normally this kind of thing is done as a professional courtesy. (He wasn’t privy to the details in the Jane Hague case.)

Now…I am a big believer in Redmond being a good governmental citizen and helping out King County when necessary. Cooperation among regional and local governments strikes me as a very positive thing. I don’t mind if my neighbors and I occasionally pick up the tab to ensure criminals are brought to justice and there is fairness in the process.

The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office turned the Hague case over to Redmond to avoid a conflict of interest in prosecuting King County Councilmember Hague. I mean, surely she has personal and political connections in the office. And I can sort-of buy that, even though Dan Satterberg, the Interim King County Prosecuting Attorney, claims to be non-partisan.

Here is what I don’t get. That very same Interim King County Prosecuting Attorney who handed the effort and expense of prosecuting Jane Hague over to us is jointly headlining a Republican fund raising event with Jane Hague this evening.

Yeah…suddenly I’m completely convinced that this is a genuine case with conflict of interest. At the same time, I can’t help feeling abused by it all. The City of Redmond is picking up the tab; so, instead of prosecuting Ms. Hague, Mr. Satterberg is joining Ms. Hague to raise money for Republicans!

It sure feels to me like the citizens of Redmond are, effectively, making a contribution to the King County Republican Party.

That is, unless, Mr. Satterberg’s office intends to fully reimburse Redmond for our expenses.

Yours,

Darryl

Wildfires in California, a “murder epidemic” in Philadelphia, a proposal to turn Hanford’s B reactor into a hot new tourist attraction… two wire stories and a feature dominate the Seattle Times front page today. Meanwhile, the P-I is less newsy but more local, filling the front of their dead-tree edition with features on Seattle’s condo wave, new migraine research, and the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s race (… partisan candidates running a partisan race for a partisan office…? Who’d a thunk?)

So apart from just getting everybody’s name right, how would I prioritize the front page on a typically slow Seattle Monday? Well, I could feature the Seahawks 33-6 win over the hapless St. Louis Rams. (In the news biz’s corollary to Intelligent Design, if God hadn’t intended Monday to be a slow news day, he wouldn’t have put football on Sundays.) Or I could dwell on a spree of bizarre deaths that seems to be plaguing our regional newswires. Nah.

Nope, given my druthers, if there isn’t any compelling local news to report, I’d try to focus on national headlines, but within a local context. You know, like…

Everybody Hates Hillary. At least, that seemed to be the consensus opinion at the Republican presidential debate last night, where the GOP hopefuls mentioned the Democratic frontrunner’s name 34 times, compared to twice for President Bush. Mike Crowley of the New Republic believes the Republicans did Hillary Clinton’s Democratic opponents “a big favor“, with the audience whooping it up every time a candidate (or FOX News “reporter”) mocked or derided her:

It’s hard to watch that spectacle and feel that Hillary doesn’t have a unique visceral effect on Republican voters likely to galvanize them in an general election. Which is exactly what Hillary’s primary rivals want you to believe.

Yeah, but then, this is the same audience that booed 70-percent of their fellow Americans for wanting to pull out of Iraq.

So is Hillary really the great GOP uniter…? Is she really the Democrat the Republicans want to face off against most? Or, as Digby contends…

She obviously scares the living hell out of Republicans, whose macho pretenders would rather band together, whimpering like a bunch frightened little boys in the dark, than take on each other. So they are preening for the easy applause from their Cro-Magnon audience. It’s a little bit pathetic.

It certainly is. And I expect Hillary will get an entirely different reception tonight in Seattle when she speaks before state Dems at their annual Maggie Awards. Every doubter I know who has seen Hillary speak these past few months, has been disabused of the notion that she just can’t win. I’ll be looking to see if local doubters have the same reaction tonight.

Everybody Hates Brown People. Ethnic cleansing proceeds apace in Prince William County Virginia, as fear of mass deportations has led thousands of Latino residents — legal and illegal alike — to pack up and leave. The brown flight comes in the wake of an anti-illegal immigration resolution passed this July by county supervisors, and then approved this Wednesday. Message sent. Message received.

“This is not something that only affects the undocumented,” [real estate] agent Rosie Vilchez said. “Because in the same family, it’s so common to have some people who are citizens, some people who are residents and some who are undocumented. And those with papers are going to do whatever is necessary to protect those without.”

Within hours of the board’s vote, Salvadoran-born Aracely Diaz instructed her real estate agent to put her townhouse on the market. […] “Even after they passed that July resolution, I had hope that [the supervisors] would change their minds,” said Diaz, 37, who has legal status but worries about relatives who do not.

Now, she noted bitterly, “I’ll be selling at a loss. But I don’t care. I no longer have any affection for this place that treats us this way. I just want to get out.”

Which of course, is the point… we want people like Diaz to leave. Sure, our immigration laws need to be either enforced or amended, but I doubt there would be this public uproar if we were talking about millions of undocumented white people pouring across the Canadian border. (Well, maybe French Canadians.)

Here in WA the anti-immigration fervor is wreaking its own selective havoc. While economic concerns leave migrant pickers largely unhassled in the apple orchards of Yakima (at least during harvest), Immigration agents make a show of arresting an 18-year-old Seattle girl on her way to school, and then shipping her back to Mexico, dashing the high school senior’s dreams of becoming a doctor. Yet another one of our state’s hardworking immigrants being officially terrorized in the name of our War on Terror. Aren’t you proud to be an American?

Everybody’s Gonna Die! Turkish troops are moving toward Iraq, Bush wants yet another $196 billion for his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Vice President Dick Cheney warns that “we will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon”… I suppose even if that means using nuclear weapons ourselves. Doesn’t all this ratcheting up the rhetoric about Iran remind you of 2002 when we were ratcheting up the rhetoric in preparation for invading Iraq? When Bush warns about “World War III,” is he really warning about Armageddon, or just cheering it on?

We’re all gonna die. Really.

Last June, former Seattle U.S. Attorney John McKay went to Washington D.C. to provide eight hours of testimony to the Office of the Inspector General. The Inspector General was investigating the reasons why eight U.S. Attorneys were fired.

As with the Fitzgerald investigation, this investigation has been hampered by a (former) senior Bush administration official lying. And we may have another high-profile perjury and obstruction of justice case in the works:

An investigation might be finished as early as next month, and then the U.S. inspector general might recommend criminal prosecution of departed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the fired former U.S. attorney for Western Washington told a Spokane audience Friday.

[…] McKay said he believes he and seven other U.S. attorneys were fired last December by Gonzales for political reasons, perhaps with former White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove pulling strings.

Career prosecutors in his office and FBI agents agreed there was no reason to go forward with a federal investigation of the Gregoire-Rossi election, and issues associated with it were more properly addressed by state officials, McKay said.
[…]

Gonzales “lied about” reasons for the firings when questioned under oath in July by the Senate Judiciary Committee, McKay said.

The White House said McKay was fired for poor performance ratings of his office, but the former U.S. attorney said he and his office got exemplary reviews just three months before he was fired.

“The chief law enforcement officer for the United States should not lie under oath,” McKay told the bar association.

An interesting part of this story is the likely role played by the Washington State Republicans:

In the weeks following the 2004 gubernatorial race, [Washington State Republican Party Chair Chris] Vance said Republicans were “angry and frustrated.” Republican Dino Rossi held narrow leads after the initial count and the first recount, but Democrat Chris Gregoire won by 129 votes after a second recount. Vance wanted to deliver that message of frustration to McKay.
[…]

Vance said he talked about the governor’s race frequently with Glynda Becker, the western states’ contact in Karl Rove’s political office at the White House. Vance said he didn’t remember if McKay was discussed.

Democratic claims that Rove was running the Republican effort to ensure Rossi won weren’t true, Vance said, though he said the White House knew what was going on.

Becker recalled the phone calls from Vance and “every other Republican activist from Washington state” and said while McKay’s name might have come up she couldn’t remember the context.

Others who spoke to Becker about the governor’s race included Tony Williams, a one-time chief of staff to former Washington Republican Sen. Slade Gorton, who advised the Rossi campaign.

Following the 2004 election, frustrated and angry state Republicans complained to Karl Rove’s office that the U.S. Attorney wasn’t investigating—what they perceived to be—election fraud. They didn’t have evidence for election fraud, of course, but that didn’t stop them from claiming it…over and over and over again. In the world of politics, you can make somebody believe something by repeating it often enough; but, that dog don’t hunt when it comes to the world of evidence and logic in the justice system. Even so, the state Republicans launched a high-profile law suit in which, Dale Foreman opened the GOP case by claiming, “[t]his is a case of election fraud.” After six months of investigations and millions of dollars spent on each side, the lawsuit was dismissed. There was no election fraud.

One legacy of the GOP lawsuit is that the false allegations managed to shake voter confidence in our elections process. But the problem with exercising bad-faith political smears is that they can come back to bite you in the ass. So it is only fair to give the Washington state GOP a little bit of credit for the months of political mayhem surrounding Gonzogate.

An even bigger political flap will arise should Gonzales be prosecuted for lying. (And given that the trial could take years, I suspect George Bush will, before leaving office, simply pardon Gonzales.) This, too, will become part of the GOP legacy from the Washington state gubernatorial election contest.

Hey…karma is a bitch!

Dan Satterberg was recently quoted as saying “This office should be nonpartisan,” and that he considers entering the world of partisan politics a necessary evil.

Apparently, Mr. Satterberg found it so necessary to partake of that evil that he is jointly headlining a Republican fund raising event…with Jane Hague!

Uh-huh. When “evil partisanship” calls, Satterberg steps up to the plate! He sees no problem associating his good name with Jane Hague, a candidate who is deeply flawed and neck deep in scandal.

Call me cynical, but it sure looks to me like Dan Satterberg has become a Republican fund raising asset. And he hasn’t even been elected to office yet! Democrats who are tempted to vote for Dan because “he is a nice guy, and is really kind-of, sort-of non-partisan” are simply fooling themselves—Dan is now an official tool in the Republican fund-raising arsenal.

But maybe I am misreading this whole thing. Maybe Dan is appearing at the fund raiser in a “non-partisan” role. Maybe Satterberg and Hague will actually be doing some sort of public service announcement. You know, like a Good Cop bad Drunk routine, where Jane tosses back a few, Dan tries arresting her and Jane unleashes a verbal volley. But this version of the tragedy ends differently: Jane takes full responsibility for her abuse and her drunk driving.

Or maybe Dan and Jane will make a joint announcement that, in lieu of a drawn-out investigation and prolonged prosecution, Jane has voluntarily decided to refund portions of her past King County salary—you know, from the job she obtained after lying on her resume about having a college degree. It could happen, I suppose.

Yeah…maybe Dan really is non-partisan, in which case, any day now, I expect to see him headlining a fund raiser for Venus Velazquez.

Well, you knew it would happen sooner or later — a blogger running for public office — but I didn’t think it would happen across the mountains in Richland, WA.

Yep… you read that right. Complete with PDC filings (coming soon). I am officially running for Richland City Council. Butterflies in my stomach and all. Needless to say I didn’t sleep well last night.

I’m not a reluctant candidate. I always figured I would run for something besides ‘Internet loudmouth’ someday. But I wasn’t exactly expecting to announce a run for anything today!

That’s Jim McCabe, proprietor of McCranium, declaring his write-in campaign for Richland city council, after Mayor Bob Welch’s surprise announcement that he will be stepping down… shortly after his reelection. (Welch is running unopposed this November.)

I hope that when Jim becomes a powerful politician, he remembers us little folk. And buys us drinks.

It turns out, Dave Reichert isn’t one of your typical House Republicans after all…

Although House Republicans currently face a tough national political environment, most of their vulnerable members enjoy a substantial lead in the money race over their Democratic challengers at this early point in the 2008 election cycle.

Federal Election Commission (FEC) financial filings for the third fiscal quarter of 2007, which ended Sept. 30, reveal that the 22 Republican House members in races ranked by CQ as “No Clear Favorite” or “Leans Republican” lead more than two to one in cumulative cash on hand versus their nearest Democrat opponent.

[…] The Republicans in these two categories that CQPolitics.com regards as competitive reported a total of $12.7 million cash on hand as compared with $5.2 million in total for the nearest challengers.

Of these 22 vulnerable Republican incumbents, only five currently trail their opponents in cash on hand, putting Reichert in such rare company as Ohio’s embattled Jean Schmidt (who trails not one, but three challengers,) and soon to be indicted John Doolittle of California. Reichert’s poor performance is even more remarkable when you consider that he was the only House member last quarter to benefit from a high-profile, high-dollar fundraiser with President Bush. Ouch.

Reichert spokesliar Mike Shields, the man behind the campaign’s Enron-style accounting, attempts to put a ridiculous spin on Reichert’s disappointing results, arguing that he’s just too busy being a congressman to do what congressmen notoriously do… raise money.

“That’s one of our challenges: Dave actually has a job,” Shields said. “He has to come serve the people, and he takes that very seriously.”

Yeah, right… unlike nearly every other member of Congress. But as CQ points out, incumbents are not only expected to hold a money advantage, it is absolutely critical for vulnerable Republicans given the current political environment.

The Republicans’ overall fundraising edge in these competitive districts, though expected for incumbents, is critical given that the party has few other advantages going into the election season. In addition to the weaknesses of individual candidates, Republican members as a whole also are saddled with the party baggage of an unpopular war and president. And they cannot count on a boost from the party’s fundraising committee for the chamber, the National Republican Congressional Committee, which badly trails its Democratic counterpart in money raised and cash on hand.

Shorter CQ: Reichert’s in deep doo-doo. The NRCC has to be putting together its budget with the expectation that Reichert, now a two-term incumbent, starts carrying his own weight. And with party resources scarce, Reichert just can’t rely on the same sort of huge infusion of party cash that put him over the top in 2006.

If Reichert can’t out-raise Darcy Burner in a quarter that included a presidential fundraiser, there can be only two explanations: he either has the wrong message, or he’s just not working hard enough. And in Reichert’s case, it is clearly both.

James L at the Swing State Project noticed something interesting:

MO-06 and WA-08: So get this. Despite being the beneficiary of a high-profile fundraiser hosted by Republican Lord & Savior George W. Bush, Dave Reichert was out-hustled by Democrat Darcy Burner. Compare Reichert’s haul with the total posted by Sam Graves, a Missouri Republican who received a fundraising visit from Dick Cheney. Graves raised a very impressive $500K+ for the quarter. I guess the President’s star power isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be anymore.

Reichert’s fundraising last quarter was damn anemic for an incumbent, not to mention an incumbent who had the President come to town to help.

Looking more closely at the FEC paperwork reveals how truly anemic the Bush fundraiser was. The FEC rules require that joint fundraisers, like the event held for the Washington State Republicans and Reichert, be handled independently of either group. The Bellevue Bush fundraiser was handled by an entity known as The Reichert Washington Victory Committee.

This FEC form 3x documents the donations and disbursements from the Bush fundraiser. What the form clearly shows is that the event only raised $135,025! That was $127,025 from individual contributions and another $8,000 from a political action committee.

A grand total of $127,025 in individual contributions at a Bush fundraiser in Bellevue, Washington??? That’s fucking pathetic! But…there you have it (maybe—see below).

Somehow or another, the media got the wrong estimate from this event. This KOMO report cites a slightly higher figure:

President Bush, deeply unpopular in Washington state, still raised more than $500,000 Monday for Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert and the state GOP, just hours after the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Where would the media get a figure like one-half a million? Perhaps it came from Reichert’s spokesperson, Mike Shields, who is quoted as claiming:

“It’s a huge cash injection before the actual election cycle begins,” Shields said. “An event doesn’t get much bigger than this. This is a huge help.”

Yeah…nice spin, Mike. The truth is a little less “big.” The FEC form shows the loot was mostly split three ways. The Washington State Republican Party got $26,166.73, Friends of Reichert took $35,754.80, and the big winner was the Hyatt Regency, Bellevue that earned $63,146.88 for hosting the fundraiser.

While Reichert was busy raising $35,755, Darcy Burner raised $125,000 from over 3,200 donors. In other words, Darcy Burner kicked both Reichert’s and Bush’s asses.

But these figures are only as good as the accountant filling out the FEC paperwork. We learned yesterday that there was a strange $47,100 refund in the FEC filing for Friends of Dave Reichert this quarter. Mike Shields offered a perfectly opaque explanation to the AP:

Shields said the difference – some $47,000 in refunds to donors – was an accounting technicality that sprang from the Bush fundraiser.

Those refunds had to be issued because of mistakes in dividing the Bush money between Reichert’s re-election campaign and the state Republican Party, which shared the more than $500,000 raised by the president.

The refunded contributions will be repaid, so Reichert is counting those contributions toward his third quarter total, Shields said.

Putting two and two together, it appears that Friends of Dave Reichert illegally processed some of the contributions that were all supposed to be handled by The Reichert Washington Victory Committee. If so, and if the money goes back to The Reichert Washington Victory Committee, it means that the Bush fundraiser only brought in $182,125. That’s still a far cry from the half million being hawked to the press.

Oh…and if The Reichert Washington Victory Committee takes the refunded money and returns it in full, it means Dave Reichert only took in about $84,000 from the event.

Darcy Burner still kicked his ass!

(Thanks to N in Seattle and Daniel Kirkdorffer for their help in untangling Reichert’s mess)

If you were driving through Bellevue this morning and noticed firefighters waving signs for city council candidate Keri Andrews, get used to it: the firefighters plan to be out there every day between now and the election.

Why the passion and effort behind Andrews and her race against two-term incumbent Phil Noble? Chronic under-staffing has made Bellevue response times some of the worst in the nation, putting lives at risk and threatening the department’s accreditation. And that could mean huge premium bumps for residents and businesses should the insurance industry lower Bellevue’s Public Protection Classification.

“We are very concerned about our ability to provide a timely response to fire and medical emergencies,” Bruce Ansell, president of Bellevue’s firefighters union, said, “If the people of Bellevue really understood how serious this problem is, they would be asking the City Manager some very pointed questions.”

But rather than fixing the problem the city council keeps lowering the bar. In 2001 the council rejected the national standard of 5 minutes or less for emergency response time as too stringent, adopting instead a target of 6 minutes, 90% of the time… a goal they have not met since 1997. Now, in preparation for review of its accreditation, the city is setting a standard of 8 minutes, 80-percent of the time… almost twice as long as Seattle’s average response time of 4 minutes, 19 seconds.

If Bellevue voters want to continue electing conservative, anti-tax councilmembers like Noble, they could pay with their lives. Or they could elect a progressive like Andrews and get the kind of public service they demand.

My posting has been a little sparse as of late. Why? I don’t think I ever really announced it, but as of the end of September, I’m a full time student at Seattle Central Community College. I have one year to go until I can transfer to UW. I’m excited to be back, but the workload is more than I was prepared for.

With full time school and a very interesting part time gig, I’ll be super busy for the near future. Some things I will be looking out for:

Roads and Transit. The latest polling puts the measure at the mid fifties, which is decent, but not great. I get the sense that Seattle’s great civic tradition of screwing the pooch on transportation will pay us yet another visit this fall. Already, the whispers of “vote this down, we’ll come back with something next year” can be read in the blogosphere.

If this this is voted down, I’ll tell you what is coming:

Last January, a commission led by former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and telecommunications billionaire John Stanton called for a new agency of members who would plan and finance road and transit projects for central Puget Sound. The new Puget Sound Regional Transportation Commission would take functions from the Puget Sound Regional Council, the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID), and Sound Transit.

The Rice-Stanton report [2.5 MB PDF] concluded that there are 128 agencies who manage aspects of transportation in the four-county area. “Our current system of transportation governance delivers inadequate results and will need fundamental systemic change to meet our region’s transportation needs in the future,” they declared.

Sound Transit and others fought the proposal, which passed in the state Senate but died in the House.

If ST2/RTID doesn’t pass, the punishment will not be doled out equally. Sound Transit, an organization with no friends in Olympia, will get the lion share of the blame. The Rice/Stanton plan will likely pass both the Senate and the House. (Some ask, “why would Democrats shitcan Sound Transit?” Remember, we’re not talking about regular Democrats. We’re talking about Olympia Democrats. This blogger was once told the story of a Sound Transit community meeting in north Seattle, where state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson showed up in a t-shirt that read “Mag-Lev Mama.” That’s how out to lunch they are on this issue.)

If Rice/Stanton passes, Sound Transit will be folded into a larger agency which will, in all likelihood, be governed by an elected board. Seattle, home to transit loving liberals, will have its political clout diluted by the new governance scheme. A transit board member in, say, Gig Harbor will have the right to veto transit funding in Seattle. And that, ladies and gentlemen (and Sen. Ed Murray), is bullshit.

Don’t forget that even if Prop 1 goes down this fall, roads will still get built. Why? Gov. Gregoire won’t allow 520 to plunge into Lake Washington. Expansion of the south portion of 405 is popular on the Eastside (and already partially funded), and with traffic congestion statistics showing this stretch of road to be the most congested in the state, it will be an easy call for legislators. Roads spending, unlike light rail, has sometimes be handled by the legislature without a vote of the people. Initiative 912 notwithstanding, two gas tax increases came out of Olympia without public votes. This could very well happen again, but this time to fund the projects that RTID funds.

The “Let’s Wait ‘Til Next Year” crowd sometimes cites Sound Transit’s success at the ballot box in 1996 as proof that light rail can do a quick turnaround to be approved by voters. What they don’t tell you is that Sound Transit’s failed measure in 1995 was paired down significantly to gain approval in 1996. The package in ’95 included light rail north to Lynnwood, south to Tacoma, and east across the lake to Bellevue. The package voters approved in 1996 was much smaller in scope. In fact, Sound Transit 2 greatly resembles the original Sound Move of 1995. Even with the much-publicized blunders made by Sound Transit during the 90’s, approval of the original Sound Move plan would have put the region in a great position today.

People who want more high capacity transit are rolling the dice by voting “no” on Prop 1. Don’t assume you’ll get another chance to vote for visionary transit investment like this in the near future.