Goldy

In a blow to Attorney General Rob McKenna’s broad claim of discretionary authority, the Washington State Supreme Court today granted review to City of Seattle v. Robert M. McKenna, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes petition to compel McKenna to withdraw from the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of key health care reform provisions.

In granting review, Supreme Court Commissioner Steven Goff not only rejects McKenna’s multiple proposed grounds for dismissing the petition (that there’s no original jurisdiction, that there’s no justiciable controversy, that Holmes lacks standing and that there’s no claim upon which relief can be granted), he also affirms a major premise behind Holmes argument that the Attorney General lacks authority to participate as plaintiff in a lawsuit independent of state officer client:

The Washington Constitution provides that the attorney general “shall be the legal adviser of the state officers, and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by law.” CONST. art. 3, § 21. When language of this sort is used in a constitution to describe the powers or authority of a state official, the official does not have the common law powers that might be associated with such an office, but only the powers expressly given by the legislature. … Thus, this court has stated that “[t]he powers of the Attorney General are created and limited not by the common law but by the law enacted by the people, either in their constitutional declarations or through legislative declarations in pursuance of constitutional provisions.”

Sound familiar? Of course, that’s exactly what I’ve been arguing (for example, here and here) in my comprehensive analysis of the legal issues surrounding Goldmark v. McKenna, Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark’s petition to compel McKenna to provide statutorily mandated legal representation.

McKenna has repeatedly cited a broader duty to defend both the public interest and the interests of the state as a whole, as the basis for claiming discretionary authority to refuse an otherwise lawful request for legal representation from a state officer client, but such discretion would appear to contradict the plain language of the statutes. Thus if the Court affirms the relatively narrow interpretation of the Attorney General’s powers, as stated above by Commissioner Goff, it is hard to see how McKenna can prevail against Goldmark.

A hearing on Seattle v. McKenna is not scheduled until Nov. 18, with briefs due  beginning in August, but with Goldmark v. McKenna likely to be expedited to accommodate the tighter schedule of the appeal that sparked it, some of the main issues in the former case may be settled by the latter, far in advance of oral arguments. And while it would be a mistake to draw too many parallels between the cases, there is no question that the two overlap, in that they both challenge McKenna’s shaky claim to broad extra-statutory powers.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray announced today that she is joining 25 other U.S. senators in lobbying FIFA on behalf of the bid to bring the 2018 or 2022 World Cup the United States. And yes, Seattle is one the 18 proposed host cities.

In fact there’s even a web page devoted to Seattle’s role as a host city in the official U.S. bid, and a petition widget which I’ve temporarily added to the right sidebar. Sign the petition today!

In a preview of the looming battle over Initiative 1107 here in Washington state, New York Gov. David Patterson has dropped his proposed penny-an-ounce tax on soda and other sweetened drinks in the face of a relentless, multi-million dollar ad campaign from, you guessed it, I-1107’s sponsor, the American Beverage Association. The NY tax would have raised about $1 billion over two years to offset cuts in health care.

“The beverage industry takes the position that you can’t allow this to happen anywhere at any time, based on the slippery-slope theory,” Michael A. Nutter, Philadelphia’s mayor, who has proposed a 2-cents-an-ounce tax, said this week. “They’re successful the old-fashioned way. They pay for it.”

Of course, the industry won’t be able to run quite the same sort of ads here in WA; at only two-cents per 12 ounce serving, our tax is a mere one-sixth that proposed in NY — and only applies to bottled water and carbonated beverages, not fruit juices and other sweetened beverages — so it really would amount to only pennies a day for all but the most profligate soda drinkers. Still, expect the attitude to be the same, and to loudly attack “wasteful spending” in Olympia.

But don’t be deceived. This is all about protecting beverage industry profits, not the health or welfare of Washington citizens. The American Beverage Association is fighting similar proposals in a dozen states, and Washington is just one more line in the sand, much in the same way that the plastic bag industry spent millions to defeat Seattle’s proposed bag ban in an effort to stop or slow similar bans elsewhere.

Soda giants like Coke and Pepsi have already pumped $2.5 million into their I-1107 campaign, but with more at stake than just the WA tax, we can expect several million dollars more between now an November. In the face of such an intense media campaign, it remains to be seen whether WA voters will be willing to stand up to such powerful out-of-state interests, when NY politicians clearly weren’t.

Republicans are apparently willing to accept an awful lot of stupidity from RNC chair Michael Steele, but when he strays from the GOP’s traditional warmonger stance, well, that’s going too far.

Well, at least one newspaper in Washington state appears to think that a constitutional standoff between the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Public Lands is newsworthy… The Wenatchee World:

A dispute between Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark and State Attorney General Rob McKenna is scheduled to go before the Washington State Supreme Court on Thursday.

At issue is whether McKenna’s office should be forced to appeal an Okanogan County judge’s decision that allows the Okanogan County PUD to condemn state land to build a transmission line from Pateros to Twisp.

It’s not much of an article, and the World apparently didn’t assign a copyeditor to check for typos, but at least they assigned a reporter, and that counts for something. So watch out Seattle Times, you’re about to get scooped on a precedent setting case by more than just a foul-mouthed blogger.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell has announced her support for the final version of the financial regulatory reform bill, despite concerns that the legislation still did not go quite far enough, after tough new regulations on derivatives were added in conference.

“I will vote in support of the conference report because it makes great strides toward our ultimate goal:  bringing all standard derivatives onto exchanges and clearinghouses, with aggregate position limits and strong anti-manipulation tools…”

Get that? I sure don’t. And that’s one of the things I love about Sen. Cantwell: she’s a wonk’s wonk, and she’s not afraid to flaunt it. Isn’t it comforting to know that there’s at least one person in the Senate who apparently understands the financial legislation they’re writing?

Anyway, Cantwell’s announcement is kinda big news, as up until now she had been one of the Democratic holdouts. “This legislation is not perfect,” Cantwell admits, and she promises to continue pushing for “bolder actions.” But now that she got much of what she wanted on derivatives regulations, she’s fully on board.

I don’t mean to dismiss Susannah Frame’s series on KING-5 News exposing millions of dollars of alleged waste and mismanagement in the state ferry system, but really Susannah… get over yourself.

When she sat down with Gov. Chris Gregoire to talk about her findings, she was shocked — shocked I tell you — to discover that the governor was briefed, but had not actually watched the segments. So much so that Frame made the governor’s lack of loyal viewership the primary focus and lede of her subsequent report.

Gov. Gregoire’s people apparently complained that her comments were distorted, so KING-5 responded by posting all 15 minutes of the raw interview. I don’t know if “distorted” is the right word — you can watch the two videos and decide for yourself — but when you excerpt less than 40 seconds out of a 15 minute interview you can’t help but lose a little context. (For example, take a look at my own edit above, in which I hope I’m not distorting Frame’s comments.) In fact, Frame’s Gregoire segment devotes almost as much time to shots of a TV monitor playing excerpts from her prior ferry segments as it does to the governor, while a sizable chunk of the interview clips feature Frame herself.

But what really struck me from the raw footage was how many times Susannah Frame expressed surprise or disappointment that the governor hadn’t taken the time to watch Susannah Frame.

In retrospect, maybe Gregoire should have been better briefed, or maybe her handlers should have even sat her down to watch the segments. I dunno. But when KING-5 makes that the focus of the segment instead of the underlying investigative reporting, they just come off as self-serving.

As is my wont, I had planned a more thorough, well researched rebuttal to the Seattle Times latest unsigned editorial dissing Initiative 1098, but suffice it to say that the author is just talking out of his or her ass.

The Times cites absolutely nothing to back up its assertions, though as always, with great authority, instead relying on base fear-mongering (approve an income tax on the wealthy, and soon we’ll all be paying it) and the usual Friedmanesque bullshit (taxing the rich is a job killer).

Again, nothing but foul-smelling, flatulent ass-jabber.

On the first point it should be obvious by now that state Dems are total cowards when it comes to tax increases; why do you think the measure’s backers were forced to rely on the initiative process? Which of course illustrates the huge, gaping, bottomless hole in the anti-1098 campaign’s cynical slippery-slope argument: all substantive tax increases always come before voters. So if our Legislature ever found its nuts and attempted to expand the income tax as part of a broad based tax restructuring, you can be damn sure that voters would have the final say via either initiative or referendum.

And on the job killer argument… well… prove it. Don’t just tie up one of Milton Friedman’s ossified coprolites in a pretty bow and present it as a law of nature. Attempt to explain to your readers why taxing the wealthy, like 45 other states do, is more of a job killer than, you know, actually killing the jobs of the thousands of teachers, healthcare workers, firefighters, police officers, prison guards and other essential government employees for which this tax will help pay?

Betcha can’t. Know why? Because you’re talking out of your ass.

I’ll be on the John Carlson Show on 570-KVI during the 3PM hour this afternoon, talking with John about the beverage industry-backed Initiative 1107, which would repeal recently passed tax hikes on carbonated beverages, bottled water and candy.

No doubt John and his callers will repeat the mantra that we need to further slash state government, not increase taxes to deal with the new economic reality, which is why I’m reposting the chart above plotting Washington state and local taxes as a percentage of personal income from 1977 through 2008, and compared to the national average. As you can see, WA taxes as a percentage of the total economy is near a thirty-year low at the moment, after plummeting dramatically from the mid 1990’s, and is well below the national average.

(And in case you’re wondering where I cherry-picked my numbers, it’s from the conservative Tax Foundation, the same source Eyman often uses to support his preposterous claims.)

Every time I search “Rob McKenna” in Google or Google News, I get a sponsored link to King County Councilman Reagan Dunn’s campaign website at the top of page.

Huh.

Of course, Dunn isn’t up for reelection in 2010. Or 2011, for that matter. Or even 2012.

So why is he spending money now, buying sponsored links on searches on our current attorney general’s name? Figure it out for yourself.

Yup, that’s Sen. Patty Murray asking for unanimous consent on a bill providing aid to homeless female veterans and all homeless veterans with dependent children. And yes, that’s the Republican leadership once again blocking the bill… the same Republican senators who just held a high-priced fundraiser for Dino Rossi.

Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans returning home in the midst of the worst job market since the Great Depression are finding it particularly difficult to get themselves back on their feet, so you’d think if Republicans really supported the troops as much as they like to claim they do, they’d support Sen. Murray’s bill instead of stubbornly blocking it.

And you’d think if Rossi really supported the troops, he’d stand with Sen. Murray on this bill, instead of with his GOP benefactors.

Well, no, Republican real estate speculator Dino Rossi didn’t really say that those of us who vote for Sen. Patty Murray are going to burn in Hell, but it kinda-sorta sounded that way in yesterday’s interview with the National Journal:

Rossi said he would focus on voters who have not made up their mind. “In the old adage, there are saints and sinners and those who can be saved. The saints are with us, the sinners are not. And the ones that can be saved are the ones we will be talking to,” Rossi said.

Yeah, I know he meant it as a metaphor, but you gotta think that for a religious man like Rossi, his choice of metaphor says something about his political outlook. Those of us who don’t vote for him, well, in his mind, we’re all sinners. You know, sinners like the firefighters, sheriffs, police chiefs and veterans (not to mention Rossi’s fellow realtors) who have already endorsed Sen. Murray.

And we all know what the Bible says happens to sinners.

I’ve blogged in the past about the important difference between being serious and being solemn. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing?