HorsesAss.Org

I more than enjoy poking my finger in the eye of the Seattle Times editorial board, but the truth is, I often agree with many of their editorials. For instance, today’s editorial, “Let voters decide school-levy rules,” is not only dead on the money, it is particularly well reasoned and argued.

Maybe if politicians had to be elected by a 60-percent supermajority, they’d be quicker to understand the unfair burden such a requirement imposes on school levies.

[…] Nearly all of the state’s 296 districts rely on levy funds, some for 18 to 21 percent of their operating budgets. In Seattle, the levy accounts for 25 percent of the district’s budget.

The state ought to fund education better, but until it does, levy funds will make or break a district’s budget. It is unfair that a minority of citizens can punish a school system. Yet it happens. Several years ago, a levy in the Arlington School District failed with 59.7 percent of the vote. The majority of citizens said yes and still the district had to spend additional money and time on a second campaign.

Yesterday, Seattle voters once again approved new school levies by a comfortable margin, but had one or both failed with only 59-point-something percent of the vote, folks like our friend Stefan at (un)Sound Politics would undoubtedly be kvelling over their huge political victory. Think about it. In any other election this would be considered a landslide, but when it comes to school levies our constitution transforms a near 20-point margin into a public rebuke.

The same sort of folks who condemn raising the initiative filing from $5 to $100 as an unprincipled attack on direct democracy want the fate of our schools to rest in the hands of only 40-percent-plus-one of the electorate? Huh? It just doesn’t make any sense that funding our children’s education should be made more difficult than nearly any other democratic exercise.

And as the Times points out, this whole issue is about democracy.

Changing the levy rules requires amending the state constitution; voters will ultimately decide this issue — that is, if the Legislature passes the bill and gives voters a chance.

[…] Voters have a stake in this. The Senate ought to let them speak.

The legislature doesn’t have the final say on this, the people do. Our state Constitution prescribes that any amendment must ultimately be approved by a simple majority of voters. It is time to let the people decide if the same rules should apply to school levy elections.

I was accused of pouring it on a little thick in my last post about FoS. Truth be told, when I hear about folks doing what they can to make the city a better place, I just get weak in the knees. Call it post-Monorail syndrome, but I feel like digging in again. I think that’s where the passion about Seattle’s waterfront comes from. As a callow youth, if we really decide to put another freeway on the waterfront, I’ll have to live with the god awful mistake for longer than most of you. I got skin in the game.

In short, the FoS event was a smash. The room was packed. Lots of people: electeds, activists, hacks, and two bloggers. The crowd was quite youthful compared to most political events I’ve been to.

I don’t know if I’ll be an active part of this group. I don’t like to hitch my wagon to just anything. (Exception: Mike Lowry for Commissioner of Public Lands in ’00. Forgive me!) Besides, it’s not all “viaduct”. I want to see the new streetcar integrated into downtown. I want to see better parks downtown, even if that means getting tough on the homeless folks who’ve taken them over. I want to see the city make a greater effort to facilitate affordable housing. And more cops… way, way, WAY more cops on the beat.

If the coming Viaduct vote goes against me (My vote? No on Rebuild, No on Tunnel), and Seattle residents see fit to approve another freeway, so be it. I don’t have any kids, so I’m not too tied down. I can always move to a city that won’t build a freeway on it’s waterfront. You know… like Milwaukee!

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

I’m also planning to stop by tonight’s kickoff event for Friends of Seattle, 6:00 PM at Twist Restaurant & Lounge, 2313 First Ave (First & Bell). Hope to see you there.

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

The same people who want you to turn the music down! Josh Feit explains.

Check out the No Tunnel Alliance blog. Look at who is pushing for the rebuild, and whose support they tout: Helen Sommers, Joni Balter (and the Seattle Times editorial page), Joel Connelly, the Washington State Alliance for Retired Americans, Nick Licata …

It is a veritable who’s who of Seattle oldsters.

The rebuild is endorsed by the WSARA? (Their slogan: “We’d like some deli and a comfortable chair.”) I think retired people are great, don’t get me wrong. They still use checks, drive the speed limit, and their houses smell like medicine. But…

Of course, if we take their advice and rebuild this monstrosity, most of these folks won’t be around in 25 years to explain why the city made such a dumb mistake.

A friend who works in politics once told me a story about a room full of folks listening to a transportation planner talk about the region’s future. The speaker says, “Now, most of this won’t come to fruition until the year 2015…”

An old man rose to his feet, and slowly walked out of the meeting. I guess he figured he’d be dead by then.

The question of how to replace the viaduct is too important to be left only to those who’ll never see it’s consequences.

Today is election day in Seattle, with Seattle School District operations and capital levies on the ballot. Our friend Stefan over at (un)Sound Politics wants you to vote “no” on both:

I’m voting NO on both levies for a very simple reason. The school district is in crisis, and the only foreseeable spur for meaningful change is a cataclysmic event such as a levy defeat. And meanwhile, “for the children” rhetoric or not, the grown-ups running the School District haven’t convinced me they’ll do a particularly good job of spending my money.

Yeah, well, I’m guessing Stefan doesn’t have any children in the Seattle public schools, and thus the cataclysmic event he wishes for is purely theoretical as far as his own family’s experience. However, for the children who do attend the city’s public schools, the cataclysm of their school suddenly losing twenty-five percent of its funding would be very, very real.

In fact, voting against the operations levy would be downright immoral.

Stefan says that the district is “in crisis,” and while I agree that the district has significant financial, management and leadership problems that need to be turned around, it is far from the crisis experienced by many big city school districts elsewhere in the nation. And, um, even if you believe the district is in crisis… how does slashing funding by twenty-five percent solve the problem?

The fact is, a “cataclysmic event” is exactly what Stefan and other righties want, for they simply don’t believe in public education as the great equalizer in American society, and apparently, they’re willing to sacrifice a generation of students to make a political point.

But I’m not. So as angry as I still am at the district and school board over what I learned during the school closure process, I’ll be voting for both levies today. The operations levy is a no-brainer — you might as well just shut down the district without it.

The capital levy, well, there’s no question that the district’s capital spending needs to be reprioritized and better managed, but we’re so far into a multi-phase capital improvement plan that it just isn’t fair to the schools that have patiently waited for their turn to suddenly cut the money off. A few weeks back I met with former CAC member Melissa Westbrook — who is urging a “no” vote on the capital levy. We had a long conversation about the district’s capital plans, and I agree with many of her concerns. But there are many more deserving projects in the upcoming phase than there are those that should be eliminated or scaled back, so I don’t believe that this levy vote is the proper outlet for sending a message… especially since so few voters understand the details of the capital plan they would be sending a message about.

That’s why I urge you to vote “yes” on both the operations and capital levies… and then work harder over the next two years to help move our school district forward in the right direction. Don’t just get angry; get involved.

Let me just say right off the bat that if the state legislature approves $300 million in sales tax on restaurants, hotels and car rentals in King County to pay for a new Sonics arena, it will be a slap in the face of Seattle voters.

Just this November Seattle voters overwhelmingly rejected public funding of a new arena, and now Sen. Margarita Prentice (D-Renton) wants to tax us anyway… to build a new arena in Renton or Bellevue? She wants Seattle voters — who represent the bulk of the county’s population and thus would pick up the bulk of the cost — to pay for a new arena outside the city limits? And after we expressly rejected public subsidies, she now wants to force us to finance an arena that would compete for events with city-owned Key Arena, thus costing us even more money?

This is like rubbing salt in a fresh wound.

Prentice said that when details of the plan come out, support will follow. Other lawmakers have “enjoyed letting me stick my neck out, which I have done from time to time, but there will be support for it,” she said.

Hmm. Perhaps. Fucking Seattle is always a popular position elsewhere in the state. But Seattle Democrats should be awfully wary about supporting Prentice’s bill — just because you’re in a safe Democratic district doesn’t mean your seat is safe.

Andrew at NPI is more than a touch pissed off at our state’s editorial boards, and rightly so, for giving initiative guru profiteer Tim Eyman a free ride. But Andrew fails to ask the all important question, why? Why does the media still pretend that a self-promoter, admitted liar, and insufferably arrogant prick like Tim still has any credibility at all?

Hmm. Well, maybe it has something do with the fact that Tim is a self-promoter, admitted liar, and insufferably arrogant prick? Combine that with his talent for giving good quote, and you’ve got the makings of a good story. And after all, that’s what our media is in the business of selling: good stories.

It’s kind of like the Seattle Times’ vigorous defense of the Sonics’ efforts to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers. The Times needs the Sonics, because sports coverage sells newspapers. So the Times has a vested interest in keeping the Sonics in the region.

Likewise, the Times and our state’s other newspapers have a vested interest in maintaining the current initiative process as the corrupt and broken system it is today. Controversial initiatives and controversial sponsors sell papers, no matter how mind-numbingly stupid or insufferably arrogant they might be.

Trust me, I know.

While discussing his campaign for the White House, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that the United States is “still a right-of-center nation…”

“I am confident that this nation is not a center — I think they’re right. I think they’re basically conservative, the majority are basically conservatives, and I think that if we get back on our message, get back to the principles, philosophies and messages of Ronald Reagan and others, I think we’ll do just fine. But first we have to get over our state of denial.”

Uh-huh.

A state of denial. McCain should do well in that state.

Since there’s nothing on TV this evening, tune in to “The David Goldstein Show” tonight 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: Did the Bush administration strategically manipulating the Strategic Oil Reserve to drive up prices? In 2006 oil prices rose near $80 a barrel, despite the fact that there were no significant supply disruptions, and demand actually fell in industrialized nations. Why? Economist Thomas Palley suggests that the Bush administration may have manipulated our Strategic Oil Reserve to keep prices high, an act which Palley describes as “economic treason.” Dr. Palley runs the Economics for Democratic and Open Societies Project, and is the author of Plenty of Nothing: The Downsizing of the American Dream and the Case for Structural Keynesianism. He joins us for the hour.

8PM: Replacing the Viaduct: cost, capacity… and carbon emissions? Last week at a joint press conference with the president of the Marshall Islands, King County Executive Ron Sims departed from his prepared statement on global warming to talk about… the Viaduct. Absent from the public debate over rebuild vs. tunnel, Sims said, was a discussion about carbon emissions, and whether we could in good conscience increase capacity without thoroughly exploring more environmental alternatives. Hmm. Whatever the other factors, would a surface-plus-transit alternative be the only moral choice. Sims joins us for the hour to talk about global warming, and what we need to be doing locally to both prepare for and prevent its impact.

9PM: TBA

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

There is a new organization in town. It’s called Friends of Seattle, and it’s mission is…

Friends of Seattle envisions a city that grows substantially in the next fifty years, yet becomes an even better place to live. Seattle residents and local government act progressively to create a sustainable, healthy, and livable future for all who live here, while respecting our unique cultural, environmental, and architectural assets.

To achieve this future, Seattle can and should aspire to be a city of walkable neighborhoods, more affordable housing, an efficient transit network, a restored natural ecology, and more parks and public gathering spaces, all while taking responsibility for its impact on the environment.

Pretty basic stuff, right? Seattle has a rap of being a progressive city, right?

Lets look at the facts.

Certain state and city leaders are pushing for a rebuilt Alaskan Way Viaduct. That’s a new freeway through the heart of “Let’s Reduce Greenhouse Gases” Seattle. Not too progressive, I’d say.

Old Seattle is fighting housing density tooth and nail. Single family housing, by far the largest zoning designation in the city, is sacrosanct. Have you tried to buy a townhouse in Seattle? Not too many of them, and their all as expensive as a single family house. Buying condos outside the downtown core? Good luck with that, too. “Progressive” Seattle takes another hit.

What about transportation in Seattle? We have to be ahead of the times here, right? Not so much. There’s no push to expand the currently-under-construction Seattle Streetcar on Lake Union. What’s more, city leaders are fussing over a novelty streetcar that carries tourists. Progressive points get knocked off here, too.

There are so many more places where “progressive” Seattle needs a kick in the ass, and Friends of Seattle is the organization to give it to them. Their launch party is this Tuesday, and I’ll be there.

RSVP here.

The event is free, but a $10 dollar donation gets you membership in FoS and includes an exciting free FoS cocktail.

Location: Twist Restaurant & Lounge
2313 First Ave (First Avenue and Bell Street)

Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) on voting for the Iraq War resolution:

The resolution was a resolution that authorized the president to take that action if he deemed it necessary. Had I been more true to myself and the principles I believed in at the time, I would have openly opposed the whole adventure vocally and aggressively. I had a tough time reconciling doing that against the duties of majority leader in the House. I would have served myself and my party and my country better, though, had I done so.

Join me tonight 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: When payday lenders charge 391% interest, is that loansharking, or just a valuable service to consumers? A bill was introduced in the state House to cap payday lending interest rates at 36%, but House Insurance, Financial Services and Consumer Protection Committee chair Steve Kirby (D-29) won’t even give it a hearing. Rep. Kirby will join us by phone to explain why, followed by Aiko Schaefer of the Statewide Poverty Action Network, and Patricia Davis, a consumer who got caught in the payday lending interest trap. Later in the hour, Jeff Chapman of the Washington Budget & Policy Center joins us to explain the economic impact high interest rates, and the potential alternatives to payday lending.

8PM: Should 11-year-old girls be vaccinated against sexually transmitted diseases? Some on the religious right say that would be tantamount to encouraging sexual activity amongst children, but the Republican governor of Texas is bucking the righties and requiring girls entering sixth grade be vaccinated against HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer. Should Washington do the same? And should parents have the right to refuse vaccination?

9PM: TBA

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

PROGRAM NOTE:
Tune in tomorrow night at 7PM when Dr. Thomas Palley asks whether the Bush administration has been manipulating the strategic oil reserve to keep prices high. Then at 8PM King County Executive Ron Sims will join me talk about what we need to be doing locally to prevent and prepare for global warming.

Fellow HA blogger Will tosses Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas) a milkbone for requiring that all 11- and 12-year-old girls entering sixth grade be vaccinated against HPV, a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. The cost to vaccinate 170,000 sixth-grade girls is estimated at about $60 million, with private insurance covering many families’ costs. Gov. Perry’s executive order also offers free shots to all girls and women age 9 to 21 who are eligible for public assistance.

Like Will, I think vaccination is a good thing. But I’m also a tad suspicious of Gov. Perry’s unexpected leadership on this issue. Gov. Perry is one of those Republicans who has rightly earned a reputation for pandering to the religious right, a group that has loudly voiced concern that vaccinating 11-year-old girls against a sexually transmitted disease is, um, tantamount to encouraging sexual activity amongst 11-year-old girls. (Religious conservatives have such dirty minds.) So one can’t help but wonder if Gov. Perry’s sudden willingness to buck the religious right has anything to do with his close ties to the pharmaceutical company Merck, which manufactures the vaccine and stands to earn millions from the governor’s executive order?

Hmm. Male circumcision has also been proven in study after study to reduce both the incidence of cervical cancer in partners, and the likelihood of catching and transmitting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. And yet without a powerful mohel lobby to force the issue, I don’t see any political momentum towards providing a free bris to boys on public assistance.

If only Merck could patent foreskin removal….

So much for bipartisanship.

There’s a push poll in the fields in WA state, and apparently this one’s a doozy, filled with all types of lies and distortions about Governor Gregoire and the Democratic legislature. According to the Caller ID the poll is originating from the Fort Collins, CO call center of Research Data Designs (RDD), a Portland, OR based market research firm that has worked with WA state Republicans in the past.

In October of 2006, RDD conducted a push poll on behalf of then state Senator Luke Esser, who was in the midst of getting his ass kicked by Democrat Rodney Tom in the 48th Legislative District. Now, just days after Esser takes the reins as state GOP chair, RDD is back in WA trashing Democrats in general. Coincidence?

When one angry recipient asked who was sponsoring the survey the caller claimed it was the “Lotto Office of Massachusetts.” Of course that’s bullshit.

I think I may have gotten this call myself this afternoon, but hung up before I realized what it was. Damn. So if you get this push poll, please take copious notes, or record it if you can, and forward me the details. I’m eager to learn more about this poll… as is Charles McIntyre, General Counsel of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission:

I am in receipt of an email from the Executive Director of the Mass Lottery in which you express your concerns about the “Lotto Office in Massachusetts” engaging in polling of opinions in the Seattle area. I can assure that the Massachusetts State Lottery is not engaged in opinion polling in your area. We are also not aware of any firm or company that may be involved in this type of conduct. We certainly would be interested in any additional information that you could provide, given that we highly value our good public image.

We’ve come to expect dirty tricks like this during the election season, but now it appears that WA Republicans have embraced perpetual campaigning that is just as nasty — and clumsy — as any campaign they’ve run in the past. Welcome to political hardball, Luke Esser style.

In what can only be called a stunning decision, a conservative Republican Governor is taking a stand against cervical cancer, even when his political “base” is against his position:

Mr. Perry’s action, praised by health advocates, caught many by surprise in a largely conservative state where sexual politics is often a battleground.

[…]

Under the order, girls and women from 9 to 21 eligible for public assistance could get free shots immediately. The governor’s office said parents could opt out of the school program “for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs.”

“Requiring young girls to get vaccinated before they come into contact with HPV is responsible health and fiscal policy that has the potential to significantly reduce cases of cervical cancer and mitigate future medical costs,” said Mr. Perry, who was re-elected to his second full term last November.

HPV, affecting 20 million people nationally, including one in four 15-to-24-year-olds, is the nation’s most common sexually transmitted disease. Texas has the second-highest number of women with cervical cancer, with nearly 400 deaths last year, the governor’s statement noted.

The vaccine, approved for ages 9 to 26, is given in three shots over eight months. The shots are effective for at least five years, and together cost $360, said Curtis Allen, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This is amazing news. But there’s more:

Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.

Perry has ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company’s three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry’s former chief of staff. His current chief of staff’s mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.

The governor also received $6,000 from Merck’s political action committee during his re-election campaign.

Some of my “left-of-center” buddies were quick to accuse Perry of doing the bidding of a big donor. It may very well be the case.

But does that change things? Even if Gov. Rick Perry has “sold out” to the drug lobby, isn’t that OK if it saves hundreds of lives? I’m all for voting out the crooks, but lets get some perspective. If Merck’s influence over the Governor of Texas will save even one young woman’s life, then I say God bless him. Most Christian conservatives are against the vaccine; they say it’ll make girls more likely to have sex. They’d rather seen women die, I guess.

Republicans are like Labradors; I’m inclined to reward them for good behavior. In Gov. Rick Perry’s case, he gets a Milkbone from me for showing some “enlightenment.”