Seattle School Closures Proposed by Superintendent Goodloe - Johnson

The Seattle School District met for almost 4 hours on Tues night discussing their preliminary Capacity Management & Building Closure Recommendations. After the meeting Superintendent Goodloe - Johnson said her power point presentation and summary of actions and appendices would be posted on the Seattle School Board website but when I got home I could find nothing. I guess it was too much to ask that it be posted right away so that parents and kids concerned about the possible fate of their schools could find out what is being proposed.

So here is the summary list of school closures proposed by the Seattle School District at the 11/25/2008 School Board Workshop.

Genesee Hill
Lowell Elementary - houses APP
Mann
TT Minor Elementary
Pinehurst - Alternative School #1
Van Asselt Elementary

Programs proposed to be relocated:

Lowell APP to Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall
NOVA to Meany
Pathfinder K-8 to Arbor Heights
SBOC to Meany
Summit K-12 to Rainier Beach
Thornton Creek to ADDams
TT MinorK-3 Montessori to Leshi
Thurgood Marshall EBOC to Bailey Gatzert
Van Asselt to AAA

New Programs:

New K-5 at Decatur
Thornton Creek K-5 expands to K-8

Discontinued Programs:

African American Academy
AS #1
Arbor Heights
Meany
TT Minor

Click on this link to find the location of the schools mentioned.

The closure of Lowell Elementary which currently houses the APP Program and splitting the students in half and sending them to Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall does not make a lot of sense when you look at the location of the two schools. Both Hawthorne and Thurgood Marshall are further south than Lowell and not that far apart. Most APP students now come from the north end. So why move the students even further South and make it more difficult for parent involvement?

If the goal is to have a viable APP program at two schools then a geographic split would make sense, with one school in the north end and one in the south end. But that is not what is happening. And there was no talk of expanding the APP program to more kids. Splitting the program in half seems more like a way to weaken a good program than helping meet the needs of gifted students. There is strength in keeping the program intact and concentrating resources with more student interaction and teacher and parent interaction.

Rumors on School Closures

Slog has posted some possible school closings to be announced tonight at a Seattle School Board workshop tonight.

Schools mentioned as possible closures include:
TT Minor Elementary
Alternative School #1
African American Academy
Lowell Elementary

Summit is proposed to be moved to Rainier Beach and Thornton Creek Elementary moved to the Jane Addams Building which has housed Summit. There is a discussion thread on Slog.

You can also track various discussions of what is happening at these websites:

West Seattle Blog which has a post on "Arbor Heights Elementary reportedly on the school closure list" , will be live blogging the meeting tonight.

The Seattle Public School community blog will also be live blogging. They have started discussion of the issue at School Closure/Consolidation Rumors & News.

Seattle School District to Close from 3 to 9 More Schools?

Does it sound to you like the Seattle School District really has this figured out? That's quite a range - closing 3 schools up to triple that at 9 schools. It doesn't inspire me to visualize that they are on top of this. One would think the numbers would be a little more precise. Of course a projected $24 million shortfall in their budget doesn't help to calm anyone's nerves and maybe they're having trouble figuring out the numbers. Numbers have something to do with math.

As the Seattle PI notes:

"...the district's longtime enrollment imbalances -- largely a result of the district's school-choice policy -- have led to overcrowded schools in North Seattle and some underenrolled South End schools.
Even with the School Board's 2006 decision to close seven school buildings, the district has 18 percent more classroom space than it needs for its students, according to a recent audit of the state's 10 largest school districts.
District officials were already considering whether to close more schools when they learned that the district faces at least a $24 million shortfall in the 2009-10 budget. That deficit could grow to more than $44 million if the state withholds Initiative 728 money or cost-of-living increases because of the economic downturn. The initiative, aimed at reducing class size, was passed in 2000.
As a result, the School Board unanimously voted two weeks ago to authorize Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson to immediately begin the process of closing schools."

On Tuesday night, November 25, 2008 , the Seattle School District is going to announce their plans. As noted on the Seattle Public Schools website for Tuesday night:

"Preliminary recommendations presented by the Superintendent, and discussed by the Board at a School Board workshop at 6:00 p.m., John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence, 2445 3rd Avenue South. This workshop will be videotaped for later streaming on our Web site."

The Seattle School District will then hold two public workshops on the preliminary sites chosen for closure and also will hold public hearings at the schools to be closed.

Thursday, December 4th, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence, Auditorium 2445 - 3rd Avenue South, Seattle, Washington

Saturday, December 6th, 9:30 - 11:30 AM Filipino Community Center, Main Ballroom 5740 Martin Luther King Way, Seattle, Washington

Public hearings will be held at buildings proposed for closure on Monday, December 15, Tuesday, December 16 and Thursday, December 18. Times and locations will be advertised and posted on the Seattle School district website. This link also has other dates and meetings that are relevant to the proposed school closures and is the best place to follow the process.

The school district site also notes that "Feedback related to capacity management and building closure is welcome. Comments may be emailed to capacity@seattleschools.org, to schoolboard@seattleschools.org or mailed to School Board, PO Box 34165, MS 11-010, Seattle, WA, 98124-1165. The School Board office phone number is 206 252 0040."

There is at least one excellent community source to help track public reaction to the proposed closures and voicie your opinion. that is the Seattle Public Schools community blog

Excellent recent commentary includes "The Calm Before the Storm or Not?" by Melissa Westbrook and "Where is the Conversation?" by Charlie Maas.

Another blog that posted information on the proposed school closures is the West Seattle Blog.
As they note "...South and West Seattle have the most likelihood of finding schools on this list, since the north end has been dealing with overcrowding,"

And then there's this illuminating comment by westello on the West Seattle Blog post that rightly points out:

"...if you look at this schedule, the initial announcements are two days before Thanksgiving. The public hearings for each site are the days before the Winter Break right about the time most elementaries have their holiday concerts.
And the final list is to be announced right after the Winter Break. This is a lot to absorb and carry during Thanksgiving and the holidays. I know the district
didn’t mean to be cruel but the timing is harsh.
I appreciate the West Seattle blog keeping up with this but I think between the timing of the meetings and the economic realities overwhelming many, that this will not be on many people’s radar."

Why is it again and again that the public seems to be at the tail end of each current crisis in the Seattle School District's process? Doing all of this during the holiday season seems the least likely time to engage the public. But maybe that's part of their plan.

Jason Osgood Tosses Hat in Ring to be King County Elections Chief

Jason Osgood, the recent Democratic candidate for Washington Secretary of State has tossed his hat in the ring to become King County's first elected Director of Elections. Jason Osgood joins a growing list of potential candidates for the new county office approved by voters in the November 4, 2008 election.

The nonpartisan office was created by voters in the General Election when they voted to approve King County Charter Amendment 1 by a 56.25% yes vote. The first election to fill the office will be held on February 3rd. Filing for the office will occur from Dec 10th -12th. There will be no primary vote. Whoever gets the most votes wins.

Jason Osgood, speaking at the 46th District Democrats meeting on Thursday night announced to the group that he is running for the office.

Osgood in his race against Sam Reed for Secretary of State received 47.8% of the King County vote - some 390,934 votes. This gives him a good base to start form and name familiarity in the race. He has also been thoroughly vetted on election issues as a result of running for Secretary of State.

The Seattle Times reports that at least 7 other people besides Jason Osgood have expressed an interest in running. They run the range of the political spectrum political - including some far right candidates whose divisive politics hardly seem a good fit for what is supposed to be a nonpartisan office. People whose names were mentioned in the Seattle Times include:

"Chris Clifford, a local-government watchdog who is leading an effort to recall Seattle Port Commissioner Pat Davis, this week became the first announced candidate for elections director. ...Among those thinking about running are veteran politicians state Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn; former King County Councilmember David Irons; and Seattle Port Commissioner Lloyd Hara....Other potential candidates are:
• County Council Chief of Staff Ross Baker, who says he has gone "two-thirds of the way" toward deciding to enter the race;
• Joe Fain, chief of staff to County Councilmember Pete von Reichbauer, and chair of the successful campaign to make elections of the council, executive and assessor nonpartisan;
• Anthony Hemstad, a management consultant, Valley Medical Center commissioner and former Maple Valley city manager.
With so little time for candidates to raise money and campaign, Nixon said it will be difficult for political newcomers to take on experienced politicians whose names are familiar to voters."

Osgood just having been before the voters and running on election issues should be able to get a good start over the other candidates, especially those who ave never run for office before or that never ran county wide or those that are not mainstream candidates.

Ingraham HS Stages Pep Rally to Cut Down Trees

On Tuesday night at Ingraham High School in North Seattle, the Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) held a public meeting on the Ingraham construction project. As you know, Save the Trees – Seattle and others in the community are opposed to the Seattle School District cutting down 68 trees in a grove on the west side of the High School when other locations exist on the campus where the addition can be built without cutting down any large trees.

The trees to be cut are the 100 foot tall 75 year old Douglas fir, western red cedar and Pacific madrone trees in the distance in the picture. The grassy area in the foreground is one place Save the Trees - Seattle says the new addition could be built, saving any large trees from needing to be cut down. The Ingraham High School master plan actually says this open lawn area is where a future addition could be built an Ingraham. Why not now?

Many neighbors and others turned out to support saving the tree grove and to urge that the project be moved. There was also a very large contingent of vocal students and parents and teachers frustrated by their long standing grievance of classes being held in rundown mold infested portables for too many years.

The Principal at Ingraham stated that he made a concerted effort to turn out students and parents and teachers to support the project. With his encouragement the students basically staged a pep rally for the project. This was not unexpected considering what they have had to put up with in a substandard learning environment.

Those opposed to needlessly cutting down the trees on a campus, which at 28 acres is the largest in the Seattle School District, sympathized with the frustration of the students and parents and teachers who for too many years have been forced to take classes in substandard portables that are in terrible shape and have mold. Teachers and students complained of getting sick. Some of the portables house special needs students but do not have running water or bathrooms.

The Seattle School District has let the situation get out of control and is now trying to make the neighbors the villains for their negligence. The Seattle School District’s approach has been to deny they have any responsibility for delaying the project and blame neighbors who love trees more than students as what is preventing the project from going forward

But Save the Trees – Seattle and the neighbors support the long overdue upgrading of the classrooms. We are not, however, the villains just because we also don’t want to needlessly destroy a unique urban forest when viable alternatives exist on the campus for building elsewhere. One location we suggested was the North lawn area which Ingraham actually picked as the site if a future addition was to be built after the current project. It is rather ironic that the Ingraham Master Plan produced as part of this project can propose building on this North lawn location in the future but it is somehow not possible to build there now and spare the grove of trees. They are serious enough about retaining the North lawn area for a future addition that in the current proposal it is the only area on campus where they do not propose planting trees.

Two wrongs do not make a right. Not upgrading or maintaining the school in a responsible way for students and teachers in the past and proposing to cut down 68 Douglas fir, Western red cedar and Pacific madrone trees to now do the upgrade is only compounding the past mistakes by avoiding responsible stewardship of both our schools and our natural urban habitat.

The Principal testified that he went around to different student groups to recruit them to come to the public meeting to support the project as is. It is very hard for any students to take on the Principal publicly and say they opposed cutting down the trees. I have spoken with both students and teachers who opposed cutting down the trees. At least one teacher was told to stop any efforts to get students to oppose cutting down the trees because that was political and not education. The teacher felt threatened and that her job was at stake.

The Principal is the authority figure at the school. Student recommendations for college frequently come from the Principal. Is it any wonder that teachers and students who oppose cutting down the trees might feel intimidated or threatened if they spoke out. I remember when I contacted Martin Floe about our arborist looking at the trees he personally told me to not talk to the students. I guess he was afraid of them hearing anything contrary to his position. So much for an open dialogue at Ingraham.

What Floe has forgotten is that he is acting in a capacity of public trustee for a public school funded by taxpayer dollars. He has tried to characterize the neighbors as NIMBY’s which means he doesn’t even understand the term. We are not opposed to renovating the school and in fact believe it is long overdue. I am aware of no one in our group or neighbors and other tree advocates that are opposed to the renovation. We voted for the BEX bond issue. Our tax dollars are paying for the project and we have the right to express our views as much as anyone else.

Unfortunately the process set up by Martin Floe excluded the community and neighbors from the initial selection of the site and design of the project. Meetings of the School Design Team were held in secret with a few parents and teachers personally selected by Martin Floe. The public’s only chance to comment on the proposed project was earlier this year after the building site had been chosen and the design done. And we were then told we could not comment on the site anymore since that decision was already made.

At last night’s meeting, as I publicly stated, I do not think anyone there opposed the decaying portables being torn down and replaced with modern classrooms. Unfortunately it was obvious that the only option given to students and others to get new classrooms was to build in the tree grove. And blame the neighbors, rather than the School District for its inadequate review and closed review process, for preventing them from getting new classrooms.

The issue at this point is a legal one, whether or not the project is in compliance with city and state SEPA laws. We are pursing the legal process afforded the public to review the project.

The meeting was part of the public process for approval of land use permits for building in the City of Seattle and is proceeding on the normal timetable, except for the delay caused by the School District withdrawing their permit application in August in an attempt to just cut the trees down. The King County Superior Court issued an injunction to stop the trees from being cut down without any review by the City of Seattle. The City of Seattle is expected to make a decision in the next few weeks. The City does have the authority under the city’s SEPA laws to further mitigate the project, including moving it to save the tree grove. We will let you know what happens.

AP Declares Begich Winner over Stevens in Alaska

The Associated Press has declared Democrat Mark Begich the winner of the Senate race in Alaska. He defeated incumbent Senator Ted Stevens.

The latest vote tally puts him 3,724 votes ahead with only about 2500 overseas votes remaining to be counted according to the Fix.

This now brings to 58 the number of Senators in the Democratic caucus in the US Senate. Sixty votes are needed to make the Senate filibuster proof.

Still undecided is the race in Minnesota where the Republican Norm Colman only leads by 206 votes over Democrat Al Franken with a recount to be done and the race in Georgia where a new vote will be held between the Republican and Democrat on December 2, 2008.

Senator Stevens Falls Behind in Alaska

The latest vote count puts Democrat Mark Begich ahead of Republican Senator Ted Stevens by 1022 votes. As the Anchorage Daily News reports Stevens is in "grave danger of losing reelection". They go on to explain:

"More than 90 percent of the votes are now counted, and Friday's count of absentee and questioned ballots could have been Stevens' best chance to make a comeback.
That's because it included all the ballots left from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, where Stevens has enjoyed his most unwavering support.
There are about 24,000 ballots left to be counted, coming from Anchorage, Southeast Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula. The state will tally them all Tuesday."

As the Fix notes:

"Of the remaining votes, roughly 15,000 are in the Anchorage area (a swing area in the race) and another 8,000 are in the Juneau area, which should be Begich territory.
"The news continues to be positive," Begich said in a statement released by the campaign tonight. "With the gap widening slightly in our favor today, I feel even more optimistic that when all the ballots are counted next week, we'll see Alaskans came out to vote for new leadership in Washington, D.C."

The Stevens/Begich race is one of three races still undecided for US Senate. In Minnesota, Republican Norm Coleman leads Democrat Al Franken by 206 votes. A manual recount is to be done to determine the final results. In Georgia, Republican Saxby Chambless, the incumbent will have a runoff election on Dec. 2, 2008 with democrat Jim Martin.

Late Returns Helping Republicans Gain Legislative Seats

In a turn around, late counted votes in some Washington State Legislative races are seeing Democrats losing some races they thought they won. The end result could be that Republicans may see a net gain of 3 to 4 seats in the Legislature.

As reported by Bryan Bissell on PoliticklerWA.com the Republican gain is coming in both House and Senate races:

In the Senate 2nd Legislative District which includes parts of Pierce and Thurston County, Republican Randi Becker is now leading incumbent Democratic Senator Marilyn Rasmussen.

Randi Becker (Republican) .....29,908 (51.54%)
Marilyn Rasmussen (Democrat) .....28,098 (48.44%)

In the Senate 17th Legislative District which is Clark County Republican Senator Don Benton has turned a deficit on election day into a large lead over Democrat David Carrier.

Don Benton (Republican) .....29,169 (51.15%)
David Carrier (Democrat) .....27,796 (48.85%)

In the House 10th Legislative District which represents Island County and parts of Skagit and Snohomish Counties, Norma Smith currently has a 450 vote edge over Democrat Tim Knue who lead on election night.

Norma Smith (Republican) .....33,365 (50.34%)
Tim Knue (Democrat) .....32,915 (49.66%)

In the House 6th Legislative District in Spokane County, Democrat John Driscoll has seen his lead drop from about 1000 to 63 votes over incumbent Republican Representative John Ahern.. This race will obviously go into a recount.

John Driscoll (Democrat) .....34,805 (50.05%)
John Ahern (Republican) .....34,742 (49.95%)

In other turnovers already decided, Republican picked up seats in LD 6 and LD 26 .

In House Legislative District 6 in Spokane County, incumbent Democrat Don A Barlow was defeated by Republican Kevin Parker.

Kevin Parker (Republican) .....36,746 (52.86%)
Don A Barlow (Democrat) .....32,767 (47.14%)

In House Legislative District 26 in part of Kitsap and Pierce County, Republican Jan Angel defeated Democrat Kim Abel. The seat had been held by a Democrat, Pat Lantz, who retired.

Jan Angel (Republican) .....30,178 (53.41%)
Kim Abel (Democrat) .....26,322 (46.59%)

Democrats picked up 1 House seat in Legislative District 17 in Clark County. Democrat Jim Probst beat Republican Joseph James in a seat previously held by Republican Jim Dunn who lost in the Primary in August.

Tim Probst (Democrat) .....31,457 (55.86%)
Joseph James ((Republican) .....24,856 (44.14%)

You can keep track of the latest results in these races by going to the Secretary of State's Election website.

Dean to Leave 50 State Legacy

Howard Dean is going to step down as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He is not seeking a second term and will leave in January. He could turn up as a Cabinet member under President Obama - maybe Secretary of Health and Human Services.

As Adam Nagourney on The Caucus blog at the NY Times notes:

"As chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Mr. Dean pressed the party to expand its efforts and set up offices in all 50 states, arguing that the party was making a mistake in effectively ceding states to the Republican Party. That position led him into some famously pointed clashes with Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who at the time headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign, and who was angry that Mr. Dean was not sending money he had raised to help in Democratic efforts to take back Congress.
Mr. Emanuel was appointed by Mr. Obama last week as the White House chief of staff."

Donna Brazile, a DNC member is quoted on the Huffington Post saying:

"The 50-state-strategy was successful in laying the groundwork for 2006 and 2008, .... Clearly, the strategy has reaped a harvest of new voters for Democrats and the next Chair will no doubt build upon this foundation for 2010 and beyond. Remember, we have some interesting statewide and mayoral elections next year before the all out organizing for redistricting."

Sam Stein in his post suggests that a good replacement for Dean might be a duo combination of Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who was a co-chair of Obama's Presidential campaign and Steve Hildebrand who was deputy campaign manager.

David Corn also on the Huffington Post in a second article suggests that Obama's Campaign Manager David Plouffe might be a better choice noting specifically that:

Job One of the new DNC chair is to win the 2010 congressional elections as a prelude to winning reelection for Barack Obama in 2012. The party doesn't need a visionary or public leader in the position. Obama can handle those tasks. (The party on the outs is the one that requires a posterboy or postergirl who is good on television.) The Democrats need an uber-operative who can simultaneously oversee scores of critical House and Senate races, supervise the early reelection effort, and chart out the overall mission of advancing the party's interests across the country. The next DNC chair should also know a thing or two about fundraising and be able to transform the party into the receptacle for all the grassroots energy and passion that poured into the Obama campaign. Who better than Plouffe to do all this?

Corn notes that Plouffe has communicated that he is not interested yet it is important to note that Obama basically set up an independent campaign organization in his run for President that incorporated fundraising and get out the vote efforts. It obviously worked and from a practical sense the DNC is the logical organization to merge with Obama's structure and focus to look toward the future.

The choice of who chairs the DNC is the perogative of Obama as President. It is as critical a choice as any he makes regarding his future and the future of the Democratic Party. It is important that he makes the right choice.

Seven of Dirty Dozen in Congress Defeated

The national League of Conservation Voters has been active for many year working to defeat anti-environmental members of Congress. Each Congressional election year since 1996 they target the worst environmental Congressmen as the Dirty Dozen.

Since 1996 over half of the candidates named to the Dirty Dozen list have been defeated.This year was no different - seven of their targeted anti-environmental Congressmen went down to defeat.

The losers included:

1. Senator Elizabeth Dole, North Carolina Senate race- 7% LCV lifetime voting average

winner Democrat Kay Hagan 53%/44%.

2. Rep. Tim Walberg - Michigan House race (MI-7) - 5% LCV lifetime rating

winner Democrat Mark Schauer 49%/46%.

3. former Rep Ann Northup, Kentucky House race (CD-03)- 7% LCV lifetime score

winner Rep John Yarmuth 59% /41%.

4. Steve Pearce, New Mexico Senate race - 1% LCV lifetime rating

winner Rep. Tom Udall - 96% LCV lifetime rating - 61%/39%.

5. Rep Joe Knollenberg, Michigan House race (MI-09)- 7% LCV lifetime rating

winner Gary Peters 52%/43%.

6. Dean Andal, California House race (CA-11) - 9% LCV lifetime voting rating

winner incumbent Rep. Jerry McNerney 55%/45%.

7. Rep Bob Schaffer - Colorado Senate race - 5% LCV lifetime rating

winner Rep Mark Udall 53%/42%

Other targeted Dirty Dozen races were those of Rep Don Young of Alaska, Rep Sam Graves of Missouri, Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, Sen James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senator Mary Landreau of Louisiana.

Senator Steven is leading in Alaska 48%/47% (106,594 / 103,337) with the race still not called. Rep Young of Alaska had 114,043 votes to Berkowitz's 97,104 for a 54%/44% vote.
(latest CNN results)

Breaking the Voter Registration Barrier

Something is still wrong in America when a democracy based on voting puts up multiple road blocks to people being able to vote. Republicans for many years have made strong efforts to suppress voter turnout and to disenfranchise voters as part of their election strategy.

It's time for some changes to fulfill the promise of voting rights and make access easier and increase citizen participation in voting. As the New York Times notes in an article "Push to Expand Early Balloting and Voter Rolls in US" the time is ripe for needed action in this area.

"The single most important thing that Congress can do right now is create universal voter registration, which would mean that all eligible voters are automatically registered,” said Rosemary E. Rodriguez, the chairwoman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, which oversees voting. “We also saw incredible success with early voting, and requiring states to adopt it would help as well.”
Ms. Rodriguez said universal registration would reduce the dependence on third-party groups like Acorn to sign up people and would remove the impetus for much of the pre-election litigation over who should be allowed to register."

Senator Hilliary Rodham Clinton is mentioned as working on legislation to overhaul how voters register. Clinton is quoted as saying

“A system of automatic registration, in which the government bears more of the responsibility for assembling accurate and secure lists of eligible voters, is a necessary reform,” ..... “All eligible Americans should be able to cast their ballot without barriers, and the registration problems we saw on Tuesday and during the weeks that preceded Election Day make clear that the system needs improvement.”

The Clinton plan

"would require states to expand the voter registration databases that have already been created so that they include all eligible voters. To do this, states would draw information from tax records, driver’s license lists and social service agencies. The plan would also require states to update registrations whenever voters filed an address change with the Postal Service or other government agency, so the 14 percent or more of voters who move every year do not fall off the rolls. "

On the issue of early voting the article notes that

"Congress is already discussing the adoption of early voting nationwide. It now exists in 32 states in various forms.

A bill to do so was drafted last year by Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, and its co-sponsors included Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois. The bill was tabled after receiving little support from Congressional Republicans but is likely to have a better chance next year when Democrats hold expanded majorities on Capitol Hill and Mr. Obama is president.

Early voting proved extraordinarily successful in providing people with more options to cast their ballot and in easing the strain of turnout on Election Day. It gave voters the chance to clarify their eligibility before Election Day, and it gave election officials more time to test and understand new machines and rules. "

Both reforms are needed to fulfill the promise of American voting rights. Registration needs to be easier and be open to automatic updates when people move rather than requiring re-registration. Voting needs to be open to pre-election day voting.

In Washington State all but 2 counties (King and Pierce)vote by mail. But registration ceases however a month before the election. In person registration is possible up to 2 weeks before the election at county elections offices. But the state still should allow same day registration, allowing voters to change addresses or register to vote up to and including Election Day.

Voting needs to be made easier and more accessible. Reforms like this will help America keep its promise to its citizens that this is their county and that the government will make it a priority to ensure that people are not denied access to voting because of partisan politics or special interest influence.

Peter Goldmark is New Public Lands Commissioner

The race for Public Lands Commissioner in Washington State is over. Democrat Peter Goldmark has been declared the winner by the Associated Press. He ousted 8 year incumbent Republican Doug Sutherland.

The latest returns on the Secretary of State's election site posted at 10:16 AM today show the race still tight. Goldmark leads with 1,059,007 votes (50.85%) to Sutherland's 1,023,553 votes (49.15%). The difference is some 35,454 votes.

Goldmark out raised his opponent $1,055,464 to $601,351. However special interests like Weyerhauser gave money to the so-called independent PAC- the Committee for Balanced Stewardship to raise an additional $573,000 to support Sutherland.

This allowed Weyerhauser to skirt normal campaign contribution limits of $1600 per election for a candidate for statewide offices and contribute $100,000 to support Sutherland's candidacy.

In addition the independent PAC - Realtor's Quality of Life spent $28,780 to support Sutherland.

Contributions directly to a candidate's committee are limited to $1600 per election or a total of $3200 for both the primary and general election. This is supposedly to reduce the influence of large money in campaigns but the loophole of unlimited contributions to independent PAC's show how easy it is to skirt this limit.

The Washington Governor's race also saw huge spending by so called independent PACs. The BIAW through it's PACs contributed over $7 million to unsuccessfully try to defeat Democratic Governor Gregoire.

Both the Governor's race and Public Lands Commissioner race were wins for Democrats being hit with huge amounts of special interest money. There is a real question that if Barack Obama had not been on the ballot as to whether or not these Democrats would still have won. The closeness of the two races raises the issue, particularly since some analysts are saying national issues affected many local races this year and that this may be a trend. Certainly the uniqueness and turnout of the Presidential race was a factor.

The idea of trying to limit the influence of huge amounts of special interest money going to PACs in Washington State is a legitimate issue to raise. The diluting by unlimited special interest contributons of the voice of those who abide by campaign spending limits is something that needs to be addressed in Washington State.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has done an analysis of state limitations on contributions to political action committees and the result is interesting. Here are some of the limits for individuals giving to PACs:

Alaska $500/yr, Arkansas $5000/yr, California $6000/election, Colorado $500/2 year cycle, Connecticut, $2000/yr, Florida $500/election, Hawaii $1000 election, Kentucky $1500/yr, Louisiana $100,000/4 yr cycle, Maryland, $4000/4 yr cycle, Massachusetts $500/year, New Hampshire $5000/election, New Jersey $7200/yr, North Carolina $4000/election, Ohio $10,670/yr, Oklahoma $5000 yr, Rhode Island $1000/yr, South Carolina $3500/yr, Vermont $2000/2 yr cycle

Meanwhile Washington State allows unlimited money from an individual to go to a PAC. Our only limit is that during the last 21 days before an election, no contributor may donate more than $5000 to a candidate or political committee.

The other limit some states impose on contributions to PACs is to limit corporate and union contributions. These include:

Alabama $500/election, Arkansas $5000/calender yr, California $6000/election, Connecticut $2000/calendar year, Florida $500/election, Hawaii $1000/election, Indiana $5000 state candidates, Louisiana $100,000 4 yr cycle, Maryland $4000/4 yr cycle, Mississippi $1000/calendar year, New Hampshire $5000/election, New Jersey $7200/yr, New York $5000 total/yr, South Carolina $3500/calendar yr, and Vermont $2000//2 yr cycle.

Meanwhile Washington State allows unlimited corporate and union contributions to PACs with the 21 day rule exception above limiting contributions to no more than $5000 in the last 21 days before an election.

Going even further, a number of states ban all corporate and union contributions to PACs including Alaska, Arizona, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

We can do things differently in Washington State. While the US Supreme Court has overturned strict spending limits, they have agreed that reasonable limits on contributions are acceptable.

Equalizing corporate and union and individual contributions to PACs to be the same limits as those to candidate campaign committees seems a reasonable way to reduce the influence of special interests with huge bankrolls from overwhelming the voice of individual voters.

A limit of $1600 to contributions to candidate campaign committees and independent PACs per election would help stop the flood of special interest contributions trying to outshout the voices of individual citizens engaging in the electoral process.

Projected Merkley Victory Would Increase Democratic Total to 57 in US Senate

The Oregonian is projecting Democrat Jeff Merkley as the winner in Oregon. Neither candidate is declaring a winner or loser however as the vote total is still close with some 340,000 votes still not counted out of 1.8 million total votes cast. A large number of the uncounted votes are from Melanoma County and likely Democratic voters as a result.

Meanwhile in Minnesota with the vote count done, Democrat Al Franken is losing to Republican Norm Colman, the incumbent by only 720 votes. The race is going into an automatic recount since a difference less than 15,000 represents the 1/2 of 1 % trigger for a recount. Watch here for Al Franken demanding a recount.

Norm Colman has 1,211,616 votes for 42%.
Al Franken has 1,210,895 votes for 41.97%.

The 3rd undecided Senate race in Georgia is headed for a revote in December by the top 2 vote getters because no one got more than 50% required by Georgia law. The Republican Chambless has 49.9% of the vote.

The 4th undecided race is that of Alaska, where Ted Stevens is holding a slight edge over the Democrat Mark Begich.

Other Senate seats Democrats picked up include:

North Carolina where Kay Hagen defeated Senator Elizabeth Dole

New Hampshire where Jeanne Shaheen defeated Senator John Sununu

Colorado where Mark Udall defeated Bob Schaffer

New Mexico where Tom Udall won.

Virginia where Mark Warner won.

It looks like it will be difficult for Democrats to reach a filibuster proof 60 votes. Also included in the Democratic caucus numbers is Independent Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat from Connecticut who actively campaigned with Republican John McCain in his bid to defeat Obama.

Democrats with their current 1 vote majority have been overly tolerant of Lieberman's turn coat politics, needing his vote to keep control of the Senate. Things may not be so cordial for Lieberman next year when his vote is not necessary to keep control of the Senate.

Peter Goldmark Cautiously Optimistic About Winning

In an e-mail sent out today by the Peter Goldmark for Public Lands Commissioner, Goldmark states:

"We always knew this was going to be a close election. As of 3:30pm today, we have 50.89% of the votes. With many ballots left to be counted, especially in King, Snohomish, Pierce and Spokane Counties, we are cautiously optimistic about last night's returns."

The Secretary of State's election website gives the following breakdown as of 5:05 PM today:

Peter Goldmark......861,395 votes ...... 50.70%
Doug Sutherland....837,727 votes ..... 49.30%

A county by county breakdown show Goldmark winning in 6 counties by the following margins:

King County ..........63.17% to 36.83%
Jefferson County ..........59.78% to 40.22%
Whatcom County ..........54.14% to 45.86%
Snohomish County .........52.23% to 47.77%
Cowlitz County ..........52.19% to 47.81%
Okanogan County .........51.20% to 48.80%

Sutherland is slightly ahead in Pierce County by 52.77% to 47.23% and in Spokane County by 51.23% to 48.77%.

Obviously the outcome will be affected by the proportion of votes coming from each County that has not yet been counted. Any votes remaining from King County, which represents about a third of the state's voters, heavily tilts the results towards Goldmark winning. Because return ballots mailed by voters yesterday may still not have been received by the counties, this race remains up in the air and will for at least a few more days.

King County election results were last updated at 2:30 P.M. today. They report that out of 1,108,128 registered voters in King County that they have counted, some 251,439 poll ballots were cast and some 194,753 absentee ballots have been counted. This total of 446,252 votes counted so far represents some 40.2% of the voters. Turnout is estimated to be around 80% or more so only about half the potential votes cast have been counted in King County as of now.

6:37 PM update 11/5/2008

Peter Goldmark .....867,784 .....50.68%
Doug Sutherland ....844,403 ....49.32%

Right now Goldmark leads by 23,381 votes.

Anti-Gay Initiatives Winning Most Places

Initiatives in 4 states dealing with banning gay marriage and adoption by gays are winning in 3 states and leading in the fourth state (California) as of this morning according to CNN.

The Los Angeles Times this morning declared that voters had approved Proposition 8. Passage of Prop. 8 according to the LA Times calls into question the marraige of some 18,000 gay couples over the last 4 and a half months.

As reported by CNN:

Arizona Proposition 103 - Ban on Gay Marriage 56% yes/ 44% no
*projected winner

Arkansas Initiative 1 - Ban on Gay Couples Adopting Children 57% yes/43% no
* projected winner

Florida Amendment 2 - Ban on Gay Marriage 62% yes/ 38% no
*projected winner

California Proposition B - Ban on Gay Marriage 52% yes/ 48% no
* still too close to call

The California results are with 95% of the precincts counted according to CNN. There were 5,163,908 yes votes to 4,760,336 no votes. Although the results aren't final, it would appear to be very unlikely that this measure will be defeated.

Spending for and against Prop. B has broken national spending records for social initiatives, exceeding some $60 million as of last week according to US News and World Report. The races in Arizona and Florida have exceeded another $11 million.

Spending for and against Proposition 8 has been roughly equal. Some 40% of the money supporting the initiative has been identified as coming from members of the Mormon Church. The largest donor supporting Prop 8 with a $1.4 million donation has been the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization based in Connecticut.

The largest donation against the initiative was $1.3 million by the California Teacher's Association.

The LA Times article reports that the latest spending on Proposition 8 on both isdes now exceeds $74 million.

Rossi's GOP Party Tries to Disqualify Students in Iowa

The GOP Party is Dino Rossi's Party - right? That's what he put on the ballot after his name in Washington State. So what's this about Iowa GOP Officials trying to disqualify students from voting in Iowa at Grinnell College? Is this something Rossi condones?

You make your own decision. Here's the link to the article on Huffington Post about "GOP Officials Trying to Disqualify Iowa Student Voters "

You pick your party and these are your people. Rossi is a Republican but has added GOP after his name on the ballot because he apparently isn't so willing to readily acknowledge it and hopes voters are confused. But sometimes trying to change your party label still doesn't let you run away from your friends.

Republicans, AKA GOP, in some circles still behave the same. Voter suppression seems more important to them than encouraging people to vote like the Democrats do. I don't think the GOP picked up many future GOP voters with their tactics in Iowa at Grinnell College.

Call Rossi a member of the GOP or the Republican Party - it doesn't change the fact that he would be a huge step back for Washington State while the rest of the country is moving solidly Democratic today.

Vote to re-elect Democrat Chris Gregoire as Washington State's Governor. Let's move forward with the rest of the country to solve our problems. Rossi represents the failed policies of Bush and Cheney and their failed free market philosophy that opposed regulating corporations and businesses, believing they could police themselves. They were wrong and it makes no sense to put a free market advocate in as Governor and expect that it would be good for our state.

If you haven't yet voted today the polls in Washington State close at 8 P.M. Absentee ballots must be post marked today to count. Last pick up at most Post Offices today is between 5 and 6 PM.

Absentee ballots in King County can be dropped in ballot boxes until 8 PM tonight. Go to the polling place in your precinct to do that.

Rossi would give BIAW a State Supreme Court Seat

So how do you reward your biggest benefactor? How about a seat on the Washington State Supreme Court? The BIAW (Building Industry Association of Washington) has now spent some $7 million dollars through its so called independent PAC called "It's Time for a Change" to try to elect GOP (AKA Republican) Dino Rossi Governor this year. This money has been spent both supporting Dino Rossi and opposing Governor Chris Gregoire.

In past years the BIAW has spent a huge amount of money trying to get their selected candidates unto the Washington State Supreme Court so that they can weaken state environmental and land use laws and regulations.

In 2004 they succeeded in getting Jim Johnson elected as a Supreme Court Justice by helping him out raise his opponent Mary Kay Becker by $539,000 to her $157,000.

In 2006 they threw their support behind their candidates Stephen L Johnson to run against Justice Susan Owens and John Groen against Chief Justice Gerry Alexander.

They funnelled their money through their independent PAC's like It's Time for a Change and ChangePAC so that they could avoid the new limits set for contributions to candidate committees to include the State Supreme Court races for the first time.

The BIAW set new state records in campaign spending in the Washington State Supreme Court races via their independent expenditures. Groen saw some $1,356,000 spent independently on his behalf and Stephen Johnson saw some $532,000 spent in so called independent expenditures. Despite this record spending and probably because of it, the BIAW's effort backfired and alerted the state's voters to their blatant attempt to buy seats on the Washington State Supreme Court.

Justices Owens and Alexander won re-election.

The BIAW is concentrating their efforts this year in trying to get Dino Rossi elected Governor and have spent over $7 million dollars so far in their efforts.

Judge Alexander will reach the mandatory retirement age before his 6 year term expires. He was 70 in 2006 and is now 72 years old. In three years he will be 75.

As noted in the PI, "the statutory retirement age of 75 will require Alexander to leave the court at the end of 2011, a year before his six-year term expires. The governor then would appoint a successor who would have to run for election in 2012."

Sure its a couple of years down the line and there will be 3 more Supreme Court races up in 2010, but it is just another example of the power one has as Governor. If Rossi is elected Governor he will have at least one Supreme Court appointment for sure and you know it will be a payback to friends.

Rossi in fact note the importance of the power of appointments as Governor. In an article in the Tacoma News Tribune, it is stated that Rossi"vows to change the “tone and tenor” of state government through the power of appointments. If he’s elected governor, Rossi says he will get to appoint 1,000 people “from Blueberry Commission on up.”

One of those positions would be a Washington State Supreme Court Justice.

John W Dean Calls McCain/Palin "archetypical authoritarian conservatives"

John W Dean, the former Nixon White House Counsel, has thrown his support strongly behind the need to elect Barack Obama to the White House and reject McCain/Palin.

Saying that Barack Obama "has shown without any doubt (in my mind anyway) that he is not only qualified to be president, but that he might be a once-in-a-lifetime leader who can forever change the nation and the world for the better.", Dean gives insightful and cogent reasons to end Republican rule in the White House.

The following excerpt is from a column he wrote for FindLaw's Writ entitled "The Evidence Establishes, without Question, that Republican Rule Is Dangerous: Why It Is High Time to Fix This Situation, For the Good of the Nation"

The Republican Approach to Government: Authoritarian Rule

"Republicans rule, rather than govern, when they are in power by imposing their authoritarian conservative philosophy on everyone, as their answer for everything. This works for them because their interest is in power, and in what it can do for those who think as they do. Ruling, of course, must be distinguished from governing, which is a more nuanced process that entails give-and-take and the kind of compromises that are often necessary to find a consensus and solutions that will best serve the interests of all Americans.

Republicans' authoritarian rule can also be characterized by its striking incivility and intolerance toward those who do not view the world as Republicans do. Their insufferable attitude is not dangerous in itself, but it is employed to accomplish what they want, which is to take care of themselves and those who work to keep them in power.

Authoritarian conservatives are primarily anti-government, except where they believe the government can be useful to impose moral or social order (for example, with respect to matters like abortion, prayer in schools, or prohibiting sexually-explicit information from public view). Similarly, Republicans' limited-government attitude does not apply regarding national security, where they feel there can never be too much government activity - nor are the rights and liberties of individuals respected when national security is involved. Authoritarian Republicans do oppose the government interfering with markets and the economy, however - and generally oppose the government's doing anything to help anyone they feel should be able to help themselves. "

The column makes interesting reading and puts forward a concise analysis of the current ongoing disaster that has been the Republican Party's approach to governing our country.

I feel the same mentality exists in Washington State. GOP aka Republican candidate Dino Rossi has run a typical authoritarian conservative Republican campaign, such as Dean describes, against Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire. Ads supporting Rossi and opposing Gregoire are full of distortions and misrepresentations of Governor Gregoire's record.

Rossi and his supporters like the BIAW and the Republican Governor's Conference have run a divisive us versus them campaign that is bereft of detail on what he would do which lets the public fill in the details. The problem is that if he wins, what he will do will be very different from what people expect.

Unfortunately voters made a similar mistake years ago when they elected Dixie Lee Ray Governor. She also represented change. She only survived one term after voters finally got to know her.

Don't be fooled by Rossi's smile. He's for change all right, just not what you might think.

For example, if Rossi is elected, he will be appointing a Washington State Supreme Court Justice to replace Judge Gerry Alexander when he reaches the mandatory retirement age. Expect Rossi to reward his big BIAW money backers with a BIAW approved candidate like John Groen that voters previously rejected.

Rep. Jay Inslee May be Next Secretary of Interior

Among the names circulating as possible candidates for positions in an Obama administration is that of Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee for Secretary of the Interior. A second name mentioned is that of Robert F Kennedy, Jr.

You can check out the list of names of potential candidates being discussed for staff and Cabinet positions in an Obama Administration according to a post today by Politico.

As noted by Politico:

"The list is heavy on campaign heavyweights and Washington insiders, many of them from the administration of President Bill Clinton. So while surprises can be expected to crop up — especially on any Republican members of the Cabinet — many of the selections would likely be proven hands who would provoke little controversy. Obama has not communicated his final choice on any of these posts but plans to move very quickly if he is elected, according to the sources. They point to the political price that Clinton paid for dilly-dallying on his appointments and nomination. "

Good for a little diversion and feel good reading at seeing some great names as possible key players in an Obama Administration but don't forget the election isn't over yet. Just a few more reasons to keep working hard to put a great new team in place in Washington DC. Vote Barack Obama for President!

And don't forget the local races to keep Washington moving forward as part of the national change.

Vote Nov. 4, 2008 for:

Chris Gregoire for Governor,
Peter Goldmark for Public Lands Commissioner,
John Ladenburg for Attorney General,
Jason Osgood for Secretary of State,
Jim McIntire for State Treasurer,
Darcy Burner for Congress
George Fearing for Congress.