1. Just yesterday, Morning Fizz  lectured  readers about how important the endorsements in South King County's legislative districts were going to be in the County Executive's race. Whichever of the competing Democratic candidates—Ross Hunter and Fred Jarrett (from the Eastside Microsoft suburbs) or Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips (from cosmo Seattle)—could pick up endorsements in the working class South, we theorized, would have a slight advantage in the race. 

With Phillips getting the sole endorsement from the 31st District (around Enumclaw) last month and Constantine netting the sole endorsement of the 33rd (the district that takes in Kent, Des Moines, Normandy Park and Sea-Tac) earlier this week—and Constantine and Phillips getting the 47th (SouthEast King County from Renton to Black Diamond), the campaigns are now looking for some kind of edge in the remaining South County turf: The 11th District (Burien, Sea-Tac, Tukwila and Renton); the 30th (Federal Way), and the 5th (North Bend, Snoqualmie, and Issaquah).

Last night didn't bring much clarity. The 11th District co-endorsed Constantine, Phillips, and Hunter. 

2. Re: Endorsements—the 43rd District Democrats (Capitol Hill, the U. District, and Wallingford) made their picks last night (sorta). 

In the City Council races, incumbents Richard Conlin and Nick Licata both got the nod (you need 60 percent.)

And Church Council leftist David Bloom got the nod. Bloom is running against former County Prosecutor's Office star Sally Bagshaw for Jan Drago's open seat. 

But in the crowded race for Richard McIver's open seat, none of the candidates were able to hit 60 percent, although eloquent Sierra Club Green Mike O'Brien came the closest, with 59 percent. 

Likewise, there was no endorsement in the Mayor's race, but eloquent Sierra Club Green Mike McGinn came the closest with about 38 percent. 

There was no endorsement in the County Executive's race. 

3. County Executive candidate Dow Constantine continued to go after primary election front runner Susan Hutchison yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Hutchison's morning campaign kick off (where she proclaimed her support for small business), Constantine held an afternoon press conference in front of two small businesses in Belltown—Macrina Bakery and Lampreia restauant—that he helped incorporate when he was a practicing attorney. His point: "I have real world experience helping small businesses. It's not just something I talk about at press conferences."

Constantine went on to call Hutchison a "show horse" who relies on "tired Republican sound bites" based on ideas that caused a national economic collapse, he said.

As for Hutchison's plans to reform the tax system (she wants to get rid of B&O taxes for start ups and small businesses), Constantine, calling himself a "workhorse," said he had done real work to reform the tax system when he was in the state legislature by instigating the Gates Commission on tax reform. He said it was now the legislature's job to enact the recommendations (which, I pointed out, they hadn't done in the seven years since Constantine's bold, um, study group solution).

Either way, Constantine continued,  the County doesn't even have authority to enact Hutchison's B&O platform. The County's role in reviving the economy, Constantine said, was to provide  public safety, public health, and transit—the infrastructure to keep businesses humming, which he said he has fought for at King County in the face of budget cuts.

4. The Puget Sound Buisness Journal picked up our exciting news yesterday, filing this report on Concur Technologies' President and COO Rajeev Singh's decision to invest in PubliCola. 

And man, my colleague—PubliCola's spiritual adviser Sandeep Kaushik—gives great quote.

From the PSBJ report:

"We've been a scrappy operation to this point, and we expect to stay that way for some time to come," notes Kaushik in an email. "We are going to be patient, and we are certainly not going to make the mistake that other internet startups have made in the past, expanding too fast and blowing through a pile of money before we are assured that we are on a sound business footing. Our focus is not only on creating a news web site that has broad appeal to readers, but on one that is profitable as well."

Singh also is joining the company's advisory board, which was formed last week. Members of that advisory group include former Seattle P-I editor Mark Matassa; club owner Linda Derschang; artist Ben Beres; and DJ Riz Rollins.

The new ownership team and advisory board plans to spend the next several weeks looking into new ways to broaden the focus of the site.

"There are going to be changes at PubliCola, but they will happen incrementally as we build our audience and revenue base," said Kaushik. 

 

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