1) As we mentioned in Morning Fizz yesterday, a new group called Reform the Port is supporting a slate of "reform" candidates for the Port Commission. If that makes your eyes glaze over, it might be because "port reform" is such a familiar refrain: Of five sitting port commissioners, four (Bill Bryant, Gael Tarlton , Lloyd Hara, and John Creighton) list "port reform" as one of their top goals or accomplishments—only Pat Davis, who's not running for reelection, doesn't claim "port reform" as one of her accomplishments.

2) A staffer for Jan Drago got back to PubliCola yesterday about an item we ran last month on Drago's extensive travel at city expense (we contacted Drago repeatedly by phone and email to explain or clarify her travel expenses while on the city council, which, according to city records, cost the city more than $43,000 since 2006). At the time the item ran, Drago's staff said there were some "discrepancies" and "trips she actually canceled" on the city-produced list, but never followed up to explain what those discrepancies were.

Yesterday, a Drago staffer emailed to tell PubliCola that Drago had canceled one trip on the list—a trip to Chongqing, China, which was supposed to cost $3,000. Removing that trip from the list brings Drago's total travel tab to just over $40,000. (The staffer also noted that we didn't mention that Drago took vacation days for some of the 44 days she was out of the country between 2008 and 2009, and that we reported incorrectly that those particular trips were paid for by the city. That's true, and we regret the error.)

3) Many of the candidates for city council and mayor have raised the $200 million "Mercer Mess" project as a campaign issue, saying they'll ditch the project and spend the money on sidewalks or police instead. It's an interesting tactic; it also may be politically unwise. According to a recent poll cited to PubliCola yesterday by city council member Richard Conlin, who's running for reelection (his opponent, David Ginsberg, is among those who favor scrapping the project), a strong majority of voters support the Mercer project. However, funding for the project is still between $30 and $50 million short , and Conlin says the council is unlikely to move forward with it until the money can be found.

This week's Morning Fizz is brought to you by Friends of Seattle.