1. Seattle state house Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-37) got to go to the White House Xmas party last night. Pettigrew was U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's date. (No, not like that. Pettigrew is married.)

Rep. Pettigrew was also Cantwell's date to the Western States Inaugural Ball in DC last January 20th .

2. How's this for a magical pot of revenue to help fix the state's $2.6 billion shortfall? Seattle state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D-36) is collecting co-sponsors for a bill that would legalize marijuana. And tax it.

3. Yesterday, Erica reported that neighborhood activist and open government devotee Chris Leman thinks allowing City Council members to use Facebook and Twitter may allow Council Members to disconnect from the public and circumvent public disclosure laws.

Erica quoted Leman's testimony from a recent ethics commission meeting:

Leman argued that Facebook and Twitter “are being used, unfortunately, to violate open meetings laws and open records laws” because members of the public are required to become "friends" or "fans" of council members “to get official city information. … It really almost puts you on record as being a supporter of the candidate or the elected official.”

Leman added: “You cannot participate in Facebook or Twitter without giving your age, your phone number, and your address, which is a big question of privacy.”

Funny footnote: Last night, City Council member Tim Burgess became Facebook friends with Leman.



4. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is queuing up a bill this session that would ban insurance companies from using credit history as a factor in establishing rates.

"If you have an excellent driving record," explains OIC spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis, "your car insurance rates shouldn't be higher because of something on your credit report."

Since he first took office in 2002, Kreidler has been trying to do something about the credit scoring phenomenon—which he believes is a form of "redlining" (says Marquis).

Kreidler passed legislation in 2002 preventing insurance companies from denying insurance or raising rates based on things like: The absence of a credit history; the use of a particular type of credit card; the total line of credit you hold; and credit spikes from initial financing of a vehicle or house. Nor can insurance companies ding you if bad credit is related to medical expenses.

However, Kreidler has not been able to outlaw credit scoring altogether, and he thinks this year's recession—when people are both lacking insurance and relying on credit to survive—is the perfect time to make the case that credit scoring is an ugly practice.

Funny (kinda) footnote: Kreidler's office has had a hard time proving the "redlining" case, they admit, because the lack of minorities in Washington state makes the sample size of any study about the impact of credit scoring too small to mean anything.

5. In yesterday's Fizz , we reported that Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget proposal (due Wednesday) is expected to be an all-cuts budget. The PI.com followed up the news with some budget details and some political observations.

Today's Moring Fizz brought to you by Office Nomads: