Trevor Griffey, a journalist, doctoral candidate in history, and prolific PubliCola commenter, is launching a new nonprofit web site, "Olympia Newswire," dedicated to covering the upcoming legislative session.

So far, Griffey has enlisted the (paid) services of two local reporters—George Howland, former news editor at Seattle Weekly (and current part-time communications director at the Seattle Channel), and Margie Slovan, most recently at the Daily Journal of Commerce—and says he's in negotiations with one more. Slovan will cover public education, Howland will cover the economy (including "taxes, jobs, and labor relations," Griffey says), and the third reporter will cover social services. Griffey says he's concentrating on those three areas because he feels other news sites (the P-I; the PostGlobe) spread themselves too thin, and because the other subjects he'd like to cover, environmental news and transportation policy, are already being covered well by other blogs.

The site will rely, at least in part, on donations from individual benefactors; tonight at 6:00, Griffey's holding a fundraiser (baseline ask: $100) at Cafe Septieme on Capitol Hill. Griffey says he's aiming for $10,000 in pledges by the 31st; if he gets there, he'll commit to covering the session in 2010 and the following year. Pledges so far have come from a who's who of local lefties, including former Church Council deputy director and onetime city council candidate David Bloom and Low-Income Housing Alliance director Rachael Myers, raising the obvious question: Who will the site be for?

Griffey says his intent isn't to push any ideology, which is one reason he's hiring professional reporters and not doing any writing for the site himself. (He's also forgoing a paycheck, at least at first) "As publisher, I imagine my role being one that might not ever result in my having a paid position," he says. "What I am seeking to do now is not provide any kind of voice for myself but rather, to hire experienced journalists who, in a normal universe, would be at the top of their games and in really excellent positions, but becase of the state of the journalism industry are underemployed or unemployed or otherwise dissatisifed with their opportunities to do reporting."

In recent years, as the newspaper industry has contracted, the number of reporters covering Olympia full-time has declined precipitously—from 34 in 1993 to about seven in the coming session. (The dwindling Olympia press corps, in fact, is a major reason Josh founded PubliCola a year ago). Whether need translates into demand—and, more importantly, money—however, is an open question. So far, the only nonprofit site covering Olympia to any extent (caveat: That I'm aware of) is Crosscut, which initially started out as a for-profit and has reportedly continued to struggle since the reorganization.

Griffey acknowledges he doesn't have a business background, but says his fundraising record so far shows he's capable of getting contributors on board. "If you can raise $10,000 in just a few weeks, it shows you've got some energy. You've got some momentum," he says.