1. King County Executive Dow Constantine had a filing-day fundraising lunch for supporters at the downtown Convention Center yesterday afternoon. Ordinarily, at that sort of event, you get a choice between rubber chicken/overcooked salmon and a "vegetarian option," usually pasta or some sort of stuffed vegetable.

But Constantine is a strict vegetarian. So, yesterday afternoon, 500 of his supporters paid $100-$500 a plate to dine on cheese-and-tomato croissant sandwiches and rice pilaf with raisins.



2. Joe Fitzgibbon, one of three Democrats vying for the open state House seat in the 34th Legislative District (West Seattle, Burien, Vashon, and Maury Island) got the sole endorsement from the Washington Conservation Voters yesterday. Fitzgibbon, 23, is running against public campaigns activist Marcee Stone and Jan Drago aide Mike Heavey.

3. We haven't heard back from her yet, so take this with a grain of salt, but rumor is that El Centro de la Raza director Estela Ortega is being recruited to run for city council—possibly against City Council member Tim Burgess (which would imply she's being recruited by either Mayor Mike McGinn or Real Change.) We'll update with more information when we get it.

4. A group of parents—24 so far—has signed a petition declaring no confidence in Seattle schools superintendent Maria Goodloe Johnson. The petition cites numerous grievances against Goodloe Johnson, including the latest school assignment plan, a performance management plan for schools that "does not address the real needs of struggling students," and the district's inefficient management of programs for Native Americans, among several others. The group plans to rally outside the next school board meeting, coming up on June 16.

5. After we described a Sensible Washington press release as "slighty over the top" yesterday (the press release condemned the Service Employees International Union and the ACLU for not supporting Sensible Washington's pot legalization initiative, I-1068), campaign spokesman Philip Dawdy sent us the following email, subject-lined "you're as dumb as the aclu":

"there was nothing over the top about my release. we got stabbed up. plain and simple."

6. Last week, Office of Sustainability and the Environment director Jill Simmons told PubliCola there was some question about whether the Seattle/King County Building & Trades Association would sign off on the city's proposed workforce standards in the negotiations over how to allocate a $20 million energy-retrofit grant from the federal government. The city argued that prevailing-wage laws did not apply to projects funded by the grants, and the building trades disagreed. But the two sides have apparently ironed out their differences.

"Obviously, we had some reservations about the benefits being provided for workers and proper wages," says Building Trades' executive secretary Keith Weir, but "we signed off on the final document. We're a partner."