Morning Fizz
Making Examples of Democrats Who Did Not Vote Their Way
1. The Seattle City Council meets today for a possible vote on the controversial tunnel contract resolution.
Erica had some inside info this weekend: Pro-tunnel legislators Sally Bagshaw, Richard Conlin, and Jean Godden, along with Nick Licata, are going to introduce amendments that will torpedo the five amendments being sponsored by lone anti-tunnel council member (and lone mayor McGinn ally) Mike O'Brien.
The new amendments would water down O'Brien's mandate for transit money, water down a guarantee for $300 million in Port money, and kill O'Brien's call for a traffic study.
O'Brien has two other proposals. One, requiring the legislature to remove the cost overruns provision, doesn't stand much of a chance, and another, requiring the state to identify all the differences in the bids, is pretty uncontroversial.
The council’s viaduct oversight committee meets after the full council meeting today at around 2:30, and could vote on the tunnel resolution then.
2. Nick Harper, the insurgent Democrat in the 38th legislative district (Snohomish County including Everett, Marysville, and Tualip) who's running against ten-year incumbent Democratic state Sen. Jean Berkey (D-38, Everett), is gaining momentum.
No, we're not talking about the mighty PubliCola endorsement Harper picked up last week. On Sunday, the 31-year-old liberal challenger to the status quo picked up the Everett Herald's endorsement.
Harper has far less money than Berkey (she's raised $74,000 and still has $55,000 on hand to Harper's $38,000 and $12,000 respectively.) But Harper's getting financial help in the form of independent expenditures, including $30,000 on his behalf and more than $50,000 against Berkey so far from a group called Stand Up for Citizens, which is being funded by union PACs like Don't Invest in More Excuses (DIME) PAC.
DIME PAC is the Washington State Labor Council PAC that vowed to make examples of Democrats who did not vote their way. This year Berkey crossed the WSLC by voting to furlough public employees.
Here's a PubliColaTV interview with Harper.
3. Over a year ago, Fizz was on the phone with U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee after Congress passed its cap and trade bill . (Inslee was a key proponent of the bill.)
That bill has now stalled in the Senate. In a must-read article published this week titled "Climate Bill, R.I.P.: Instead of taking the fight to big polluters, President Obama has put global warming on the back burner," Rolling Stone explains why.
4. To repeal or not repeal?
That's the question about the Bush tax cuts that's likely to take center stage in the Dino Rossi vs. Sen. Patty Murray race. The Washington Post published an excellent cheat sheet yesterday titled "Five Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts" that both sides need to read.
Erica had some inside info this weekend: Pro-tunnel legislators Sally Bagshaw, Richard Conlin, and Jean Godden, along with Nick Licata, are going to introduce amendments that will torpedo the five amendments being sponsored by lone anti-tunnel council member (and lone mayor McGinn ally) Mike O'Brien.
The new amendments would water down O'Brien's mandate for transit money, water down a guarantee for $300 million in Port money, and kill O'Brien's call for a traffic study.
O'Brien has two other proposals. One, requiring the legislature to remove the cost overruns provision, doesn't stand much of a chance, and another, requiring the state to identify all the differences in the bids, is pretty uncontroversial.
The council’s viaduct oversight committee meets after the full council meeting today at around 2:30, and could vote on the tunnel resolution then.
2. Nick Harper, the insurgent Democrat in the 38th legislative district (Snohomish County including Everett, Marysville, and Tualip) who's running against ten-year incumbent Democratic state Sen. Jean Berkey (D-38, Everett), is gaining momentum.
No, we're not talking about the mighty PubliCola endorsement Harper picked up last week. On Sunday, the 31-year-old liberal challenger to the status quo picked up the Everett Herald's endorsement.
Harper has far less money than Berkey (she's raised $74,000 and still has $55,000 on hand to Harper's $38,000 and $12,000 respectively.) But Harper's getting financial help in the form of independent expenditures, including $30,000 on his behalf and more than $50,000 against Berkey so far from a group called Stand Up for Citizens, which is being funded by union PACs like Don't Invest in More Excuses (DIME) PAC.
DIME PAC is the Washington State Labor Council PAC that vowed to make examples of Democrats who did not vote their way. This year Berkey crossed the WSLC by voting to furlough public employees.
Here's a PubliColaTV interview with Harper.
3. Over a year ago, Fizz was on the phone with U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee after Congress passed its cap and trade bill . (Inslee was a key proponent of the bill.)
That bill has now stalled in the Senate. In a must-read article published this week titled "Climate Bill, R.I.P.: Instead of taking the fight to big polluters, President Obama has put global warming on the back burner," Rolling Stone explains why.
4. To repeal or not repeal?
That's the question about the Bush tax cuts that's likely to take center stage in the Dino Rossi vs. Sen. Patty Murray race. The Washington Post published an excellent cheat sheet yesterday titled "Five Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts" that both sides need to read.
