Morning Fizz
"Unlike Some Other Elected Officials"
1. On July 20th, the Seattle Times
ran a weird front page story giving state Rep. Mike Armstrong (R-12, Wenatchee) credit for sponsoring the infamous tunnel cost overruns provision. (They corrected their article two days later getting rid of the word "sponsored," but they still gave him credit for coming up with the amendment. The caption on Armstrong's picture still IDs him as the sponsor.)
Everyone else has long credited House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-43, Seattle) for the amendment. (And the video of the floor debate showed Chopp's transportation chair, state Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-41, Mercer Island), not Armstrong, introducing the amendment.)
Now, some more weirdness: It turns out Armstrong didn't even vote for the amendment. He wasn't there.
The roll call of the vote mysteriously disappeared the morning after the vote. Luckily, PubliCola took a screen shot of it before it vanished. Armstrong is not listed on the roll call.
The Fizz has a call in to Rep. Armstrong.
2. While city council member Tim Burgess criticized opponents of the deep-bore tunnel in a blog post yesterday (Burgess said—incorrectly, according to our own Dan Bertolet — that they "didn't have a plan," only criticisms), he did have nice things to say about his council colleague Mike O'Brien, the lead tunnel opponent on the council.
Like all rookie council members, O'Brien was assigned a "council buddy" to teach him the ropes; Burgess is his buddy. (Sally Clark and Sally Bagshaw are the council's other buddy team this year). Burgess said he and O'Brien "get along exceedingly well, and I have great respect for him. I kind of felt bad for him, but he did a good job advancing his arguments" against the tunnel resolution. "He's doing what he thinks is right and yet he's respectful."
Burgess paused, then added: "That's exactly what we need—unlike some other elected officials."
3. KOMO TV reporter Mike Miller left a voice mail with the Washington State Republican Party yesterday telling them to take him off their email list.
"I get so many emails that honestly the campaign stuff—doesn’t really help me much as a journalist," he told the state GOP, which is currently in the middle of a campaign in which they might retake the state house and knock off Sen. Patty Murray. "So if I need to ... I know I can call you on any issue. So if you don’t mind, if you can take me off the email list."
KOMO did not give similar instructions to the Washington State Democrats according to the media team for the Democrats.
"It's interesting that a member of the press asks not to get press releases from one of the two major political organizations in the state," the Communications Director for the state Republicans says.
Fizz sent a message to Miller yesterday afternoon asking for a comment about his Don't-call-us-we'll-call-you approach to the GOP.
Everyone else has long credited House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-43, Seattle) for the amendment. (And the video of the floor debate showed Chopp's transportation chair, state Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-41, Mercer Island), not Armstrong, introducing the amendment.)
Now, some more weirdness: It turns out Armstrong didn't even vote for the amendment. He wasn't there.
The roll call of the vote mysteriously disappeared the morning after the vote. Luckily, PubliCola took a screen shot of it before it vanished. Armstrong is not listed on the roll call.
Chamber: HOUSE 2009 Regular Session
Bill No.: ESSB 5768 Docs
Description: 826 CLIBBORN PG 2 LN 3
Item No.: 28
Transcript No: 101
Date: 4-22-2009
Yeas: 49 Nays: 47 Absent: 0 Excused: 2
Voting yea: Representatives Angel, Appleton, Blake, Campbell, Chase, Clibborn,Cody, Conway, Darneille, Dickerson, Dunshee, Ericks, Finn, Goodman, Green, Haigh, Hudgins, Hunt, Hurst, Jacks, Kagi, Kelley, Kessler, Kirby, Liias, Linville, Maxwell, McCoy, Miloscia, Moeller, Morrell, Morris, Nelson, O’Brien, Ormsby, Orwall, Pedersen, Pettigrew, Quall, Rolfes, Seaquist, Sells, Springer, Takko, Upthegrove, Van De Wege, Wallace, Wood, and Mr. Speaker (Chopp)
Voting nay: Representatives Alexander, Anderson, Bailey, Carlyle, Chandler, Condotta, Cox, Crouse, Dammeier, DeBolt, Driscoll, Eddy, Ericksen, Grant-Herriot, Haler, Hasegawa, Herrera, Hinkle, Hope, Hunter, Johnson, Kenney, Klippert, Kretz, Kristiansen, McCune, Orcutt, Parker, Pearson, Priest, Probst, Roach, Roberts, Rodne, Ross, Santos, Schmick, Shea, Short, Simpson, Smith, Sullivan, Taylor, Walsh, Warnick,White, and Williams.
The Fizz has a call in to Rep. Armstrong.
2. While city council member Tim Burgess criticized opponents of the deep-bore tunnel in a blog post yesterday (Burgess said—incorrectly, according to our own Dan Bertolet — that they "didn't have a plan," only criticisms), he did have nice things to say about his council colleague Mike O'Brien, the lead tunnel opponent on the council.
Like all rookie council members, O'Brien was assigned a "council buddy" to teach him the ropes; Burgess is his buddy. (Sally Clark and Sally Bagshaw are the council's other buddy team this year). Burgess said he and O'Brien "get along exceedingly well, and I have great respect for him. I kind of felt bad for him, but he did a good job advancing his arguments" against the tunnel resolution. "He's doing what he thinks is right and yet he's respectful."
Burgess paused, then added: "That's exactly what we need—unlike some other elected officials."
3. KOMO TV reporter Mike Miller left a voice mail with the Washington State Republican Party yesterday telling them to take him off their email list.
"I get so many emails that honestly the campaign stuff—doesn’t really help me much as a journalist," he told the state GOP, which is currently in the middle of a campaign in which they might retake the state house and knock off Sen. Patty Murray. "So if I need to ... I know I can call you on any issue. So if you don’t mind, if you can take me off the email list."
KOMO did not give similar instructions to the Washington State Democrats according to the media team for the Democrats.
"It's interesting that a member of the press asks not to get press releases from one of the two major political organizations in the state," the Communications Director for the state Republicans says.
Fizz sent a message to Miller yesterday afternoon asking for a comment about his Don't-call-us-we'll-call-you approach to the GOP.
