Jolt
Afternoon Jolt: Jaime Herrera
Today's Winner: Jaime Herrera.
The Americans for Prosperity PAC, the money men behind the Tea Party, spent $180,000 on an ad for Jaime Herrera tying Denny Heck, her Democratic opponent in the race for the 3rd Congressional District, to the 2008 stimulus package and irresponsible Democratic spending, and accused Heck of "putting Nancy Pelosi's agenda ahead of our needs."
The result: Hererra's got Heck on the defensive. Talking to a reporter from MSNBC, Heck loudly criticized the stimulus bill for being poorly executed and said he had "deep reservations" about the health care bill. He was even cool with regard to Pelosi, saying he wouldn't vote to retain her has House Speaker until he had "the opportunity to talk with her about what is it we can do together to help get people back to work."
Today's Loser: The State Budget.
The State lost a class-action lawsuit against the Washington Federation of State Employees today. The King County Superior Court ordered the state to resume gainsharing benefits for state employees who are enlisted in the Public Employees Retirement System (gainsharing is when the state shares extraordinary returns on retirement fund investments with employees). The State wanted to keep the returns to help with the budget.
Neither the union nor the state had specific numbers available for the number of employees or the amount of money involved, but union spokesman Tim Welch told PubliCola "hundreds of millions of dollars" are in play.
The Americans for Prosperity PAC, the money men behind the Tea Party, spent $180,000 on an ad for Jaime Herrera tying Denny Heck, her Democratic opponent in the race for the 3rd Congressional District, to the 2008 stimulus package and irresponsible Democratic spending, and accused Heck of "putting Nancy Pelosi's agenda ahead of our needs."
The result: Hererra's got Heck on the defensive. Talking to a reporter from MSNBC, Heck loudly criticized the stimulus bill for being poorly executed and said he had "deep reservations" about the health care bill. He was even cool with regard to Pelosi, saying he wouldn't vote to retain her has House Speaker until he had "the opportunity to talk with her about what is it we can do together to help get people back to work."
Today's Loser: The State Budget.
The State lost a class-action lawsuit against the Washington Federation of State Employees today. The King County Superior Court ordered the state to resume gainsharing benefits for state employees who are enlisted in the Public Employees Retirement System (gainsharing is when the state shares extraordinary returns on retirement fund investments with employees). The State wanted to keep the returns to help with the budget.
Neither the union nor the state had specific numbers available for the number of employees or the amount of money involved, but union spokesman Tim Welch told PubliCola "hundreds of millions of dollars" are in play.
