Morning Fizz
Some Unintended Consequences of City Budget Cuts
1. Bill Clinton (in Everett yesterday
) and Barack Obama (coming to town Thursday) may be getting all the attention, but last week, US House speaker Nancy Pelosi came to Seattle for an unusually low-profile fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-6) who's being opposed by Republican Doug Cloud.
The fundraiser, held at the Washington Athletic Club in downtown Seattle, was attended (according to KING 5 , apparently the only local news outlet to report on it) by Dicks' fellow Washington State house member U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-7).
2. During one of the city council budget committee's recent marathon of meetings, council staffers described some potential unintended consequences of city budget cuts. (Mayor Mike McGinn recently sent down his 2011 budget, which has to close a $67 million 2011 revenue shortfall). The report, for those keeping score at home, was called "Summaries of Departments and Issues Not Addressed Elsewhere During Issue Identification."
Some of those unaddressed issues:
•The city's civil rights office could lose two positions, increasing the time it takes to respond to civil-rights allegations at the city and making it harder for the civil rights commission to recruit new members and do outreach to minority communities.
•In the personnel department, the city could eliminate one alternative dispute resolution staffer, who deals with labor and personnel disputes, potentially "lead[ing] to more costly formal disputes."
•One of three public defense agencies that defends poor people accused of minor crimes could see its funding cut in half---a $94,000 savings that could cut into services for indigent defendants. (Public defenders are also nervous about taking a hit in the county budget.)
•The city is considering a new program that would allow the Seattle Police Department to "boot" cars owned by people who fail to pay four or more parking tickets in a row; after 48 hours, the vehicle could be towed.
•The city may also increase maximum parking fees and fees for events at Seattle Center.
3. One of Fizz's favorite things this election season is the Seattle Times' "Truth Needle" in which reporters fact check the claims made in political ads. Today's installment says a National Republican Senatorial Committee ad and a separate Dino Rossi ad, both claiming that the stimulus bill didn't create jobs, is false.
They write:
We're even more partial to today's "Truth Needle" because it riffs off some reporting originally done by PubliCola, which caught Rossi campaigning at a small Whidbey Island shipbuilding company that actually benefited from the stimulus.
The "Truth Needle" writes: "Even the chief executive of a Whidbey Island shipyard that Rossi visited on a campaign stop last month credited federal stimulus spending for playing a big role in the company's hiring of dozens of workers."
Here's our report on Rossi's gaffe.
4. And here's a fact check of our own: Tim Eyman has an ad that starts running on the radio tomorrow for I-1053, his initiative to require a two-thirds legislative majority for tax increases, and against I-1098, the high earners' income tax.
The ad, with Eyman himself himself doing the voiceover, claims the legislature raised taxes $6.7 billion last session. That is wrong. Facing a $12 billion shortfall over the last two sessions, the legislature has cut billions and raised $757 million in taxes.
Using Eyman's own exaggerated numbers, the state would have also cut about $44 billion from the state budget.
5. As we've reported, the education reform debate is pitting Democrats against Democrats this year. In West Seattle's 34th Democratic intramural, for example, Stand for Children, the Obama-Arne Duncan-Michelle Rhee-style reform group, has helped candidate Mike Heavey with $12,000 in contributions and mostly independent spending. The teachers' union, the Washington Education Association, gave Heavey's opponent Joe Fitzgibbon $800.
Laurie Jinkins, Stand for Children's favorite in the Dem vs. Dem state house race in Tacoma, has been the beneficiary of over $14,000 in SFC expenditures. Her opponent Jake Fey has gotten an $800 contribution from the WEA, but no independent expenditures.
The fundraiser, held at the Washington Athletic Club in downtown Seattle, was attended (according to KING 5 , apparently the only local news outlet to report on it) by Dicks' fellow Washington State house member U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott (D-7).
2. During one of the city council budget committee's recent marathon of meetings, council staffers described some potential unintended consequences of city budget cuts. (Mayor Mike McGinn recently sent down his 2011 budget, which has to close a $67 million 2011 revenue shortfall). The report, for those keeping score at home, was called "Summaries of Departments and Issues Not Addressed Elsewhere During Issue Identification."
Some of those unaddressed issues:
•The city's civil rights office could lose two positions, increasing the time it takes to respond to civil-rights allegations at the city and making it harder for the civil rights commission to recruit new members and do outreach to minority communities.
•In the personnel department, the city could eliminate one alternative dispute resolution staffer, who deals with labor and personnel disputes, potentially "lead[ing] to more costly formal disputes."
•One of three public defense agencies that defends poor people accused of minor crimes could see its funding cut in half---a $94,000 savings that could cut into services for indigent defendants. (Public defenders are also nervous about taking a hit in the county budget.)
•The city is considering a new program that would allow the Seattle Police Department to "boot" cars owned by people who fail to pay four or more parking tickets in a row; after 48 hours, the vehicle could be towed.
•The city may also increase maximum parking fees and fees for events at Seattle Center.
3. One of Fizz's favorite things this election season is the Seattle Times' "Truth Needle" in which reporters fact check the claims made in political ads. Today's installment says a National Republican Senatorial Committee ad and a separate Dino Rossi ad, both claiming that the stimulus bill didn't create jobs, is false.
They write:
But a more comprehensive analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released in August concluded that the real payoff likely is much higher. Taking into account multiplier effects and other factors not included in the administration's count, the CBO estimated the stimulus legislation "increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million" in the second quarter of this year.
Put another way, stimulus spending helped lower the unemployment rate by between 0.7 and 1.8 percentage points from where it would have been otherwise, the CBO said.
The CBO is a federal agency charged with providing Congress impartial analyses on budget and economic issues.
We're even more partial to today's "Truth Needle" because it riffs off some reporting originally done by PubliCola, which caught Rossi campaigning at a small Whidbey Island shipbuilding company that actually benefited from the stimulus.
The "Truth Needle" writes: "Even the chief executive of a Whidbey Island shipyard that Rossi visited on a campaign stop last month credited federal stimulus spending for playing a big role in the company's hiring of dozens of workers."
Here's our report on Rossi's gaffe.
4. And here's a fact check of our own: Tim Eyman has an ad that starts running on the radio tomorrow for I-1053, his initiative to require a two-thirds legislative majority for tax increases, and against I-1098, the high earners' income tax.
The ad, with Eyman himself himself doing the voiceover, claims the legislature raised taxes $6.7 billion last session. That is wrong. Facing a $12 billion shortfall over the last two sessions, the legislature has cut billions and raised $757 million in taxes.
Using Eyman's own exaggerated numbers, the state would have also cut about $44 billion from the state budget.
5. As we've reported, the education reform debate is pitting Democrats against Democrats this year. In West Seattle's 34th Democratic intramural, for example, Stand for Children, the Obama-Arne Duncan-Michelle Rhee-style reform group, has helped candidate Mike Heavey with $12,000 in contributions and mostly independent spending. The teachers' union, the Washington Education Association, gave Heavey's opponent Joe Fitzgibbon $800.
Laurie Jinkins, Stand for Children's favorite in the Dem vs. Dem state house race in Tacoma, has been the beneficiary of over $14,000 in SFC expenditures. Her opponent Jake Fey has gotten an $800 contribution from the WEA, but no independent expenditures.
