Morning Fizz
The Data Shows That That's True
1. Hot rumor: James Kelly
, the longtime urban league director who announced earlier this week that he's stepping down, may be running for city council. Kelly has been obsessed lately with fighting against Mayor Mike McGinn's efforts to stop the deep bore tunnel.
2. NARAL Pro-Choice Washington held it's 20th annual "Chocolate for Choice" fundraiser last night at SAFECO field's All Star Club. PubliCola's very own Erica C. Barnett was one of the "Celebrity Judges" (on a taste-testing team with Goldy from HorsesAss/the Stranger and Lindy West from the the Stranger)—sampling local chocolate treats.
The guest of honor was U.S. Sen. Patty Murray who started her remarks with this one-liner: "You had me at chocolate you sold me at choice," and ended with this one: "Because of your hard work, we passed the health care reform bill that says being a woman is not a pre-existing condition."
Other elected officials on hand: Seattle city council members Sally Clark and Jean Godden and King County Council Members Joe McDermott and Larry Phillips.
Longtime Seattle city council staffer Martha Lester won first place in the best individual/non-professional baker category for her fudge.
3. State Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36, Ballard, Magnolia, Queen Anne) asked the state Office of Financial Management to crunch the numbers on an uncomfortable (for rural and Republican-dominated Washington) fact: the ratio between who pays most of the state's taxes and who receives most of the benefits.
The PI.com has the story:
Rep. Carlyle is clearly taking the call to overhaul the state's tax and budgeting system seriously. As we reported earlier this week , Carlyle is proposing legislation that would consider tax loopholes as spending decisions—sunsetting all 500 plus of them and making them pass a floor vote (just like education and health care ledger items) along with the budget every two years.
4. As of Tuesday, when state house ways and means chair Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48, Medina) announced $340 million in new cuts as part of the 2009-2011 supplemental budget, there was actually a small piece of good news: The basic health plan (on the chopping block for the 2011-2012 budget) was spared with a transition plan to keep some services going.
No more. Hunter passed an amendment later this week that kills the plan in this budget cycle.
5. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell spokesman John Diamond, who has been the senator's spokesman since May 2009, is leaving.
2. NARAL Pro-Choice Washington held it's 20th annual "Chocolate for Choice" fundraiser last night at SAFECO field's All Star Club. PubliCola's very own Erica C. Barnett was one of the "Celebrity Judges" (on a taste-testing team with Goldy from HorsesAss/the Stranger and Lindy West from the the Stranger)—sampling local chocolate treats.
The guest of honor was U.S. Sen. Patty Murray who started her remarks with this one-liner: "You had me at chocolate you sold me at choice," and ended with this one: "Because of your hard work, we passed the health care reform bill that says being a woman is not a pre-existing condition."
Other elected officials on hand: Seattle city council members Sally Clark and Jean Godden and King County Council Members Joe McDermott and Larry Phillips.
Longtime Seattle city council staffer Martha Lester won first place in the best individual/non-professional baker category for her fudge.
3. State Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36, Ballard, Magnolia, Queen Anne) asked the state Office of Financial Management to crunch the numbers on an uncomfortable (for rural and Republican-dominated Washington) fact: the ratio between who pays most of the state's taxes and who receives most of the benefits.
The PI.com has the story:
King County contributed just over $6 billion to the state's tax coffers, according to the state. That year it received $3.5 billion from the general fund, for an expenses to revenue ratio of 0.59. The five counties which fared the worst in terms of getting tax money back compared to monies put in were: San Juan (0.41), King, Skagit (0.75), Jefferson (0.82) and Island (0.81).
The five counties getting the biggest bang out of their tax bucks were Whitman County, which paid $52.3 million in state taxes in 2007 but got $252 million back, for a ratio of 4.82. Whitman, in the southeastern part of the state, is home to Washington State University. Next is Thurston County, home to the state capital, with an expenses to revenue ratio of 3.17, then Lincoln County (2.54), Ferry (2.40) and Garfield (2.25). Lincoln, Ferry and Garfield are all small counties in Eastern Washington.
No county in Eastern Washington pays more in state general fund taxes than it receives back in expenditures. In the more populous western part of the state, seven counties contribute more than they get in return (Island, Jefferson, King San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom).
Some in Western Washington have long complained that they subsidize Eastern Washington. The OFM data show that that's true, when it comes to the state's operating budget.
Rep. Carlyle is clearly taking the call to overhaul the state's tax and budgeting system seriously. As we reported earlier this week , Carlyle is proposing legislation that would consider tax loopholes as spending decisions—sunsetting all 500 plus of them and making them pass a floor vote (just like education and health care ledger items) along with the budget every two years.
4. As of Tuesday, when state house ways and means chair Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48, Medina) announced $340 million in new cuts as part of the 2009-2011 supplemental budget, there was actually a small piece of good news: The basic health plan (on the chopping block for the 2011-2012 budget) was spared with a transition plan to keep some services going.
No more. Hunter passed an amendment later this week that kills the plan in this budget cycle.
5. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell spokesman John Diamond, who has been the senator's spokesman since May 2009, is leaving.
