Morning Fizz
Missing or Unaccounted For
1. A state auditor's report on King County, released last month, found a number of irregularities, among them:
• A female employee claimed her father was her domestic partner, making him eligible for health care and other benefits totaling more than $3,000. The county doesn't require employees to verify domestic partnerships, because there's no state registration process for domestic partners younger than 62.
In its response to the state auditor, the county said it would try to verify all domestic partnerships, marriages, and dependents in 2012, if money becomes available.
• Sheriff's deputies failed in several instances to secure their weapons properly (in one case, the deputy left a shotgun in his unlocked car), leading to the "misappropriation" of the gun, a Taser, body armor, computers, handcuffs, and more. In all, the report concludes, "the Sheriff‘s Office identified 65 firearms as missing or unaccounted for."
• In happier news for the county, the auditor found that the King County Marine Division has been doing a better job keeping track of its cash fares, after an audit last year found that the county wasn't doing enough to make sure fares on the Elliott Bay Water Taxi were properly counted. That audit came after an employee was fired and criminally charged for stealing $7,500 in cash.
2. The 36th District Democrats—representing Ballard, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Greenwood, Phinney Ridge, Belltown, and Fremont—are either a zeitgeist Seattle political bellwether (look at that list of classic Seattle neighborhoods) or a remote group of political insiders. [pullquote]Incumbents Sally Clark, Jean Godden, and Bruce Harrell were not recommended.[/pullquote]
Several Seattle City Council incumbents—Sally Clark, Jean Godden, and Bruce Harrell—hope it's the latter. The 36th District's executive board released their endorsement recommendations to membership last week, and they recommended two of Godden's opponents—King County senior deputy prosecutor Maurice Classen and SDOT employee Bobby Forch; they recommended Harrell's sole opponent, former Seattle Times reporter and Muni League head, Brad Meacham; and they made no recommendation in Clark's race.
Incumbent Tom Rasmussen had to share the board's recommendation with his sole opponent, lefty documentary filmmaker and human rights activist Sandy Cioffi.
Tim Burgess got the sole recommendation in his race.
The 36th District Democrats are holding a candidate forum in Belltown on June 14 and the full membership will make its endorsements on June 15. The board's choices have a leg up: Their recommendations are the first motion and only require a simple majority to carry. For the 36th District to make a different choice, they'll need a two-thirds majority.
3. Speaking of the 36th District, stay tuned for today's ThinkTank Tuesday as we kick off summer with a little battle of the neighborhoods.
4. The anti-tunnel campaign plans to challenge the wording of the referendum. The voter's guide language, which begins—"This ballot measure will neither eliminate nor choose the deep-bore tunnel as an alternative to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Rather, as explained below, your vote may affect how the City Council will decide whether to proceed with current agreements on the deep-bore tunnel beyond preliminary design work, after environmental review is completed"—was drafted by City Attorney Pete Holmes, who unsuccessfully sued to keep the referendum off the ballot.
The Seattle Times has the story.
• A female employee claimed her father was her domestic partner, making him eligible for health care and other benefits totaling more than $3,000. The county doesn't require employees to verify domestic partnerships, because there's no state registration process for domestic partners younger than 62.
In its response to the state auditor, the county said it would try to verify all domestic partnerships, marriages, and dependents in 2012, if money becomes available.
• Sheriff's deputies failed in several instances to secure their weapons properly (in one case, the deputy left a shotgun in his unlocked car), leading to the "misappropriation" of the gun, a Taser, body armor, computers, handcuffs, and more. In all, the report concludes, "the Sheriff‘s Office identified 65 firearms as missing or unaccounted for."
• In happier news for the county, the auditor found that the King County Marine Division has been doing a better job keeping track of its cash fares, after an audit last year found that the county wasn't doing enough to make sure fares on the Elliott Bay Water Taxi were properly counted. That audit came after an employee was fired and criminally charged for stealing $7,500 in cash.
2. The 36th District Democrats—representing Ballard, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Greenwood, Phinney Ridge, Belltown, and Fremont—are either a zeitgeist Seattle political bellwether (look at that list of classic Seattle neighborhoods) or a remote group of political insiders. [pullquote]Incumbents Sally Clark, Jean Godden, and Bruce Harrell were not recommended.[/pullquote]
Several Seattle City Council incumbents—Sally Clark, Jean Godden, and Bruce Harrell—hope it's the latter. The 36th District's executive board released their endorsement recommendations to membership last week, and they recommended two of Godden's opponents—King County senior deputy prosecutor Maurice Classen and SDOT employee Bobby Forch; they recommended Harrell's sole opponent, former Seattle Times reporter and Muni League head, Brad Meacham; and they made no recommendation in Clark's race.
Incumbent Tom Rasmussen had to share the board's recommendation with his sole opponent, lefty documentary filmmaker and human rights activist Sandy Cioffi.
Tim Burgess got the sole recommendation in his race.
The 36th District Democrats are holding a candidate forum in Belltown on June 14 and the full membership will make its endorsements on June 15. The board's choices have a leg up: Their recommendations are the first motion and only require a simple majority to carry. For the 36th District to make a different choice, they'll need a two-thirds majority.
3. Speaking of the 36th District, stay tuned for today's ThinkTank Tuesday as we kick off summer with a little battle of the neighborhoods.
4. The anti-tunnel campaign plans to challenge the wording of the referendum. The voter's guide language, which begins—"This ballot measure will neither eliminate nor choose the deep-bore tunnel as an alternative to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Rather, as explained below, your vote may affect how the City Council will decide whether to proceed with current agreements on the deep-bore tunnel beyond preliminary design work, after environmental review is completed"—was drafted by City Attorney Pete Holmes, who unsuccessfully sued to keep the referendum off the ballot.
The Seattle Times has the story.
