Morning Fizz
Fraying
Caffeinated News & Gossip. Your Daily Morning Fizz.
1. As Erica first reported last week , opponents of Seattle's potential $60 car tab fee (which would pay for transit, street improvements, and for studying an extension of the South Lake Union streecar) formed a political action committee to fight the November ballot measure.
Well, now the car tab opponents have a Facebook page . The page was started this weekend by Seattle Housing Authority chair Yusuf Cabdi. Cabdi is also the founder of social justice group, the United African Public Affairs Committee.
It's not surprising that a low-income housing and minority community activist would come out against a new fee, but Cabdi is also on the board of Great City, the green group founded by Mayor Mike McGinn. Indeed, Cabdi was a key volunteer during McGinn's insurgent 2009 campaign for mayor.
Greens like McGinn are all for the fee. (McGinn, in fact, hyped the fee at his own campaign kickoff barbecue last week, saying he wished it was higher).
With low-income activists like Cabdi—and Seattle Displacement Coalition leader John Fox—opposing the fee, it appears that McGinn's odd anti-tunnel coalition (which had expertly united traditional populists with PCC Natural Markets types) is fraying. Seattle's battle lines are back to normal.
2. Yes, the boundaries for Washington State's congressional districts are in limbo, but it needs to be said: State Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-44, Lake Stevens), who's running for US Rep. Jay Inslee's (D-WA, 1) seat, does not live in Inslee's district. (Inslee is giving up his seat to run for governor.)
The two other state legislators who are officially going after Inslee's seat, Reps. Roger Goodman (D-45, Kirkland) and Marko Liias (D-21, Edmonds), live in Inslee's district.
3. In addition to his new gig as a news a talking head at FOX Q-13, former Seattle Channel host C.R. Douglas will also be doing quarterly forums for the local PBS station, KCTS. Crosscut has an interview with Douglas about his two new jobs.
4. Make fun of Michele Bachmann all you want, but she and her supporters are on point. Her PAC is called Citizens for a Working America. Get it? Jobs. [pullquote]Make fun of Michele Bachmann all you want, but she and her supporters are on point.[/pullquote]
The rest of the candidates are in mealy-mouthed land. Obama's PAC? Priorities USA. Mitt Romney's? Restore Our Future. Rick Perry's? Make Us Great Again.
5. The AP has a report on the lily-white makeup of Washington State government:
The article also calls out Gov. Gregoire's administration for its lacking diversity:
1. As Erica first reported last week , opponents of Seattle's potential $60 car tab fee (which would pay for transit, street improvements, and for studying an extension of the South Lake Union streecar) formed a political action committee to fight the November ballot measure.
Well, now the car tab opponents have a Facebook page . The page was started this weekend by Seattle Housing Authority chair Yusuf Cabdi. Cabdi is also the founder of social justice group, the United African Public Affairs Committee.
It's not surprising that a low-income housing and minority community activist would come out against a new fee, but Cabdi is also on the board of Great City, the green group founded by Mayor Mike McGinn. Indeed, Cabdi was a key volunteer during McGinn's insurgent 2009 campaign for mayor.
Greens like McGinn are all for the fee. (McGinn, in fact, hyped the fee at his own campaign kickoff barbecue last week, saying he wished it was higher).
With low-income activists like Cabdi—and Seattle Displacement Coalition leader John Fox—opposing the fee, it appears that McGinn's odd anti-tunnel coalition (which had expertly united traditional populists with PCC Natural Markets types) is fraying. Seattle's battle lines are back to normal.
2. Yes, the boundaries for Washington State's congressional districts are in limbo, but it needs to be said: State Sen. Steve Hobbs (D-44, Lake Stevens), who's running for US Rep. Jay Inslee's (D-WA, 1) seat, does not live in Inslee's district. (Inslee is giving up his seat to run for governor.)
The two other state legislators who are officially going after Inslee's seat, Reps. Roger Goodman (D-45, Kirkland) and Marko Liias (D-21, Edmonds), live in Inslee's district.
3. In addition to his new gig as a news a talking head at FOX Q-13, former Seattle Channel host C.R. Douglas will also be doing quarterly forums for the local PBS station, KCTS. Crosscut has an interview with Douglas about his two new jobs.
4. Make fun of Michele Bachmann all you want, but she and her supporters are on point. Her PAC is called Citizens for a Working America. Get it? Jobs. [pullquote]Make fun of Michele Bachmann all you want, but she and her supporters are on point.[/pullquote]
The rest of the candidates are in mealy-mouthed land. Obama's PAC? Priorities USA. Mitt Romney's? Restore Our Future. Rick Perry's? Make Us Great Again.
5. The AP has a report on the lily-white makeup of Washington State government:
Just 18 percent of state employees as a whole are minorities, according to an AP analysis of state personnel records, and there's even less diversity among managers — only 16 percent of them are nonwhite.
The numbers are not getting any better: The percentage of minority hires has fallen from 18 percent in 2007 to just under 16 percent this past year.
The article also calls out Gov. Gregoire's administration for its lacking diversity:
Racial and ethnic minorities now account for more than one-quarter of Washington state residents, but Gregoire's entire senior staff is white and her Cabinet of 26 has only two people of another race.
